i have a super-fundamental question about vassily (or wassily) and his whole integration thing. i admit i am not so well-read on the matter. hep me. please.
my main objective (along with learning what he's all about): are there things to directly lift from his work to put into our program? this is to serve the goal of avoiding wheel-reinvention.
does anyone have a link (or even a traditional footnote) leading to a succinct (or moderately not) accounting of mr. kandinsky's specific approach to:
* integrating the arts
* the integration of visual and auditory art forms
* the whole thing of all that stuff being interrelated
* the fundamental unifying premise of all this unity jazz
* a manifesto of sort of the type of tethering to be found in the art-music continuum?
i wanna know what kandinsky's experience of this idea was-
* did he speak of specific moments of inspiration that are to be noted?
* did he speak of art education?
* did he teach artists with music?
* what ideas did he have of specific ways to look at art and listen to music?
* what music was he speaking of?
i'd love to hear these ideas articulated in his words. if that's difficult to pin down, it would also be good to hear it in the words of a scholar who is concise- i need to know the general vibe.
i'm hoping the man's words will inspire me to come up with some real-time activities/ exercises to use in the program.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Friday, July 17, 2009
There is much to respond to. Here's a few:
I suggest we speak of a "Music/ Sound Department" rather than a "Music Department". When we say "sound" our field of reference is immediately much larger and includes the totality of our students' lives. We are seeking to encourage students to relate to their senses, and sound is what the sense senses. Music is: a construct/ a type of purposeful sound/ a category we project onto experience. By encouraging a wider appreciation of the sonic environment we will deftly contextualize and include sonic experiences that would otherwise be debatable as being music. I am, of course, referencing mindful environmental listening and avant-garde music. In a nutshell, the "silent" John Cage piece.
A workshop- the intent is to open the ears and to become more present in the sound environment.
The Paper Pass:
A large sheet of paper is passed around a circle of standing students. Instructions are given to do this as silently as possible. Moving slowly/ moving quickly. Listening becomes wonderful and vast. After several rounds, a different paper is used, one that makes it easier or more difficult (use paper/ tissue paper/ light cardboard). Use a contact mic to amplify the paper as it is passed- always a hoot.
Variations are to ask students to make a sound on purpose when the paper is theirs or to maintain a particular sound/ sonic texture as it is passed around. Totally awesome. I love this one- got it from R. Murray Schafer.
Another workshop- same basic idea as the first.
Environmental Listening:
Students in small or large groups go to a place to actively listen for a given amount of time- let's say 1-3 minutes. After the listening event, the students take notes on paper of what sounds they experienced and discussion is had. If possible, a recording of the event is played back repeatedly. This can be done anywhere, but finding a great, colorful spot (many layers of soft and intermittent sounds) would be nice, as well as a much more mundane environment.
These above exercises are bedrock experiences in listening that will enhance any "music" that follows.
A fundamental musical experience:
Time: Maintaining a Rhythm:
Establishing a short-lived rhythm is usually not a huge challenge- maintaining it over a span of time usually is. As solos and as groups students will produce extremely simple rhythms (beginning with 2 sounds arranged in short phrases of 4 pulse length) using hand or mallet percussion and challenge themselves to not stray from tempo or rhythmic structure. Complexity is ratcheted up, demanding higher and higher concentration. This experience will teach students to raise their level of engagement with their bodies and aspects of the sounds they produce.
*************
On "commemoration of emotions"/ the emotional content in art/ music:
I have to raise a question to this as a default presupposition.
In my experience, that happens rarely in the creative process and only slightly less rarely in the moment of receiving. In my experience there are many more times when the creative process is simply that moment of being present with the materials/ getting out of the way. I see creating as a thing to simply do- a process-based mindset to enter without referent to product or "inspiration". Getting into it. Being engrossed. Being there with the materials. Seeing a show or an art object is a moment to appreciate another person's beautiful moment of creativity/ presence.
The emotional content piece is valid, but only as one of many angles.
I feel it's important to include that not all pieces of art work carry a "meaning" or were intended to "express" anything or that they do in fact do that. Framing the subject is crucial- I am uncomfortable with limiting "art" as a goal-oriented communication.
I am not entirely comfortable with going down the path of ascribing emotional meaning to art objects or Beethoven pieces or Hank songs. It's never made sense to me. Sensual experience of anything is subjective and complex- this angle has always seemed limited to me. It has always seemed a distraction from the immediate, fundamental sensual experience- that of luscious sensation. Writing "meaning" on top of a flavor or a color or a sound or any sensation is to leave the mental/ experiential place where the action is- the world is happening! It smells and is noisy and has shape we can see and touch and taste.
The Hank Williams song you mentioned does have lonely/ sorrowful lyrics (like most of his songs), but the music is actually not so much of that feel- it's a danceable major-key waltz. Other words could be written for that exact music and it would be a "happy" song. The issue I have is that the sound is being ignored for the sake of the text of the lyric. That reading of the song would work just fine in a literature class, but I feel limited using this model in a music class.
I get the therapy angle, but I don't want to lose the fundamental of experience angle.
I suggest we speak of a "Music/ Sound Department" rather than a "Music Department". When we say "sound" our field of reference is immediately much larger and includes the totality of our students' lives. We are seeking to encourage students to relate to their senses, and sound is what the sense senses. Music is: a construct/ a type of purposeful sound/ a category we project onto experience. By encouraging a wider appreciation of the sonic environment we will deftly contextualize and include sonic experiences that would otherwise be debatable as being music. I am, of course, referencing mindful environmental listening and avant-garde music. In a nutshell, the "silent" John Cage piece.
A workshop- the intent is to open the ears and to become more present in the sound environment.
The Paper Pass:
A large sheet of paper is passed around a circle of standing students. Instructions are given to do this as silently as possible. Moving slowly/ moving quickly. Listening becomes wonderful and vast. After several rounds, a different paper is used, one that makes it easier or more difficult (use paper/ tissue paper/ light cardboard). Use a contact mic to amplify the paper as it is passed- always a hoot.
Variations are to ask students to make a sound on purpose when the paper is theirs or to maintain a particular sound/ sonic texture as it is passed around. Totally awesome. I love this one- got it from R. Murray Schafer.
Another workshop- same basic idea as the first.
Environmental Listening:
Students in small or large groups go to a place to actively listen for a given amount of time- let's say 1-3 minutes. After the listening event, the students take notes on paper of what sounds they experienced and discussion is had. If possible, a recording of the event is played back repeatedly. This can be done anywhere, but finding a great, colorful spot (many layers of soft and intermittent sounds) would be nice, as well as a much more mundane environment.
These above exercises are bedrock experiences in listening that will enhance any "music" that follows.
A fundamental musical experience:
Time: Maintaining a Rhythm:
Establishing a short-lived rhythm is usually not a huge challenge- maintaining it over a span of time usually is. As solos and as groups students will produce extremely simple rhythms (beginning with 2 sounds arranged in short phrases of 4 pulse length) using hand or mallet percussion and challenge themselves to not stray from tempo or rhythmic structure. Complexity is ratcheted up, demanding higher and higher concentration. This experience will teach students to raise their level of engagement with their bodies and aspects of the sounds they produce.
*************
On "commemoration of emotions"/ the emotional content in art/ music:
I have to raise a question to this as a default presupposition.
In my experience, that happens rarely in the creative process and only slightly less rarely in the moment of receiving. In my experience there are many more times when the creative process is simply that moment of being present with the materials/ getting out of the way. I see creating as a thing to simply do- a process-based mindset to enter without referent to product or "inspiration". Getting into it. Being engrossed. Being there with the materials. Seeing a show or an art object is a moment to appreciate another person's beautiful moment of creativity/ presence.
The emotional content piece is valid, but only as one of many angles.
I feel it's important to include that not all pieces of art work carry a "meaning" or were intended to "express" anything or that they do in fact do that. Framing the subject is crucial- I am uncomfortable with limiting "art" as a goal-oriented communication.
I am not entirely comfortable with going down the path of ascribing emotional meaning to art objects or Beethoven pieces or Hank songs. It's never made sense to me. Sensual experience of anything is subjective and complex- this angle has always seemed limited to me. It has always seemed a distraction from the immediate, fundamental sensual experience- that of luscious sensation. Writing "meaning" on top of a flavor or a color or a sound or any sensation is to leave the mental/ experiential place where the action is- the world is happening! It smells and is noisy and has shape we can see and touch and taste.
The Hank Williams song you mentioned does have lonely/ sorrowful lyrics (like most of his songs), but the music is actually not so much of that feel- it's a danceable major-key waltz. Other words could be written for that exact music and it would be a "happy" song. The issue I have is that the sound is being ignored for the sake of the text of the lyric. That reading of the song would work just fine in a literature class, but I feel limited using this model in a music class.
I get the therapy angle, but I don't want to lose the fundamental of experience angle.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Monday, July 13, 2009
Some Thoughts...
A few of us at TAS are involved in developing not just the art and music program, but the Contemplative Education program as well.
The two programs have some overlap: in the art and music programs the idea is to push kids out of the perspective that art is something one “produces and consumes” and rather that it is a way of being deeply engaged with the world. The contemplative ed curriculum seeks to cultivate a small group of students who dedicate a school year to consistent mindfulness practice during the school day, which includes supporting each other in that practice and taking part in trainings to deepen that practice. I would like to bring in former students to discuss the ways that they use mindfulness in their own lives, as well as monks and teachers and practitioners of various modalities.
An important part of both of these programs is “seeing and listening”. A relaxed, meditative “taking in” of what is happening around oneself is in itself an integrative experience. We tend to analyze things first- put them in context, break down and seperate the elements of the experience, before we actually take the whole thing in consciously. Rather like when someone is talking to me and I focus just on the logic or the pausibility of their statements, missing the emotional tone, or the communicative intent of the things she is saying.
We do this with the arts all the time. It seems that most people who are not trained in one art or the other tend to like things for reasons that aren’t all that clear to themselves, and as such, attibute it to “taste”, which is a fairly passive way of experiencing something. They don’t analyze much at all. A lot of trained artists over-analyze, and are so busy contextualizing that they miss a more direct, communicative experience.
By learning to relax and observe more holistically as one experiences a film, or a painting, or a poem, or a piece of music, one has the whole experience available for later analysis, certainly, but also for later experience- in the sense that the experience is there for the mind to draw rich analogies to and from as new experiences trickle in.
This is an integrative experience. I am coming to believe that all experiences like these strengthen the brain’s ability to integrate new experiences and re-integrate old ones. And integration- neurologically speaking- is the main task for an adolescent.
That is the key to these programs: to ground them in the goal of integrative experiences. First, a relaxed, accepting awareness. Second, a physical, skillful application of materials. Third, the sharing with others. Self-awareness-> Skills-> Relationships.
The sharing with others is the feedback loop being completed, an important stage of integration which is the external representation of an internal process. There are parallels to therapy, where the stages of the deepening therapeutic relationship and the slow exposition of painful material is the indicator of the neural integration of painful past experiences.
Being a part of a community is a deeply healing experience. In a psychological or emotional or spiritual sense I presume "healing" to mean neurological integration. Art is the expression of a community. And for healing to happen, the experience must be shared. It includes others. It must. No one "heals" in isolation.
Thus, Art.
The two programs have some overlap: in the art and music programs the idea is to push kids out of the perspective that art is something one “produces and consumes” and rather that it is a way of being deeply engaged with the world. The contemplative ed curriculum seeks to cultivate a small group of students who dedicate a school year to consistent mindfulness practice during the school day, which includes supporting each other in that practice and taking part in trainings to deepen that practice. I would like to bring in former students to discuss the ways that they use mindfulness in their own lives, as well as monks and teachers and practitioners of various modalities.
An important part of both of these programs is “seeing and listening”. A relaxed, meditative “taking in” of what is happening around oneself is in itself an integrative experience. We tend to analyze things first- put them in context, break down and seperate the elements of the experience, before we actually take the whole thing in consciously. Rather like when someone is talking to me and I focus just on the logic or the pausibility of their statements, missing the emotional tone, or the communicative intent of the things she is saying.
We do this with the arts all the time. It seems that most people who are not trained in one art or the other tend to like things for reasons that aren’t all that clear to themselves, and as such, attibute it to “taste”, which is a fairly passive way of experiencing something. They don’t analyze much at all. A lot of trained artists over-analyze, and are so busy contextualizing that they miss a more direct, communicative experience.
By learning to relax and observe more holistically as one experiences a film, or a painting, or a poem, or a piece of music, one has the whole experience available for later analysis, certainly, but also for later experience- in the sense that the experience is there for the mind to draw rich analogies to and from as new experiences trickle in.
This is an integrative experience. I am coming to believe that all experiences like these strengthen the brain’s ability to integrate new experiences and re-integrate old ones. And integration- neurologically speaking- is the main task for an adolescent.
That is the key to these programs: to ground them in the goal of integrative experiences. First, a relaxed, accepting awareness. Second, a physical, skillful application of materials. Third, the sharing with others. Self-awareness-> Skills-> Relationships.
The sharing with others is the feedback loop being completed, an important stage of integration which is the external representation of an internal process. There are parallels to therapy, where the stages of the deepening therapeutic relationship and the slow exposition of painful material is the indicator of the neural integration of painful past experiences.
Being a part of a community is a deeply healing experience. In a psychological or emotional or spiritual sense I presume "healing" to mean neurological integration. Art is the expression of a community. And for healing to happen, the experience must be shared. It includes others. It must. No one "heals" in isolation.
Thus, Art.
Some workshop ideas
Here is a proposal:
Four workshops for the entire school to participate in. The goal is to connect the visual, the musical, and the subjective, immediate experience of creating. Students will be in small groups and hopefully a few graduates and former students can help facilitate them.
These workshops are just ideas, starting points, drawn from a discussion I had with Buffy:
wrkshop #1: one hour, September. Students, armed with japanese ink and brush will be asked to practice evoking a particular sensation, for instance a rain storm, and then painting (quickly) how it feels. After a few iterations of this, each student will be asked to sit facing another student, and will paint that person’s portrait, without looking at the paper.
wrkshop #2: one hour, October. Students will be asked to revisit workshop #1 briefly. They would then be asked to represent a melody they hear in terms of line on large sheets of paper. We might add color and texture as well.
wrkshop #3: longer, maybe 1.5 hours, November. This is an exercise from the Creative Audience concept, developed by John Daido Loori. Students would draw something quickly with charcoal. The student’s partner glances at it quickly, and closes her eyes. She then reflects upon it, and relates back how she felt while reflecting upon it. The artist then relates his experience of creating the piece.
This all would be leading to the dulcimer building workshop in February that Vic and I conduct. A fourth workshop would be a little more music oriented, and would happen in January.
Please keep in mind that these are VERY sketchy. I haven't gone back and reread Daido Loori's book nor have I looked too hard for other exercises. Please suggest some if you know of some.
Four workshops for the entire school to participate in. The goal is to connect the visual, the musical, and the subjective, immediate experience of creating. Students will be in small groups and hopefully a few graduates and former students can help facilitate them.
These workshops are just ideas, starting points, drawn from a discussion I had with Buffy:
wrkshop #1: one hour, September. Students, armed with japanese ink and brush will be asked to practice evoking a particular sensation, for instance a rain storm, and then painting (quickly) how it feels. After a few iterations of this, each student will be asked to sit facing another student, and will paint that person’s portrait, without looking at the paper.
wrkshop #2: one hour, October. Students will be asked to revisit workshop #1 briefly. They would then be asked to represent a melody they hear in terms of line on large sheets of paper. We might add color and texture as well.
wrkshop #3: longer, maybe 1.5 hours, November. This is an exercise from the Creative Audience concept, developed by John Daido Loori. Students would draw something quickly with charcoal. The student’s partner glances at it quickly, and closes her eyes. She then reflects upon it, and relates back how she felt while reflecting upon it. The artist then relates his experience of creating the piece.
This all would be leading to the dulcimer building workshop in February that Vic and I conduct. A fourth workshop would be a little more music oriented, and would happen in January.
Please keep in mind that these are VERY sketchy. I haven't gone back and reread Daido Loori's book nor have I looked too hard for other exercises. Please suggest some if you know of some.
notes from Vic
my short list of goals-
** an overall focus on making art and music available to all students at
any technical level (scheduling activities that, by design, allow any
student to produce satisfying results).
** inspiring students to actively include creative (music/ art) and
meditative activities (practicing/ creating) into their ongoing lives.
** encouraging students towards a broader appreciation/ approach to their
art form.
** expanding the known universe- introducing students to diverse modes of
expression.
** providing access to facilities (studio space).
** providing technical skills needed for expression in a given art form.
** i would be most jolly with a focus on contemporary art (inherent form/
abstraction/ improvisation/ challenging the form) and allow for these
concepts to be explored in all media- art/ music/ dance, etc. and stuff
like that. sort of thing.
** an overall focus on making art and music available to all students at
any technical level (scheduling activities that, by design, allow any
student to produce satisfying results).
** inspiring students to actively include creative (music/ art) and
meditative activities (practicing/ creating) into their ongoing lives.
** encouraging students towards a broader appreciation/ approach to their
art form.
** expanding the known universe- introducing students to diverse modes of
expression.
** providing access to facilities (studio space).
** providing technical skills needed for expression in a given art form.
** i would be most jolly with a focus on contemporary art (inherent form/
abstraction/ improvisation/ challenging the form) and allow for these
concepts to be explored in all media- art/ music/ dance, etc. and stuff
like that. sort of thing.
A good point from a friend, a working artist...
What is art? Who knows!
A piece of art can invoke an emotional sensation. A kid can learn to channel their emotions into a drawing, painting, sculpture, theatre, piece of music etc. A kid can learn to recognize that he felt an emotional response was stirred while seeing or hearing art.
In education, I guess the first step would be to help the kid learn to recognize their emotions and then you can prove to him that a similar feeling of outrage, desperateness, loneliness, joy, love, desire was felt by another human being in the past-- the proof being the artwork that commemorates that emotion.
Then you can give him the skills and tools to build a commemoration of his own emotions. I think the first step is to prove that something other than words exist to communicate and learning to recognize art when he is confronted by it.
A piece of art can invoke an emotional sensation. A kid can learn to channel their emotions into a drawing, painting, sculpture, theatre, piece of music etc. A kid can learn to recognize that he felt an emotional response was stirred while seeing or hearing art.
In education, I guess the first step would be to help the kid learn to recognize their emotions and then you can prove to him that a similar feeling of outrage, desperateness, loneliness, joy, love, desire was felt by another human being in the past-- the proof being the artwork that commemorates that emotion.
Then you can give him the skills and tools to build a commemoration of his own emotions. I think the first step is to prove that something other than words exist to communicate and learning to recognize art when he is confronted by it.
Friday, July 10, 2009
What are we doing?
The TAS art and music program is in strong restructuring phase. Unlike, say, the Math Curriculum, the art curriculum has become a bit ad hoc. Productive and enjoyable, but hardly the kind of philosophically coherent experience we would all prefer. On this blog, open for all to see, will be (hopefully) the working out of the various problems we face in creating it.
Too many people see art as either something that other, talented people do, or something that is consumed like any other product. Both of those statements are true to an extent: other, talented people do make art and we do consume it in the form of exhibitions, books, reproductions, recordings, and so forth. But instead of seeing genius as something remote, perhaps we should look at exceptional, almost beyond-human artists such as Picasso as gates to our own world. They are teaching us to see, to hear, to taste.
If we merely buy posters or mp3's and they serve only as background or to heighten or memorialize certain experiences, then what are they? They are products, no more. But if an interesting meal inspires you to become more involved in how and what you eat for weeks at a time, than that is something far more.
Our art and music program should point in one direction: that our students become deeply engaged in the materials that make up our lives: light, sound, time, speech, food, relationships, space...
I believe we all experience this quality of engagement on occasion. It is a form of enlightenment- it passes quickly and cannot be held onto, but it happens. Let's have it happen over and over.
Too many people see art as either something that other, talented people do, or something that is consumed like any other product. Both of those statements are true to an extent: other, talented people do make art and we do consume it in the form of exhibitions, books, reproductions, recordings, and so forth. But instead of seeing genius as something remote, perhaps we should look at exceptional, almost beyond-human artists such as Picasso as gates to our own world. They are teaching us to see, to hear, to taste.
If we merely buy posters or mp3's and they serve only as background or to heighten or memorialize certain experiences, then what are they? They are products, no more. But if an interesting meal inspires you to become more involved in how and what you eat for weeks at a time, than that is something far more.
Our art and music program should point in one direction: that our students become deeply engaged in the materials that make up our lives: light, sound, time, speech, food, relationships, space...
I believe we all experience this quality of engagement on occasion. It is a form of enlightenment- it passes quickly and cannot be held onto, but it happens. Let's have it happen over and over.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Individual Instruction
The primary purpose of music instruction is to establish basic skills for those students who do not have them. Unfortunately, an awful lot of guitar lessons are not particularly musical, in the sense of dealing with musical problems. An analogy would be if one took drawing lessons only to the end of being able to draw pictures of kitty-cats, and never once grapple with problems of perspective or tonal harmony.
With that in mind I see these as the basic skills in music:
Listening closely for structure: understanding the role of melody, harmony, rhythm, and space
Creating melody
Playing basic chords on guitar and piano, especially understanding the role of minor and 7ths
Playing basic rhythm
From there, one proceeds to basic technique in guitar. This would be developed much more significantly by Vic during his visits to TAS
After basic skills, come basic composition, teaching compositions to others, performing with others, and basic improvisation with others. These would be mostly dealt with in the workshops.
A third part would be for students who desire to play in public. A goal could be performing at the winter fundraiser and at an end of the school year event.
With that in mind I see these as the basic skills in music:
Listening closely for structure: understanding the role of melody, harmony, rhythm, and space
Creating melody
Playing basic chords on guitar and piano, especially understanding the role of minor and 7ths
Playing basic rhythm
From there, one proceeds to basic technique in guitar. This would be developed much more significantly by Vic during his visits to TAS
After basic skills, come basic composition, teaching compositions to others, performing with others, and basic improvisation with others. These would be mostly dealt with in the workshops.
A third part would be for students who desire to play in public. A goal could be performing at the winter fundraiser and at an end of the school year event.
Posting
Anyone can read this blog. Anyone can comment on the posts. To write posts, you will need a google or blogger account. If you haven't received an invite, let me know.
pete
pete
Some Thinking Aloud
Art: I see five dimensions in the art program:
basic skills (perception and execution)
public display (self-composure, communication)
self-exploration (self-awareness, being a creative audience)
communication (intent, awareness of the audience's subjective experience)
historical context (arts relating to other arts and historical epochs)
crossover with other arts (ways that arts effect each other and interact)
basic skills (perception and execution)
public display (self-composure, communication)
self-exploration (self-awareness, being a creative audience)
communication (intent, awareness of the audience's subjective experience)
historical context (arts relating to other arts and historical epochs)
crossover with other arts (ways that arts effect each other and interact)
Let us get to work...
Erik is wondering about us. It is time to get some things done. A picture of Satie is just right because Paris in the pre-war years was the apex of the many arts influencing each other. Picasso often walked with Satie from the dingy suburbs into the city; Satie wrote cubist music with oddball, strikingly visual, titles. Along with Cocteau and Diagliev, they launched some pretty radical theater and ballet. Satie earned his living playing in can-can and caberet clubs, it was only later that his friends made him famous.
So, for now, he's the patron saint. And remember: there is a big Kandinsky show opening in NYC this September...
So, for now, he's the patron saint. And remember: there is a big Kandinsky show opening in NYC this September...
Monday, July 6, 2009
Music Curriculum, first version
Playing music is not for everybody, on the other hand, should we require an introduction to music class? Or is the music program just one part of the art curriculum, a subsection? We are talking about creating a fair amount of visual-aural crossover, so how do we do it?
I have sketched out the intro to music class I will be teaching this fall, so perhaps this is a place to start. I am using pieces of music that I am very familiar with, and using some of the same musicians in different contexts to build familiarity with personal style and aesthetic choices. If anybody has suggestions, please post them. But more helpful would be posting ideas about cross over from OTHER classes, especially visual art.
The approach I have settled on is to organize music into categories of purpose, with vivid examples from multiple traditions. Students will be expected to be able to identify and describe the most prominent features of each.
For instance:
Soaring Music (the Devotional): Black Gospel ("Give Me Wings", "Daniel in the Lions' Den"); Pierre de la Rue (Motets); John Coltrane Quartet ("A Love Supreme"); Milton Cardona ("Bembe"- a fantastic afro-cuban CD- the rites of Santeria)
Intense and Labile Music (the Romantic): this is music that emphasizes more of an individual's emotional world, rather than the ecstatic, transpersonal longing of the Devotional. Beethoven ("Sonata Pathetique"); Hank Williams ("I Feel So Lonesome I Could Cry"); Joni Mitchell ("Blue"); Amalia (various Portuguese Fado performances).
Proportional Music (the Classical): this is music where structure and the balanced introduction of material is the overarch characteristic. Haydn ("Erdody Quartet"); Chinese Classical ("Guang Lin San", "Ping Sha Luo Ya"); Bimsen Joshi (Indian Classical, "Rag Todi")
Purposeful Music (the Programmatic): obviously, music for specific occasions or purposes. John Phillip Sousa, traditional sea shanties, the soundtrack to 2001
Experimental Music (the Provocative): music written to get the audience to listen in a new way. Erik Satie ("Vexations"); Henry Cowell ("Exaultation"); John Cage ("Sonatas and Interludes"); Captain Beefheart ("Trout Mask Replica"); John Zorn; Sonic Youth; Albert Ayler; etc etc.
Part Two of the class would look at structure- Songs, Improvisation, Composition. It would then break down the elements of musical form to Melody, Rhythm, Harmony, Space.
It is very unlikely that we would make it to Part Three, which would be a look at a number of pre-rock American Genres such as Swing, the Great American Songbook, Delta Blues, New Orleans Jazz, Gospel, Soul, early Country, and regional folk musics.
There it is. What next?
I have sketched out the intro to music class I will be teaching this fall, so perhaps this is a place to start. I am using pieces of music that I am very familiar with, and using some of the same musicians in different contexts to build familiarity with personal style and aesthetic choices. If anybody has suggestions, please post them. But more helpful would be posting ideas about cross over from OTHER classes, especially visual art.
The approach I have settled on is to organize music into categories of purpose, with vivid examples from multiple traditions. Students will be expected to be able to identify and describe the most prominent features of each.
For instance:
Soaring Music (the Devotional): Black Gospel ("Give Me Wings", "Daniel in the Lions' Den"); Pierre de la Rue (Motets); John Coltrane Quartet ("A Love Supreme"); Milton Cardona ("Bembe"- a fantastic afro-cuban CD- the rites of Santeria)
Intense and Labile Music (the Romantic): this is music that emphasizes more of an individual's emotional world, rather than the ecstatic, transpersonal longing of the Devotional. Beethoven ("Sonata Pathetique"); Hank Williams ("I Feel So Lonesome I Could Cry"); Joni Mitchell ("Blue"); Amalia (various Portuguese Fado performances).
Proportional Music (the Classical): this is music where structure and the balanced introduction of material is the overarch characteristic. Haydn ("Erdody Quartet"); Chinese Classical ("Guang Lin San", "Ping Sha Luo Ya"); Bimsen Joshi (Indian Classical, "Rag Todi")
Purposeful Music (the Programmatic): obviously, music for specific occasions or purposes. John Phillip Sousa, traditional sea shanties, the soundtrack to 2001
Experimental Music (the Provocative): music written to get the audience to listen in a new way. Erik Satie ("Vexations"); Henry Cowell ("Exaultation"); John Cage ("Sonatas and Interludes"); Captain Beefheart ("Trout Mask Replica"); John Zorn; Sonic Youth; Albert Ayler; etc etc.
Part Two of the class would look at structure- Songs, Improvisation, Composition. It would then break down the elements of musical form to Melody, Rhythm, Harmony, Space.
It is very unlikely that we would make it to Part Three, which would be a look at a number of pre-rock American Genres such as Swing, the Great American Songbook, Delta Blues, New Orleans Jazz, Gospel, Soul, early Country, and regional folk musics.
There it is. What next?
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