Frights and Hallows

Halloooooooo there, Spooky Solfeggists!

I just arrived home from a lovely Halloween party given by my lovely graduate colleagues, and I so wish I could have stayed longer, but my wig alarm went off. What was the costume, you ask? Well, it involved shoes. Shoes. And, in an apropos instance of life imitating art, I learned my lesson about buying shoes that are too small for my feet. If you are wondering what in the devil I am talking about, click here.

In the realm of solfa, I have fear on the brain. What are the tasks you dread in the theoretical/analytical/solfegging world, and how do you dispel your fears? For myself, I frequently get flustered when there's something about the notation that looks thorny...sometimes I just walk away on the basis of that alone instead of puzzling out how to break the task up into do-able sections that will also help me re-assemble the parts back into the whole. So, how do we take ourselves by the hand and walk down the dark alleyway of unfamiliarity in order to give ourselves access to something new? How do we show those freaky-looking dots and lines who's boss? Well, I believe the first step is just to bloody well decide that you're going to do it.*

Rising Level 2's

Look at Music for Analysis, p. 92, example 149. Ugh! Lots of staves! Minor key! Leading tone seventh chords! Accidentals! Yuck! Right?

Step 1: Listen to the piece here (the whole movement, please, because it's pretty darn cool...how 'bout that zippy tempo? Good old John Eliot Gardner...)

Step 2: Does it sound like the section given to you in the book stops on a perfect authentic cadence? So what do you make of the stopping point? What is the significance of F-sharp in this tonality?

Step 3: Sing through the successive vocal lines in solfa. Notice some of the notational quirks (eighth and sixteenth notes flagged individually rather than barred, etc.) and decide how to interpret them. Also, think through how you might re-notate some things if you were the editor.

Step 4: Notice the orchestral reduction's various textures. What are the running sixteenths in the first two bars? How are those first two bars different from what follows in terms of the relationship of the reduction to the vocal lines? Can you find the leading tone seventh chord(s)? What are you looking for exactly?

Step 5: Find another piece in the book with similar notational challenges and follow a similar set of steps. Were you able to accelerate the steps? Did you need additional steps? Why?

Rising Level 3's

Look at Music for Analysis, p. 379, Example #393 and in Ottman, #21.12

Step 1: Listen to the Debussy here (note that the soprano part appears with text and the other parts look like an instrumental part...goofy, yes?) and the Britten here.

Step 2: How are these pieces similar? What are the chief barriers for each?

Step 3: If you were teaching these pieces to a high school choir, what elements would you isolate to teach first? Would you have them sing on text right away? Would you have them sing the line first or learn the rhythms first? How would you deal with the funky key signature and triplets in the Debussy and the wacky (and zippy!) time signature in the Britten (the recording actually demonstrates kind of an interesting layering technique rather than teaching this as just a round...)? What is the most effective means of dealing with an asymmetric time signature...do we treat it as an aberration to be pounded out with the power and determination of our cerebrums, or do we get a feel for it as its own kind of rhythmic world?

Step 4: Learn and sing these pieces (preferably with a friend).

Rising Level 4's

Step 1: Open up either the Ottman or Music for Analysis to a page of your choosing late-ish in the volume.

Step 2: Using the steps laid out for the 2's and 3's as your guide, dream up a way of understanding and internalizing this music. Notice that in the examples above, I've used the magic of YouTube to help get the ball rolling and immediately define the dots and lines in terms of sound, not in terms of a scary task that your poor brain has to take on all alone like a nasty calculus problem.

Step 3: Follow your plan and see what you can do. Did you find that you know how to make a plan sort of intuitively, or did you do a fair amount of consulting what I said to do? Did you decide to try the "garage band rehearsal" technique for awhile (meaning that you just did it over and over until you got it), or did you immediately look for a sneaky way of accomplishing the task at hand? You know me, guys....I'm all about the sneaky way.

Good luck, boys and ghouls!

*Yes, I said "do it."

It's coming...

Hello, faithful blog-followers!

Whew! I just arrived home from a weekend at 9,000+ feet above sea level with the Denver Gay Men's Chorus -- our annual fall retreat at Keystone Lodge (yes, the beer is named after this place....no, the place is not comparable in quality to the beer....thank goodness!). So, given the lofty elevation, I awoke both Saturday and Sunday mornings to freshly fallen snow! It was beautiful....

...And, since the repertoire we were rehearsing was for our December holiday concert, I'm finding myself in a holidaying mood. I know, I know, it's too early, but there are such good melodies and examples of chromaticism in all our holiday faves. Plus, at this point in my career, I'm sort of resigned to the fact that I will hate all holiday music by the time it's all over, so I had better enjoy it before every retail outlet, radio station, and TV commercial has its annual chance to ruin it. Besides, at least it's a good antidote to all of those ugly political ads!

Rising Level 2's

Choose any 3 of the following tunes and solmize. Transcribe as you are able.

Deck the Halls

Silent Night

Silver Bells

S'vivon

Rising Level 3's

Choose any 3 of the following tunes and solmize. Transcribe as you are able.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

(include the bridge...that's where the magic happens)

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

We Need a Little Christmas

My Favorite Things (Barbra Streisand says it's a holiday song, so why not?)

Rising Level 4's

Solmize and transcribe both parts of:

Evening Prayer from Hansel and Gretel

Enjoy!

Quick and Dirty Solfa

Hello Busy Solfeggists!

Like myself, I'm certain all of you must be running C-R-A-Z-Y right about now, so I'm going to try to make this week's assignment super-simple. I know I've been going a little outside the box of late, which I hope you've all enjoyed for the sake of variety, but perhaps a little retreat back to the simple joys of Ottman is in order....

Rising Level 2's

Preview and read:

8.24, 8.30, 8.32, 8.41, 8.42, 8.44

Take special care with the rhythm in the non-traditional triple (compound) meters.

Rising Level 3's

Preview and read each voice:

14.49, 14.50 (extra points if you can tell me what movement this is from...the eighth note C in the second-to-last measure of the top voice should be a B), 14.51, 14.52, 14.53, 14.56

Rising Level 4's

Preview and read each voice (for added challenge, tap the rhythm of the opposite voice of the one you're singing while you sing it):

15.106 , 15.107, 15.108 (this one's tricksy!), 15.110, 15.111, 15.113

Good luck with all your many adventures!

PS1: I went to a lovely concert last evening given by Spencer Day...if you don't know his music, take a listen....

PS2: If you don't mind a little profanity, here's a little something you might enjoy...tonight I'm seeing Leslie Jordan (who appeared as "Brother Boy" in the movie from which this song was taken...and also in "Will and Grace") for a fundraiser for the Denver Gay Men's Chorus! That means I'm technically working, right?

Captain Broccoli and the Socratic Method

Hello Solfa Superheroes!

So, the video I recently posted on my facebook profile has sort of inspired me, both to make movies on xtranormal.com (give it time, give it time) and to examine the way that we as educators give explanations and ask questions of our students. As many of you will know, Socrates is credited with coming up with a method of teaching that involves the teacher asking leading questions of the student so that the student is left with the feeling that s/he arrived at the answer on her/his own.

Personally, I find this concept very appealing when I am in either role, but when I am in the role of the student, I find myself frequently feeling critical of the teacher asking the questions. Why? Because it often seems as if the teacher asks questions that could be restated thus: "I'm thinking of a number between one and a million. Which one am I thinking of?" We all do it, I'm sure...because being a teacher is a little like being a passenger in a car that someone else is driving to your house. You know exactly where you are, what turns to make, what the destination will look like when you arrive, and how much further you have to go. You are so familiar with your surroundings that it's hard to imagine anyone else not knowing where they are, so maybe you forget to give directions altogether. You've forgotten what it's like not to know. And, even if the driver (student) is familiar with the general neighborhood (context), s/he may arrive at the wrong destination (conclusion) simply because the passenger (teacher) wasn't specific enough about where to turn and what to look for. At that point, the student becomes reticent to answer questions at all because no one likes to be wrong, and the teacher frequently makes the mistake of assuming the student is just dumb or lazy, when really the problem is with the teacher.

So, how do we make it better? How do we go about training ourselves to ask better questions as teachers, provide the appropriate supports for our students (visual aids, etc.), direct them more specifically to the destination without taking the wheel out of their hands? I think Captain Broccoli might be a good place to look for some answers.

Rising Level 2's

Watch the Captain Broccoli video and answer the following questions:

Do you think the "minor triad superhero" would have benefitted from a

visual aid on a musical staff? If so, what kind?

Do you think Captain Broccoli served his purposes by mentioning

sevenths or saying "any note could be in the bass"?

Why or why not?

Do you think Captain Broccoli really gave the full definition of figured

bass symbols? Did the "minor triad superhero" understand why 6

and 6/4 were used for the respective inversions? Does a 6 or a 6/4

actually mean first or second inversion?

Do you think the example of a person on their behind or a person on

their head really reflects what is happening in an inverted triad?

Why or why not?

Then, re-write the Captain Broccoli script in the places where you think it ought to happen, adding the examples and visual aids you consider appropriate. Optimally, share your re-write with a friend and see if s/he understands.

Rising Level 3's

Watch the Captain Broccoli video, peruse the questions laid out for the 2's, and write your own dialogue for one of the following concepts:

Inversions of seventh chords

Roman numerals (how to apply a Roman numeral to a chord)

Relative minor

Three forms of minor

The circle of fifths (key relationships/signatures)

Use the Captain Broccoli video as a model, meaning that you should try to anticipate the questions a student would ask you....for our purposes, assume your student is in high school or a freshman in college. Be creative...for example, you could use a clock face or "The Wheel of Fortune" as a basis for your circle of fifths conversation. Specify what visual aids and musical examples you would want at your disposal. Again, the best way to determine whether or not you've been clear is to ask someone to read over your dialogue with you and give you feedback.

Rising Level 4's

Watch the Captain Broccoli video, peruse the questions laid out for the 2's, and write your own dialogue for one of the following concepts:

Modes (your choice: relative, comparative, or both)

Secondary dominant harmonies

Chromatic solfege syllables

How to find keys from a tuning fork

How to take a melodic dictation (i.e. Mary Had a Little Lamb)

Use the Captain Broccoli video as a guide, meaning that you should try to anticipate student questions (assuming your student is a college freshman) and specify what kinds of visual aids or musical examples you would use. Find a friend to go through your dialogue with you and give you feedback.

I hope you find this task enjoyable...I know I'm kind of pushing into the world of methodology, but I know for myself that I understand a concept SO much more thoroughly once I've actually tried to teach it. You may find yourself asking and answering questions you never knew you had....and that, my friends, is the magic of learning!

The Palette of Autumn

Greetings, Guidonian Singers!

Autumn is icumen in....finally! I do realize that today may still be a bit of a tease, but I think summer may finally be fading in earnest.

This past week was sort of unbelievably busy in my world...many of you may know that I have recently added a gig with the Center for British and Irish Studies at CU-Boulder to my battery of activities, and this week, we had our first major event: a talk by the author Frank Delaney. Mr. Delaney and his wife, Diane Meier, arrived on Wednesday afternoon and were the most delightful and engaging of guests...the sort of people who are almost unbelievably interesting, but also endlessly gracious, so that after speaking with them, one is left feeling more interesting themselves (possibly that sentence makes NO sense, but maybe gives you the gist). The talk itself was fantastic...I wish it had been more well-attended, but attendance really wasn't bad, considering it was our first event. And, all this has turned my mind towards things literary and British/Irish and autumnally beautiful.

Rising Level 2's

Listen to the following recordings:

Linden Lea (Vaughan Williams)

Whither Must I Wander (Vaughan Williams)

The Road Home (Paulus)

Try your hand (or your ear, I suppose) at solmizing the melodies of each of these, then choose one (or more) and transcribe it....just the melody is plenty. Notice that each of these tunes has a strophic form, so you hear the melody more than once, which hopefully helps.

Rising Level 3's

Listen to the following recordings:

'Tis the Last Rose of Summer (arr. Flotow) (I looked for the Britten setting and couldn't find a good recording....if you can, use that one)

Sound the Trumpet (Purcell)

Dido's Lament (Purcell)

Follow the same instructions as the the rising level 2's.

Rising Level 4's

Listen to the following recordings:

Hymn to St. Cecilia (Britten) (possibly my favorite piece of choral music...it'd be worth your while to buy a recording of this one -- the Shaw recording is pretty nice) - about 6 minutes in, there's a soprano solo, which is the part I'd like you to solmize/transcribe.

Procession from Ceremony of Carols (Britten)

Balulalow from Ceremony of Carols (Britten) -- you're after the soprano solo.

Follow the same instructions as the rising level 2's.

All Levels:

Read the following poem, courtesy of my talented little bro, Stephen Dietrich:

Wind rustling through the tree’s coat of many colors
whispering secrets of the season.
They are all set ablaze
in vibrant shades,
that is
all
but the evergreens; the steadfast
figures never yielding
to passionate crimsons,
glimmering golds,
or withering browns.
No
the evergreens clutch their hue until the end.
They defy nature’s mood
and mock their deciduous brethren
for complying
with the change of seasons.

The sylvan flamboyance set forth
by fall, shall eventually
fade the brilliant foliage into
a pallid grave. Little lives
strangled into brittle corpses
each one of them
a hope
a dream
an aspiration
to be unmet.
They shall be trampled underfoot by the very souls
who once sought their shelter.

The dreamer shall
be left naked and bare
before the world. Subject to
every cruel eye’s scrutiny and slander.
They shall feel the chill
of the winter winds while
the evergreens stand unscathed
from any tremble of frost.
They shall never have to know
the pain of being stripped down
before the world. Every shred of them
to feel the wretched pangs
of a bitter winter, nor will they know
the chaos of the unknown
that the future shadows in omens.
They will hold their emerald shades,
and maintain their poise
until their end. Nothing shall taint
their world,

but

their world
is all they will ever know.
A lone facet of reality
to be the only memento
they claim.
Whatever fails
to fall within their limited spectrum
shall never be known. The price
of security
is seclusion from the sublime, for
to live without feeling
is to live without wisdom.
The evergreens loom over the world
in arrogant cowardice.
Their poise cripples
their freedom. They will never know
the reverie
of spring’s revival,
nor feel the beauty
of a new summer’s bloom.
No,
all they have
is their poise.
They were born in this coffin,
and shall greet death
in this cradle.

Their greatest tragedy is
that on the day they
finally break free
from their monochrome prison
they will meet their end, for all
they have known is gone.
They aren’t strong enough
to be weak,
or brave enough
to be scared.
They only know how to stand poised
and feel

nothing.

The Artist's Diet

Hello, Fellow Artists!

I don't know how this past week has been for you, but it has been awfully rocky for me...I blame the equinox (but then again, you all know my motto: why take it personally when you can take it cosmically?). So, this afternoon, I headed for the hills....literally. A dear friend and I took a little drive up to Silverthorne to look at the fall leaves in the mountains and do a little retail therapy.

That got me thinking....last week, I went to hear Kathleen Battle with the Colorado Symphony, which made me feel really good. Why? Because it was beauty, it was art, and people who are artists need to be nourished by art.

And, when I was in the thick of the week's ickiness, another dear friend of mine said he, too, was having a crappy time, and that he felt a major symptom of his icky feelings was the fact that he had stopped listening to music for pleasure...and that he planned to make it a personal discipline to open up his ears and listen again. All part and parcel, you see....an artist who finds him/herself avoiding the very art s/he loves is an artist who needs help, who needs fresh inspiration. Burnout happens to all of us, and this little conversation was both a good friendship moment and a wake-up call...because sometimes what we need most of all is to feel connected again, to know we're not the only one, and to give ourselves the love and the grace and the artistic nourishment it takes to feed artistry.

So, in that vein, and because it's truly my favorite thing to do, I want to give you all a gift.

All Levels

Take 15 minutes a day, and listen to music. Music you love, music that makes you happy, music that makes you sad, music that is full of memories and meaning for you. That's it. Just listen, and remind yourself of how great it is. And, throughout the day, take little opportunities to look at beauty, notice good things, be grateful for little spots of grace.

If you'd like suggestions for listening:

Sufjan Stevens - Illinoise

J.S. Bach - Magnificat or St. Matthew Passion (especially "Mache dich mein Herze rein")

Alison Krauss - Lonely Runs Both Ways

Randall Thompson - Choose Something Like a Star

Joni Mitchell

W.A. Mozart - Solemn Vespers of the Confessor (especially "Laudate Dominum")

A mix CD from a dear friend

Tomas Luis de Victoria - O quam gloriosum

Edgar Meyer - Appalachian Journey

Vaughan Williams - Dona Nobis Pacem (especially the last movement) or The Lark Ascending

Kansas - Carry on, My Wayward Son

Stravinsky - Firebird or "Gloria" from the Mass for Mixed Voices and Wind Instruments

William Byrd - Any of the masses or motets

Bartok - anything from the "For Children" set of pieces, or the Romanian Folk Dances, or (if you're feeling adventurous), the second piano concerto

The big ZK said that the masterworks of music are our birthright...take him at his word.

PS: and just because laughter is also on the artist's diet....

A college classmate of mine recently posted on facebook that one of her colleagues recently asked a group of music history students to name two early medieval composers of the Notre Dame school. One clever student answered: "Leonin and Penetron."

I'm sure Perotin may have been flattered (and maybe that was his nickname), but if that's not funny, I don't know what is.

The Tonal World

Hello Ladies and Gents,

So, the semester is wearing on....next week is week 5 for us! I hope you are all continuing to feel strong and inspired!

Now, here's my little game for this week -- you've all had some experience with one of my favorite Ottman examples, #12.33....it's not that it's the best melody in world history, nor is it the coolest harmonic progression I've ever heard, but it is a good basis for all kinds of exercises.

Rising Level 2's

Day 1: Sing through 12.33 and (if you haven't already) label the chords implied by the last four measures in Roman numerals...ignore inversions for now.

Day 2: Find an example to sing or analyze from either Music for Analysis or Ottman in the key of IV, relative to the key of 12.33.

Day 3: Find an example to sing or analyze in the key of iii (we're skipping vii, natch...).

Day 4: Find an example to sing or analyze in the key of vi.

Day 5: Find an example to sing in the key of ii.

Day 6: Find an example to sing in the key of V.

Rising Level 3's

Day 1: Sing through 12.33...memorize or re-memorize the last 4 measures. Sing them in letter names.

Day 2: Sing the last 4 measures in solfege again, then transpose to the key of IV and sing in letter names. Then, select an example to sing from Ottman that is in the dominant of that key (so, the key that is the V of IV....F was the original key, you went to the key of IV, and now you're going to the V of that...bringing you back home to F)

Day 3: Sing the last 4 measures of 12.33 in solfege, and now transpose them to the key of III (A Major....just so you don't have to mess with switching from minor to major). Then, find an example to sing that is in the V of that key.

Day 4: Transpose the last 4 bars of 12.33 to the key of VI. Then, find an example to sing that is in the V of that key.

Day 5: Transpose the last 4 bars of 12.33 to the key of II. Then, find an example to sing that is in the V of that key.

Day 6: Transpose the last 4 bars of 12.33 to the key of V. Then, find an example to sing that is in the V of that key.

Rising Level 4's

Day 1: Write out the progression for the last four measures of 12.33 in the key given, and play it on the piano (or guitar, if you prefer...I would recommend duplicating the voice leading and inversions used in the example for the right hand and playing the root of the chord with your left hand)

Day 2: Play the progression in the key of IV

Day 3: Write out the progression in the key of vi and play it (using the same numerals, but changing the qualities as appropriate for minor vs. major). Does the progression sound as good in minor as in major? If you'd like to change a chord or two to be more to your liking, you may.

Day 4: Play the progression in the key of ii.

Day 5: Play the progression in the key of iii.

Day 6: Play the progression in the key of V.

Extra fun: improvise your own melody over the harmonic progression....go nuts!

So, these little exercises will quickly take you through a lot of keys and force you to think in 5ths and in absolute note names....which is hard at first, but will absolutely make it easier to think in one key. Enjoy!