Music Monday

Recently I heard a news report about a local city council in Western Australia implementing a program to teach and encourage teenagers to put aside their mobile phones and devices and relate to each other person to person. The program so far has had an enthusiastic response from the trial study participants who are now talking to friends in their school break periods rather than sitting together texting each other or others.

It is a sad downside of our modern tech-driven world that skills like these need to be taught; however it did set me thinking about the importance of the Arts – and music in particular – in engaging young people person to person.

At one of my teaching campuses the high school students are music theatre specialist kids. In rehearsal there is enormous connection with each other and the director, choreographer and music director. Phones are used for recording difficult musical phrases or videoing sections of tricky choreography but relationships are based on shared hard fun – person to person.

Arts teaching at its best is hard fun. It is a people activity and practice. And nowadays more than ever it is so fundamentally important to children’s education!

Music Monday - The importance of repetition and practice.

A few weeks ago I wrote about what I was revisiting about early learning as a result of having our 3 year old grandson living with us for a couple of months. Today I am pursuing a few more of those thoughts.

It is many years since I taught (or parented) pre-schoolers. These days I teach a mix of adolescent age groups, plus tertiary aged students and adults of all ages. 

But living with a pre-schooler reminds me of some important lessons:

1. Kids genuinely love learning and exploring new ideas. William and I have been playing around lots with the concept of beat and rhythm – both in music and language. He loves to move to the beat. He loves to tap and bang the beat. He fits nonsense sounds to a beat. But beat doesn’t have to be confined to the times when we are consciously doing music activities. Last night his Mommy formed a family conga line as we chanted and stomped him into the shower.

2. Little kids are way more capable than we sometimes think of making connections. William often says, “That’s like the….”. 

Of course, as a doting grandparent it is much easier to observe these moments. But as teachers we need to be switched on to moments of student connection – and we need to practise finding the right questions to stimulate the connections.

1. William loves the iPad (and other devices) and – like most of his generation – amazes us with his facility on a device. But he also loves to explore all of his environment – and so many everyday activities can be used to reinforce rhythmic and musical concepts. Yesterday he found our jar of coffee grounds and was curious about how we scoop out the coffee for the plunger. This started a game of scooping coffee from the jar to a bowl. I observed him muttering ‘ta-aa, ta-aa’ as he scooped – in other words making a rhythmic connection. He was having fun but subconsciously that important beat concept was being further internalised. We started to fit words and melody to the beat and a simple song emerged.

All this time spent with William has reinforced yet again my huge respect for what primary  music teachers do for the children in their charge. 

It is such important work!

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Music Monday - Back to school

As Australian teachers return to school after the long summer break, it is timely to talk about voice care.

Teachers are high energy voice users and music teachers in particular need to be mindful of caring for their voice.

Here are some tips I have learned over the years – from singing and voice colleagues as well as fellow teachers:

1. Try to incorporate a basic voice warm-up into your drive to school. Some gentle sirening on a lip trill, ‘ng’ phoneme or vowel sound will help. Start in the middle of your speaking pitch range and gradually explore higher and lower pitches.

2. Keep your larynx well hydrated with frequent sips of water throughout the teaching day.

3. Avoid shouting over your class – establish a signal for attention early in the year. My favourite is to clap a 4- beat pattern which the class echo back. If established at the start of the year it becomes a habit and a terrific way to refocus the students’ attention on what you need to say – as well as bringing them back to the task at hand.

4. Eliminate throat clearing! If you are a habitual throat clearer, make 2020 the year you break the habit. Try to swallow instead.

5. Don’t smoke. 

6. Avoid excessive talking / singing when you have a cold.

7. If you direct a school choir, sing only the parts which are appropriate for your singing range.

What are your favourite voice care tips? We would love you to share by commenting below.

Happy teaching!

Music Monday - What I am learning from my 3 year- old grandson

Our son, daughter-in-law and grandson have moved to Perth and are living with us for a month or so until they find a house. Suddenly we have gone from a quiet household of two sixty-something adults to a busy, cluttered, slightly crazy environment with a 3 year-old who springs into each day curious, questioning and eager to play, play, play. I find myself wondering and marvelling that we ever got anything done back in our day as parents of pre-schoolers at the same time working full-time as teachers. Of course, across Australia and the world, this generation of working parents are doing the same.

I find myself observing William’s play and reflecting yet again on the research into musical beat and its connection to reading readiness. I also find myself rethinking the whole idea of using only gross motor skills when making music with this age group – something which was emphasized to us in music education classes. Yes, children under 5 years are still learning to catch a ball, balance on one leg, jump etc. But in another sense they have greater fine motor skills than previous generations, developed through what seems like a universal use of screens these days.

William loves to sing and make up songs. Of course, he is somewhat influenced by parents who are also musical. But his inclination, whether singing his own invented songs or those learned from family and various television programs, is to move to the beat. Today we played with various beat movement combinations – clapping, patschen and so on. He could maintain a steady beat with a recurring 2-action beat but found more than 2 physical actions a challenge to maintain steadily. So a recurring pattern of slapping knees then clapping was easy to maintain while singing the Sesame Street alphabet song. Slapping knees then clapping 2 beats was also a success while singing his current favourite – the refrain from The First “Nowell”. But a 4-beat action pattern of slapping knees, clapping, slapping a partner’s hands then clapping again, while doable, was less successful as a steady beat while singing.

Where am I going with this? Well, music as an art form aside, should we not as a society be maximising the benefits to child development from engaging with beat and rhythm as early as possible? Perhaps childcare centres – especially as their staff are required to do some level of early childhood education training - could be the entry point for children in this work. That would surely have a levelling effect for children before they enter formal schooling.

Music Monday - Happy New Year

A happy new year to you all.

With almost all of our Australian music teachers currently on holiday, and with many, many families affected directly or indirectly by the unprecedented bushfires raging across our country, we thought that this Monday could be a time to consider how we might help families and school music communities who may have lost musical instruments and valuable resources at this time.

Of course, right now what is needed is immediate monetary and material relief and assistance - and it has been heartening to see so many Australians and indeed, compassionate people across the planet, responding with financial and other assistance.

But when the fires finally subside (and the experts are predicting it might be months) there will be children who no longer have an instrument and music teachers who have lost everything.

Perhaps you have an instrument gathering dust at the back of a cupboard? Could it have a new home with a young player?

Do you have ideas on how this could be achieved? Please respond in comments below. Stage Page is always happy to assist.

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Music Monday

Across Australia some schools have finished for the year and for the others this is the final week before the long summer holiday starts.

With Christmas carols everywhere at present, I noticed a recent facebook post which drew attention to the carol, “Joy To The World”. This carol begins with a descending major scale. The post read something like, “Joy to the world is a major scale” (which also referenced that the carol is often sung in the key of A major).

This got me thinking about other songs which contain whole scales – in other words all the notes of the scale, rather than little sections interspersed with intervals. I cannot think of many; in fact so far I have been able to think of only 3:

1. The afore-mentioned “Joy To The World” (descending major scale)

2. The opening of the canon known as “The Wordless Canon” or sometimes simply “lah ti doh re” (ascending Aeolian Mode / natural minor scale)

3. Bars 3 and 4 of the introduction to Stevie Wonder’s “You Are The Sunshine Of My Life” (ascending whole tone scale)

When I asked my year 9 students whether they could think of any, an interesting and lively discussion began. Many students were able to identify fragments of scales in songs that they know – and there was occasional confusion between the various forms of the minor scale. Students offered suggestions and were shouted down by others because their song contained intervals – not pure scales. And so on. It was interesting to see the students engaging with scales in an animated way – such a contrast to the look of benign resignation when we practise singing the set scales for their technical work assessments.

So facebook friends – can you add to my list of songs?

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Music Monday

With so many of our music teachers preoccupied with end of year report-writing, concerts, assemblies, preparing students for university auditions and a myriad of other tasks, it seemed like a good Monday to share a laugh – and also a reminder of how important the proof-reading and editing process is in everything we do.

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Music Monday - The Bassarids

The Bassarids

Music Drama in One Act by Hans Werner Henze

Berlin 

On a recent brief visit to Berlin we wanted to see at least one piece of theatre and hear some music. In the end we got both on one ticket at The Bassarids; ironically at the Komische Oper, (ironic since there was nothing comic about what we saw). However, what we did experience was a powerful piece of opera, and along the way made some interesting observations about the differences between our theatre-going experiences in Australia and our night out in Berlin.

The Bassarids was written in 1966 by Hans Werner Henze with libretto by WH Auden and Chester Kallman. It is inspired by Euripides’s “The Bacchae” and it is sing in English (with that very rounded form of the language often heard in opera.)

This production has been directed by Barrie Kosky.

It is a complex and gruesome story concerning the conflict between Pentheus, newly appointed king of Thebes, and the god Dionysus;  and Pentheus’s subsequent murder at the hands of Dionysus’s intoxicated followers (including Pentheus’s mother, Agave). These intoxicated followers of Dionysus are the Bassarids. It has been described as a drama of extremes.

We were lucky enough to get reasonably priced tickets on the day of the performance. Our seats were in a centrally placed box in the part of the theatre we would call the dress circle. We assumed that ticket sales were not going well and were therefore surprised to find the theatre almost full.

The performance ran for 2.5 hours without interval. Would an Australian audience cope with that?

We counted over 60 musicians, both in the orchestra itself and in other parts of the theatre and on stage. Would any Australian theatre budget cope with this?

The chorus numbered more than 100 – with the majority involved in movement on a heavily raked stage. Quite a physical and vocal challenge. And again, an indication of a healthy budget.

The soloists were of a very high order indeed, both vocally and as actors.

The music is compelling, moving between moments of  heart-wrenching lyricism and moments of spiky drama. 

The final scene builds to a blood-soaked and horrific ending. The blood on the stage floor was discretely covered by a black mat before the bows started.

The bows went pretty much as we do here in Australia – but what we had forgotten was that in Germany, once the bows have finished and the audience keeps on applauding, they start right over again and take the bows’ sequence from start to finish once more. Only then do they move to whole company bows until the rapturous applause subsides. 

As we moved out towards the foyer after an amazing night, there was one more surprise. Huge platters piled high with little single chocolate truffle boxes. And here’s the thing – in order to open the box and get to the yummy German chocolate inside, you pretty much had to read the company’s contact and social media details. Brilliant!

Professional theatre is alive and well in Berlin.

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Music Monday - Remembrance Day

Today in Australia it was Remembrance Day. 

At the 11th hour of the 11th month the whole country stops for a minute’s silence to honour and remember those who lost their lives in war. Red poppies are worn on this day. 

It is also customary to have a bugler play The Last Post before the minute’s silence and Reveille at the end. Both pieces are heavily based on the intervals of the perfect 4th and 5th – intervals which are notoriously challenging to sing exactly in tune.

It happened that today I was working at my school and so, along with the whole school population, joined the short memorial at 11am.

As at previous Remembrance Day services I was again struck by how very silent the students are on this day. It is a different kind of silence than an ordinary school assembly silence – a complete silence. A respectful silence.

 And then out of this pristine silence comes the bugle playing the Last Post - the repeated upward 5th - with a pause on the 5th each time. The minute’s silence follows. Then again out of complete silence comes Reveille – more upward fifths then an upward 4th. The focus of the whole crowd is on those sounds. There is no background noise. Then the Remembrance service is over for this year. We return to class.

My year 9 group are identified as gifted and talented in music theatre but they are mixed ability in aural and music skills. Interestingly, today all the students can sing the Last Post back to me with correctly centred pitch. And yet when we encounter the same intervals within their song repertoire, they are no longer all exactly in tune.

Why is this so? They hear the Last Post only once per year. Is it the iconic nature of the annual memorial which imprints itself in them? Is it because it is one of the few times in a year that they listen to a single line of sound with no background noise whatsoever?

How can we transfer this learning to other aspects of their musical education?

Music Monday - aus Deutschland!

At the recent World Alliance for Arts Education conference in Frankfurt I was chatting over dinner with a friend from Helsinki. Tinti works in music with dementia patients in a care facility. 

Tinti was telling me that many of her clients can no longer use spoken language but when she plays the songs from their youth on her piano accordion, they all respond in some way -and many of them sing the words – words which they can no longer use in speech.

Why is this so?

A quick google search suggests that the key brain areas linked to musical and emotional memory are relatively undamaged by the disease.

A Stanford University study on the effect of music therapy on older adults found that rhythmic music stimulates certain areas of the brain to increase blood flow. Seniors could improve their scores on cognitive tests by taking part in music activities.

This had me musing:

1. For dementia patients to be stimulated by musical memory they must have had songs in their past with which to identify. It is important to sing!

2. With all of the research on the importance of beat and rhythm in early music education – wouldn’t it be interesting to set up a lifetime research project where children were tracked musically and cognitively throughout life?

All arts education is vitally important to maintaining healthy societies; but when it comes to brain health it would appear that music is the most important!

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