Module 7 - Playing

(Representation of activity coming soon.)

Deep, meaningful playing occurs when people work with what they know in an unstructured way, producing new ideas, connections, and insights. The playful introduction I have designed is for a beginning class of music students of any age. After introducing myself at the beginning of class and chatting with the students a little bit, I hand out blank sheets of paper and crayons, colored pencils, or markers. I explain to students that we'll be listening to some music, and I want them to color on their papers, what each song reminds them of. I emphasize that there are no right or wrong answers, and I am interested in whatever they are thinking of when they hear each song. Then, I play four or five pieces that I think induce some strong emotions. Two of my favorite examples are Bach's Toccata in d minor (scary/spooky song) and Vivaldi's Spring. I do not tell the students what the name of the piece is, or what it makes me think of.

This activity is playful, in that it encourages students to have a bit of fun with their music. Often, when students are first starting, their parents have just told them how hard it's going to be, how hard they'll have to work, and they walk in to their first lesson expecting to not have any fun. If this activity is done in a school band or orchestra, students are in the mindset of “this is school, it's hard, it's not fun.” But hand out some coloring utensils, tell students there's no right or wrong answer, and I even tell them they don't have to actually draw anything, that just scribbling colors is great, and suddenly they start having fun. It's asking them to be creative, in a safe environment, which is fun.

This activity is meaningful because it asks students to connect with the music being played. An important part of performing a piece is communicating something to the audience, an idea, emotion, color, or story. This is often difficult for students to accomplish, and all too often we hear wooden performances played exactly the way it is on the page, but without any life. Giving life to music, giving it a purpose, a message, helps to distinguish the mediocre from the great. However, before students can create this message in their music, they first have to be able to hear it in others' music. This activity encourages students to hear a message in music.

I developed this activity to help get my students thinking about music. They don't have to be advanced players to do this, in fact, I will often do this with younger siblings of students; young children that have never played an instrument before. It can also be done with older and more advanced students, and it might help some of them relax. Before I let a student perform a piece, they have to come up with a story for the piece. I do explain that it can be as simple as a color or emotion, but they have to come up with something for it. While I might ask for clarifying details, I never criticize or correct a student's story. What they hear in the music is unique to them, and is theirs to share. So I developed this activity to help get my students started in thinking about music as a communication tool, rather than just another chore or skill.

Module 6 - Dimensional Thinking

Video:

(Please note that I designed this video and the write-up to be looked at together.)

The cognitive tool of modeling is when you are able to take something, and represent it on a different scale or dimension. The dimension I will be examining is that of time. To this end, I will be looking at rhythms, phrases, forms, as well as music history, starting with Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D Major. My video begins with a single phrase in this piece. This phrase is one which I identify as a main theme of the piece; it comes back a total of four times throughout the movement. Then, we back up to look at the entire section this phrase occurs in, the introduction. The introduction of a piece is when a composer introduces their main ideas, a lot like an introduction in an essay. This phrase also occurs in the recapitulation, which restates the main theme again, bringing the piece full circle. Also a lot like writing an essay (this would be the conclusion), the recapitulation often has more development than the introduction. Next, we back up to look at the entire piece. Following the introduction is the development, when the composer takes their initial main ideas and turns them on end, twists them around, inside out, transposes them to new keys, and overall makes them much more complex. The development would be the main body of an essay.

Next, my video backs up to look at the entire concerto. A concerto typically has three movements, a fast movement, a slow movement, and then another fast movement. The Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto is no exception. The phrase we initially began with lies in the second, slow movement. This concerto is in D Major, but the second movement is actually in d minor with two flats instead of two sharps. Changing keys like this is relatively common in classical music.

Next, we back up to take a look at Tchaikovsky's life. He composed his violin concerto at age 38, after marrying and leaving his wife after only two and a half months in 1877 (just 6 months before he wrote the concerto), and receiving an allowance from a wealthy widow who insisted they never meet. Tchaikovsky had traveled abroad extensively, and actually wrote this concerto while in Switzerland with a friend.

Stepping back to take a look at the rest of the world in 1878, we can see that Russia was in the process of concluding a war with the Ottoman empire in Turkey, with Russia very much coming out on top. As a nationalist composer, we can use this knowledge to color our interpretation of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto. Stepping further back, and looking at more of musical history, we see that Tchaikovsky was a romantic composer, born just a few years after Brahms and Bizet, fellow romantic composers. However, Tchaikovsky was heavily influenced by Mozart (classical), Rossini (classical), Bellini (borderline classical/romantic), and Donizetti (romantic). With the exception of Mozart who was German, they were all Italian. It wasn't until later in his twenties that he had a lot of contact with other Russian composers, including Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The major periods of music are Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, 20^th Century, and 21^st Century. Medieval music is characterized by Gregorian chants – simple melodies with harmonies moving with the melodies, in perfect fifths. Renaissance music developed greater complexity with polyphony (multiple voices moving at different times, as opposed to the Gregorian chants of the medieval period). Baroque music is notable for its extreme ornateness; Bach is a great example. Classical music is actually simplified, with Mozart being an excellent example. Mozart's music, while difficult, is often simple and transparent, and follows all the rules of composition. Romantic music has composers adding more complexity again, and far more lyricism. Modern music (20^th and 21^st centuries) is often characterized by serialized music, minimalist music, 12-tone music, and other attempts to “do something different” with music.

Finally, we fast-forward, zooming in farther and farther, until we are back at our original phrase. Here, we slow back down, and zoom in farther to a particular measure. This measure is the same each time the violin solo has it, however, the accompaniment part in the orchestra is always different. The first time it comes around, the cornet, violins, and violas all have a half note in the last two beats of the measure. Rhythmically, Tchaikovsky keeps this first exposure very simple. The second time we hear this measure, the first violins and violas have four eighth notes and a quarter note. This makes the rhythm much more complex. The third time we hear this measure is the most complex. Clarinets start with a sixteenth rest, three sixteenth notes, an eighth note, quarter, and one more eighth note. Violins and viola have a quarter rest followed by two quarter notes, while the cello and bass have a quarter note, quarter rest, and another quarter note. Even without the solo added, this is quite complex rhythmically. The last time we get this measure, violins and violas have a half note followed by a quarter note, cello and bass have another quarter note, quarter rest, and quarter note, while the clarinets have a sixteenth rest followed by 7 sixteenth notes and a quarter rest. The clarinet definitely adds more complexity in this section, by rhythmically it is simpler than the previous measure. The reason is because syncopation (when the clarinet had an eighth note, quarter note, and eighth note, putting the beat halfway through the quarter note) is far more difficult than sixteenth notes. Sixteenth notes are all equal, and the beat falls on the first one of the group of four notes. Syncopation puts the beat in the middle of a note, so adds more difficulty.

I wanted to examine the dimension of time, because there is a lot that musicians need to know when they study an advanced piece like the Tchaikovsky. They need to get the big picture of the form of the piece, the even larger picture of the times and what else is going on in the world and a composer's life, as well as the nitty-gritty of particular rhythmic encounters. It is very easy to keep the focus small, and spend all your time on each rhythm. Rhythm is important, but so are the bigger pictures. I need to remember to teach the bigger picture to my students, too. There's so much detail in how different rhythms interact that it's easy to get lost in it. If we remember to take a step back occasionally, we can add some much-needed perspective to the situation. Learning that Tchaikovsky wrote this piece shortly after a failed marriage and when he was supported by a wealthy widow, adds a lot to the piece I never thought about before. I also have a student who is working on the second movement of this concerto, and I will be having her look into Tchaikovsky's life, too.

Module 5 - Embodied Thinking

Embodied thinking occurs when we use our bodies to think, whether this is processing information, thinking of new ideas, or having moments of insight. This also encompasses using empathy to think, wherein we imagine ourselves in another's position. Because music is already so intrinsically embodied, I chose to portray two aspects of embodiment with my project: movement while I am playing (if I could dance, I would), and photos of what I am thinking of while playing the piece. So I am embodying the music through moving with it, as well as empathizing with it, by thinking of what the music reminds me of.

I chose to show my body's movement while playing the piece because I feel that dance is a very integral part of appreciating and understanding music. So while I have no ability, training, or knowledge of dance (I intend to learn how after I finish my degree), I wanted to portray this importance the best that I could. Moving while playing is a great way to get into the music and really feel it. If done properly, it will not only enhance your understanding of the piece, but will also enhance your performance of it.

I chose to show pictures of what I am thinking about while playing, to emphasize the importance of going beyond the notes. I like to tell my students that the notes, rhythms, and bowings, while important, are the boring parts of music. It really gets exciting and fun when you can actually use your instrument to communicate with your audience, which is what I believe the whole point of music is. Music truly is the universal language. So, to that end, I wanted to explicitly display what I am trying to communicate, by finding pictures  that are similar to what I am thinking and feeling while playing.

Video recording my playing always makes me look at it from a different perspective. When I am playing, I have an internal vision of what I think I look and sound like. By recording my playing, I am able to experience what the audience actually experiences, rather than just what I think they will. I see all of my awkward movements and facial expressions, then can work to make them better. It actually took several tries to get a recording I could be satisfied with, and I modified both movements and facial expressions. In the end, I was able to finish with a much more meaningful performance that conveyed a lot more to my audience.

Finding photos  to use in the other half of the screen was exceptionally challenging. It required me to explicitly define what I was thinking and feeling. Usually, when playing a piece, I have a vague idea of what is going on, emotionally. But just like trying to talk or write with only a vague idea of what you are saying, playing with only a vague idea is not nearly as productive as it could be. So in finding these, I was forcing myself to really know what I was trying to tell my audience. Sort of like writing an outline before you start writing.

After completing these activities myself, I am even more convinced that I need to work with my students to complete these activities with them. Not all the time, with every piece, or at every lesson, but definitely with major pieces that they are planning to perform. Seeing my performance, modifying my performance until I was happy with it, and clearly articulating what I was thinking and feeling while playing, really helped to make my performance work.

(If that doesn't work, here's the link to it on youtube.)