tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9617011.post599136611769132232..comments2024-03-04T09:44:11.172+01:00Comments on Renewable Music: Teaching musicianship and world musicDaniel Wolfhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09093101325234464791noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9617011.post-43649668189166439522007-04-19T23:01:00.000+02:002007-04-19T23:01:00.000+02:00I teach musicianship at the Walden School, a summe...I teach musicianship at <A HREF="http://www.waldenschool.org" REL="nofollow">the Walden School</A>, a summer program for young (11-18 yo) musicians. The most unique thing about the Walden School method is that, as you suggest, we "keep the divides between performance, improvisation, and composition fuzzy." We build harmonic and melodic language sequentially, as the intervals occur in the harmonic series. First we learn octaves, then fifths, then fourths, then major thirds, and then minor thirds. By "learn" them, I mean that we use the paradigm, "discover, drill, create." Discovery just means that we lead the students through a dialog to discover the intervals on their own. We then drill together, singing (using both note names and solfege), playing piano, and writing with notation. We then create new music using the intervals, by improvising and composing with the material.<BR/>My personal preference would be to continue our way up the harmonic series, and have our kids learn the sounds of harmonies with the 7th and 11th partials, as we move away from the piano and use electronics and non-fretted string instruments, and attack notes from the <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/Harmonic-Experience-Harmony-Natural-Expression/dp/0892815604/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-3432630-0030350?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1177016210&sr=8-1" REL="nofollow">Harmonic Experience</A> approach, combining Carnatic music with western Just Intonation practices. I'd love it if we taught pitch-based musicianship starting with Just Intonation, and bringing in temperment only as it is necessitated by the content, with distant modulations and alternate resolutions of augmented sixth chords and such...jim altierihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07796397557807261148noreply@blogger.com