Comas! Verbs! Nouns!
Now, for everyone that didn't just hit the big X and close their browser screen in disgust, today I'd like to converse about integrating Music with English.
My partner teacher, Sarah Papin-Thomas, and I were assessing our students' recent PSAT data. It became apparent to both of us that many of our students were going to need a refresher on general grammar rules. We had both suspected this from their previous journals, and essays that they have completed with their projects, but with the data staring us in the face... we knew that we would have to set some of the pieces of our current project on the back burner for a time while we fixed some syntactic and grammatical issues.
Sarah quickly and ingeniously devised a workshop to tackle three key elements the students were struggling with. The first was identifying the subject, the second was identifying the verb, and finally, where and when to use commas appropriately.
It was shocking to us, but our students were indeed having trouble placing the subject of a sentence. For example, in the sentence "He called the police, and they made their way to the house." our students thought that "police" was the subject of the sentence. Yet, "He" did all of the work. Discussions with them went something like:
"Why did you suggest that 'police' was the answer?"
"Because they came to the house."
"Who called them?"
"He did."
"So isn't 'He' the subject?"
Silence...
Sarah's workshop asked them to look for a passage in their book (they have book clubs and are all reading lexile appropriate texts) and complete the following steps:
1.) Identify three passages (3-5 sentences).
2.) Write the passages down on a piece of paper.
3.) Assign a color highlight to the subject.
4.) Assign a color highlight to the verb.
5.) Circle all of the commas.
6.) Then each student identified which of the 7 comma rules was being utilized in the passage.
We walked around the room in general discourse with students over their rationale for answers and so on. Most kids expressed, "We haven't seen this stuff since 7th grade!" It did begin to come back, thankfully.
I went home that evening and thought, "Is there a musical equivalent?" I think that there is indeed.
Take something like Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus" from Messiah (and by the way it's just "Messiah", there is no THE in it!). The choir singing "Ha-lle-lu-jah!" - that would be the subject. So what is the verb? This took some thought, but it occurred to me: Verbs are action words. Therefore - what is driving the action in the song? Harmonic Rhythm. Where is that found? In the bass line, the continuo. Therefore, we have a subject and a verb driving our sentence. A musical sentence is known as a phrase. At the end of every phrase there is a cadence. This is tantamount to punctuation. I can ask a musical question. I can make a imperative statement or declaration. The music supports what the sentence structure does in the language.
In a song with libretto (that's a fancy word for "text" for our musically challenged colleagues) a student can analyze the text for grammar. They can look at things like punctuation and aesthetic decisions. Lyrics are poetry, right - so a general English Literature analysis will suffice for the breakdown of the text syntax and grammar usage. I note here, for the non-musical, that it is commonplace for singers to breathe wherever the text has a comma, unless the commas are in rapid succession (then it becomes hyperventilating). This idea has actually helped me personally defining where I would place a comma in a sentence... where would I pause to breathe?
The music should also be text-painting, that is, musically following the text. If the phrase is "He searched high and low." the music will play high notes on the word "high" and low notes on the word "low". So the music will mimic the action of the phrase. Occasionally artists have contrasted the text with their music, but this is uncommon. Students can assess where the composer and the author coincide. Where does the text meet the music? If the text and music don't connect then why?
At the end of Brahm's piece "Das Lied der Parzen" (Song of the Fates) in the very end of the piece the two prominent instruments playing are the piccolo - the highest instrument, and the contra-bassoon - the lowest. The text is, "So sang the Fates; the banished one listens in his night-dark lair to the songs of the ancient ones, thinks of his children and grandchildren and shakes his head." There is no special thing happening in the music during this part of the song. It's pretty stagnate, just the two contrasting high/low instruments sounding. Why did Brahms, a master composer, not text paint the shaking of the head? Because the metaphor is much deeper than that. According to mythology, the Titans were cast down by Zeus' generation, which were born of Cronos. The Titans were locked in Tartarus as punishment, right? So the piccolo represents the generation of Zeus ruling the earth and the heavens, while the contra-basson represents Cronos, locked away in his deep prison contemplating the loss. Deep stuff, eh? Great discussion and listening exercise for an English or Music class.
I should note here that music, particularly without words, is much more complex. Fugues, for example, have a subject. The subject occurs in what we call an exposition. The exposition is exactly that - the subject of the work is exposed. Then the composer will evolve or devolve the subject. It is common to find additional subjects that are variations of the original subject. Typically they omit pieces, extend, or abridge the structure of the original to fit the time frame that they occur in. These additional subjects are referred to as episodes. Most of the episodes are mathematically offset by intervals of a 4th. While the subjects can vary greatly and are sometimes even countersubjects, they typically reinforce the main subject. (You can get a premiere on fugues here.) When you think about it, it's like writing an essay. Thesis, Body with elaborations, make your point - climax, sum it up, and conclude.
So in an integrated classroom, how does this work out? You have to balance both class loads. My suggestion would be to focus on working with students on English first. They have been composing sentences for years at this point, hopefully. Once they are solid in their English composition, you can start bringing them across to music composition. Use questions like, "What is the author trying to say here? What is the composer trying to say here? Why did the author make this decision? Why did the composer make this decision?" These statements become and truly are interchangeable. Using pieces that fit both subjects should both reinforce and enhance both sets of ideals. Instead of exposing students to something new, writing music should feel more like a transition to another art-form vs. a brand new - never seen before - medium. Also, students will hopefully begin making connections back to English from Music. They should notice author's use of techniques like call and response and metaphor in both music and literature.
Work in concepts, not content.
At younger levels we want to use the basics, build those rules and get a solid foundation, of course. At the higher levels, though, we want to see applications of those basics, creativity, and synthesis. The trouble with many high schools is that they are so focused on getting a grade or making the test scores that they are operating like students - cramming content for the big exam before it happens. Teachers and Administrators are so worried about the kids scoring well that they forget to teach the proper use of knowledge. Without the relevance connection the knowledge is lost after, and sometimes prior to, the test. Successful schools have a fluid verticle articulation that suggests a shift between concept and content with a strong teacher around the 6th or 7th grade. That shift allows students to become confident with the idea of experimenting - something the American educational system doesn't truly encourage until college.
If students are confident with experimentation they are more likely to "play" with concepts. Companies like Apple, Google, and Facebook all understand that people function, operate, and LEARN through play. Apple packs scant instructions with their product. Why? Because they understand that no one under 40 is going to take the time to read them. It's not that they can't read, it's that they prefer to get the product out and play with it until they know how to use it, and they're going to collaborate with their friends if they don't understand something.
Coming back to Music and English - that's the trick: they need to play with language and music together. They need to see the subjects, not as separate concepts with separate sets of definitions and meanings; separate content, and separate ideas, but as one thing that functions symbiotically.
If I can succeed in showing them that, I hypothesize that I will have teaching success in both subjects.
Until next week!
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
The funny thing about students...
Ah... kids.
I was sitting with my colleagues today during a professional development meeting, musing over the most recent PSAT data for our school. We were looking for weaknesses, discussing the effect of the most recent scores, and any fallout that we may experience. There was discussion about "what went wrong" and "what we did well." along with some tactics and theories on improvement; the general teacher, administrator, education consultant banter. While this was happening, a thought occurred to me...
I don't think the kids are as worried about this as we are. In fact, I'm quite sure they don't care at all.
In my dealings with students I've come to a general conclusion, one that I believe to be true: kids don't want to think - they want to feel. Several psychologists and neurologists have been looking into this and have suggested that teenagers don't make decisions in a rational way. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychology, Science Daily, and most notably, National Geographic, have all run articles discussing this issue. The conclusion is that when a parent, teacher, coach, or mentor looks at a kid and says, "What were you thinking?" the kid is being honest when they shrug and say, "I don't know?"
How does this translate in a classroom?
We ask them to think all day. Think about this, give rationale for that, explain this, and they - being good students - attempt to. Some students do a pretty good job of thinking, while others have trouble focusing. We have to teach meta-cognition of course, I'm not suggesting that we drop the idea of thinking for some lunacy where students just exist by feeling (that would be chaos indeed). It is our job to get them to think, but does the thinking that we're asking them to do have to be so... unnatural for them?
Let me give you an example...
The nature of my position has given me a little room to experiment. Let's take the concept of Love. We have a project in our LitMus (English 10 Lit./Musicology) class that deals with Love. Inevitably, the first question students ask is, "What is love?" That becomes our driving question, and we try to define exactly what "Love" - as we know it - is. We use lectures. We use data about dating, marriage, and divorce from magazines and psychology journals. We encourage the students to ask adults in their lives what they believe love is.We have small and large group discussions and allow students to give their own opinions. The students have some presentation options for their project, and write a research paper on their findings. Also students create original music, or - at the very least - make connections to current songs that they feel best explain their opinions on love. It's a fun project, but at the end of the day kids still have a distant and somewhat fabricated understanding of Love.
Walk down the hall to my Chamber Choir at the very end of the day. We begin singing "Il bianco e dolce cigno" by Arcadelt. I stop them and say, "What does this mean here... 'A thousand deaths a day I die, and am content'?" and my students will say something to the effect of "Every time he sees her, he dies a little because of his desire to be with her. That's Love... er, Lust?" It doesn't take much work to get them to naturally comprehend and start considering the outcome questions that will follow. This understanding seems more tangible and... well, REAL to them.
What's the difference? The experience.
As a teacher we can't assign everyone to "Go out and fall in love." so that they will better understand it, but we can let them experience Arcadelt's concept in song, and, through that experience, understand just a little bit of what love might be? Arcadelt understood how the sounds cooperate with the lyrics to amplify the symbolism that is translated by the ear and perceived in the mind. The understanding of the situation comes through the allegory of the text, but the meaning, the emotion, the soul of the work... that's given through the music. The combination of the two creates an aesthetic experience that quickly teaches. According to Dr. Tim Brimmer at Butler University, this acceleration of learning can be up to 70% faster. The retention can be eternal. Consider Dr. Oliver Sak's work with the Music and Memory project. In it, he describes Alzheimer's patients that recall bulk knowledge when they hear music. They come alive, as it were. ("Henry's Story" can be found here via YouTube. If you are interested in more info., check out Music&Memory.org ) Another example? How did we all learn our ABC's? A little song that we all remember.
It's different, too, for those just listening and those performing. Listening involves thinking and we've already established that that is difficult for a High School student to do. However, connecting them to the action seems to exponentially increase their understanding of all of the said concepts. In Chemistry, which is better: Showing the students the lab as the sage on the stage? Or allowing the students to perform the lab as a guide on the side? The experience of doing is much more potent than seeing and hearing. Of course, for something like a Chemistry class resources can be a problem, but most students come with their own voice and you can find copies of a 500 year old piece of music like "Il bianco e dolce cigno" for free on the internet (no one is renewing that copyright). If you're good, you don't even need a piano to teach the kids the notes, just sing the part to them and have them sing it back.(Yes, I know this is rote learning and yes I know it's considered uncouth, but that's how they learn most of the songs they know!) When they put it together they'll take to it right away. A few run-throughs and they'll start to put it together. Once they taste it... there's no going back.
Our students crave experiences. I think that's one reason that video games are so prominent. I can't climb a mountain. I don't have time, money, training, or any other resource to do that - but I can in Skyrim. I can explore a whole world and then save my game and do it again tomorrow night after the kids go to bed. It only cost me a one time fee of $60.00 and a couple hours of my evening. Game designers are getting better at creating those virtual experiences too. Even my digital football game is getting closer and closer to the real thing. I don't want to think about it, I want to experience it. Throwing a touchdown pass, climbing a mountain, killing a dragon... it feels good at the end of the day. That's what our kids are looking for.
What do we do then? If students are feeling and we're trying to teach thinking is all hope lost?
Again, we can't just exist on feelings - we have to exercise thoughts. Meta-cognition, higher order thinking, and scientific method is our job. We must teach it. That's what we were hired to do, yes, but that doesn't mean you have to be stuffed up and boring. It doesn't mean that you have to be conceptual and removed from situations. No, in my mind it means you have to be creative. We've got to find a way to create experiences for your content that will exponentially enhance teaching and, subsequently, enhance learning.
Using music is a great place to start.
I was sitting with my colleagues today during a professional development meeting, musing over the most recent PSAT data for our school. We were looking for weaknesses, discussing the effect of the most recent scores, and any fallout that we may experience. There was discussion about "what went wrong" and "what we did well." along with some tactics and theories on improvement; the general teacher, administrator, education consultant banter. While this was happening, a thought occurred to me...
I don't think the kids are as worried about this as we are. In fact, I'm quite sure they don't care at all.
In my dealings with students I've come to a general conclusion, one that I believe to be true: kids don't want to think - they want to feel. Several psychologists and neurologists have been looking into this and have suggested that teenagers don't make decisions in a rational way. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychology, Science Daily, and most notably, National Geographic, have all run articles discussing this issue. The conclusion is that when a parent, teacher, coach, or mentor looks at a kid and says, "What were you thinking?" the kid is being honest when they shrug and say, "I don't know?"
How does this translate in a classroom?
We ask them to think all day. Think about this, give rationale for that, explain this, and they - being good students - attempt to. Some students do a pretty good job of thinking, while others have trouble focusing. We have to teach meta-cognition of course, I'm not suggesting that we drop the idea of thinking for some lunacy where students just exist by feeling (that would be chaos indeed). It is our job to get them to think, but does the thinking that we're asking them to do have to be so... unnatural for them?
Let me give you an example...
The nature of my position has given me a little room to experiment. Let's take the concept of Love. We have a project in our LitMus (English 10 Lit./Musicology) class that deals with Love. Inevitably, the first question students ask is, "What is love?" That becomes our driving question, and we try to define exactly what "Love" - as we know it - is. We use lectures. We use data about dating, marriage, and divorce from magazines and psychology journals. We encourage the students to ask adults in their lives what they believe love is.We have small and large group discussions and allow students to give their own opinions. The students have some presentation options for their project, and write a research paper on their findings. Also students create original music, or - at the very least - make connections to current songs that they feel best explain their opinions on love. It's a fun project, but at the end of the day kids still have a distant and somewhat fabricated understanding of Love.
Walk down the hall to my Chamber Choir at the very end of the day. We begin singing "Il bianco e dolce cigno" by Arcadelt. I stop them and say, "What does this mean here... 'A thousand deaths a day I die, and am content'?" and my students will say something to the effect of "Every time he sees her, he dies a little because of his desire to be with her. That's Love... er, Lust?" It doesn't take much work to get them to naturally comprehend and start considering the outcome questions that will follow. This understanding seems more tangible and... well, REAL to them.
What's the difference? The experience.
As a teacher we can't assign everyone to "Go out and fall in love." so that they will better understand it, but we can let them experience Arcadelt's concept in song, and, through that experience, understand just a little bit of what love might be? Arcadelt understood how the sounds cooperate with the lyrics to amplify the symbolism that is translated by the ear and perceived in the mind. The understanding of the situation comes through the allegory of the text, but the meaning, the emotion, the soul of the work... that's given through the music. The combination of the two creates an aesthetic experience that quickly teaches. According to Dr. Tim Brimmer at Butler University, this acceleration of learning can be up to 70% faster. The retention can be eternal. Consider Dr. Oliver Sak's work with the Music and Memory project. In it, he describes Alzheimer's patients that recall bulk knowledge when they hear music. They come alive, as it were. ("Henry's Story" can be found here via YouTube. If you are interested in more info., check out Music&Memory.org ) Another example? How did we all learn our ABC's? A little song that we all remember.
It's different, too, for those just listening and those performing. Listening involves thinking and we've already established that that is difficult for a High School student to do. However, connecting them to the action seems to exponentially increase their understanding of all of the said concepts. In Chemistry, which is better: Showing the students the lab as the sage on the stage? Or allowing the students to perform the lab as a guide on the side? The experience of doing is much more potent than seeing and hearing. Of course, for something like a Chemistry class resources can be a problem, but most students come with their own voice and you can find copies of a 500 year old piece of music like "Il bianco e dolce cigno" for free on the internet (no one is renewing that copyright). If you're good, you don't even need a piano to teach the kids the notes, just sing the part to them and have them sing it back.(Yes, I know this is rote learning and yes I know it's considered uncouth, but that's how they learn most of the songs they know!) When they put it together they'll take to it right away. A few run-throughs and they'll start to put it together. Once they taste it... there's no going back.
Our students crave experiences. I think that's one reason that video games are so prominent. I can't climb a mountain. I don't have time, money, training, or any other resource to do that - but I can in Skyrim. I can explore a whole world and then save my game and do it again tomorrow night after the kids go to bed. It only cost me a one time fee of $60.00 and a couple hours of my evening. Game designers are getting better at creating those virtual experiences too. Even my digital football game is getting closer and closer to the real thing. I don't want to think about it, I want to experience it. Throwing a touchdown pass, climbing a mountain, killing a dragon... it feels good at the end of the day. That's what our kids are looking for.
What do we do then? If students are feeling and we're trying to teach thinking is all hope lost?
Again, we can't just exist on feelings - we have to exercise thoughts. Meta-cognition, higher order thinking, and scientific method is our job. We must teach it. That's what we were hired to do, yes, but that doesn't mean you have to be stuffed up and boring. It doesn't mean that you have to be conceptual and removed from situations. No, in my mind it means you have to be creative. We've got to find a way to create experiences for your content that will exponentially enhance teaching and, subsequently, enhance learning.
Using music is a great place to start.
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Welcome to the future.
Well, here we are, 2013. I sincerely hope that the New Year brings us all joy and good cheer. I want to say how grateful I am that you read my blog. Thank you, also, for the e-mails, ideas, and inquiries that you have sent to me. I very much appreciate your thoughts and I'm sorry that I can't always get back to all of you. Please accept my gratitude, though, for your correspondence.
I apologize for my short hiatus. I traveled extensively over break, and spent every second I could with my family. Our tour took us all the way across the country to sunny southern California where I proceeded to get the flu. Don't worry, I'm fairly certain I have left it there (sorry, California). When I was well, I got to get out and do a few things. I would like to "shout out" to The Chase restaurant on State St. in Santa Barbara. Those guys are always so classy. If you get a chance to eat there, don't pass it up. I very much enjoyed my time with my wife's family and their dogs.
Speaking of family...
I got a fantastic gift from my own family for Christmas this year; I got an i-pad. The new one. It is splendid! Why? Because as a musician I have, for years, carried large 3-ring binders of music. At church, in choir, and to every gig. Big, bulky, falling apart 3-ring binders of music. I no longer have to do that.
The people of Apple realize that most of their market are young (or young at heart) people that are interested in their product for the purpose of entertainment. Indeed, most of the aps are games like "Angry Birds" and "Tetris". While I purchased both of those, I also acquired a program called "forScore". "forScore" is created by musicians and for musicians for the sole purpose of having music on your i-pad. Not recordings of music - sheet music.
This is the future. This is where Music meets Technology.
Imagine going to hear your favorite orchestra in 10 years. I'm going to guess that you won't see the general music stands. No, you'll see i-pad stands. Why? Entire libraries of music can be housed in your i-pad. Need to turn the page? Just press the edge. Is your cellist going blind? Increase the screen size. Need more light on stage? Increase the brightness. The notes are there, the markings are there. You can even type in directions from your rehearsal. If you're skipping from measure 125 to measure 10 you could add a Sign and Coda. Text it in and go. If you're practicing at home and you're not sure if the rhythm that you played was right, play it back and hear whether you hit it or not. You can even sync a metronome into your playback.
This is going to revolutionize music. Already I've seen church musicians using the program to capacity. Once more musicians begin to use it, it will be common trade. Students and Teachers will be syncing songs across pads. Teachers will be able to highlight and point out special points in the music and text from continents away. Students will be able to submit variations, synthesize and improvise parts, and re-arrange scores. I imagine conversations will go something like, "Look at m.s 25 through 65, I've highlighted them for you and put in notes concerning register change and articulations. Playback if you have trouble with the rhythms. I'll be back from Asia next week and we'll go through it together. Oh, and create two improvisational forms for me..."
Can you utilize this tool in your classroom? I've got a few ideas...
Vision. See it?
I apologize for my short hiatus. I traveled extensively over break, and spent every second I could with my family. Our tour took us all the way across the country to sunny southern California where I proceeded to get the flu. Don't worry, I'm fairly certain I have left it there (sorry, California). When I was well, I got to get out and do a few things. I would like to "shout out" to The Chase restaurant on State St. in Santa Barbara. Those guys are always so classy. If you get a chance to eat there, don't pass it up. I very much enjoyed my time with my wife's family and their dogs.
Speaking of family...
I got a fantastic gift from my own family for Christmas this year; I got an i-pad. The new one. It is splendid! Why? Because as a musician I have, for years, carried large 3-ring binders of music. At church, in choir, and to every gig. Big, bulky, falling apart 3-ring binders of music. I no longer have to do that.
The people of Apple realize that most of their market are young (or young at heart) people that are interested in their product for the purpose of entertainment. Indeed, most of the aps are games like "Angry Birds" and "Tetris". While I purchased both of those, I also acquired a program called "forScore". "forScore" is created by musicians and for musicians for the sole purpose of having music on your i-pad. Not recordings of music - sheet music.
This is the future. This is where Music meets Technology.
Imagine going to hear your favorite orchestra in 10 years. I'm going to guess that you won't see the general music stands. No, you'll see i-pad stands. Why? Entire libraries of music can be housed in your i-pad. Need to turn the page? Just press the edge. Is your cellist going blind? Increase the screen size. Need more light on stage? Increase the brightness. The notes are there, the markings are there. You can even type in directions from your rehearsal. If you're skipping from measure 125 to measure 10 you could add a Sign and Coda. Text it in and go. If you're practicing at home and you're not sure if the rhythm that you played was right, play it back and hear whether you hit it or not. You can even sync a metronome into your playback.
This is going to revolutionize music. Already I've seen church musicians using the program to capacity. Once more musicians begin to use it, it will be common trade. Students and Teachers will be syncing songs across pads. Teachers will be able to highlight and point out special points in the music and text from continents away. Students will be able to submit variations, synthesize and improvise parts, and re-arrange scores. I imagine conversations will go something like, "Look at m.s 25 through 65, I've highlighted them for you and put in notes concerning register change and articulations. Playback if you have trouble with the rhythms. I'll be back from Asia next week and we'll go through it together. Oh, and create two improvisational forms for me..."
Can you utilize this tool in your classroom? I've got a few ideas...
Vision. See it?
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