Hello! So the aim of my seventh workshop in my schools listening project was to introduce the pupils to the sounds of the clarinet. I was working with a friend of mine, the clarinetist Fran Pybus. As always, I delivered a workshop on Tuesday at Dalry Primary and Wednesday at Preston Street Primary.
Fran began by playing a piece on her clarinet to introduce the pupils to the sound. In every group the pupils sat very still and with focused attention. They really fell under the spell of the beautiful tone of the instrument. In contrast to the beautifully melodic Romance that Fran played, I then asked her to play an improvisation exploring some of the stranger sounds that can be produced by a clarinet. We heard trills in various registers, glissandi (slides) in the highest register which sounded like shrieks, overblowing (literally when Fran blows too much air through the instrument and achieves a multiphonic, intense sound), slap tonguing (which produces a percussive sound) and key slapping. These odd sounds were all very intriguing and the pupils enjoyed reacting to each new sound. We then explored some of these sounds in more detail and the pupils used their sound diaries to describe individual sounds.
We then had a discussion about proximity and what effect this can have on the listening experience. Even before exploring it in more detail most kids were able to realise that being in close proximity to an instrument would affect the volume and tone of the sound. We then conducted some experiments to explore this:
1. Fran played a crescendo and diminuendo (got louder and quieter) on a fixed pitch
2. Fran played a fixed pitch, fixed volume and walked past us
3. Fran played a fixed pitch, fixed volume as we walked past her.
It was interesting to note that at Preston Street primary it was easier to hear differences in volume in these last two experiments than at Dalry.
We then tried some of the following (some of which were suggested by pupils):
1. Fran played a fixed pitch, fixed volume whilst turning around on the spot
2. Fran played a fixed pitch, fixed volume whilst turning around on the spot and with one pupil turning around at the same time. (result - a changing volume for most of the audience, a fixed volume for the individual pupil)
3. Fran played a fixed pitch, fixed volume whilst one pupil placed their hand against the bell of her instrument (result - a drop in volume and a slight lowering of pitch when the hand covered the hole)
4. Fran played a fixed pitch, fixed volume whilst standing outside the classroom
5. Fran played a fixed pitch, fixed volume whilst the class stood outside the classroom and Fran was inside.
6. Fran played a fixed pitch, fixed volume whilst spinning the bell of her clarinet in a circle (result - a surprising siren-like effect)
7. Fran standing on the opposite side of the room, playing a fixed pitch. She played a diminuendo as she walked towards us (result - the volume remained fairly constant but the tone changed)
Fran then played us a short improvisation on her bass clarinet. Some pupils thought it was a saxophone due to its shape. They all enjoyed listening to how deep the instrument could go.
The last thing we tried was to create a group composition exploring proximity. The class decided on four "performance situations" where they had to pick where Fran performed, where the class were, and what Fran was to play. This exercise was quite good fun but was slightly chaotic. The groups explored such things as: fanfares (with the pupils marching around the room), angry music with trills and squeaks, pupils walking around Fran in a circle.
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
Friday, 5 March 2010
Workshop 6 - Percussion
I was really looking forward to the schools workshops this week as I was working with percussionist Adam Clifford. I knew that the children would really enjoy listening to some percussion as there is something very immediate and powerful about the act of hitting a drum that children respond to positively.
Adam brought a range of instruments with him for the children to hear. These included: a snare drum, a suspended cymbal, a tambourine, a guiro (scraper), an old chain, a squeaky dog toy, some bells, two differently sized metal hoops, an old scrubbing brush, and a range of various sticks and beaters.
As an introduction he played the groups a short piece on snare drum called Hugh's Chilled Red by Alan Emslie. This piece covers a full specturm of possible snare drum sounds ranging from very quiet to extremely loud. The kids all really enjoyed the contrasts in the piece and there were some unexpected jumps from some kids at the louder moments - one girl at Dalry actually threw her sound diary into the air with fright at the first really loud roll! The piece was always followed by enthusiastic applause. Adam then explored the different sounds that were involved in the piece.
We then had an opportunity to listen to some more percussion sounds. These were improvised pieces and Adam carefully considered some very interesting sound worlds. There were giggles from the kids when they heard things like the dog toy or the chain being dropped on the floor. At Preston Street there was an audible gasp from the kids when Adam picked up a bass bow - as he drew this against the edge of the suspended cymbal, producing eery shrieks, many kids shivered or covered their ears. The range of sounds that the participants were exposed to in these short pieces was really exciting and they all loved it. We had a discussion about the difference between pitched and unpitched percussion, with Adam demonstrating that a xylophone could be played using four beaters to produce many notes at once.
We then played some short rhythmic games. Firstly, we sat in a circle and passed a clap around the circle. We tried to do this as quickly as possible. We then did the same thing but attempted to clap individually to a steady pulse. The group found this quite tricky. Adam discussed how important it is as a percussionist to be able to hold a steady beat and that this task can seem deceptively simple.
We then moved on to a more abstract idea. I asked the children to tell me a short story. I explained that this was to be quite brief and we would break it into 5 or 6 main parts. These parts would then be translated into percussive sounds by the group and Adam to tell a sound story. The stories for each group were really different:
Dalry, Group 1
I got up out of bed
I went to the toilet to brush my teeth
I heard my sister crying
I go and see her and she stops crying
I fell down the stairs and landed in the swimming pool
So I got the day off school.
Dalry, Group 2
It was a dark and scary night
I heard screaming
I looked round the corner and saw a shadow
It was a zombie and it bit Ross
Then the zombie's mum called the zombie in for dinner
I woke up. It was all a nightmare.
Preston Street, Group 1
The mangoes and the bananas had a fight
A steak and gammon joined in to marry each other
Then the coca cola exploded
Meanwhile the steak accidentally peels the banana
So the mango had revenge by eating the steak.
Preston Street, Group 2
Once upon a time in a great castle there lived a king and a queen called King James and Queen Mary.
Also there is a secret panel
In the secret panel there is a golden dragon
There is a prince called Prince Jaffyburg
The prince opened the secret panel and the dragon attacked him
The prince died.
As you can imagine, these wildly different stories brought out a range of percussive ideas and sounds from the groups. They all had great fun composing these short sound stories.
The final task of the day was to stand in a circle and attempt to clap at exactly the same time as each other. This is often used by arts workshop practictioners to focus attention in groups. I was keen to do this task for this reason (so they went back to class a little less exciteable) but also so that we could discuss how it feels in that mioment before the unison clap. When it worked successfully the group said that they had felt tense, nervous, had sore hands (from the last clap), excited, calm. I'm really interested in these moments between sounds; after we've listened to a piece of music or sound and we are digesting it, and before we listen to the next piece of music or sound and are anticipating it. I will explore music which explores this concept with the groups in the last session.
Adam brought a range of instruments with him for the children to hear. These included: a snare drum, a suspended cymbal, a tambourine, a guiro (scraper), an old chain, a squeaky dog toy, some bells, two differently sized metal hoops, an old scrubbing brush, and a range of various sticks and beaters.
As an introduction he played the groups a short piece on snare drum called Hugh's Chilled Red by Alan Emslie. This piece covers a full specturm of possible snare drum sounds ranging from very quiet to extremely loud. The kids all really enjoyed the contrasts in the piece and there were some unexpected jumps from some kids at the louder moments - one girl at Dalry actually threw her sound diary into the air with fright at the first really loud roll! The piece was always followed by enthusiastic applause. Adam then explored the different sounds that were involved in the piece.
We then had an opportunity to listen to some more percussion sounds. These were improvised pieces and Adam carefully considered some very interesting sound worlds. There were giggles from the kids when they heard things like the dog toy or the chain being dropped on the floor. At Preston Street there was an audible gasp from the kids when Adam picked up a bass bow - as he drew this against the edge of the suspended cymbal, producing eery shrieks, many kids shivered or covered their ears. The range of sounds that the participants were exposed to in these short pieces was really exciting and they all loved it. We had a discussion about the difference between pitched and unpitched percussion, with Adam demonstrating that a xylophone could be played using four beaters to produce many notes at once.
We then played some short rhythmic games. Firstly, we sat in a circle and passed a clap around the circle. We tried to do this as quickly as possible. We then did the same thing but attempted to clap individually to a steady pulse. The group found this quite tricky. Adam discussed how important it is as a percussionist to be able to hold a steady beat and that this task can seem deceptively simple.
We then moved on to a more abstract idea. I asked the children to tell me a short story. I explained that this was to be quite brief and we would break it into 5 or 6 main parts. These parts would then be translated into percussive sounds by the group and Adam to tell a sound story. The stories for each group were really different:
Dalry, Group 1
I got up out of bed
I went to the toilet to brush my teeth
I heard my sister crying
I go and see her and she stops crying
I fell down the stairs and landed in the swimming pool
So I got the day off school.
Dalry, Group 2
It was a dark and scary night
I heard screaming
I looked round the corner and saw a shadow
It was a zombie and it bit Ross
Then the zombie's mum called the zombie in for dinner
I woke up. It was all a nightmare.
Preston Street, Group 1
The mangoes and the bananas had a fight
A steak and gammon joined in to marry each other
Then the coca cola exploded
Meanwhile the steak accidentally peels the banana
So the mango had revenge by eating the steak.
Preston Street, Group 2
Once upon a time in a great castle there lived a king and a queen called King James and Queen Mary.
Also there is a secret panel
In the secret panel there is a golden dragon
There is a prince called Prince Jaffyburg
The prince opened the secret panel and the dragon attacked him
The prince died.
As you can imagine, these wildly different stories brought out a range of percussive ideas and sounds from the groups. They all had great fun composing these short sound stories.
The final task of the day was to stand in a circle and attempt to clap at exactly the same time as each other. This is often used by arts workshop practictioners to focus attention in groups. I was keen to do this task for this reason (so they went back to class a little less exciteable) but also so that we could discuss how it feels in that mioment before the unison clap. When it worked successfully the group said that they had felt tense, nervous, had sore hands (from the last clap), excited, calm. I'm really interested in these moments between sounds; after we've listened to a piece of music or sound and we are digesting it, and before we listen to the next piece of music or sound and are anticipating it. I will explore music which explores this concept with the groups in the last session.
Workshop 5 - Sampling
In the second block of music listening workshops that I'm doing in schools I started working with a new Edinburgh primary - Dalry. This school has replaced Pirniehall. Preston Street will continue as the school on Wednesdays. The idea behind this structure is for me to guage the level of perception and understanding of the partcipants at Preston Street (who have already had 4 weeks of workshops) against the thoughts of the children at Dalry (who are just starting).
The first workshop back was all about sampling. We listened to music which sampled other pieces of music or sounds to create something new. I knew this would be an interesting way to start off some conversations with the groups as sampling calls into question the issue of identity and authorship in music. I was looking forward to asking questions about originality and what consitutes as a musical sound.
The first piece that we listened to was New Process by the Canadian dj Akufen. This is a short track that is comprised almost entirely out of very short snippets of samples from other pieces of music and sounds. The tiny fragments of found sound are spliced together to form a jumpy, edgy soundworld that is at once very danceable and also slightly unnerving due to the tiny pieces of familiarity. I asked the participants to listen out for how many samples they thought were used in the piece. In truth, I didn't know the answer to this but the children all agreeed that were lots! Overall the piece was very popular and one boy at Preston Street even asked me to write down the name of the artist so he could go and listen to more of his music. A great result!
We then listened to excerpts form two differnet tracks back to back. The first was Jimmy by the British female rapper M.I.A. The second was a Bollywood track called Jimmy Jimmy Jimmy by Parvati Khan. The M.I.A. track samples the whole of the Parvati Khan track whilst adding new vocals and lyrics, and altering the beats. The result is two tracks which sound very similar but are, in my mind at least, entirely different. The kids were all dancing about to the M.I.A. track but when the Parvati Khan track came on there were lots of quizzical looks and mutterings of, "this is the same piece of music". Afterwards I explianed the differences in composition and we discussed what effect this has on the piece. I also explained that the M.I.A. track uses an Indian piece of music to colour lyrics about civil war in Rwanda and that, by so doing, the artist makes a political comment about the world being smaller than we think. This was quite a serious discussion and the children at Preston Street were more equipped to involve themselves in it than the kids at Dalry.
A drawing task was next up and this week I asked them to draw whilst listening to a nine minuite piece of sound art called 57A by Bernhard Gal. This piece is comprised entirely from samples taken from the tram of the title. Slowly patterns begin to emerge out of the field recordings as the artist creates rhythms through layering and juxtaposition. He also uses filters to process some of the sounds and this gave rise to some very interesting results in the children's drawings. The processing turns the voice of the tram's tannoy system into something very robotic or alien. At both schools this resulted in drawings which fused the literal (most children drew trains) with the fantastical (some children added talking robots, UFOs and aliens).
The final piece we listened to this week was the first movement of Cantus Arcticus by Einojuhani Rautavaarra. This orchestral piece is often referred to as the Concerto for Birds and indeed is comprised of beautiful, soporific orchestral writing and samples of various birds calling and in flight. It is a mesmerising, haunting piece. The children at Dalry struggled with it. I think by this point they were quite tired and the piece was too tranquil; they wanted to continue to dance to music similar to the first pieces. The children at Preston Street however all really enjoyed it.
The first workshop back was all about sampling. We listened to music which sampled other pieces of music or sounds to create something new. I knew this would be an interesting way to start off some conversations with the groups as sampling calls into question the issue of identity and authorship in music. I was looking forward to asking questions about originality and what consitutes as a musical sound.
The first piece that we listened to was New Process by the Canadian dj Akufen. This is a short track that is comprised almost entirely out of very short snippets of samples from other pieces of music and sounds. The tiny fragments of found sound are spliced together to form a jumpy, edgy soundworld that is at once very danceable and also slightly unnerving due to the tiny pieces of familiarity. I asked the participants to listen out for how many samples they thought were used in the piece. In truth, I didn't know the answer to this but the children all agreeed that were lots! Overall the piece was very popular and one boy at Preston Street even asked me to write down the name of the artist so he could go and listen to more of his music. A great result!
We then listened to excerpts form two differnet tracks back to back. The first was Jimmy by the British female rapper M.I.A. The second was a Bollywood track called Jimmy Jimmy Jimmy by Parvati Khan. The M.I.A. track samples the whole of the Parvati Khan track whilst adding new vocals and lyrics, and altering the beats. The result is two tracks which sound very similar but are, in my mind at least, entirely different. The kids were all dancing about to the M.I.A. track but when the Parvati Khan track came on there were lots of quizzical looks and mutterings of, "this is the same piece of music". Afterwards I explianed the differences in composition and we discussed what effect this has on the piece. I also explained that the M.I.A. track uses an Indian piece of music to colour lyrics about civil war in Rwanda and that, by so doing, the artist makes a political comment about the world being smaller than we think. This was quite a serious discussion and the children at Preston Street were more equipped to involve themselves in it than the kids at Dalry.
A drawing task was next up and this week I asked them to draw whilst listening to a nine minuite piece of sound art called 57A by Bernhard Gal. This piece is comprised entirely from samples taken from the tram of the title. Slowly patterns begin to emerge out of the field recordings as the artist creates rhythms through layering and juxtaposition. He also uses filters to process some of the sounds and this gave rise to some very interesting results in the children's drawings. The processing turns the voice of the tram's tannoy system into something very robotic or alien. At both schools this resulted in drawings which fused the literal (most children drew trains) with the fantastical (some children added talking robots, UFOs and aliens).
The final piece we listened to this week was the first movement of Cantus Arcticus by Einojuhani Rautavaarra. This orchestral piece is often referred to as the Concerto for Birds and indeed is comprised of beautiful, soporific orchestral writing and samples of various birds calling and in flight. It is a mesmerising, haunting piece. The children at Dalry struggled with it. I think by this point they were quite tired and the piece was too tranquil; they wanted to continue to dance to music similar to the first pieces. The children at Preston Street however all really enjoyed it.
Monday, 22 February 2010
Monday, 15 February 2010
Panoptikum
Just got back from the Panoptikum festival in Nuremberg, Germany. I had the opportunity to attend this children's theatre festival along with Tony and Tessa from Imaginate and Andy Manley, associate artist with Imaginate.
It was a really great experience and so useful to see so much international work for children. Of course, not all of it is going to be everyone's cup of tea but there were enough moments of real magic to make the experience a great success. The festival spans a week and uses the three dedicated children's theatres in Nuremberg plus a couple of other venues. It's fantastic to think of one city having so many venues (each with their own in-house company) dedicated to making work for children. If nothing else, it was great to see such enthusiasm for making work for young people.
We saw about 4 shows each day we were there and there are a few which really stand out for me. First up was Gruppe 38 from Denmark. They presented their absolutely hilarious show A Sonatina, which I'd seen before at the Imaginate festival about 6 years ago, but it was fun to see it again. The show tells the story of Red Riding Hood, with the heroine played by an egg (freshly laid by a real on-stage chicken who steals the show!). The grandmother is played by a potato and the big bad wolf is played by a potato ricer so I'm sure you can imagine what happens to grandma! The show is a really witty, lively take on a familiar story with lovely live music.
I also really loved the new show by Danish company Carte Blanche. It was called Shadow of Time and told the story of a woman who looks at the timeline of her own life. It's not really narrative-driven, rather an exploration of what it is to be born, to age, and to die. It's told in an incredibly beautiful visual style which the children in the audience lapped up. At times you wonder exactly how the visual trickery is being performed but it's lovely just to wallow in the beauty rather than try to unpick the technical mastery.
The Terrific Adventures of Brave Joan Woodsword was great fun. It was presented by Theater Mumpitz, one of the local companies in Nuremberg and it's also coming to our festival in May. It's a really fast-paced story about a young girl who stands up to her school bullies and borrows heavily from the story of Joan of Arc. It's really silly, over-the-top and good fun but has a strong moral message throughout which I think will go down really well with Scottish kids.
The last show we saw was the terrific Run by Kopergietery. This is one of my favourite companies in the world and it was a real pleasure to finally get to see this show as I'd heard so much about it. The piece is performed by 23 males, aged from 7 to late 30s. The simple premise is that these men are all caught up in a game/ritual/torture of endlessly marching up and down the stage. This image goes on for at least 10 minutes before finally individuals begin to break out of ranks, either stopping and staring at the audience questioningly or falling where they stand. The lines slowly dissolve into chaos with scenes of real violence juxtaposed with moments of heart-stopping beauty. In one particularly moving section individuals begin to slowly fall to the floor with exhaustion as one performer runs throughout the crowd to try to prevent them from falling. His efforts are of course more or less wasted as the job consumes him and exhaustion fills the room.
It was absolutely freezing and snowed the entire time we were there. However, it's a really interesting city to explore no matter what the temperature. I was fascinated when we visited the Nazi party rally grounds. The scale of the place is hard to fathom, even when you're standing in the middle of the huge coliseum that was built for the Fuhrer to address the crowds of hundreds of thousands or when standing in the now empty and desolate Zeppelin field. The adjoining museum puts it all into context in a chilling exhibition that stands as a testament to this city's gruesome past.
It was a really great experience and so useful to see so much international work for children. Of course, not all of it is going to be everyone's cup of tea but there were enough moments of real magic to make the experience a great success. The festival spans a week and uses the three dedicated children's theatres in Nuremberg plus a couple of other venues. It's fantastic to think of one city having so many venues (each with their own in-house company) dedicated to making work for children. If nothing else, it was great to see such enthusiasm for making work for young people.
We saw about 4 shows each day we were there and there are a few which really stand out for me. First up was Gruppe 38 from Denmark. They presented their absolutely hilarious show A Sonatina, which I'd seen before at the Imaginate festival about 6 years ago, but it was fun to see it again. The show tells the story of Red Riding Hood, with the heroine played by an egg (freshly laid by a real on-stage chicken who steals the show!). The grandmother is played by a potato and the big bad wolf is played by a potato ricer so I'm sure you can imagine what happens to grandma! The show is a really witty, lively take on a familiar story with lovely live music.
I also really loved the new show by Danish company Carte Blanche. It was called Shadow of Time and told the story of a woman who looks at the timeline of her own life. It's not really narrative-driven, rather an exploration of what it is to be born, to age, and to die. It's told in an incredibly beautiful visual style which the children in the audience lapped up. At times you wonder exactly how the visual trickery is being performed but it's lovely just to wallow in the beauty rather than try to unpick the technical mastery.
The Terrific Adventures of Brave Joan Woodsword was great fun. It was presented by Theater Mumpitz, one of the local companies in Nuremberg and it's also coming to our festival in May. It's a really fast-paced story about a young girl who stands up to her school bullies and borrows heavily from the story of Joan of Arc. It's really silly, over-the-top and good fun but has a strong moral message throughout which I think will go down really well with Scottish kids.
The last show we saw was the terrific Run by Kopergietery. This is one of my favourite companies in the world and it was a real pleasure to finally get to see this show as I'd heard so much about it. The piece is performed by 23 males, aged from 7 to late 30s. The simple premise is that these men are all caught up in a game/ritual/torture of endlessly marching up and down the stage. This image goes on for at least 10 minutes before finally individuals begin to break out of ranks, either stopping and staring at the audience questioningly or falling where they stand. The lines slowly dissolve into chaos with scenes of real violence juxtaposed with moments of heart-stopping beauty. In one particularly moving section individuals begin to slowly fall to the floor with exhaustion as one performer runs throughout the crowd to try to prevent them from falling. His efforts are of course more or less wasted as the job consumes him and exhaustion fills the room.
It was absolutely freezing and snowed the entire time we were there. However, it's a really interesting city to explore no matter what the temperature. I was fascinated when we visited the Nazi party rally grounds. The scale of the place is hard to fathom, even when you're standing in the middle of the huge coliseum that was built for the Fuhrer to address the crowds of hundreds of thousands or when standing in the now empty and desolate Zeppelin field. The adjoining museum puts it all into context in a chilling exhibition that stands as a testament to this city's gruesome past.
Monday, 8 February 2010
Repetition workshop
The fourth workshop was to be the last in the first block. This meant that it was the last session for the pupils at Pirniehall (in block 2 I will continue to work with Preston Street, but will begin workshops at Dalry Primary). This workshop was to allow the pupils to explore music that uses repetition as a main feature. We began by discussing examples of repetition in music and sound. Some very clever examples were offered by the pupils such as: a chorus of a song, an echo, a parrot, parents shouting! and the song Shut Up And Drive by Rihanna.
The first piece of music I played was called Bare Cairo by Harrapian Night Recordings. I asked the group to listen out for what it is that repeats in this piece of music, and what else happens musically. This piece of music is built entirely on a short melodic phrase which loops throughout the entire piece. It has a distinctive Middle Eastern or Northern African sound and this was noted by several pupils. Interestingly, some children in both schools responded by dancing with their hands above their heads. Something in the music obviously reminded the pupils of this style of dancing and they enjoyed the freedom of being able to explore the sounds through movement. All the children noticed the repetition of the melodic fragment and one boy at Preston Street was happy so sing it for me. Other examples of repetition in the piece were found to be the drums and the improvised sound on an unidentified instrument. When I fist listened to this piece of music I did not consider this solo to use repetition - it is an odd melodic line that explores sonic qualities often on one note. It is a shrieking, dangerous sounding melody that caused many of the children to cover their ears. The children who considered this to be repetitive did so, I think, because of the consistency of the sound.
The next piece of music that we listened to was called Boat-Woman-Song by Holger Czukay and Rolf Dammers. This piece of music works in a similar way: there is a simple melodic fragment which loops throughout with a wavering melodic line on top sung by a woman. The piece is more complex than the first. It has an introduction of about 30 seconds of the loop before the woman enters, the melodic line of the woman is chopped up and layered, often overlapping and forming dissonances with itself, the piece progresses in this way before a choir of children enter near the end with some final new melodic material on the close that sounds like it is a guitar-like instrument. I asked the children to draw as they listened to this piece (and not to begin until they heard the woman's voice). All pupils began laughing when they heard the woman's voice but, as with the trombone workshop, quickly stopped laughing as they set about their drawings. Some interesting results from this exercise were: a drawing of a bee, a black spider web-like image with the word "woosh" written again and again around it, and lots of images of babies crying (the woman's voice seemed to conjure up this image). Unfortunately at Pirniehall one boy sat without drawing. When I quietly told him that it was ok if he could not think of anything to draw he began to cry. I think he felt a peer pressure to do as his classmates were doing. I told him that it was better for him to simply listen than to force some form of creative response.
The third piece of music was by a Scottish composer called Ross Campbell called Father We Thank You Again. This has been the most fascinating piece of music that we have listened to so far. The piece is constructed from repeated fragments of speech. The text of the title is spoken by an American man at various intervals throughout the piece. There are other fragments of text which appear again and again. The texts are played at highly contrasting dynamics, from quiet whispers to loud blares. It creates an interesting effect of layering. In the background to the text are a processed piano, a woman's voice and some synthesized sounds. However these are played as lesser important components in the piece. I asked the children what they considered to be the repetition of the piece. All stated the text. However, what followed (in both schools) was a fascinating discussion on whether this could be classified as "music". Almost every participant considered this to NOT be music. Some reasons cited for this were that there was no beat, it was only voices, and that the voices were overpowering the actual music i.e. the piano, sung voice and synthesizer. One final observation about this piece was the effect it had on one boy at Pirniehall. He began crying and when I spoke to him out of the classroom he said that this was because it had reminded him of the recent death of his grandfather. I apologised to him for selecting music which had had such an effect and asked if he would like to go back to class, which he did. This incident, while distressing for all, was fascinating to highlight the power of music on the individual. This piece of music which is quite dry, extremely challenging and considered not to be music by most of the participants had an overwhelming emotional effect on one boy.
The final piece of music that we listened to was the 2nd movement of the violin concerto by Philip Glass. The music is typical of Glass - very simple looping melodies, beautiful to listen to and quite familiar in a filmic way. I asked the class to lie down and close their eyes as they listened, hoping that this would enable a meditative quality of listening. The piece is quite long - almost 9 minutes - and, perhaps inevitably, some of the pupils struggled to lie still for such a long period. However the comments from the group at the end seemed to suggest some good listening from those who had persevered - the music was described as sad, tiring, calm, and tiptoeing.
The first piece of music I played was called Bare Cairo by Harrapian Night Recordings. I asked the group to listen out for what it is that repeats in this piece of music, and what else happens musically. This piece of music is built entirely on a short melodic phrase which loops throughout the entire piece. It has a distinctive Middle Eastern or Northern African sound and this was noted by several pupils. Interestingly, some children in both schools responded by dancing with their hands above their heads. Something in the music obviously reminded the pupils of this style of dancing and they enjoyed the freedom of being able to explore the sounds through movement. All the children noticed the repetition of the melodic fragment and one boy at Preston Street was happy so sing it for me. Other examples of repetition in the piece were found to be the drums and the improvised sound on an unidentified instrument. When I fist listened to this piece of music I did not consider this solo to use repetition - it is an odd melodic line that explores sonic qualities often on one note. It is a shrieking, dangerous sounding melody that caused many of the children to cover their ears. The children who considered this to be repetitive did so, I think, because of the consistency of the sound.
The next piece of music that we listened to was called Boat-Woman-Song by Holger Czukay and Rolf Dammers. This piece of music works in a similar way: there is a simple melodic fragment which loops throughout with a wavering melodic line on top sung by a woman. The piece is more complex than the first. It has an introduction of about 30 seconds of the loop before the woman enters, the melodic line of the woman is chopped up and layered, often overlapping and forming dissonances with itself, the piece progresses in this way before a choir of children enter near the end with some final new melodic material on the close that sounds like it is a guitar-like instrument. I asked the children to draw as they listened to this piece (and not to begin until they heard the woman's voice). All pupils began laughing when they heard the woman's voice but, as with the trombone workshop, quickly stopped laughing as they set about their drawings. Some interesting results from this exercise were: a drawing of a bee, a black spider web-like image with the word "woosh" written again and again around it, and lots of images of babies crying (the woman's voice seemed to conjure up this image). Unfortunately at Pirniehall one boy sat without drawing. When I quietly told him that it was ok if he could not think of anything to draw he began to cry. I think he felt a peer pressure to do as his classmates were doing. I told him that it was better for him to simply listen than to force some form of creative response.
The third piece of music was by a Scottish composer called Ross Campbell called Father We Thank You Again. This has been the most fascinating piece of music that we have listened to so far. The piece is constructed from repeated fragments of speech. The text of the title is spoken by an American man at various intervals throughout the piece. There are other fragments of text which appear again and again. The texts are played at highly contrasting dynamics, from quiet whispers to loud blares. It creates an interesting effect of layering. In the background to the text are a processed piano, a woman's voice and some synthesized sounds. However these are played as lesser important components in the piece. I asked the children what they considered to be the repetition of the piece. All stated the text. However, what followed (in both schools) was a fascinating discussion on whether this could be classified as "music". Almost every participant considered this to NOT be music. Some reasons cited for this were that there was no beat, it was only voices, and that the voices were overpowering the actual music i.e. the piano, sung voice and synthesizer. One final observation about this piece was the effect it had on one boy at Pirniehall. He began crying and when I spoke to him out of the classroom he said that this was because it had reminded him of the recent death of his grandfather. I apologised to him for selecting music which had had such an effect and asked if he would like to go back to class, which he did. This incident, while distressing for all, was fascinating to highlight the power of music on the individual. This piece of music which is quite dry, extremely challenging and considered not to be music by most of the participants had an overwhelming emotional effect on one boy.
The final piece of music that we listened to was the 2nd movement of the violin concerto by Philip Glass. The music is typical of Glass - very simple looping melodies, beautiful to listen to and quite familiar in a filmic way. I asked the class to lie down and close their eyes as they listened, hoping that this would enable a meditative quality of listening. The piece is quite long - almost 9 minutes - and, perhaps inevitably, some of the pupils struggled to lie still for such a long period. However the comments from the group at the end seemed to suggest some good listening from those who had persevered - the music was described as sad, tiring, calm, and tiptoeing.
Trombone workshop
The third of my schools listening project workshops focused on the trombone. I was fortunate to be able to bring my trombonist friend, George Murray, into the workshops with me. I think the pupils were impressed simply by George having a trombone, so having the opportunity to listen to one in their own classroom was a real treat!
I wanted to use this workshop to allow the children to consider improvisation. George is an experienced improviser, in both jazz and experimental ways. We began the workshop by listening to George play a short piece by Duke Ellington, In A Sentimental Mood. The kids listened in complete silence and were very still throughout. Afterwards they all clapped enthusiastically. I then asked George if he could play a short excerpt form this piece and the children used their sound diaries to describe the music. They could draw or write, think about colours or images or emotions. Some examples of things that were drawn are: a lonely girl on a street and some green grass. I then asked George if he could play the same excerpt using his mute. Of course, this altered the volume and the tone of the music and the kids were able to describe how the mute works and that it's similar to the mute on a tv. Some children giggled when they heard the sound at first. What is interesting is that if the children hear something which initially makes them laugh, they seem to get over their laughter when they have a task to complete, such as using their sound diaries.
I then asked George if he could play another piece of music. George and I had agreed in advance that this would be an improvised melodic piece but we did not tell the participants that it was improvised. Afterwards I began by asking if the piece was familiar to anyone. Several pupils thought they recognized it. I explained that it was improvised; that George was "making it up as he goes along". I think they were impressed that George could do this so successfully. One pupil at Pirniehall very cleverly pointed out that the improvised piece of music probably sounded familiar because George was borrowing little ideas from other pieces of music and stringing them together to make a new piece - very astute.
George then played a third piece for the group. This was again improvised and utilised various experimental techniques such as overblowing, tremolo, and singing whilst playing to achieve two notes at once. The kids listened well and found some techniques quite amusing. There is growing confidence amongst the pupils to express their opinions through movement and this was a prime example as some pupils responded to the music by gyrating and shaking their heads. Some thoughts on the piece afterwards were that it sounded like a man being chased by bees after stealing their honey, and it sounded like an accordion.
The final task of the workshop was to create a group improvisation piece. This was inspired by the Berio Oboe Sequenza that we listened to in the first week. In that recording the oboist is accompanied by a drone B natural sung by three female vocalists. I explained that I wanted the group to form a B natural drone as George improvised on top. The pupils chose instruments to produce this B natural. We had recorders, guitars, xylophones and glockenspiels, piano and singing. Interestingly, at Pirniehall only one girl wanted to sing while at Preston Street singing was quite a popular choice. We also discovered in the first group at Pirniehall that we could not have too many recorders as it was too loud and also quite tricky to maintain just one tone on that many recorders! In the first session I asked the group to adjust their volume accordingly based on the volume of the trombone. However, we quickly discovered that the pupils required more controls than this so I quickly stepped in to conduct the piece.
I wanted to use this workshop to allow the children to consider improvisation. George is an experienced improviser, in both jazz and experimental ways. We began the workshop by listening to George play a short piece by Duke Ellington, In A Sentimental Mood. The kids listened in complete silence and were very still throughout. Afterwards they all clapped enthusiastically. I then asked George if he could play a short excerpt form this piece and the children used their sound diaries to describe the music. They could draw or write, think about colours or images or emotions. Some examples of things that were drawn are: a lonely girl on a street and some green grass. I then asked George if he could play the same excerpt using his mute. Of course, this altered the volume and the tone of the music and the kids were able to describe how the mute works and that it's similar to the mute on a tv. Some children giggled when they heard the sound at first. What is interesting is that if the children hear something which initially makes them laugh, they seem to get over their laughter when they have a task to complete, such as using their sound diaries.
I then asked George if he could play another piece of music. George and I had agreed in advance that this would be an improvised melodic piece but we did not tell the participants that it was improvised. Afterwards I began by asking if the piece was familiar to anyone. Several pupils thought they recognized it. I explained that it was improvised; that George was "making it up as he goes along". I think they were impressed that George could do this so successfully. One pupil at Pirniehall very cleverly pointed out that the improvised piece of music probably sounded familiar because George was borrowing little ideas from other pieces of music and stringing them together to make a new piece - very astute.
George then played a third piece for the group. This was again improvised and utilised various experimental techniques such as overblowing, tremolo, and singing whilst playing to achieve two notes at once. The kids listened well and found some techniques quite amusing. There is growing confidence amongst the pupils to express their opinions through movement and this was a prime example as some pupils responded to the music by gyrating and shaking their heads. Some thoughts on the piece afterwards were that it sounded like a man being chased by bees after stealing their honey, and it sounded like an accordion.
The final task of the workshop was to create a group improvisation piece. This was inspired by the Berio Oboe Sequenza that we listened to in the first week. In that recording the oboist is accompanied by a drone B natural sung by three female vocalists. I explained that I wanted the group to form a B natural drone as George improvised on top. The pupils chose instruments to produce this B natural. We had recorders, guitars, xylophones and glockenspiels, piano and singing. Interestingly, at Pirniehall only one girl wanted to sing while at Preston Street singing was quite a popular choice. We also discovered in the first group at Pirniehall that we could not have too many recorders as it was too loud and also quite tricky to maintain just one tone on that many recorders! In the first session I asked the group to adjust their volume accordingly based on the volume of the trombone. However, we quickly discovered that the pupils required more controls than this so I quickly stepped in to conduct the piece.
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