Kathleen Pierson Denison University 740-587-6392 piersonk@denison.edu
From a pedagogy standpoint, one of the most interesting challenges in a Music for Dancers course is:
How To Calm And Engage Those Who Come To Class With FEAR.
There always seem to be a couple of students who are afraid that their lack of musical training places them at a disadvantage GRADE-WISE relative to music-student classmatesÉ
Or they may have actually BEEN TOLD (in our lovely school systemsÕ inimitable way) that they are BAD at music, and feel certain that they are sure to be completely humiliated if they even TRY to sing or drumÉ
So they may come into the first day of class with a lot of counterproductive stress.
In fact, I once had a student burst into tears before I had even said ÒLetÕs begin,Ó JUST because she had seen the word ÒpianoÓ in the syllabus and all she could do was tearfully repeat Òbut I CANÕT play pianoÓ over and over again, until I finally could assure her that I would absolutely teach her everything she needed to know, from scratch, and she would have a wonderful time Ð guaranteed! - and she would NOT be graded on her piano playing technique as compared with her serious-piano-student classmates for goodness sake, and she WOULD get to really enjoy the wonderful noise that ANYBODY can easily and quickly make with a piano. But she had definitely come into this required class in a state of basic fearfulness.
So my focus at the very start of first class meeting has been on the semantically convenient idea that what you do with music is PLAY.
So I avoid, in the early going, using ÒrealÓ things like piano which may have certain intimidating or bad associations, and use instead household items, boxes of food, etc. as my Òinstruments.Ó And I approach important topics like rhythm notation and the basics of how to read score via game-playing group-work. The mysterious grocery bag you see before you, and this box of macaroni and kitchen utensils, can be very reassuring in their unexpectedness. Clearly, the student whoÕs been studying piano since age 2 may NOT have an advantage over the non-musical student in whatever activity is about to happen here.
The Tabloid Headlines Game begins by engaging reading, speaking, laughterÉwhich will be used to make increasingly sophisticated musical points, but which begin as a natural unstressed activity for every student.
Since the activity will be done in groups, it is also an excellent first-day ice-breaker, particularly if you have students from different parts of your department who have not often worked together (for instance Òradical post-post-anything matching-shoulder-tattoos choreographersÓ AND Òsilent bun headsÓ).
WHAT YOU NEED TO ASSEMBLE AHEAD OF TIME:
1. CAREFULLY select headlines from tabloids Ð ideally, they should be inherently hilarious, and have either few enough - or else way too many - syllables to easily fit within a steady 4-beat measure at about 60-80 mm. ÒAlligator swallows grandmaÓ is NOT the best choice, because a timid group could end up setting it essentially as all eighth notes, evenly, which you want to DIScourage by the nature of the headlines themselves. ÒAlligator chases policeman into swampÓ is better. ÒA gang of eight alligators demolishes a BuickÓ also works. Strangely enough, ÒEscaped alligators! Oh No!Ó ALSO works because the relative LACK of syllables suggests multiple creative solutions involving rests and (see below) pick-ups. You want headlines which cry out for at least three different funny timings in your own musical mind, so that hopefully the students also will be able to imagine several possible solutions to the task of Òhow to make them fitÓÉ
2. Cut out enough of these headlines that there will be at least two for each group, imagining groups of 4-7 students each and aiming for at least three groups if you have enough students to make at least three groups of 4. If you have less than twelve students total, I would keep the groups with at least 4 in them and let the number of groups cut down to two. If you have less than eight students total in class, just divide as close to halves as you can BEING CAREFUL to not create an obvious Òplayful loudÓ group vs. a Òtimid shyÓ group. By the way, you also will want to keep one extra headline for yourself, for demonstration purposes.
Mount the headlines, individually, on a piece of notebook paper so itÕs clear which side of the clipping you meant to be used. Fold up the papers so that theyÕre mysterious, and put them in a grocery or inverted dumbek or whatever, to be drawn out one by one by a student from each group, until each group ends up with at least two of the headlines. If you try to make them work with only one they may resist, with a Òthis one doesnÕt FIT into four beats!Ó complaint, but I found that if you give them at least two and let them CHOOSE which of the two they WANT to use, there will be (amazingly) absolutely ZERO hesitation or resistance!
3. OK, now that you have the headlines ready, you need to assemble interesting Òrhythm instrumentsÓ which are NOT standard drums or tambourines or anything. Use plastic pop bottles with rocks in them, or boxes of hard macaroni, or tins of bobby pins, or kitchen spoons and pans, or dog squeak toys, etc. ItÕs up to you how far you go with this collection Ð you could aim for Òplenty for everybody,Ó but if you have a large class I have found that planning for just two items per group is actually enough. Gather these items into a box or basket of some kind, from which the groups will choose.
4. Have a large blackboard etc at hand, for some things you will be writing out for students to see later.
5. If class meets for over an hour, you may also want to bring a famous ballet music CD and its score (use something they ALL DEFINITELY know, perhaps something from Nutcracker etc)
HOW TO PROCEED:
Form the groups, and have them sit in circles on the floor.
Explain that each group will reach in and pull out two pieces of paper, and when they open them they will see a headline. SHOW YOUR EXAMPLE. Explain that for the first minute or two, they will collectively play with BOTH headlines, trying various ways of fitting them into a 4-beat timeframe. LET THEM HEAR THE TEMPO AND SOUND OF YOUR STEADY BEAT. It is particularly wonderful if you can graphically move your hand to four different striking spots (if you are using, say, a desk) so that they very clearly grasp that this is like a ÒboxÓ of time that they are going to be fitting their words into in a perfectly repeating pattern over and over again.
SPEAK YOUR OWN EXAMPLE HEADLINE INSIDE OF THAT BEAT without pick-ups (yet) AND LET THEM HEAR THAT YOUR HEADLINE CAN EASILY BE REPEATED AGAIN AND AGAIN, and let them see that every word always falls into the same space of your hand striking every time.
Say a few words about rests and about pick-ups, without writing anything on the board yet and without resorting to ÒmusicalÓ terms as far as possible. USE YOUR EXAMPLE HEADLINE IN WAYS THAT ILLUSTRATE INSERTING RESTS OR USING A PICK-UP and be sure they hear how in order to repeat and repeat, the pick-up will constantly be coming in before ÒOneÓ. The wild-girl choreographers may relate to it as Òlike a build-up to a punchÓ and the bun heads will understand if you say ÒprecipitateÓ and it is fine to use all the imagery and DANCE terminology you can think of, but avoid getting MUSICALLY technical yet.
Assure them that they are not REQUIRED to use rests or pick-ups; these are just some other options that might be extra fun.
Say that after theyÕve at least TRIED both headlines, they can choose the one they like best and settle on their one favorite way of doing that one. They need to practice speaking it really loudly in perfect unison. Then they can try clapping the syllables as they speak them. USE YOUR EXAMPLE HEADLINE TO ILLUSTRATE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN YOUR STEADY BEAT AND THE WAY YOU WOULD CLAP YOUR RHYTHM (some of them will have trouble at first NOT just clapping the beat).
Believe it or not, ALL of that can happen in just a few moments. Now let them draw their headlines out of the bag and begin, and you can circle around from group to group and just enjoy and encourage.
It will only take a few minutes for them to accomplish everything you have set up so far!
TheyÕll be delighted to briefly show off their solutions, so let each group clap and say their headlines for the others to enjoy, as you set the steady beat and Òcount them in.Ó
Get them to ÒshowÓ again, only this time each group will repeat the pattern three times, the first two times will be just the same words+clapping but then the third time NO WORDS, just the clapping.
Point out how varied and delicious the rhythms are, and how easy it was to get such fun rhythms from something as mundane as speech. Encourage them to think how much fun it would be, when they choreograph, to consider all the rhythmic richness available inside even the simplest steadiest beat.
NOW let them hear two different groupsÕ rhythms AT ONCE, repeating the patterns over and over, to emphasize the beauty of the complex relationships. If you have three or more groups, two can go at once together while others listen, but if you have a small total class size you may have to get just one student representing each rhythm to perform so that the others have a chance to listen. It is hard to HEAR WHILE PERFORMING, so somehow you want to give them the opportunity to JUST listen at least once.
If you have more than two groups, finally let them ALL go at once clapping, which will be fun.
NEXT PHASE: Say that now they will be divvying out the claps to new, different sounds. They can use coughs, floor slappings, animal squeaks, ORÉitems from the lovely box of toys! Let them choose items from the box and then basically just stand out of the way as they maintain their EXACT rhythm patterns from their headlines, only now in this ÒorchestratedÓ form.
Let them hear each otherÕs again when theyÕre done, and let them try two groups at once.
NEXT PHASE:
Tell them to use movement to exactly express their groupÕs headline rhythm, in a tiny showing that incorporates both unison and ÒorchestratedÓ phrases, and feel free to give them additional ÒrulesÓ for fun if you want (such as Òmust include at least one instant where everybodyÕs completely up in the airÓ Òmust locomote all the way across the roomÓ etc). Look at each otherÕs. Try two together.
FINAL PHASE:
Get them to sit in their groups over near the board. Say a few words about the very basics of rhythm notation, including the concept of vertical line to show where each of your Òsteady four beatÓ original movements of your hand would repeat (donÕt have to call them bar lines yet), the concept of somehow indicating that the thought within each of those divisions is ÒFOUR ofÉÓ (donÕt explain quarter notes etc yet) and one of the common symbols for that would be 4/4 (donÕt try to explain everything about time signature yet), and that when you fill in the boxes with symbols representing their exact syllable-rhythms that theyÕve been clapping, everyone will be able to tell at a glance which is which.
NOW talk about how western notation of time is about chopping the biggest symbol that would fit inside one of those divisions (which you now can call measures) into equal smaller divisions, such as half, quarter, eighth. They probably remember the symbols from childhood, but say, Òhere they areÓ and sketch them up on a separate part of the board being sure to include both flagged and beamed eighth notes etc. Then ATTACH MEMORABLE WORDS TO THEM (from the original headlines if possible?) so that for example a
quarter, eighth eighth, four sixteenths, quarter phrase might be
Òblue, purple, periwinkle, blueÓ or ÒOh! Hungry Alligator Oh!Ó
Show that things can be a little more varied than that, maybe show successions of
Eighth and two sixteenths, or two sixteenths with eighth, as
ÒBIG gator, BIG gator, BIG gator, BIG gator,Ó and ÒGator-Ade! Gator-Ade! Gator-Ade! Gator-Ade!Ó
and BRIEFLY hint at what dotted notes and triplets would be about (there are usually girls with triplety names like Emily Valerie etc in class, and you can get one group to evenly eighth note chant Jackie Jackie or whatever names are two strong syllables in your class WHILE another group chants Emily Emily Emily Emily as triplets on the same quarter-note beats Ð instant Brahms!
Assure them that they do NOT need to understand it ALL today! Say ÒweÕll be playing with rhythm all semester.Ó
Turn back to where you first put vertical bar lines and the time signature on the board. Briefly mention that we wonÕt need a ÒstaffÓ while weÕre just looking at RHYTHM (the piano-students may wrinkle their noses) and in fact we could just use little XÕs like percussion scores do, but today weÕll use notes with heads because later weÕre going to compare our rhythm score with some famous orchestral score and this way they will look a LITTLE more related to one another.
NOW have each group clap its rhythm one more time. YOU pick the one (donÕt tell them which) thatÕs easiest to notate and write it up there. While theyÕre looking at THAT one, carefully align beneath and write another groupÕs rhythm. See if they can tell which is which.
Write a simple rhythm that they have NOT clapped yet, and see if they can figure out how to clap it, by comparing and contrasting it with what they already have seen and heard.
Have them clap two lines at the same time, and LISTEN FOR anyplace where both groups are clapping AT ONCE. Point out that that Òat onceÓ moment SHOWS IN SCORE, thanks to vertical alignment.
Hand out the full orchestral score you brought BUT WITH THE TITLE CUT OFF or somehow hidden, and explain a little about orchestration in that particular piece, and how vertical alignment still absolutely applies, extending down through MANY more lines since each different instrument or instrumental group gets its own individual line. Let them look at the rhythms in the score for a moment, maybe try to clap some out. See if they can guess what famous ballet they might be looking at Ð sometimes they CAN guess! Put on the CD and have them ÒreadÓ through the first few measures with you a few times, pointing out the most easily seen/ heard highlights.
WHENEVER YOU RUN OUT OF TIME AND HAVE TO END, ASSURE THEM THAT THIS WAS GREAT WORK, THAT THIS HAS BEEN AN EXCITING START TO MATERIAL THAT YOU WILL BE EXPLORING IN MORE AND MORE DEPTH OVER THE WEEKS TO COME.
And donÕt forget to take your box of macaroni home with you for supper.