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!
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