Happy Easter! Happy Passover! Happy Spring!
Predictably, it's been a crazy week -- not only was it Holy Week (meaning that I have spent large portions of the last seven days here, working with some of the best people I know. It's been exhausting, but also wonderful -- Holy Week in high church mode has always felt so full of magic to me, so rich with imagery and drama, and it never really fails to capture my imagination.), but....
I passed my final DMA orals this past Tuesday, which means that my five committee members have agreed that I will be graduating on Thursday, May 10....and they officially gave me leave to start calling myself "Doctor". !!!!!
So, now I have many loose ends to tie up (revisions, finishing up editing projects, etc.), but my trajectory towards graduation has been confirmed. This, in turn, means that I need to figure out what's next -- I need to find a job, figure out what to do with my living situation, and generally prepare myself for life after my terminal degree. GULP.
To be honest, I guess I started thinking of the completion of my DMA like my own personal Red Sea somewhere along the line. I got so wrapped up in the student life I've known for many years now that I guess I never quite expected it to end -- I mean, I did, but I convinced myself it'd happen to a me that would be much wiser and more prepared than the me I am currently feels. This theoretical person would be ready for all that post-student life demands and offers, and she would step proudly across the graduation stage and listen as her advisor announced her extremely well-conceived future plans to the people in the auditorium, and smile serenely, knowing that all was as it should be. The reality is that for me, everything is still very much up in the air. It's early yet, and I made the conscious decision to focus first on finishing, and second on finding a job for next year, which is all very logical -- one has to be certain one will have a doctorate before one applies to positions that require one to have a doctorate. But now, the Red Sea is parting....the miracle of graduation is about to occur, and I have no idea what awaits me on the other shore (not to mention the chariots who are giving chase....in my case, they're not people, but student loans and my perceptions of others' expectations of me). It's time for me to walk through, and I don't know what's going to happen, and sometimes this makes me extremely anxious.
So, Holy Week came along in the middle of my misgivings, accompanied by a flare of an old back injury that slowed me down enough to remind me to be careful and make me think. Holy Week, with all of its stories and rituals -- all of which I've heard and seen before, but part of the Red Sea story really sucker-punched me this time around. In the story, the Israelites have made their escape from slavery, and they're up against the Red Sea, and now all of a sudden, they're being pursued by their former captors. They do what we all sometimes do: they freak out. They start talking crazy. They start saying they wished they never tried to leave. Then, in comes a message: RELAX. They get that call that I really wish would come in for me -- they get told that all they have to do is keep still, and that their battle will be fought for them.
I don't really expect that someone else is going to find me a job or pay off my student debt or any of that (although if anyone out there would like to make either or both of those things happen for me, I will not say you nay!). However, the story still rings true, and it's true for everyone. If you're in a situation that you know to be unsustainable, and you make a choice to change it, it's true that it might be really difficult for awhile. It is also true that unsustainable is unsustainable, and when it's time to go, it's time to go. There's no getting around it, and no point in trying to beat yourself up for not being willing to stay where you don't belong. I have no doubt that now is the time for me to graduate and move on with my life. The fact that I'm not sure exactly what that looks like does freak me out, but the fear doesn't change my certainty that I'm doing what I have to do. I wish I could do more to ensure my future, but for now, this is it. I'm doing the work to go to someplace unknown, even though it's unknown and scary, and I have to trust that I wouldn't be so certain if something wasn't going to come meet me halfway.
Ok, so now for the big solfa tie-in...why do we sometimes stagnate in our musicianship studies? Well, I think sometimes it's because we're afraid of what we could do if we didn't have the obstacles we've come to rely upon as compass points. We've convinced ourselves that we need limitations, we need to be afraid of harmonic dictation or Roman numeral analysis or sight-singing or using the keyboard, because those limitations tell us who we are. And, these kinds of limitations are self-fulfilling prophecies -- if you tell yourself you can't play the piano, you're right, you probably can't. However, if you were willing to start chipping away at the thing you believe you can't do, if you started making friends with your abilities as they are right now and doing careful, thoughtful, compassionate work in order to build upon them, you would grow. You would become someone new. You might not even recognize yourself....and believe it or not, that could be ok, because you would recognize yourself again in time. You could re-draw your own borders, and make a whole new map of what you can do.
All Levels:
Spend your first 15-minute practice session doing a little soul-searching. What is it that you think you can't do in the world of musicianship? Write it down. I challenge you to be vulnerable and honest in your diagnosis -- no one has to know but you. If you can't get your head around it the first day, sleep on it, and come back to it.
Once you know what you'd like to work on, look back on some old posts:
http://49weeksofsolfa.blogspot.com/2011/09/body-remembers.html
http://49weeksofsolfa.blogspot.com/2011/09/like-cures-like.html
(etc.)
to find some concrete suggestions for activities, or feel free to design your own course of study.
In even just a week's time, I bet you'll find you were able to make some headway. Give it more time, though. Don't be afraid. The you you never thought you could be (the you who does flawless sing-and-plays or lightning-quick analysis or crackerjack sight-singing) is waiting on the other shore.
Showing posts with label re-starting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label re-starting. Show all posts
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Higher Ground
Hello, Solfa People!
So, courtesy of the 2009 Conspirare holiday album, I've had Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground" stuck in my head for days, especially the chorus:
I'm so darn glad he let me try it again,
'Cause my last time on earth I lived a whole world of sin,
I'm so glad now I know more than I knew then
Gonna keep on tryin' 'til I reach my highest ground.
It's a good general walking-around tune for sure, and possibly an even better one for this time of year full of freshly-made resolutions. I get especially black-and-white about my resolutions sometimes, and one little slip-up on one lofty goal or another causes me to abandon the whole effort. This is more than a little childish, but I think this happens to everyone -- we get terribly dualistic and hard on ourselves, and we sabotage our own best efforts by believing that we have to be completely successful or completely unsuccessful.
So, this post is especially dedicated to those of you who maybe haven't worked on solfa in months and months, or who did it for awhile and got behind, and even to those of you who have been pretty consistent. It's ok to miss a day, a week, a month....and even missing more than that doesn't mean that you should abandon any idea of working on your skills between now and July. You can try it again any time -- falling off the wagon can be just an isolated incident. It doesn't have to be the end of the world. Every moment is a new chance to start reaching for your highest ground. In fact, it is only in each moment that we have the chance. So, forget about what you didn't do yesterday or last week or last month. Right now still belongs to you.
All Levels
Seek out your Ottman and your tuning fork, and put them someplace visible -- a coffee table or end table might be a good spot. Remember, you can get your daily 15 minutes of solfa in during the commercial breaks of an hour-long network television show -- you just have to hit the mute button.
Rising Level 2's
Check out these longish examples, and work through one a day. Be sure to find the key from your tuning fork, and to work intentionally on any snags:
8.44
8.46
9.3
9.15
9.36
9.37
Rising Level 3's
You have the same marching orders as the 2's, but with these examples instead:
14.26 (the D-sharp is "di")
14.28
14.29
14.31
14.32 (despite its ending, this piece is in D)
14.33
For all examples above, I stay in the same key, but you're welcome to experiment with changing if that helps!
Rising Level 4's
Your instructions are also the same as the 2's, and you also get your own examples to play with:
14.38
14.40
14.41
14.42
14.43
14.44
In each case, the choice of whether to change keys or not is up to you!
Carpe diem, my dear students! It's time to try again.
So, courtesy of the 2009 Conspirare holiday album, I've had Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground" stuck in my head for days, especially the chorus:
I'm so darn glad he let me try it again,
'Cause my last time on earth I lived a whole world of sin,
I'm so glad now I know more than I knew then
Gonna keep on tryin' 'til I reach my highest ground.
It's a good general walking-around tune for sure, and possibly an even better one for this time of year full of freshly-made resolutions. I get especially black-and-white about my resolutions sometimes, and one little slip-up on one lofty goal or another causes me to abandon the whole effort. This is more than a little childish, but I think this happens to everyone -- we get terribly dualistic and hard on ourselves, and we sabotage our own best efforts by believing that we have to be completely successful or completely unsuccessful.
So, this post is especially dedicated to those of you who maybe haven't worked on solfa in months and months, or who did it for awhile and got behind, and even to those of you who have been pretty consistent. It's ok to miss a day, a week, a month....and even missing more than that doesn't mean that you should abandon any idea of working on your skills between now and July. You can try it again any time -- falling off the wagon can be just an isolated incident. It doesn't have to be the end of the world. Every moment is a new chance to start reaching for your highest ground. In fact, it is only in each moment that we have the chance. So, forget about what you didn't do yesterday or last week or last month. Right now still belongs to you.
All Levels
Seek out your Ottman and your tuning fork, and put them someplace visible -- a coffee table or end table might be a good spot. Remember, you can get your daily 15 minutes of solfa in during the commercial breaks of an hour-long network television show -- you just have to hit the mute button.
Rising Level 2's
Check out these longish examples, and work through one a day. Be sure to find the key from your tuning fork, and to work intentionally on any snags:
8.44
8.46
9.3
9.15
9.36
9.37
Rising Level 3's
You have the same marching orders as the 2's, but with these examples instead:
14.26 (the D-sharp is "di")
14.28
14.29
14.31
14.32 (despite its ending, this piece is in D)
14.33
For all examples above, I stay in the same key, but you're welcome to experiment with changing if that helps!
Rising Level 4's
Your instructions are also the same as the 2's, and you also get your own examples to play with:
14.38
14.40
14.41
14.42
14.43
14.44
In each case, the choice of whether to change keys or not is up to you!
Carpe diem, my dear students! It's time to try again.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
A True Poem
Welcome, dear students!
It's new year's eve, and everybody's talking about it....including me, it seems. This is, perhaps, a little silly, since today really just feels like another new day, and it will come and go as winter days do (but with extra bluster here in Denver....gusts over 60 MPH, they say). Everyone feels a certain urge to take stock of things -- which my astrologically minded friends might say has more to do with Saturn frowning down at us little earthlings as we labor under the influence of Capricorn than it does with the somewhat arbitrary turning of the year. But, who am I to fight this influence....as you all know, I seldom turn down a chance for some good reflection.
2011 was turbulent, violent, and downright frightening at times. Revolutions and disasters and deaths of prominent people seemed almost commonplace. Hope and fear have danced wildly, as it seemed like every day brought news of some new financial resolution or disaster for the global market. I remember frequently thinking to myself, "Is every year this eventful? Why don't I remember anything like this before?" And, it could be that my own state of affairs as a person finishing a terminal degree (in other words, coming to the end of my last journey as a student to academia's never-never-land) is the cause of my take on 2011 -- I am certainly guilty of being mostly out of the loop on world events when my own little life has me otherwise occupied, and maybe a part of me is just waking up to what everyone else has been saying for years. However, I hear a lot of people around me saying similar things about this year in particular....2011 was a doozy.
So, what to do? We are musicians and artists, not economists or world political leaders. We aren't even engineers or doctors. What can we do? Why does our intonation or rhythmic acuity or performance practice matter in a world that is eating itself alive? I ask myself these kinds of questions a lot (here and elsewhere), and every once in awhile, I get a sliver of answer...
Last night I had dinner with a good friend, and she had spent an absurd amount of time that afternoon at the DMV, during which she passed the time by talking to someone next to her in line. The person she spoke with was a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, and he had some very interesting things to say about his experiences there, particularly about the ways in which the US is "helping" the Afghan people. Specifically, he mentioned that US troops are building schools, which sounds like a lovely thing, right? Well, there's a bit of a problem...there's no money or infrastructure to put books, teachers, or students in these school buildings and run them as schools, and the intended students are part of a culture that doesn't conceptualize education in the same way we do, so the western concept of a school is something that just doesn't compute. So, the buildings wind up standing empty, or they wind up getting repurposed by insurgents, and US troops then have to blow up the buildings they just built. This guy was really frustrated about all of this -- frustrated enough to tell a stranger in line at the DMV about it, and honest enough to say that he didn't know what the answers are. I certainly don't have the answers either, but I can take a stab at diagnosing the cause.
When I first arrived in Hungary for my 10-month stint, I showed up expecting to be disoriented. I expected to need to learn about my environment, adjust to new things, find my way around, etc. I was not at all ready for the constant gnawing feeling that it took me weeks to acknowledge, and probably months to name. The problem was this: nothing about my environment told me that I was who I said I was. The signs on the street, the people around me, the procedure for buying produce at the grocery store -- all those things were foreign, they had been the way they were long before I got there, and would be that way after I left. It had nothing to do with me, and that scared me to death, and I didn't know why. In retrospect, this was just culture shock, but many Americans go through their entire lives without working through a case of it, so we have no idea how "American" we actually are. We live our lives calmly unaware that our pragmatic choices are extremely value-laden. We can't buy a carrot or wash a sock or drink a glass of water without having assumed a whole slough of things about the world around us, and those assumptions are almost 100% unconscious. We think we're being objective, we think we're being pragmatic, and we're actually preaching a gospel we don't even know we believe.
So, what's art got to do with it? Well, what do we learn from art? We learn subjectivity. We learn exactitude. We learn expression. We learn about difference. We learn about interpretation. And, while we still probably have to be caught in the act a lot of times before we really start to get it, this training does give people a basic construct for the idea that different isn't necessarily wrong or bad, and that subtle changes really do matter. It's funny, isn't it? Artists get a pretty bad rap for having "artistic personalities" and for following crazy whims and making irresponsible life choices, but an artistic education might be the best hope any person has for understanding and respecting other people. Why? Because as long as your judgments are unconscious (and therefore you just think of them as "logic"), they control you. As soon as you learn to acknowledge judgments as judgments, it might knock you off-balance, but then you get to be in charge...and you can change your own mind. Like the writer of this poem says, you keep working on it, even though someone might get hurt. You examine yourself, become responsible, and you are able to help others do the same.
My friends, 2011 is at her end. We have worked hard, and we will continue into the new year. I invite you to be the reflective people you are, in your personal lives and your artistic lives, and to allow one to infect the other. Be happy. Enjoy your lives of teaching and music-making. Work on yourself, build up your weaknesses and celebrate your strengths and the strengths of others. Nurture yourself and your students with beauty and goodness, so that you can be strong enough not to shy away from difficulty and ugliness. Say yes. Love each other.
All Levels:
Just some listening assignments this time around....
Cells Planets - Chanticleer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sl12ZXZeqa4
Conspirare/Craig Hella Johnson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_qfeE0TjyY
Sweet Honey in the Rock
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCVvoL_F5gA
Happy new year!
It's new year's eve, and everybody's talking about it....including me, it seems. This is, perhaps, a little silly, since today really just feels like another new day, and it will come and go as winter days do (but with extra bluster here in Denver....gusts over 60 MPH, they say). Everyone feels a certain urge to take stock of things -- which my astrologically minded friends might say has more to do with Saturn frowning down at us little earthlings as we labor under the influence of Capricorn than it does with the somewhat arbitrary turning of the year. But, who am I to fight this influence....as you all know, I seldom turn down a chance for some good reflection.
2011 was turbulent, violent, and downright frightening at times. Revolutions and disasters and deaths of prominent people seemed almost commonplace. Hope and fear have danced wildly, as it seemed like every day brought news of some new financial resolution or disaster for the global market. I remember frequently thinking to myself, "Is every year this eventful? Why don't I remember anything like this before?" And, it could be that my own state of affairs as a person finishing a terminal degree (in other words, coming to the end of my last journey as a student to academia's never-never-land) is the cause of my take on 2011 -- I am certainly guilty of being mostly out of the loop on world events when my own little life has me otherwise occupied, and maybe a part of me is just waking up to what everyone else has been saying for years. However, I hear a lot of people around me saying similar things about this year in particular....2011 was a doozy.
So, what to do? We are musicians and artists, not economists or world political leaders. We aren't even engineers or doctors. What can we do? Why does our intonation or rhythmic acuity or performance practice matter in a world that is eating itself alive? I ask myself these kinds of questions a lot (here and elsewhere), and every once in awhile, I get a sliver of answer...
Last night I had dinner with a good friend, and she had spent an absurd amount of time that afternoon at the DMV, during which she passed the time by talking to someone next to her in line. The person she spoke with was a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, and he had some very interesting things to say about his experiences there, particularly about the ways in which the US is "helping" the Afghan people. Specifically, he mentioned that US troops are building schools, which sounds like a lovely thing, right? Well, there's a bit of a problem...there's no money or infrastructure to put books, teachers, or students in these school buildings and run them as schools, and the intended students are part of a culture that doesn't conceptualize education in the same way we do, so the western concept of a school is something that just doesn't compute. So, the buildings wind up standing empty, or they wind up getting repurposed by insurgents, and US troops then have to blow up the buildings they just built. This guy was really frustrated about all of this -- frustrated enough to tell a stranger in line at the DMV about it, and honest enough to say that he didn't know what the answers are. I certainly don't have the answers either, but I can take a stab at diagnosing the cause.
When I first arrived in Hungary for my 10-month stint, I showed up expecting to be disoriented. I expected to need to learn about my environment, adjust to new things, find my way around, etc. I was not at all ready for the constant gnawing feeling that it took me weeks to acknowledge, and probably months to name. The problem was this: nothing about my environment told me that I was who I said I was. The signs on the street, the people around me, the procedure for buying produce at the grocery store -- all those things were foreign, they had been the way they were long before I got there, and would be that way after I left. It had nothing to do with me, and that scared me to death, and I didn't know why. In retrospect, this was just culture shock, but many Americans go through their entire lives without working through a case of it, so we have no idea how "American" we actually are. We live our lives calmly unaware that our pragmatic choices are extremely value-laden. We can't buy a carrot or wash a sock or drink a glass of water without having assumed a whole slough of things about the world around us, and those assumptions are almost 100% unconscious. We think we're being objective, we think we're being pragmatic, and we're actually preaching a gospel we don't even know we believe.
So, what's art got to do with it? Well, what do we learn from art? We learn subjectivity. We learn exactitude. We learn expression. We learn about difference. We learn about interpretation. And, while we still probably have to be caught in the act a lot of times before we really start to get it, this training does give people a basic construct for the idea that different isn't necessarily wrong or bad, and that subtle changes really do matter. It's funny, isn't it? Artists get a pretty bad rap for having "artistic personalities" and for following crazy whims and making irresponsible life choices, but an artistic education might be the best hope any person has for understanding and respecting other people. Why? Because as long as your judgments are unconscious (and therefore you just think of them as "logic"), they control you. As soon as you learn to acknowledge judgments as judgments, it might knock you off-balance, but then you get to be in charge...and you can change your own mind. Like the writer of this poem says, you keep working on it, even though someone might get hurt. You examine yourself, become responsible, and you are able to help others do the same.
My friends, 2011 is at her end. We have worked hard, and we will continue into the new year. I invite you to be the reflective people you are, in your personal lives and your artistic lives, and to allow one to infect the other. Be happy. Enjoy your lives of teaching and music-making. Work on yourself, build up your weaknesses and celebrate your strengths and the strengths of others. Nurture yourself and your students with beauty and goodness, so that you can be strong enough not to shy away from difficulty and ugliness. Say yes. Love each other.
All Levels:
Just some listening assignments this time around....
Cells Planets - Chanticleer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sl12ZXZeqa4
Conspirare/Craig Hella Johnson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_qfeE0TjyY
Sweet Honey in the Rock
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCVvoL_F5gA
Happy new year!
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Delving in...
Hello, Solfeggists on Holiday!
I don't know about you, but I'm having a little trouble conjuring up much ambition for work at the moment -- it's been a busy concert season, and the Christmas weekend was more demanding than I'd anticipated. These winter holidays are one of the best and hardest times of year to be a choral musician (or really, any kind of musician), and I've always loved the fact that I get to help make them special for other people. Beginning in high school and on through college, it seemed to me that the end of concert season was the end of Christmas, and I wished it would just go on and on. Well, that particular wish seems to have come true, and now I wish I could fully recapture the joy I used to feel in doing this work.
If I know me, however, the only way to make this wish happen is the right proportion of rest (I'm blogging in my pj's on this fine late morning, which always helps!) and pushing through the tasks at hand. You see, we are lucky, you and I. We have work to do that has a fairly obvious and direct link to meaning and beauty, and a lot of the time, we get to see the end product. That's a lot more than many people can say about their professional lives -- in fact, some of those folks come to us and the work we do on their own time because they want a taste of what we get to experience.
To be honest, it takes all my discipline to believe in this little pep talk, and it's not my intention to make anyone (including myself) feel guilty for taking some time to regroup. We all need that. But, I know that when I wallow too thoroughly for too long in the world of pajamas and TV, I just wind up getting depressed. So, wallow....somewhat....and then maybe put the TV on mute for 30 minutes or so and delve into a little listening, singing, and analysis to feed your inner musician. You might be surprised at how good it feels.
All you folks will need to track down your Music for Analysis book....
Rising Level 2's
no. 166, p. 106 (Schubert - Dance in D-flat)
no. 170, p. 109 (Rameau - Minuet in G minor)
Your procedure:
-Sing through the melody in solfa (these pieces are both very much in "cantilena" style, meaning that the melody lives in the top voice, and it's quite singable as long as you make some judicious octave decisions).
-Play through the piece and mark cadences (the preceding singing step will hopefully make that easy).
-Go phrase by phrase and apply Roman numerals, stopping to re-assess if anything doesn't make sense (e.g., if you find yourself marking a whole lotta iii chords, or if you think you've found a ii-I progression...).
Rising Level 3's
no. 233, p. 165 (Bach - In dulci jubilo)
no. 234, p. 166 (Bach - Christ lag in Todesbanden)
Your procedure:
-Sing through the melody in solfa (In dulci jubilo is very straightforward, and you may use either A-la or D-la or a combination for Christ lag).
-Play through the piece and mark cadences
-Go phrase by phrase and apply Roman numerals (which should be fine for In dulci jubilo) OR solfa chords (highly recommended for Christ lag)
Rising Level 4's
no. 357, p. 289 (Strauss - Morgen)
Because this piece is a little on the complex side...
-Listen to any one of several lovely YouTube recordings of the piece (many of them won't be in this key, but don't be thrown).
-Sing through the melody in solfa (I'd start in the key indicated by the signature, but on a chromatic syllable...when things get wacky at the end, use your listening experience to inform your solfa).
-Do a letter-name chord analysis first, and then go back and try to apply Roman numerals where it seems logical to do so. Take particular notice of the final chord and its figured bass configuration. Why do you think Strauss wrote it that way? Do you think it has to do with the text of the song (a translation is conveniently located at the end of the piece)?
Enjoy!
I don't know about you, but I'm having a little trouble conjuring up much ambition for work at the moment -- it's been a busy concert season, and the Christmas weekend was more demanding than I'd anticipated. These winter holidays are one of the best and hardest times of year to be a choral musician (or really, any kind of musician), and I've always loved the fact that I get to help make them special for other people. Beginning in high school and on through college, it seemed to me that the end of concert season was the end of Christmas, and I wished it would just go on and on. Well, that particular wish seems to have come true, and now I wish I could fully recapture the joy I used to feel in doing this work.
If I know me, however, the only way to make this wish happen is the right proportion of rest (I'm blogging in my pj's on this fine late morning, which always helps!) and pushing through the tasks at hand. You see, we are lucky, you and I. We have work to do that has a fairly obvious and direct link to meaning and beauty, and a lot of the time, we get to see the end product. That's a lot more than many people can say about their professional lives -- in fact, some of those folks come to us and the work we do on their own time because they want a taste of what we get to experience.
To be honest, it takes all my discipline to believe in this little pep talk, and it's not my intention to make anyone (including myself) feel guilty for taking some time to regroup. We all need that. But, I know that when I wallow too thoroughly for too long in the world of pajamas and TV, I just wind up getting depressed. So, wallow....somewhat....and then maybe put the TV on mute for 30 minutes or so and delve into a little listening, singing, and analysis to feed your inner musician. You might be surprised at how good it feels.
All you folks will need to track down your Music for Analysis book....
Rising Level 2's
no. 166, p. 106 (Schubert - Dance in D-flat)
no. 170, p. 109 (Rameau - Minuet in G minor)
Your procedure:
-Sing through the melody in solfa (these pieces are both very much in "cantilena" style, meaning that the melody lives in the top voice, and it's quite singable as long as you make some judicious octave decisions).
-Play through the piece and mark cadences (the preceding singing step will hopefully make that easy).
-Go phrase by phrase and apply Roman numerals, stopping to re-assess if anything doesn't make sense (e.g., if you find yourself marking a whole lotta iii chords, or if you think you've found a ii-I progression...).
Rising Level 3's
no. 233, p. 165 (Bach - In dulci jubilo)
no. 234, p. 166 (Bach - Christ lag in Todesbanden)
Your procedure:
-Sing through the melody in solfa (In dulci jubilo is very straightforward, and you may use either A-la or D-la or a combination for Christ lag).
-Play through the piece and mark cadences
-Go phrase by phrase and apply Roman numerals (which should be fine for In dulci jubilo) OR solfa chords (highly recommended for Christ lag)
Rising Level 4's
no. 357, p. 289 (Strauss - Morgen)
Because this piece is a little on the complex side...
-Listen to any one of several lovely YouTube recordings of the piece (many of them won't be in this key, but don't be thrown).
-Sing through the melody in solfa (I'd start in the key indicated by the signature, but on a chromatic syllable...when things get wacky at the end, use your listening experience to inform your solfa).
-Do a letter-name chord analysis first, and then go back and try to apply Roman numerals where it seems logical to do so. Take particular notice of the final chord and its figured bass configuration. Why do you think Strauss wrote it that way? Do you think it has to do with the text of the song (a translation is conveniently located at the end of the piece)?
Enjoy!
Monday, June 20, 2011
People, Get Ready!
Though it is unseasonably cool and cloudy in my beloved Denver today, I am nonetheless keenly aware that the sultry heat of July in Baltimore draws nigh. And, while I am likewise extremely grateful for the slower pace of life that I’ve been graced with since the end of the spring semester, I feel the pace quickening as “the other 49 weeks” draw to a close and the 3-week stint we all spend in the classroom together approaches.
So, as I pore over past lesson plans and materials, think through what worked and what didn’t, and begin the process of figuring out what to bring (I might get really clever this year and make a shiny, organized binder that is The Big Book of Musical Examples for Solfa....and perhaps discover a life without piles of random books and 3 bajillion pieces of loose paper EVERYWHERE), I’ve also begun to think about what I might do to get myself ready if I were a student in my own classroom:
1. I’d physically track down all my books and make sure that I have them all.
2. I’d find all my notes and handouts from last year (and the year before, if applicable)
3. I’d make myself a list of what supplies I knew I’d need (because trying to find a music store to buy a new tuning fork after class has already started is an annoying process).
4. I’d take a little time to think about what happened last year in my solfa/AKI experience and make a mental (or physical) note about what I’d like to change for this year.
Note that any of your reflections from item 4 would likely be very useful to me as well, and I’d be very grateful if you’d be willing to share them. Upon looking through last year’s lesson plans, I know there are a lot of things I’d like to change. Maybe the biggest thing is that I want to be certain that my students have a strong sense of the relevance of what we do in solfa class to the rest of their musical lives. I want my students to leave solfa class on the 29th of July feeling more empowered and more musical than ever before, and I want that to be something that they own independent of me. I have several ideas for how to help make that happen, but as usual, I will crave your kind assistance:
Rising Level 2’s
Have fun with these preparations! If you have your tuning fork (and a mobile device with some nifty keyboard app to check yourself, if needed), you can even do this by the pool (umbrella drinks optional)! Bonus!
So, as I pore over past lesson plans and materials, think through what worked and what didn’t, and begin the process of figuring out what to bring (I might get really clever this year and make a shiny, organized binder that is The Big Book of Musical Examples for Solfa....and perhaps discover a life without piles of random books and 3 bajillion pieces of loose paper EVERYWHERE), I’ve also begun to think about what I might do to get myself ready if I were a student in my own classroom:
1. I’d physically track down all my books and make sure that I have them all.
2. I’d find all my notes and handouts from last year (and the year before, if applicable)
3. I’d make myself a list of what supplies I knew I’d need (because trying to find a music store to buy a new tuning fork after class has already started is an annoying process).
4. I’d take a little time to think about what happened last year in my solfa/AKI experience and make a mental (or physical) note about what I’d like to change for this year.
Note that any of your reflections from item 4 would likely be very useful to me as well, and I’d be very grateful if you’d be willing to share them. Upon looking through last year’s lesson plans, I know there are a lot of things I’d like to change. Maybe the biggest thing is that I want to be certain that my students have a strong sense of the relevance of what we do in solfa class to the rest of their musical lives. I want my students to leave solfa class on the 29th of July feeling more empowered and more musical than ever before, and I want that to be something that they own independent of me. I have several ideas for how to help make that happen, but as usual, I will crave your kind assistance:
Rising Level 2’s
Go through my numbered list above.
Find the “Our Tuning Forks, Our Selves” handout (if you can’t find a physical copy, check out the right side of your screen) and give yourself a refresher course. Check your accuracy with finding keys at a recently-tuned piano (if you find that you’re having lots of trouble, check to make sure your tuning fork itself matches the piano).
Practice your tuning fork skills with these Ottman examples:
11.28, 11.30, 11.31, 12.7, 12.16, 12.34
Also, if you haven’t already done so, download a copy of “Modes Made Easy” (see the right side of your screen) and give it a read-through.
Rising Level 3’s
Go through my numbered list above, and also track down your tuning fork and spot-test your key-finding abilities. If modes are a struggling point for you, you might want to check out “Modes Made Easy” as well.
Look through your notes and find your notation of the chromatic exercise we used last year (d...d t,d r.....r di r m.....m ri m f.....f m f so...., etc.). Sing through both the ascending and descending versions.
Use your refreshed chromatic savvy to peruse Ottman chapter 14 and find a few challenging musical knots to unravel.
Finally, draw yourself a musical timeline:
Take a piece of paper and draw a horizontal line.
Along the line, write: Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and 20th/21st Century.
Under each designation, write all the musical innovations, composers, forms, and instruments/voice types you associate with each time period. Don't worry if you have a lot more to say about some things than others -- just go off the top of your head.
Once that’s done, mark the items you’re personally curious or confused about, and share those items with me.
Rising Level 4’s
As you prepare for the less-musical portion of your graduate studies, I’d be thrilled to help you in any way I can. Give me a shout if you need anything...
And, just for old time’s sake:
Check out Music for Analysis, pp. 302-04
Sing through the violin II line on p. 302 -- you may wish to skate over to a new key at the beginning of the second system, but you’ll probably want to come back.
Sing through the oboe II line on p. 303...relish the chromatics!
Switch to the violin I line at pickups to the last measure (28) on p. 303, and continue until m. 36. What do you make of that A-flat?
At pickups to m. 37, switch to the flute line until the end of the minuet (if you’re overwhelmed with curiosity, take a look at the trio that follows...mind the key signature!)
Practice your tuning fork skills with these Ottman examples:
11.28, 11.30, 11.31, 12.7, 12.16, 12.34
Also, if you haven’t already done so, download a copy of “Modes Made Easy” (see the right side of your screen) and give it a read-through.
Rising Level 3’s
Go through my numbered list above, and also track down your tuning fork and spot-test your key-finding abilities. If modes are a struggling point for you, you might want to check out “Modes Made Easy” as well.
Look through your notes and find your notation of the chromatic exercise we used last year (d...d t,d r.....r di r m.....m ri m f.....f m f so...., etc.). Sing through both the ascending and descending versions.
Use your refreshed chromatic savvy to peruse Ottman chapter 14 and find a few challenging musical knots to unravel.
Finally, draw yourself a musical timeline:
Take a piece of paper and draw a horizontal line.
Along the line, write: Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and 20th/21st Century.
Under each designation, write all the musical innovations, composers, forms, and instruments/voice types you associate with each time period. Don't worry if you have a lot more to say about some things than others -- just go off the top of your head.
Once that’s done, mark the items you’re personally curious or confused about, and share those items with me.
Rising Level 4’s
As you prepare for the less-musical portion of your graduate studies, I’d be thrilled to help you in any way I can. Give me a shout if you need anything...
And, just for old time’s sake:
Check out Music for Analysis, pp. 302-04
Sing through the violin II line on p. 302 -- you may wish to skate over to a new key at the beginning of the second system, but you’ll probably want to come back.
Sing through the oboe II line on p. 303...relish the chromatics!
Switch to the violin I line at pickups to the last measure (28) on p. 303, and continue until m. 36. What do you make of that A-flat?
At pickups to m. 37, switch to the flute line until the end of the minuet (if you’re overwhelmed with curiosity, take a look at the trio that follows...mind the key signature!)
Have fun with these preparations! If you have your tuning fork (and a mobile device with some nifty keyboard app to check yourself, if needed), you can even do this by the pool (umbrella drinks optional)! Bonus!
Monday, May 23, 2011
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!
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