Here (from the syllabus) is the homework for Wednesday (tomorrow). All listening.
- Continued discussion of the Music for People “Bill of Musical Rights” http://musicforpeople.org/rights.html and tracks from “The Darling Conversations”
- One Quality Sound (track 3)
- Vocal Timbre (track 4)
- Babbling (track 5)
- Articulation (track 6)
- Sirening (track 7)
Remember, you access the audio files at http://audio.depauw.edu, logging in with your network/Moodle username and password.
Listen and in a comment below, talk about what you find most interesting/striking in each track. This can include what you "like" the most, and what you "dislike" the most.
And for class tomorrow, bring both a drum and your major instrument.
The one quality sound concept definitely relates to being in a group, not really a solo sound. I can see that relating to choir or drum circle; we have often talked about the spiritual aspect and this could be somewhat seen as such. This idea could be seen as people connecting on a deeper level than just the sound, but in thinking to become one. The roundness can also relate to groups and how you would sing in a group with vowels.
ReplyDeleteThe babbling for me also does seem like scatting and also seem vocally healthy for loosening up. Sometimes singers can get tongue tension and that could be a way to help ease it. This could really be a great thing for singers to get back to natural singing after developing back habits. Its also very expressive because it is such a big emotional release to feel free to make any sound you want. Articulation could reflect onto drumming of just the cleanness of which you should be hitting the drum. The articulation and clarity of rhythm at a great speed is important. This could also be related to the cowbell and how someone should strike it.
The sirening seems to be a good way to fix tone-deaf people, but I also use it for more legato singing. Sirening seem to be very expressive because it is the same as maintaining a note, but the sliding allows for more change. This relates to there are no musical people because they just have to find it. (side note I am from Connecticut)
Building on Kristin's point about the group sound aspect, another thing mentioned in the conversations that makes group improvisation (like our circle) or any music work is sincerity. If you don't mean a note, you can't give it any emotional significance, and a musician that can't play with emotion can be replaced by a computer for less than half the cost. Trying to think as one is the base of any ensemble not sounding like X people who happen to be playing at the same time.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that they decided that a "quality sound" is the most rounded sound possible (the "oh" vowel) because they equate good sound with "open," "sophisticated," "even," "relaxed," etc. I didn't hear them talk about the attack of the sound very much, which is (arguably) the biggest part of what defines the timbre of an instrument, so I'm curious about the different attacks you can apply to "oh" to re-define it. I find it odd that they somewhat ruled out "ah" as the "quality sound," despite their admittance that it was a more natural sound, and again I'm wondering if their approach to the attack of the vowel influenced their opinion of it (side note: there have been experiments that have shown that switching the attacks on instrument sounds makes them sound like other instruments, and I think there's a whole chapter on Levitin's "This Is Your Brain On Music" about that).
On the subject of babbling: he talks about using babble for scat singing because it was natural for him and it was a "way into articulation." I'm not against it per se, because I've heard some great scat and scat-like articulations like tala-talk that come from babble, but something that a lot of singers I've talked to miss on the subject of scat is that it isn't about the syllables as much as what you do with them. It's all well and good to sing "doo bah diddly scatabat " but the best advice I ever got about scat was to pick a specific instrument to imitate - besides guys like George Benson and Slam Stewart who sing their lines while they play, I've seen guys like Eddie Jefferson miming a specific instrument while they play to help them achieve the sound. When you start thinking in those terms, the syllables just happen better than when you consciously think of them.
"One Quality Sound"
ReplyDeleteWhat struck me in this track was really how they managed to get so many different styles of musician to sit down and make that one pure sound. The idea that music is of the Earth, and that all things are connected is a very powerful way to unite people form all walks of life. The music they made together was pretty impressive.
"Vocal Timbre"
overtones are interesting to me because I've never really understood them, or even talked to much about how they effect music and harmony. So it's cool to hear them talking about it. But some of those vowel sounds were so nasal it hurt.
"Babbling"
The phrase "all sounds are music" seems to be at the root of this philosophy, I'm not sure i agree, but i don't have a definitive way to suggest otherwise.
"Articulation"
I'm not exactly sure how this is not babbling
"sirening"
I've always thought anyone could be taught how to hear notes and such. Using the sirening to train the ear is an interesting concept. I've never had a problem hearing the differences in tones, but i can imagine that's a powerful moment for the first time.
With "One Quality Sound," I definitely agreed with the importance of breathing. Its funny how we forget about such an essential thing. In our last rotation, I was one of the four people that she did the clinic with. One of the major things she taught me was how I need to prepare, and how breathing helped that. In my high school band we spent a couple of MONTHS just learning how to get a good breath. We also did a lot of learning about different articulations. Even in my private lessons I found out first hand how our own definitions of what each marking is can make a huge difference. While working on an etude, Scotty asked me what the definition of "staccato" was. I said short. The correct answer is separated. The way I played the etude after that was completely different, and for the better.
ReplyDeleteWhat I liked about "Vocal Timbre" was how it pointed out the natural intervals with just the vowels. In my musicianship class we talked about how just saying "mommy" has a specific interval and how its used in different children's songs. Not going to lie though, I got annoyed quickly by their singing...
I thought it was cool how babbling is for more than just babies. Its a really good way to start improvising, like we did in class. That and the way they were talking in the way drummers do was really cool. At the WGI tent for indoor percussion was a booth for Lone Star Percussion, and they gave away free shirts if you were able to "drum speak" some rhythm. I'm terrible at this, for I cannot roll my tongue at all, so trying to do anything fast like that is just bad news. The Sirening was also interesting. I liked how they compared it to how dogs sound like a siren sometimes. I personally think the Doppler effect in sirens is pretty cool anyway.
My favorite word used in "One Quality Sound" was organic. I think that's definitely a word that is not used nearly enough to explain/describe the creation of musical sound. I think it's easier to create the sound you want if instead of thinking about what needs to happen, you just organically create sound. In the track, it's said that "There is no way that a sound like that can't be beautiful," which is so beautiful to think about.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I didn't enjoy listening to "Vocal Timbre." In my opinion, it was a lot of syllables with a lot of repeated information. I also feel like at one point, Julie and David were disagreeing with each other, and I didn't know what I should be internalizing.
In "Babbling," I liked how David pointed out the connection between babbling and the description of articulation. When we babbled in class on Monday, all I could think about was how I would notate the sounds I was making as articulations. I think that might be stronger for me as a wind player than for a string player or percussionist because of the direct connection to oral sound creation. I don't know if that's true, however, and I would love to talk about it.
In the "Articulation" track, I felt like the ratio of examples to actual information was a bit skewed, so I didn't find it as informative as it could have been. A lot of the ideas were communicated in the "Babbling" track also, so this track was sort of redundant. What I liked, however, was the statement expressing that all instrumentalists (regardless of how their instruments are played) are trying to be articulate.
I agree with Ben with regards to "Sirening." Using the siren for ear training is something that I often do in my horn lessons, but I've never thought about using it for ear training outside of that. That's a good technique to use and good knowledge to have.
What I loved most about “One Quality Sound” was how natural, and what Patrick said, “organic”, it was. As Darling stated, “it was like Earth singing”, and as Weber introduced, “it is like an ocean of pitches”. The mixture of sounds was simply remarkable.
ReplyDeleteWhat I liked most about “Vocal Timbre” was the control factor and the syllables that create an open sound. As musicians we try to stay away from closed off, or as I say, “whiny” sounds. As a clarinetist I try to achieve the most round, dark, and rich, yet controlled sound, but it is ironic because I had learned previously in high school that clarinets need to be played with more of an “e” sound rather than an “ah” or “o”. Regardless of my prior knowledge, whether it is correct or incorrect, I choose to play with more of an “ah” or “ta” sound because it sounds more mature, dark, rich, and controlled to me.
I do not like babbling, and I will never enjoy babbling, BUT I understand its purpose and how it can help accentuate articulations. I myself need to improve my articulation when playing/performing. So, although I do not exactly like babbling, I understand its purpose and beneficiary qualities, and will certainly try it because I do believe that it helps with articulation, especially with wind instruments.
Sirening sounds so cool, but I don’t think that doing this would help me with finding pitches or intervals (probably due to my lack of knowledge and experience with it. I have never heard of the technical term before.) Vocal sirening sounds like the notes are flat to me. The clarinet does this in the piece “Rhapsody in Blue” by the means of some weird sliding technique, but the notes that are created by this technique aren’t notes on the instrument. So, I definitely need to try this vocally. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLTManObB40 ...See, from 0:09 - 0:11 he does some weird sliding thing on the clarinet…the keys of the instrument aren’t fully pressed down.)
Good comments, so far. Keep them coming. Those that connect the ideas discussed in the various tracks to other things you've herd, read, and/or thought about are especially useful to the conversation.
ReplyDeleteBabbling, one-quality sounds, articulate improvising, and sirening are all excellent starting points for free, self-expressive improvisation (which can lead to more developed improvisation skills). George Wolfe and I will improvise in the 10:30 AM recital later this morning--I may well include all of those as we see what happens.
Here's an interesting thing: George and I have done improvised performances in many places over the last 5 years or so. We will not rehearse or even discuss what we'll do this morning. (I have more of a plan for interviewing him than I do for our music making.)
"One Quality Sound"
ReplyDeleteThe thing they said about how its more just about openness and such when doing improv was very interesting to me. Also when they mentioned the music coming from Earth it really shows how we are all connected to the earth and therefore connected together.
"Vocal Timbre"
I don't really know a lot about this, but listening to them talk about how "ah" was most natural and overtones was interesting to me, and for the most part I agree except I don't think singing on "ah" sounds as good as singing on "oh".
"Babbling"
I liked how they talked about babbling being the first thing you do as a child and its like going back to your roots when you do it. And I feel like its a nice way just to loosen up, especially when you get your hands into like they talked about.
"Articulation"
I was a little lost in this one. They did talk about different articulations and such that made music sounds so different, which it does, but other than that I'm with Ben, it was a lot like the babbling one.
"Sirening"
Like Ben, I've always thought anyone could be taught how to hear notes and such. As a future music educator, hearing about how they used people sirening to teach them how to hear pitch may come in handy later on. It seems like a very good tool to use and I would love to try it when I have my own ensemble. I've never thought about using sirening like that before, it very much intrigued me.
Sirening: It sounds so strange to me honestly. It just sounds like people are moaning. Like in the scene in hercules when all of the dead are trying to climb onto the boat with Hercules and Hades, if it was to music I feel like that is what it would feel like. It just seems like it would be more in the background of a horror movie. But it is really interesting that this can help people who are tone deaf find pitch. I find that really cool.
ReplyDeleteVocal Timbre: It sounds very ominous in the beginning. And when they were demonstrating the improper ways of doing vowels it just sounded absolutely atrocious. However, when done correctly it sounds like a musical instrument almost. I feel like using some of those ideas in a capella would be really cool. It would sound very interesting because it would create a really cool depth or "flavor" as they mentioned it.
One Quality Sound: The beginning almost sounds like a capella. But it just has a different quality to it. A different style. To me a lot of what he is talking about reminds me of Colors of the wind. But I think it is a really interesting concept about how the earth has sounds. How earth singing and its song. It is really interesting how they developed this idea.
Babbling: It starts off almost as the flight of the bee. But I agree with him, Babbling is very fun. But it makes sense how babbling is a basis of where we start off. I also agree with what he thinks of being a fool and babbling; it is a natural form of trust and communication. When you babble with people and understand people you really start to feel foolish but in a good way if that makes any sense.
Articulation: I agree how it should all start with articulation. It is the most important thing because really that is the true base of what music is. Not technique or anything. Because otherwise why would we listen to people that aren't trained and enjoy it? That is simply because the basis is articulation (at least more so than technique).
"One Quality Sound"
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the connections made in this track. I think that that is the most important thing about drum circles and music in general. Connecting with those around you, the Earth and the music you are playing.
"Vocal Timbre"
I am going to agree with pretty much everyone else that I didn't particularly enjoy this track. The "ah" sound may be very natural,but it is also very harsh. For me, I sort of visualize the sounds as shapes. The "ah" sound to me is very boxy, with sharp edges and is hard and smooth like a rock. The "oh" sound is very soft and rounded, like a soft cloth.
"Babbling"
Babbling was interesting to me. Being a very conscientious person, this exercise would take some work to master, but I really like the idea behind it. I like the idea of loosening up and being free with your sounds. I can definitely see how this would help with improvising on instruments as well.
"Articulation"
I liked this track because I struggle with "proper" articulation. The idea that there is more than one way to articulate is sort of a revelation for me and I am definitely thinking about trying some of these out on my oboe.
"Sirening"
This was definitely my favorite track. I REALLY liked when two people were sirening at one time. The effect was haunting and literally gave me chills. I like how it helps people who feel that they can't carry a tune and I 100% agree with Julie that people who think they are "tone-deaf" just don't know how to control their vocal muscles.