With vacation almost over, I am starting to think about students again. Today I started arranging a piece for Vista Orchestra based on the Hungarian Folk Song from the Carol Roberts DVD. We might want to use the melody for the May concert with the beginners, and this would be a good way to introduce it to the Vista beginners. I love the dorian mode!
I also did some serious lesson planning for the 1st-3rd graders which will take me through the end of January. I like to plan out chunks of a month at a time to see where I’m going.
Maybe tomorrow I will get back to my motific melody.
Yesterday I met Sarah Wallin Huff. She not only teaches violin at the Claremont Community School of Music, but also just finished her master’s degree in music composition from CGU. She gave me two of her CDs of music and we are getting together on Friday to talk composition. I am stoked!
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Orffing
Still trying to write a melody from two motifs, I am listening to Druid Fluid from Appalachia Waltz. I like the low part at the beginning which gives me ideas for how to use my motifs in an extended melody.
Today I went to an In-house Orff workshop of my own devising. I rented some videos from the American Orff Schulwerk Association. 5 music teachers gathered to watch and share teaching ideas.
The first video we watched was a workshop by Avon Gillespie. By taking very simple pulse and beat rhythms, he worked the crowd first with clapping and other body percussion, then through found sounds (keys, shoes, pencils, etc), then with unpitched percussion.
The second part of the video showed an inspired rendition of Are You Sleeping? using a variety of meters as well as switching into minor (ala Mahler). I would love to write a piece for elementary string orchestra using some of those meters, and incorporating other instruments. Think of the open string borduns / drones. Think of the major/minor possibilities.
The second video was a presentation by Carol Roberts, an Australian teacher. She took a piece from the Orff Volumes and manipulated it in a variety of ways. The Hungarian Folk song is so enchanting that Pat and I want our beginning strings to learn it for the spring concert, using F and C naturals.
Today I went to an In-house Orff workshop of my own devising. I rented some videos from the American Orff Schulwerk Association. 5 music teachers gathered to watch and share teaching ideas.
The first video we watched was a workshop by Avon Gillespie. By taking very simple pulse and beat rhythms, he worked the crowd first with clapping and other body percussion, then through found sounds (keys, shoes, pencils, etc), then with unpitched percussion.
The second part of the video showed an inspired rendition of Are You Sleeping? using a variety of meters as well as switching into minor (ala Mahler). I would love to write a piece for elementary string orchestra using some of those meters, and incorporating other instruments. Think of the open string borduns / drones. Think of the major/minor possibilities.
The second video was a presentation by Carol Roberts, an Australian teacher. She took a piece from the Orff Volumes and manipulated it in a variety of ways. The Hungarian Folk song is so enchanting that Pat and I want our beginning strings to learn it for the spring concert, using F and C naturals.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Motivic Melodies
Today I am working on writing a melody using two motifs. These motifs are limited to 3-4 tones. I am still hammering out the first motif, but I think I have something I like. Rising minor second, falling minor 6th, rising minor second. There’s a tritone hidden in there somewhere, but not blatantly. Perhaps I will be writing in the F Lydian – F scale on all white keys. Perhaps I will use one of the pentatonic modes that Bill has suggested (using CFG with one additional tone between middle C and F, and another between G and high C). Or maybe Phrygian with a raised 7th. Not sure yet.
I would like to figure out how to incorporate this into a movement for a string quartet which I am still outlining. Five movements, each about 5 minutes long, or a total of 25 minutes. I have been listening to Lou Harrison’s Quartet Set, and in the past few days the Appalachia Waltz with Mark O’Connor and Yo-Yo Ma.
I am also finding out that I prefer to think in rhythmic terms first (like an aperture priority setting on a camera) rather than intervallic/melodic. Interesting intervals are rather abstract to me.
I would like to figure out how to incorporate this into a movement for a string quartet which I am still outlining. Five movements, each about 5 minutes long, or a total of 25 minutes. I have been listening to Lou Harrison’s Quartet Set, and in the past few days the Appalachia Waltz with Mark O’Connor and Yo-Yo Ma.
I am also finding out that I prefer to think in rhythmic terms first (like an aperture priority setting on a camera) rather than intervallic/melodic. Interesting intervals are rather abstract to me.
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