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Emerging Series Three Composing Pieces Living wild on a tamed planet £ɩȠɍƪĠȧǒōɍƌĠĠÃ 9ƪǒȠƕĒÃÃǀɍƌĠȠ Sāhausȟ Swallowtail Butterfly Living Wild on a Tamed Planet COMPOSING PIECES FORWIND BAND JODIE BLACKSHAW INSTRUMENTATION ©2023ColourFULLMusic. All rights reserved. International rights secured. www.jodieblackshaw.com Flute Turtles of the Sea Mallets1, 2 (for multipleplayers) Auxiliary Percussionof choice Oboe B ! Clarinet (high & low) Florida Panther Glockenspiel, Marimba Triangle, Suspended Cymbal B ! Bass Clarinet E ! Alto Saxophone B ! Tenor Saxophone Schaus’Swallowtail Glockenspiel, Marimba Auxiliary Percussionof choice E ! Baritone Saxophone B ! Trumpet Horn in F Trombone/Baritone/Bassoon /Bass Guitar Tubai T REHEARSAL NOTES T These are works specifically designed to teach students about music making from the inside out. Each piece provides the Director and their students with a set of pitch material based in a particular key, including scales, melody, counter-melody, accompaniment, ostinato etc.. Over a series of rehearsals, the students not only learn how to play the material, they compose with the elements of structure, timbre, texture and expression to create their very own, original piece of music. Know that these decisionsare made by the students –not the Director. The Director is there as a facilitator –allowing students to engage with each other and make musical decisions based on their own listening, ideas and creative thought. Learn more about this approach over the page –you can achievethis without compromising your structured teaching environment–promise J . To reach the 21 st Century child, I believe that a Band Director needs to alter their considerations for repertoire selection and teaching approach. It is not enough anymore to simply select repertoire and teach students how to play it. Why? Because the 21 st Century child has become a moreindependent learner as a result of technology. No longer is the “expert”the only source of information –the internet allows children to learn a great deal about the world around them all by themselves. Educational ideology engaging this independence such as Project Based Learning, Kagan Cooperative Learning Structures and Reciprocal Peer Questioning Strategies has infiltrated virtually every other subject area. Hence what are wedoingas Band Directors to remaineducationally presentand ensure that the 21 st Century student holdsinterest in instrumental music making? Based on my experience, the answer lies with composing pieces. When we allow our students to think creatively in our rehearsals, they develop a deep attachment tothe music because they have been directly involved in the decision-makingprocess. This is a powerful tool to use in our learning environments and one that is often overlooked. To program a Composing Piece means to hold back and allow students to learn through discovery. This learning can then be applied to all other repertoire you are currently playing, enablingdeeper comprehensionand connection. All of this leads to creating musical thinkers who are invested in their own music making –it is more powerful than you can ever imagine. So strap in and get ready for the ride of your life! “The most beautiful thing we can experience isthe mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. Those to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, are as good as dead; their eyes are closed.” —Albert Einsteinii explained Thereare3‘composing’piecesinthissuite,andtheytaketheirtitlesfromthethreeendangeredspecies selected by middle schoolstudentsof Florida: Turtles of the Sea (inspired by the 5 sea turtles that lay their eggs on the beaches of Florida), Florida Panther, Schaus’ Swallowtail Butterfly. Witheachpiece,thelevel of difficultyincreases. Hereisascopeand sequencethatdetailstheeducationalgrowthbetween Turtles and Swallowtail : Concept Turtles of the sea Florida Panther Schaus’Swallowtail PitchConcert G natural minor 1.Melody 2.Three pitched ostinato patterns 3.Two non-pitched ostinato patterns 4.Option to compose own melodyinspired by clips and imagery foundon webpagevia QR code. Concert AMinor 1.Harmonised Melody 2.Melody capable of four part counterpoint 3.Countermelody 4.Transition material -Joining pieces -Harmonic haze Concert C minor and C Major Introduction to compound time Minor: 1.Melody 2.Counter 3.Accomp. 4.Ostinato Major: 1.Melody 2.Harmony 3.Accomp. 4.3-part PLUS: Soundscape inspired by graphic and images found on webpage via QR code. Structural ComponentsI (Standard) A materialonly TUTTI SOLI LAYER-IN LAYER-OUT 2-part round (Ostinato 3 only –optional) A materialonly +SOLO +2-part ROUND +M/A (Melody/ Counter) +Transitions A+B materialin 2 different keys +SOUNDSCAPE +MHA (Melody/Harmony/Accomp.) +3-parts Structural ComponentsII (For more Advanced players) SOUNDSCAPE SOLO M/C(Melody & Accomp.) +ECHO +4-part ROUND +S/A(Solo & Accomp.) (1/2soloists, one oneach line). Can be used with any of the material in either key. Textural Complexity 1.Unison melody. 2.Up to four simultaneous lines (withopt. to compose own melody). 1.Alternate parts overlapping (round). 2.Harmonised melody 3.Moving between sections using transitions. 1.Four independentlines. 2.Three-part chamber music 3.Compound time option 4.Two different keys This work has been especially designed to be learned in two stages… BUT!! It depends… If your students are youngand/orinexperienced, I highly recommend completingStage One before doing anything creative. This will ensure safety and confidence is always maintained. However; if yourstudents are moresenior with reasonable sight-reading skills, they will not need to complete Stage One–so you can simply read through the material as a warm-up then jump right in to the compositional process!iii The Stage One teaching approach suggested here utilizes two of the three educational pillars–skill(the whatand how) andromance (the creative process thatallowsstudents to play with ideas): Skill: Students needthe necessary skill-set to play most of the notes asked ofthem. Romance: Provide your students with the opportunity to discover how to play all the notes by themselves (see No. 2 Notes to Know)and then apply this to a melodic line(see overpage). The Stage Two teaching approach suggested here also utilizes an alternate two of the three educational pillars of romanceand context(placing skills and romantic ideas into a place that is relevant to the learner): Now that your students have the skillsto play the melody (and counter-melodytoo if you choose to use it) and have played around with these musical motifs, youcanapply this knowledgeto acompositional process. This will reach your students as individuals and unify them as a whole with regard to musical thinking and performance(seriously!). Romance: Provide your students with initial ideasand timeto create a musical composition using structure, tone colour, texture and expressive techniques. Embellish these elements to include ensemble balance, voicings and appropriate octave ranges for specificinstrumental families. Context: The ‘Why’! To contextualise the music, you can do one of the following (or you may have your own ideas –that’s perfectly fine too!): üStudents link personalexperiences they have had with the pitch material(for example, seeingtheseanimals or othersintheir travels, reflections onvideos providedviathe QR codes etc..) andbasetheir musical composition around this; ü Students link a story froma textaboutone ofthese creatures– eithertheir ownor onethey know of, and link that to their musical intent; Context provides the all important ‘why’ and ensures the music is saying somethingand isn’t just a set of elements smashed together. iv Once students canplay the material detailed on this stencilthey will have the confidence and capability to compose with the materials and create their own structured piece of music. Here is an example ofhow a “Living Wild on a Tamed Planet” part looksto a student: Explainingeach element on the page: 1.What key are we in? It is not expected that all students will be able to play the full scale listed here. This simply identifies one full octave of the key in whichthe work is based. Explain this using your own methods and take the opportunity to make key and key signature part of your regular vocabulary. 2.Notes to know Students are asked to look at a specific element in each set of material and write down the notes used in that element. I strongly encourage you to invite students to explore these notes individually and with the person they sit next to on the same instrument. Using communal knowledge to work out newnotes provides a deeper understanding for students because these are discovered not taught. v Jean Piaget said: “Children should be able to do their own experimenting and their own research. Teachers, of course, can guide them by providing appropriate materials, but the essential thing is,that in order for a child to understand something, he must construct it himself, he must re-invent it. Every time we teach a child something, we keep him from inventing it himself." “Some Aspects of Operations”, Loyola University Symposium entitled 'Play and Development', 1972 3.Melody Directors are encouragedto teach the melody aurally at firstby adding conversational, rhythmically relevant words. Sometimes the lyrics are provided for you, at other times, you are invited to create your own. For example in Turtles of the Sea, try this: • Teach the words through call and response. •Invite students to change the words “currents of thesea” and “feeling free” whilst maintaining the rhythm. (They can work with the person next to them in ensemble). •Once students know no. 2and the rhythmto the melody, have themtry and play themelody. •Share their interpretation of the melodywith a friend from another side of the band. • Play the melodyin small chamber groups. • Listen to each section in the band play the melody. Build the texturefrom the bass upand invite students to comment on how each instrument changes the colour of the sound. Each time they are still practicing their part,but you are engaging them in another way! •Use the same ideas for teaching no. 4 (and all other materials). baNext >