Inspiration

Hello, my friends!

Summer seems to have arrived at long last!

So, it is the time to recharge, to re-group, and to rediscover ourselves in light of the past year. No doubt we all have plenty of work to do, and while I do feel I owe you an assignment (though only for your own enjoyment, I assure you!), I want to encourage you (and, since I am in the habit of preaching to myself in this venue, me) to pursue things that bring you joy and peace this summertime. As I type, I am listening to this:

http://www.rmpbs.org/content/index.cfm/show/228956/Great-Performances

It's magic....please, please watch a re-broadcast of it! In particular, I love the violin soloist's facial expressions and the oodles of fun these three titans are having as they play the Beethoven triple concerto. It reminds me of everything I love about being a musician....connectedness, expression, and the unfettered joy that comes in using mastery in a completely ego-less way -- for the sake of the music itself and for the people listening.

And, speaking of Beethoven:

Rising Level 2's

Here's a sweet little piece:

http://erato.uvt.nl/files/imglnks/usimg/e/e4/IMSLP59042-PMLP70932-Beethoven_Werke_Breitkopf_Serie_23_No_249_WoO_123.pdf

Begin by looking over the whole melody, noting that it moves along at a leisurely saunter rather than a brisk walk. Does it appear to change keys? What chromatic alterations do you see? What are their names in solfa? How are they approached? Do they resolve immediately? Try singing through the whole melody. If you have trouble, try playing the bass line of the piano along with your singing. If you still have trouble, fill in the harmony of the right hand and see if that does the trick. If you're feeling ambitious, do a Roman numeral analysis of the whole shebang.

Rising Level 3's

I like this piece an awful lot:

http://216.129.110.22/files/imglnks/usimg/0/0e/IMSLP59219-PMLP106600-Beethoven_Werke_Breitkopf_Serie_22_No_212_Op_121b.pdf

Don't be intimidated by the full score....or the funky clefs! If you've not seen it before, the clef in the "Voce Solo" line (which is the only one I really want you to worry about) is soprano clef, meaning that the bottom line is middle C. If I were you, I might consider setting myself in the appropriate key, but pretending I'm in G as I read through the piece. What accidentals do you encounter? Do you believe a modulation is in order? Why or why not? See if you can find a nice recording of this somewhere and have a listen....it's really a gorgeous, graceful piece. If you get inspired, round up a few friends and sing through the choral parts together! Mind the clefs...and feel free to use my wacky transposition tricks at will (sopranos pretend to be in G, altos pretend to be in D, tenors pretend to be in F).

Rising Level 4's

It would do you good to do the same assignment as the rising 3's, but since I know you love to have your own stuff, too.....

Take a look at this:

http://erato.uvt.nl/files/imglnks/usimg/c/ca/IMSLP08788-Ludwig_van_Beethoven_-_Hymne_an_die_Nacht.pdf

Sing through the melody....easy-peasy, yes? Try singing it as you play the lowest voice. Now, plunk your way through the harmonies. What do you make of that funky chord in m. 6? Oh, and what is the form of the piece? The first one to send me an email and tell me both the name of the form, the origin of that form, and the name of its constituent parts gets a cookie.

Enjoy, and embrace inspiration!

Repetition and magic

My dear friends,

It's the end of the school year for most teachers here in CO....I'm guessing you all are winding down as well. All my best wishes to you as you endure to the end!

Over the past few weeks, it has been my pleasure to take on a few new students who are interested in studying music fundamentals. We've been having a really great time, as it turns out, and I've been learning a lot.

First, I tend to get all freaked out about people getting bored, so I like to move quickly from one thing to the next. However, it seems that this is yet another opportunity for me to witness that new knowledge has a sort of germination period that is a bit different for everyone, especially when dealing with a system (like music theory) where the nomenclature is so specific and fussy (i.e., "a note" is essentially synonymous with "a tone", but "whole note" and "half note" refer to rhythm and not pitch, and "tone" and "semitone" refer to pitch, but so does "whole step" and "half step". Don't even get me started on the fact that seconds are one note apart, thirds are two notes apart, etc....that one really throws beginners). It isn't just a matter of memorizing the facts quickly and being able to recite them. It's a matter of taking on a whole new system, constructing a new paradigm in which one can interact differently with information, and building the system into one's head in order to master that interaction....all this on top of the actual vocabulary, mind you. So, patience is extremely important. This kind of rewiring is delicate and difficult work, and it takes both time and repetition.

Conversely, the moment when it clicks....is magic! And, the privilege of watching someone's face when s/he first independently aligns information with an understanding of the system at work is astonishing. Whether the person having this experience is young or old, male or female...it seems not to matter. In that moment, s/he makes a discovery that is newly and miraculously his/her property forever. No one can take it away. It is the best kind of empowerment. However, the stage must be set. Understanding of the system has to be there as a foundation, and the encounter with new information needs to be timed just right.

All Levels:

This week, your challenge is to take on something that puzzles you, something you've looked at before and couldn't quite get your head around. Maybe it's secondary dominants (use section 2 of chapter 13 from the Ottman, or chapter 17 from Benjamin/Horvit/Nelson), maybe it's modes (check out "Modes Made Easy" and use chapter 20 in the Ottman), maybe it's spotting modulations (check out the rising 4's assignment from last week...listening with the score really, really helps your ear grasp the concept, and your eye will get quicker with repetition...the later Kodály 15 2-parts have good imitative examples, too). It could be anything, and you likely know best what your own weak spot is. Make this week an exercise in exploring it. Take time to look at the problem from a variety of perspectives. Use music you like, or music that you've performed earlier in your life on your primary instrument...take steps to make it fun!

Going on

Hello all,

So, I find myself at the end of my concert season (just one more show this weekend, and as a just plain choral singer), and it's been a wild ride this year. Good work has been done, obstacles overcome, friendships grown stronger, experience gained. It's been hard, and I imagine many of us feel the same weariness.

Over the past few weeks, my attention has been drawn to a sort of lousy habit of mine...I dwell. I get hung up on something, and I let it become my whole reality. Not only is this exhausting, it's almost always completely counterproductive. Sure, people need to talk about things and process things, but hanging on so, well....it seems....ill-advised. Interestingly (and, as life goes, appropriately), one of the biggest, most consuming projects of the year contains this lyric by Stephen Schwartz:

When the thunder rumbles
Now the Age of Gold is dead
And the dreams we've clung to dying to stay young
Have left us parched and old instead…
When my courage crumbles
When I feel confused and frail
When my spirit falters on decaying altars
And my illusions fail,
I go on right then.
I go on again.
I go on to say
I will celebrate another day…
I go on…

If tomorrow tumbles
And everything I love is gone
I will face regret
All my days, and yet
I will still go on…

It's hard to keep going. It's hard to bounce back, especially when the thing that seems like it's going the most wrong is also the thing you wanted and needed most to go right. Loss happens. Injustice happens. Deals are broken. The only thing to do is to go on, look toward the future, take the education of unfortunate events for what it is, and call upon the people in your life who love and support you. And soon, things will look better. Why? Because re-invention happens. New pathways can be found. New relationships will be forged.

A very wise friend of mine once told me years ago when I complained that it felt like people were lining up just to be able to fight with me: "Yes, but if you look around, you'll see that there are just as many people lining up to help you." He's right. And the hardest part is to just convince yourself to take that look, because if we allow trouble and bad situations to become our reality, we'll miss out on the opportunities for resolution.

Rising Level 2's

Take a look at this piece:

http://legato-ed.com/attachments/File/Downloads%20G/G100_MENDELSSOHN_ANLIEGEN.pdf

Look at the bass line first. Check your key signature and meter, but then try to just forge ahead. You'll encounter a D-flat in the last line -- call it "ta" for now. Next, look at the soprano line. Knowing what you know about the bass line, do you anticipate any modulations? Sing through it. Repeat this procedure for the inner voices. Then, if you're feeling like a little warm-up for the summer, do a quick Roman numeral analysis of the diatonic chords only. Next, look at the chromatic chords, and see if you can find a justification for each of them...meaning: do they resolve? What is their quality? Any idea about how to label them?

Rising Level 3's

Take a look at this piece:

http://legato-ed.com/attachments/File/Downloads%20G/G100_A_GABRIELI_ALLELUIA.pdf

Carefully examine your key signature and meter before you begin, but try to just read through each voice. When you encounter an accidental, see what your instinct tells you to do -- make a snap decision about whether to modulate the first time around, but then go back and see if you think it might have been easier to do things another way.

Rising Level 4's

Take a look at this score:

http://legato-ed.com/attachments/File/Downloads%20G/G100_J_HAYDN_DER_GREIS.pdf

....while you listen to it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJPvk0gOaM8&feature=related

What do your ears tell you about the chromaticism, especially the more adventurous bits? Print out the score and listen again, marking the bits where you definitely feel you may be in a different key than indicated by the signature. Next, read through the soprano part, and see if you can change keys at the places you've marked successfully. Repeat with the other voices. If you're feeling adventurous, do a Roman numeral analysis of the score and discover what sorts of modulation Mr. Haydn used.

Enjoy!

Fluency and Immersion, part 2

Greetings, solfa-speakers!

Well, my friends, I've been thinking about last week's post (see below), and while part of me is a bit nervous that I've made my final descent into dogma, there were two things that happened this week that both helped me feel more confident about what I said and suggested to me that I ought to follow up. Both incidents involved educators I respect deeply, and their perspective on this (as in many parts of my life!) has helped refine my own.

First, one dear friend of mine asked me soon after I posted: are you saying it has to be solfa? And the answer is no, I don't think it has to be. Kodály-based solfege pedagogy isn't a form of monotheism. It is certainly not the only path to good musicianship. It just happens to be the path I know, so it's the path I teach. And, while a healthy sense of the whole scope of options is good for one's sense of open-mindedness, I do also think there's a danger in being resistant to following one path because one is afraid of being cut off from other options. The other options will always be there -- and once good musicianship is in place, it can be endlessly re-informed and made over. It is true that whatever one does first may always feel like a kind of mother tongue (witness that, under pressure, most everyone counts and does arithmetic in whatever language they first learned). However, I don't think that's a bad thing. It is ok to embrace one perspective for a period of time and open one's self up to other perspectives later. It may not be ok to embrace one perspective to the permanent exclusion of all others....and it may also not be ok to refuse to embrace any perspective in the name of open-mindedness and then wind up not knowing things one wants and needs to know.

The other incident wasn't directly related to the blog or even to solfa, but it is a story about immersion. After a choir concert, the conductor and I were sitting at the post-concert dinner gathering and one of the choristers, a young guy who has sung in several choirs, asked if the choir could sing something in the restaurant. The conductor told him that was fine, but that he (the chorister) had to lead it. The chorister agreed, and led the chorus in a rendition of "Bonse aba" with himself as the caller. At the end of the piece, when a little bit of conducting is required, this brave singer (who has no formal musical training beyond that of a typical community choir singer) simply threw out his arms and gestured his way to the end of the piece, and his fellow singers followed him perfectly. His conducting was very reminiscent of my friend, the conductor of the group, and my friend definitely noticed. We talked about it later, and my friend said how unexpectedly touched he was by the experience, and how surprised he was that our singer, on the power of pure instinct, did what he'd been shown by the conductor and it worked. I said that I think we maybe shouldn't be so surprised when this happens. As conductors and teachers, we form mini-cultures in the form of classrooms and choruses, and we probably shouldn't be surprised when our singers' cultural vocabulary goes from passive to active -- because that just means we've done our job. The immersion has worked. The message has been sent.

So, in the spirit of immersion:

Rising Level 2's

Your Ottman examples are: 11.2, 11.5, 11.6, 11.7, 11.8, 11.10

For each example, scan (checking for tempo/character markings and noting the origin of each melody), set your key/meter, and sing it through. Then, do a bit of reflecting: did the melody do what you expected? Where did you have trouble? Did the trouble spots coincide with the places where your expectations were not fulfilled? Can you use this information to refine your musical instincts?

Rising Level 3's

Your Ottman examples are: 14.1, 14.2, 14.4, 14.5, 14.6, 14.7

Follow the same instructions as the rising level 2's, but add to your list of reflective questions: in each example, there is an opportunity to modulate (to a key a fifth away...watch out for the Handel!). Did you choose to? What was the key relationship involved? Did it work? What happens if you make a different choice? What seem to be the deciding factors?

Rising Level 4's

Your Ottman examples are: 14.8, 14.9, 14.10, 14.11, 14.12, 14.13

Follow the same instructions as the rising level 2's, with the same added questions as the 3's.

Jump right in, and enjoy!

Fluency and Immersion

Hello, my faithful readers!

Well, I missed another week....naughty, naughty. I have good excuses, related to Holy Week, the Bernstein Mass, and some annoying health-related woes, but nobody likes a whiner, right? Onward and upward!

During aforementioned Holy Week, I was privy to some quite good sermonizing on the part of the clergy at my current gig....and I must say, the speakers at this gig really are a cut above. You know it must be something kind of special if I keep on stealing material...sincerest form of flattery and all that jazz, yes?

Anyhow, at Easter Vigil, the preacher talked about language acquisition, and naturally, my ears perked up. His language up for discussion was Spanish, and specifically, how he really wants to learn Spanish, and he can decline and conjugate and memorize vocabulary with the best of them (being, as he is, a scholar and teacher of Hellenistic Greek), but what he feels is the missing link in his linguistic learning experience is immersion. Immersion is the gateway to fluency.

The speaker went on to tell a story about a friend of his who learned formal Castilian Spanish in the classroom, and considered himself quite accomplished in the language, and then he up and moved to Nicaragua and guess what...all his vocabulary and skill was essentially non-functional in that environment. He toughed it out, but had an incredibly hard go of it for a long time -- months, maybe longer. Then, it's the part of the story you already know if you've had an immersive linguistic experience: he woke up one morning, and he suddenly understood. He was thinking, speaking, even dreaming in the language of his surroundings. Having had a small taste of that experience myself, I couldn't stop smiling through that part of the story, even though I knew it was coming. Why? Because that feeling of finally getting it, of finally fitting into the rhythm of what is around you, of not having to struggle for every word anymore feels SO GOOD. I remember it as euphoric, no exaggeration, and my own experience was just a small transition from idiot American to barely functional temporary expat. But, when my teeny-tiny functional Hungarian vocabulary became second nature, I was completely delighted, and I have a suspicion that a linguistic neophyte has kind of an advantage in these matters, because the jump from one plateau to the next must be similar each time, and the joy must be just as wonderful and just as surprising each time.

You probably already know where I'm going with this.

Why do I fuss at you for writing in all your solfa or for wanting to read things on a neutral syllable before you "add solfa" or for not keeping tuning forks on your person, etc.? Why am I so picky about things that don't seem to matter? Because it's about immersion. And, the difference between learning a language and learning to be fluent in solfa is that you have music to interact with everywhere, all the time, all around you. It can certainly be helpful to have other people around you to help reinforce the immersiveness of your experience in daily life, but you can actually opt to be immersed in solfa anytime you want.

Really.

I know it for sure...because I was the kid on the trampoline in my backyard with a hymnal and a Casio keyboard to give me starting pitches (this was before my first encounter of the tuning fork kind). Granted, that's a little extreme, and definitely very homeschooled of me, but I know that's the time it took for me to get from stumbling over re, fa, and la to being able to apply the syllables instantaneously. The same thing happened when I was in college and struggling with dictation -- I just made myself solfa everything I heard and then write some of it down. I opted in for an immersive experience in my daily life, and it took some mental discipline and some time, but mostly it just took me making the decision. It didn't cost me any money. It took a lot less time than I thought. It just took me committing to it, buying in, deciding I wanted it, and choosing to pay attention to what I heard all the time. And the best part of all? Once you have it, it's yours. You get to keep it, and it doesn't go away, and no one can take it away. The more you do it, the happier and more empowered it will make you. Check it out: personal fulfillment, happiness, and empowerment, courtesy of Guido d'Arezzo, a dude who's been dead for 1100 years. It doesn't get any better than that.

So, this week:

All Levels:

Make an immersive decision, just one, every day this week. Stop yourself when you hear a tune you like (even if it's something you already know), solfa it, and write it down. Pick up a piece of music, any piece you like, and read it in solfa. Then read another part in solfa. Then tap one and read the other. Switch.

You can do this. It just takes time, and making the decision. Who knows? You might become addicted! Don't say I didn't warn you!