Musical Relationships

There's not a reading assignment for Wednesday's class--we'll be talking about ideas for the event(s) you're putting on, and how to make out class sessions most effective.

Meanwhile, we've read enough of Christopher Small (to whom we'll return) to start looking at our musical experiences in terms of relationships.

Does the meaning, or the nature of the experience, of an event come, at least in large part, from the relationships created and experienced?

If so, when we are participating in an event, we can ask ourselves, "What is the nature and quality of the relationships here?"

When we reflect on an event we have attended, we can ask, "What was the nature and quality of the relationships?"

And, most importantly, when we are planning and organizing an event, we can ask ourselves, "What is the nature and quality of the relationships we want to create at this event?"

That seems rather dry and abstract as I write it out.  But it's really a vital question--when you are putting on an event, how do you want people to relate to each other?  What kind of relationships do you want to encourage and model, and how will you do that?

This all goes to our underlying question of audience development.  Who do you want to come to your event, and why should they come?

Feel free to comment.

Music reflecting on society

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_does_music_affect_society

I was searching articles and this came up. I really liked the first answer on how music is a reflection of the society and how suffering times created great music. I rally think that it works both ways and the author of answer 1 hits that. Music not only reflects society but society molds around the music of the time. It really works both ways.

Homework for M 10/29 (Comment Required)

For Monday:

1) Learn ALL the rhythms for Jansa, and be able to say/clap/body drum each.  You already know three of them ("bang the drum homey," "hitting the drum, and now I'm . . . ," and "the dun dun"). The last two are shown on the 2nd dun-dun line.  The part notated with Xs is the bell, and you'll see that the second measure is very easy to remember. The dun-dun part is not all that complicated, either.

2) Read, be prepared to discuss (i.e., take notes,  highlight, etc.) p 1-4 of the Small "Musicking" lecture (through paragraph 20).  And write a coment on the blog about it. 

• Add a comment about the Small reading to this post.
• Write at least two paragraphs about how Small's two main assertions, that music is an activity rather than a thing, and that the meaning of musical performances comes from relationships more than works, resonates with your experience.

Be sure to bring a hard copy of the article for easy reference during class.

Ways to Attract A New Audience

Today's class discussion was very interesting to me in the sense of 'how do we attract a different audience?'  Laura and Rachel made the comments of how shows like Tom 'n Jerry, Who Framed Roger Rabbit? or Mrs. Doubtfire were able to make classical pieces like Il barbiere di Siviglia and Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 famous.

Could making such a program/show be a possible class project? :)

M 10/22 Planning Summary (Comment highly encouraged!)

We're working out together the topics, projects, learning activities, and manner of grading for the rest of the semester, and we spent a good chunk of today's class working on that, a process we will continue on Wednesday.

A core value in this experiment: the idea that it what Alfie Kohn calls the "three Cs"

• meaningful and relative content
• choice in what you learn and how you learn it
• collaboration with others in learning

that make for the most effective learning experiences.

Learning Topics

• The future of classical music/music careers
• Challenges facing classical music, including what some people believe is a crisis facing large institutions (symphony orchestras and opera companies in particular)
• The sociological and economic aspects of this situation
• Creating opportunities 
• Classically-trained musicians doing well (success stories; this will include multi-genre ensembles such as ProjectTRIO and Voces8)
• Music therapy
• Music and brain science
• Drumming, esp. African rhythm pieces
• Improvisation on major instruments

Effective Learning Activities

• Discussion
• Group projects, including imaginative formats like a newscast
• Student-led group discussions
• Field research with smart-phone videos interviewing students about event attendance

What should we add to the list?

What topics do you see as being especially well suited to individual or group projects?

Grading

What ways can we handle grading that allow for the grade to mean something and not have the grading process be fear inducing and distracting?  We discussed learning contracts.  Other ideas?

Reading for W 10/24 (Comment Required)

Great to be with everyone today!

First, the reading for Wednesday:

• Print out and read "Where We Stand" by Greg Sandow, who is a critic, consultant, and composer.  It's in your Google Drive at https://docs.google.com/a/depauw.edu/open?id=0B43-ErQ7UuxfOW9jMGRwUGFzYUk. 
• Take notes, write in the margins, etc.
• Write at least a two-paragraph comment here on what you found most interesting in the piece.

Want more details? Greg has some of the actual studies he references in one of his blog posts, at http://www.artsjournal.com/sandow/2008/03/age_of_the_audience.html.

Another post or two about learning activities will follow shortly.