Songs for Autumn and Harvest Festival

I have been trying to spin out the last few days of summer but, every time I go outside, I find that more and more nuts have fallen from the hazel tree beside my back door; the shrubs are beginning to take on autumnal tints and, next Sunday, the BBC’s “Songs of Praise” team is celebrating Harvest Festival. Reluctantly I’ve decided it’s time to change the “Seasonal Fun” page on the Full Pitcher site.

On the “Autumn Fun” page, the songs can all be explored with full lyrics and audio playback. There are ideas for using the songs in groups of mixed age or ability. A PDF of melody and lyrics for all the songs can be downloaded.

We kick off with a part-song, “Autumn Makes Me Glad” This can be performed as two separate songs. “Part Two” has few words and is largely based on a falling minor third – the first interval that children sing spontaneously. Playback of the second part alone is included and this could be used to support the singing of the easier part, while more able singers could add Part 1.

“The Birds” started life as an item from a classroom cantata for performance by children with physical disabilities. A range of bird calls are suggested in the score but these can be replaced by improvised contributions on flute and recorder.

Ponchielli’s “Dance of the Hours” is the tune used in the comic song, “Camp Grenada”. Here it is given suitably autumnal words, with suggestions for rhythmic activities.

“Fireworks” can be performed as a unison song or as a round in 2-4 parts and there are creative performance suggestions.

Finally, we have a song set to a theme from Vivaldi’s “Autumn”.

Also of seasonal interest are Tim Hopkins’ songs for Harvest Festival, found on the “Sacred Music” page. I love Tim’s songs -so fresh and catchy. Tim has also contributed a number of original children’s carols to the “Music for Christmas” page. Again, full playback and lyrics will be found on site.

See:
Autumn Fun
Sacred Music
Music for Christmas

Discord and Resolution

A focus on discord and resolution is, I believe, one of the most useful approaches for the beginner improviser. Of course, discord and resolution are dependent upon harmonic progressions but there is no need for the beginner to know why certain combinations of sounds create dissonance while others are concordant.

What creates tension will vary from one culture to another, and from style to style. However, most of us have heard so much music that we instinctively feel the tension and discomfort of combinations that demand resolution in our genre. This constitutes one of the biggest barriers to beginning improvisation – the fear of ‘wrong notes’. So, it’s very useful to set up situations in which discords are bound to happen and the beginner can learn that they can resolve them. This can have a very liberating effect on the approach to improvisation.

It’s easiest to follow instinct when working vocally and, for those who sing, this is a good place to start. For a group, a fun exercise is for each to sing, at a signal, a random pitch.. After walking around the group for a few seconds, trying to hold the pitch, a new note can be chosen. Participants should listen to their pitch in relation to that of their closest neighbour, sometimes  adapting to blend with it.

The pentatonic, gapped, scale is often recommended for beginner improvisers because the lack of semitone relationships between the notes of the scale removes the strongest dissonances. This scale is equivalent to a major scale with the fourth and seventh degrees omitted. This builds confidence and the scale is very common in folk music of many regions and in jazz. Although there are no really harsh sounds when combining  parts using a  pentatonic scale, some things will sound better than others. Where desired, greater consonance will usually be achieved by dropping to the note below. The improviser can focus on shaping the melody, without disconcerting harmonic clashes.

The confidence gained from working with pentatonic scales can be applied to major scales. Just as with the vocal exercise, a pupil can sound a note of the scale, at random, on the first beat of the bar, as the teacher/accompanist  plays a chord. If the pupil is comfortable with the pitch they are sounding, they can hold it for the rest of the bar. If not, they can drop to the  next lower pitch of the scale on the second beat of the bar. If the discordant note is the leading note of the scale, they should rise to the tonic on the second beat.

Another exercise I use is to teach a tune, made up entirely of whole notes, based on notes of tonic and dominant seventh chords. Pupils are then asked to precede each note with the note above in the scale, dropping to the chord-tone on the second beat. Likewise, each note can be preceded by the note a semitone below, resolving up on the second beat. The pupil can then experiment with various combinations of chord-tone and upper or lower appoggiatura. After a little experience of these exercises, discords are ‘no big deal’.

Have fun!

Songs for Summer

I’ve just spent the  half-term week walking Dorset’s Purbeck Hills and glorious coastline. It’s been some years since I managed to get away to do some serious walking  at this time of the year, and it was wonderful to wind along the paths in all all their flower-lined splendour. We had plenty of rain but, apart from a dismal first day spent  ‘mud-skiing’, every walk had a few sunny hours and, after all, the rainfall is what makes England such a green and pleasant land!

Back in harness to the tyrant computer, I’ve adapted the ‘Summer Fun’page – for sharing by families or friends – to The Full Pitcher’s new formats. This is a selection of pieces from the ‘Miscellaneous Scores’section of the catalogue for which playback is is available in streaming Flash-Audio format. Flash is already installed in 97% of the world’s browsers and our music is streamed at speeds suitable for 56k modems, so this resource should be available to most users. The Flash-player opens in a very small  pop-up window and there is a pop-up of lyrics for each song, so both can be simultaneously displayed on screen. Schools can display them on an electronic whiteboard or a large monitor. Each song has activity suggestions for mixed ability groups and maximum inclusion. There is a song for which the group is encouraged to create their own lyrics, rounds, simple improvisation ideas and an arrangement of Schubert’s infectious “To Wander”, with new lyrics. I can dally on this page when I check the website and relive my holiday!

I hope you enjoy it!

“Summer Fun” with The Full Pitcher

Limits Set Me Free!

Rory’s comments on “What Second Life Should Learn From Myst” really resonated with me and it struck me that would-be music improvisers could also learn from Rory’s improvisational theater experience. Improvisation seems to be more frequently encountered in drama than in music, other the jazz idiom, so beginners may find this a fruitful seam of ideas to mine.

As always, ‘freedom’ is an illusion! If we can do absolutely anything, we invariably do absolutely nothing because we don’t know where to start! The composer, Stravinsky, said that the more restrictions he placed on himself, the more inspired he was to write. I’m certainly more ‘fired up’ to compose if there is a clear brief and is the reason I find it so absorbing and rewarding to write for beginner performers. It makes one really strive hard to distill the musical experience and to draw upon the potential of each note and technique accessible to the player.

Like Rory, I need to be emotionally engaged by the ideas I’m working with but I think that actually communicating such engagement in a piece of music is a difficult task for the improviser/composer because it requires a synthesis of all the playing techniques and sound qualities of the instrument(s), placed at the service of the emotion.

Beginners may find that another good starting point* is a focus on the sound qualities of their own instruments. What is the emotional ‘feel’ of the same few notes played in each register of the instrument, or on each string? How does changing the articulation alter it? Initially, try letting the music grow naturally out of the instrument.

*See “The Rhythmic Basis of Melodic Improvisation” for an alternative starting point.

“Say That Again” – Repetition in Improvisation

When I was looking through some easy classical piano anthologies for examples to illustrate the “I’ve Got Rhythm…” article , I was struck by how much repetition, melodic as well as rhythmic, the tunes contained. I knew there would be plenty of combinations of two phrases – ABAB, ABBA, etc., but I wasn’t prepared for the number of pieces (or sections of pieces) that were built on a single rhythmic pattern. I’m always trying to drive home the point that less really is more if you want to create a memorable tune but I don’t think I’ve ever suggested sticking to a single rhythm.

Once the beginner improviser has absorbed a feeling of phrase length, the next challenge is to strike a balance  between repetition and variation: too much repetition is boring – sorry Schubert! – while too much variation will quickly lose the listener. The problem is that, if you’re going to repeat a phrase, you have to remember it.

A good way to work on memory is to create tunes four phrases long, in which the first idea is played three times and then a different idea is used for the fourth phrase, rounding off the tune. Actually, this is a very common structure in melodic construction, although the fourth phrase is often an extension of phrase three rather than a new idea. Lots of ‘Blues’ use this idea. In fact, once you begin to look for it, it crops up all over the place!

The next stage is to to improvise using two or three phrases ABAB, AABB, ABAC, ABBA, etc.. A really extravagant use of resources, apparently! :>)

Rhythmic Basis of Melodic Improvisation

(I’ve just changed the title of this post, 21/03/07, as a lot of people were coming here looking for a popular jazz title -sorry folks!)

A lot of people fancy the idea of improvisation -they just never get started. Where do you start?

There are probably almost as many different ways of improvising as there are people, so there are many possible starting points. However, if someone doesn’t know where to start, the chances are that they think of improvisation as the effortless creation of melody and will quickly become disheartened if their efforts lack conviction and form. One can improvise melodically in many styles but almost all successful melody creation is built on a strong sense of pulse and rhythmic balance.

Experienced jazz teachers frequently start off with rhythmic ‘question and answer’ activities: the teacher plays a short rhythmic idea to which the pupil responds with one of equal length. This helps the pupil develop a feeling for phrase length which, as most Western music is structured in balanced phrases, underpins melody. The second step is for the pupil to invent the ‘question’ for the teacher to answer. Once the pupil is secure in this rhythmic invention, the rhythmic ideas are clothed with pitched notes.

Rhythmic ‘question and answer’ is a good way to get started in any style of melodic improvisation and “Answering Back” provides some simple phrases with which to work in classical or folk styles. In case pupils are tempted to ‘turn up their noses’ at the simplicity of these rhythmic schemes, I should explain that they are all taken from melodies by ‘top rank’ composers. For Haydn, Mozart & Beethoven simple was good!

Playing Away

This is the time of the year when music publications aimed at teachers and musicians are full of ads for summer schools, which must mean that it’s time I got around to updating the “Creative Workshops” page on the Full Pitcher website. As our “Get Creative!” pages are resources specifically to support creative music-making, I only post details of courses with a focus on improvisation & composition (I’d be delighted to hear from anyone running such a course, anywhere in the world) but there are hundreds of other UK courses available, covering everything from bagpipes to music technology.

Every year, Rhinegold Publishing produce an “Annual Guide To Summer Schools”. This year it’s a 52-page small-print publication! This is sent free of charge to “Music Teacher” subscribers but non-subscribers can purchase it from the publisher’s website. For experienced amateurs, the breadth of choice is just amazing! But, if you dig around, there is also plenty on offer for less experienced musicians and for children.

Here, I’d like to introduce you to two small UK venues which are big on broadening musical experience and fun:

First, there is the Hindhead Music Centre, where the calendar of summer courses embraces both children and adults, with tuition levels from beginner to diploma. There is even a course, “Discover Music!” for children who don’t yet play an instrument and those who have just started. The centre is a country house, set amidst acres of National Trust commons and there is free time in which to swim in the pool or explore the glorious countryside.

Another of my favourite places is Benslow Music Trust, where adults can enjoy a mind-boggling range of courses – classical, folk, jazz, world music – you name it, they do it! It’s a friendly place and there are courses at various levels. Benslow courses are mainly short weekend or mid-week courses.

The Role of the Amateur

That amazing organisation, CoMA (Contemporary Music for Amateurs) is putting on a 1-day conference, next month, to explore “the role of the amateur in contemporary music”. Now, if you think that is only of interest to weird folk who use their musical instruments to create ‘traffic’ noises and turn up their noses at anything ordinary people recognise as a good tune, then think again!

“Changing Dynamics” is about reaching out with new music, making amateurs the centre of the creative hub of 21st century music-making. CoMA knows all about that: since its foundation in 1993, it has commissioned numerous works from leading UK and international composers and formed amateur ensembles to perform them. The CoMA summer school and regional events often prove to be life-changing experiences for those who discover that they are creators, not just consumers of music.

At CoMA events, amateurs and professionals come together to create and perform exciting new works. The guiding principle placed before the commissioned composers is to create a repertoire that is artistically challenging yet suited to the technical abilities of amateur musicians. Amateurs are introduced to all kinds of improvisation and there is tuition in composition for absolute beginners, as well as fresh inspiration for experienced composers.

“Changing Dynamics” is for “musicians, music teachers, schools, festival organisers, local authorities and music organisations” and will be held at Blackheath Concert Halls, Trinity College of Music, London, on 22nd February. See www.coma.org, for further details.

Improvisers Unite!

I’ve only been blogging for a few days and I’ve been delighted to find how quickly a focus on this type of activity has opened up new links. On a blog by Argancel, I found this great introduction to tagging bookmarks on del.icio.us,”Bookmarks online and Web 2.00“. He was suggesting that those interested in improvisation adopt a common tagging system to share the interesting articles and sites they come across. this seems like a really helpful suggestion. There are so many different ways of improvising and it’s a subject which of its nature defies formal classification and eludes many searches which depend on titles. Argancel is particularly interested in piano improvisation, whilst my focus is on ways into improvisation for beginners. I’ve never visited del.icio.us but I’m certainly going to check it out, at the earliest opportunity. Thanks, Argancel!