WHAT WE DID TODAY (SEMESTER #1-23): MONDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2010

GENERAL MUSIC PERIODS 2,3,6

COMPOSER: BACH DOUBLE VIOLIN CONCERTO (CONTINUED FROM FRIDAY)
1. Reviewed what a "double concerto" was: soloists playing a duet with an accompaniment of an orchestra with the music 
    divided into 3 movements.
2. Discussed that Bach's music has a lot of notes and that he had to write all these notes down using a quill pen and ink that 
     you dipped the pen into.
.....a. All the music for the orchestra parts had to be copied by hand (no electronics back then) and since there was no electric 
         lights this was all done by candle light.
.....b. Bach work all day and at night he and his wife would copy most of the music by hand.
.....c. At the end of Bach's life he was going blind partly due in part to the years of stress he put on his eyes writing up all this 
         music by candle light.
OBJECTIVE: RECORDER NOTE READING BY LETTERS
1. QUOTE AUTHOR: Sergei Prokofiev
.....a. A Russian composer from the 20th Century
.....b. His most famous composition was "Peter and the Wolf." 

"Peter and the Wolf" Narrated by David Bowie Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpoizq-jjxs

"Peter and the Wolf" Narrated by David Bowie Part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFSrmhNHz84&feature=related

"Peter and the Wolf" Narrated by David Bowie Part 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShA-ew26eL4&feature=related

"Peter and the Wolf" Narrated by David Bowie Part 4

.....c. We discussed the topic of dissonance in music and likened it to food.

..........1)First we defined the term dissonance: discord or lack of agreement; conflict or incompatibility

..........2)Certain foods have flavors that are pleasant but they don't always blend well together (ie: peppermint and orange 
              juice may be pleasant separately but don't mix well together) Sounds can act the same way; ones that don't blend 
              well together produce a strident, harsh, often irritating sound call dissonance.

..........3)Sounds that blend well together create a pleasant, comfortable, and/or happy-type sound; the term used for this in 
              music is called "consonance."

2. SOLFEGE: DO-RE-MI

.....a. Each student sings the pattern and hand signs to...
       teacher: "Did you finish your quote/" Student reply, "Yes I did."
3. WARM-UP

.....a. We worked our way down the recorder starting to use the fingers of the right hand.
.....b. We reviewed the musical alphabet backwards and how it related to recorder fingering

4. WHACKY NUTCRACKER DO-RE-MI piece

.....a. Using the musical alphabet forward (up) and backwards (down) I showed students how to locate the note names on the 
         staff (lines and spaces) using step-wise motion
.....b. Understanding this concept, by knowing where the name of one note is located you will know how to name all the others 
          as well.
.....c. The symbol which indicates that one note that helps you identify all the others is called the "clef" (the symbol used for 
         the soprano recorder in music notation is called the "treble" clef or "G" clef because the symbol (found at the 
         beginning of the music) looks like a fancy "G" and the circular portion of the "G" goes around line 2 of the staff  
         (which is the "G" note in the "treble" clef). 

.....d. We exchanged finger numbers for letters and also reviewed many of the directions (measures rest, beats per measure, 
          staccato, etc.)

5. OLD MACDONALD (periods 2 and 3) DO-RE-MI piece

.....a. Reviewed letter names and what the fingerings were
.....b. Looked at the use of quarter notes (tah) and eighth note in pairs (ti-ti) symbols found in this piece

6. TURKEY TROT DO-RE-MI piece
.....a. Echanged numbers to letters

.....b. Used more complicated combinations of quarter and eighth notes

.....c. The song contained single eighth notes with flags and eighth notes in pairs (their flags being "beamed" together)

..........1)Eighth notes with flags are the same as eighth notes with beams; whenever you have 2 or more single (flagged)eighth 
             notes next to each other those flags can be tied together or "beamed" to make reading the notes easier on the eyes

..........2)Eighth note rests are valued the same as an eighth note except they are silent notes. The symbol for one looks sort-of 
             like a fancy "7"

BEGINNING VIOLIN PERIOD 5:

OBJECTIVE: Bowing on Open Strings/DO-RE-MI Fingering
1. TUNE 
2. CYCLE OF STRINGS 4x each string UH
3. CYCLE OF STRINGS 4x each string 8x UH
4. CYCLE OF STRINGS 2x each string to rhythm: "My sis-ter Marc-y" (slow-fast-fast-slow-slow) using same amount of bow 
     for each syllable but bow speed changes UH
5. CYCLE OF STRINGS 4x each string lifted, short down bows MB for articulation practice 
6. Reviewed "Little Bitty"
.....a. Reviewed that there are many LIFTED DOWN bows in this piece; bows to be lifted where indicated (during the
       quarter rests). We practiced silent lifted bows in the air first.
.....b. Reminded them of the term RITARDANDO (Italian meaning to retard or slow down "RIT." for short) written into the 
         music and defined the Italian directions "a tempo" (the original speed), "fermata" (holding the note as long as the 
         conductor wishes; symbol looks sort-of like a bird's eye),

          and a "double bar" (a symbol with a thick and thin line indicating the end of a piece of music).

......c. We played through the entire piece.
7. FINGERING DO-RE-MI
..........a. We put away our bows and learned how to put left fingers down at their pads in the RE (1st finger)-MI (2nd finger) 
               positions (DO is an open string) with the left thumb opposite the 1st finger.
..........b. Using the guitar position (for practice purposes only) students started to practice plucking the strings using the right 
              thumb over the fingerboard while they fingered the DO, RE, MI notes using the left fingers.
TO BE CONTINUED TOMORROW

ADVANCED VIOLIN PERIOD 4: 

OBJECTIVE: Preparation for Harvest Day performance on October 28th/Hoedown music
1. TUNE
2. DE COLORES 
.....a. Reviewed harmony parts with cellos, guitar, and piano by having everyone (including violins) play the 
     harmony part.
.....b. Started the process of connecting the parts together. by having a few violins start the melody part (later to add a few 
         more students until all violins are playing the melody).

3. HOE DOWN

.....a. Review trying to keep bass line harmony parts connected rhythmically with the melody
.....b. Violins practiced to try to keep the fast section from rushing, so all the violins are moving at the same speed

QUIZ ON THE DIFFICULT 4-NOTE PASSAGE OF ORANGE BLOSSOM SPECIAL POSTPONED UNTIL I RE-ANNOUNCE IT