From Diminuendo to Fabric Softener
Carnegie Hall - Music Education summer Institute - July 10, 2019
Recording of presentation:
Music Image Transformer
music image transformer
examples
Diminuendo — gradually getting softer — fabric softener
Accompaniment — goes along with something — sauce
Chord inversions — keep flipping bottom note to top — leapfrog
Chromatic scale — something sneaking up or down the stairs — sneaky
Dynamics — something that rises and falls — hills and valleys
Meter — number of beats in a measure — beat packets
Modes and scales — certain notes that you use in a piece — note menus
Whole tone scale — sounds misty/mysterious/dream-like — dream scale
Upper note of an octave —something shiny on top — halo
Sustaining pedal — makes a note last longer — survival pedal
MORE EXAMPLES FROM THE MUSIC HOUSE LEXICON
FABRIC SOFTENER: The technique of adding air to vocal tone in order to soften the sound or diminish the volume
CHORD FLIPS: Chord inversions, where the notes of the chord take turns being the bottom note
COSTUMES: Changing modality or meter. For example, a song in a major key tries on a minor key; a song in 4/4 tries on a meter of 3/4
CROSS-EYED: The interval of a Minor Second
DEEP MAN: The invisible voice that lives inside the instrument and makes it sing
DREAM SCALE: Whole tone scale
EAR POLICE: Monitoring your playing through constant listening. Your own ears are the ultimate judge of the correctness of what you are playing.
FACE NOTES: The transferring of the feeling in your “Voice House” to the musical staff
FRIENDLY BLACK KEYS: Pentatonic scale
FRUIT RHYTHMS: Beginning the understanding of rhythmic notation by using fruit names, i.e. peach = one quarter note, apple = two eighth notes and watermelon = four sixteenth notes
HALO: The upper note of an octave
HILLS AND VALLEYS: Dynamics, or the loudness and softness of music
KEYBOARD MAP: Using the color and topography of the keyboard for spatial orientation
LEASH: The notes or tablature that prevent a song from escaping from your memory
MUSH PEDAL: The sustaining pedal that mushes the notes together
NEWBORN SONG: Songs written within the previous hour by one or more people present
NOTE MENU: Modes, scales and key signatures, or the particular group of notes used to play a piece
PACKAGE OF BEATS: Meter, or how many beats are in a measure of music
RECIPE: Recipe: Analyzing and employing ingredients required for a particular song’s expression, i.e. 1teaspoon happiness + ½ teaspoon bravery + 2 teaspoons energy = Yankee Doodle! 1 teaspoon quiet + 2 teaspoons love + 1 tablespoon smoothness = Rockabye Baby!
SHADOWS: A one-note, parallel accompaniment, often at the interval of a third or a sixth below the melody
SAUCE: An accompaniment using block chords
SEEDLING: An idea that is offered by the teacher
SNEAKY: Chromatic scale
SNIFFS: Feeling different length rests by sniffing out loud for the appropriate amount of time
SNOWMEN: An introduction to reading three-note chords as they appear on a musical staff
SPRINKLES: A broken chord accompaniment
STEAM: The silence when the song ends as the sound evaporates into the air
SURVIVAL PEDAL: (Thanks to Max: See “Mush Pedal”)
“THE GUYS”: The card stack of Dead White Male classical composers containing pictures and biographical information on each
VOICE HOUSE: Likening the feeling of singing to the levels of a four-story house as follows: mouth = downstairs, eyes = bedroom windows, hair = roof, and chest = basement
Phrases:
Don’t let your fingers kidnap you: When learning to play a note pattern, fingers like to take wild guesses on their own. You need to pause, allowing your mind to take over and make decisions for them.
Moving the house up or down the mountain: Transposing the song to a different key
Sending a note on vacation: Remembering to leave out a note that is not part of the menu being used, i.e. substituting a Bb for a B in the key of F Major, and sending the B to a pleasant place, preferably sunny and far away, where it will remain for the duration of the song
What is the song made of: Likening the texture or timbre of a song to fabric
How relatable imagery leads to ownership
Efficiency:
Using familiar imagery gives the new concept something to hook onto.
Accessibility:
“Advanced” musical concepts can be put within reach of the learner to use as needed.
Humanizing the process:
It establishes a relationship between the learner and what is being learned.
Mindset
Think of this as a pleasurable activity! Furrowed eyebrows won’t open the channels of imagination. Have a cup of coffee, sit in the park, feel the breeze, listen to the birds. Turn the corners of your lips up!
This works really well as a visceral, rather than an intellectual exercise because it takes advantage of the nature of music itself—the feeling side. When trying to come up with a relatable image, ask yourself: How does what is happening make me feel?
Developing the imagination muscle takes time and practice. Have compassion for your efforts!
Strategy #1
Goal: To introduce harmony and accompaniment
Equipment: piano, guitar, or other chord-able instrument
1- Look your class in the eye and say, “I have a serious musical question to ask all of you.” (Pause)
2- “Does anyone here ever eat spaghetti?” (Wait for snickering and other noises to recede.)
3- “How many of you like it with sauce? Plain?”
4- “We’re going to sing ‘Row Row Row Your Boat’ two different ways. After that I will ask you to describe the difference and also ask which way you prefer.”
5- Lead the class in singing the song a cappella (Key of C).
6- Sing the song again with a simple block chord accompaniment (Can be done using just a C chord or chords of your choice)
7- Ask class to describe the difference.
8- Ask students “Who preferred it the first way?” “The second way?”
9- Ask “What could this possibly have to do with my first question about spaghetti?”
10- If no one makes the connection to singing it “plain” and “with sauce,” explain.
11- Once your students have become accustomed to thinking in terms of “sauce” and “plain,” you might begin to casually sprinkle the terms harmony and accompaniment into future discussions while continuing to use the relatable images.
Strategy #2
The Music Imagery Transformer is for you, the teacher. But once you introduce harmony and accompaniment via “sauce” and “sprinkles,” it could be fun and valuable to let your class in on the process as follows.
Equipment: two pics you’ve made: #1 contains 4-6 terms and symbols your students are acquainted with. These should also be terms and symbols where you, the teacher know what the transformation will be. Pic #2 can be an expanded version containing terms and symbols where you don’t know the transformation, and can embrace the adventure of figuring it out together!
1- Select a musical term or symbol your class is familiar with. For this first time, you, the teacher, should have a clear idea of what it will transform to, perhaps using one of the examples we did today.
2- Explain to your class step by step how the transformer works.
3- Using the chosen term or symbol, lead them through the process.
4- Choose one more terms/symbols where you know the outcome, and repeat the process.
5- Show your class picture #1 and ask them to choose a term or symbol to put through the transformer.
6- After they have done a few of these, on a different day show them pic #2, explaining that you yourself have no idea where some of these will go. The class will appreciate both your honesty as well as the idea that you’ll all be starting from an equal footing!
7- Once they get the hang of it, suggest that they introduce a friend or family member to this game. Also suggest that it would be a great way to introduce a younger sibling to a musical concept!