Wednesday, March 9, 2011

WHAT WE DID TODAY #2-26: WEDNESDAY; MARCH 9, 2011

GENERAL MUSIC PERIODS 2,3,6

COMPOSER: BACH Violin Concerto in A Minor 1st Movement 
Played by violinist Stern
1. Compare with this rock version 

OBJECTIVE: MUSICAL ALPHABET and FINGERING ON KEYBOARDS
1. QUOTE AUTHOR: Igor Stravinsky
.....a. He was a famous composer (born in Russia) of the 20th Century who wrote very contemporary music that, in the early stages of his career, shocked some audiences.
http://www.veoh.com/collection/music-documentary/watch/v6331492grzWM5M4,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_Stravinsky


.....b. Etching by the famous artist Pablo Picasso, his friend: 


.....c. On the picture below, Picasso is 2nd from the left and Stravinsky is standing next to him on the right
.....d. Discussed Stravinsky's quote about how composers often borrow melodic patterns from one another. If too much of a melodic pattern is borrowed, at what point is that considered plagiarism (stealing someone else's idea)
2. SOLFEGE DO RE MI (while checking the quotes)
3. FINISHED NOTE READING BY STEPS worksheets (2 pages worth 1 point each page)
.....a.Teacher checked for understanding
4. Students to keyboards: (Procedures given to follow first/students to go through in order and when finished move on to the next one)
.....a. Locate "D" key then find B,A,G
..........1)Play songs Mary and Hot Cross Buns from handout given out last week
.....b. Pentatonic (black key songs) on reverse side of the same worksheet:
..........1)Try to play some songs by ear from the list of songs given on the sheet (1st notes or starting notes are given)
.....c. Pass out new keyboard music: Playing songs by finger numbers
.........1)These songs used to establish proper hand placement and blocking techniques before actual note reading begins. 
.........2)The idea is to be able to place the hand and fingers down on the keys in preparation to the playing of a song so that the eyes don't have to watch the fingers while playing
.........3)Also helps to develop muscle coordination and sense of touch

BEGINNING VIOLIN PERIOD 5:
OBJECTIVE: FINGERING DO-RE-MI/DO-RE-MAY (MAJOR and MINOR)
1. TUNE2. OPEN STRING BOWING
.....a. Using a bow leader so everyone's bows stay together (up and down and at the same part of the bow) 
..........1)Bow leaders are called in the orchestra either concert master (male) or concert mistress (female)
.....b. Separate bows UH 4x each string;
.....c. My sis-ter marc-y RHYTHM 2x each string(bow speed) UH bow,
.....d. Discussed using the bow at thje LH (Lower Half) or frog to middle (triangle to square)
..........1)Need to lighten up the pressure of the bow on the string when at the heaviest part of the
bow sort-of like a marionette puppet (attached by strings)
..........2)Separate bows 4x LH (frog to middle) with proper articulation (click-like) sound
3. MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB (MAJOR-HAPPY: DO RE MI)
.....a. Sang the finger numbers while fingering silently
..........1)Guitar position for those who feel a need to use their eyes while fingering
..........2)Regular position (violin held at the neck) for those who don't need to look at their fingers
.....b. Played the song with right pizzicato while singing the finger numbers
..........1)Same procedures as above
..........2)The use of the bow (UH) were for those whose fingers can now move with ease and automatically.
.....c. Played Mary on each string in the cycle of strings
4. MARY HAD A SAD LAMB (MINOR-SAD: DO-RE-MAY)
......a. Demonstrated how to make Mary had a little lamb (happy/major) into mary had a sad little lamb (sad/minor)
......b. Asked students to observe me play both example and asked them to explain what I did to make the music go from happy to sad.
...........1)Students noticed that the left 2nd finger (MI) was placed a space above the 1st finger (RE) when the music as happy but w
...........2)When the finger tips (sides of the fingertip pads) of the fingers 1 and 2 were placed together (MAY)instead of apart, ("tip to tip" or as I like to say "feel the skin of each other") the music seemed to be sad which we call in music "minor."
.....c. We played Mary had a Sad Lamb on each string using the cycle of strings

ADVANCED VIOLIN PERIOD 4:
OBJECTIVE: Preparation for Harvest Day performance on October 28th/Hoedown music
1. TUNE
2. De Colores
.....a. Worked to coordinate De Colores and balance the sound between the electric and acoustic instruments.
.....b. Violinists were given choices to play either melody or harmony parts
.....c. Worked with all the violins who are playing melody parts
.....d. Strenghtened the understanding of the violin harmony parts while melody parts were playing
.....e. Added all parts together
3. Hoedown
.....a. Still having trouble eith the coordination of the 16th note passages (same passages that are in Orange Blossom Special) with piano accompaniment
.....b. Piano needs to perform small accents on strong beats so as not to lose the steady pulse.
Be prepared next week we need to getout music stands
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