I hope you had a great time at the library search session today.
On Friday, we'll be drumming and leading, and starting to explore the Music for People approach to improvised music making. Outside class, you'll be listening to tracks from "The Darling Conversations," a dialogue between MfP co-founder David Darling and Julie Weber, who runs MfP's facilitator-training program.
Remember that to get to the music, you go to http://audio.depauw.edu and log in with your network/moodle username and password.
There are many beautifully-recorded musical examples which I expect you'll enjoy.
For Friday, listen to the first 5 tracks in the "Darling Conversations" playlist:
- Introduction
- It's You
- One Quality Sound
- Babbling
- Articulation
Take notes on both the music you hear and the ideas Julie and David discuss. (Describe the music and write down the ideas.)
Then write a comment here BEFORE Friday's class.
- Which musical examples did you like the best? (List/briefly describe at least four.)
- What ideas did you find most interesting? Did you agree or disagree with them? And did anything fall into the categories of "something you didn't know you didn't know" or "something you didn't know you already knew" (the latter category a slight rewording of how Michael put it last week).
See you Friday!
--EE
The musical examples which I liked the best were as followers:
ReplyDelete- The cello example used in "One Quality Sound". I admired the musician's use of breathing with their instrument as they performed phrases of music even though his instrument doesn't necessarily require breathing when compared to per se a woodwind or vocalist.
- The vocal example also used in "One Quality Sound". The way they were able to dynamically grow and fade was astounding even though their pitches weren't necessarily matching/sounded right. The idea of the example was to show that when people produce sounds they are all contributing to one quality sound.
- The vocal examples provided by Julie and David in "Vocal Timbre" was excellent because they were comparing a closed, almost shocked and pinched sound versus a round "o" sound that is more natural. It showed that when you try to make these rounder sounds using your mouth, bow, etc. you are able to produce a more fuller note.
- The babbling examples in "Babbling" were rather interesting and very unique. It literally sounded like nonsense which I thought was great because it strays away from the typical structure that most classical musicians, such as I, are sometimes constricted by. I enjoyed how they basically said that scatting (used in jazz) is actually a form of babbling; it is very natural and not forced.
- The final example that I enjoyed was the saxophone duet(?, not exactly sure if I heard that right but that's what I'm assuming) in "Articulation". The way the two saxes crossed paths with each other musically without overplaying the other because they were using such great articulation was astounding. Plus, I'm a real sucker for the sound of the saxophone anyways.
The musical ideas that I found most interesting were those presented to us in "It's You" and "One Quality Sound." In "It's You", I adored how David and Julie reiterated something that we learned something from the "Musical Bill of Rights": We all are capable of making music, it is just a matter of the amount of experience that we have. I also enjoyed how they said that the music community is very safe and benevolent and how we are "each other's cheerleaders". The last point I really enjoyed from the track is that we should always remind ourselves that we are great (as egotistical as it may seem at first). Doing so makes us realize the potential we have, what we are capable of, and that we are, in fact, miracles with what we do. In "One Quality Sound" I agreed with the points that they hit such as "every human being has their own sound" and that "sound is always waiting and willing to be birthed". I'm going to sound like a broken record, but I really have a beef with people when they say that they do not partake in the music community because they are "not musical". They seem not to realize that when they are speaking, sending off these vibrations and making these sounds, they are intact using an instrument. I thought the point that they made about how when you are to play something, you shouldn't play it at the peak of your breathe. Instead, it should be more towards the more relaxed end, and pushed out of your diaphragm therefore producing an "in love" tone and texture. That one little detail would definitely be popped into my "something you didn't know you didn't know list". In general, I agreed with many of the things that David and Julie hit and found this listening very enjoyable.
-"Babbling" was very interesting. Right off the bat David Darling has our attention. I would normally be under the "sophisticated people" that would see it as absurd. Having done it I can see that it is actually brilliant. The musical babbling in the middle I found odd but it makes sense.
ReplyDelete-On "Articulation" they managed to make not about wind players. I like how David Darling brought in a few other things in on articulation. it was different to here him say that not only do other musician use it to explain music but how some cultures rely on it as well.
-I found "It's You" the least interesting. For some reason I wanted to fall asleep during it. It proves a good point about how being social and inspiring can help everyone. Everyone likes support and with it you can believe in your self. By believing in your self you can succeed.
- "One Quality Sound" is so relaxing. I did the exercise with them and it felt good. It is meant more for a group but even on your own you feel pretty good.
I found "One Quality Sound" the most interesting. There is a lot in just one breathe. I like how David Darling mentioned speakers taking a breathe before they speak. The better speakers take a breathe instead of just going. In many ensembles we have to breathe together to have a good start. I also liked how just relaxing the breathing exercise was.It was also interesting when David Darling talked about babbling. He see it as a natural thing thing everyone can do. We already have done it when we were a little. So everyone already knows how babble. For the category of thing we did not know we knew this would be in it. Also the musicality of just relaxing and throwing a sed how just relaxing the breathing exercise was.
The beginning of One Quality sound was interesting in that the voices seemed to spontaneously create together as opposed to a more common sense of musical time. The nebulous nature of both the general shape and direction of the musical ideas left room for the listener's own personal interpretation. I'm not going to try it right now so that my bio-chem roommate doesn't call public safety on me but it would be interesting to try this in our class.
ReplyDeleteI like the babbling as a concept although I'm not sure I'd appreciate the concept of humans freely making babbling noises at their every whim. At times during these conversations, I feel as though the ideas that are meant to counter our culture of isolation swing too far in the other direction. I'm all for freedom of expression and enjoy humming, tapping and sounding out rhythms and melodies as much as the next musician but feel that we should be mindful of those around us when experimenting with these new paradigms. I don't want to give the impression that I didn't like this selection because I did. That it made me think most critically of all the tracks is perhaps a testament its truly original concept.
Articulations contained my two favorite musical examples. The first was when Darling made "reverb" sounds with his mouth. I'm fascinated with experimental sounds that uniquely manipulate our auditory systems. To hear this executed so well without mixing effects was eye opening and makes me ponder other experimental methods of music making we overlook.
I also loved the guitar and flute improv and communication between musicians. It was a very appropriate selection to feature in this section as the musicians both interpreted articulation very differently but harmoniously combined the two styles. I generally treat articulation as the most important factor in shaping the elusive "character" of your personal musical style. Whether your listening to Wayne Shorter or Pavarotti, articulation is gives a musician his or her own musical flavor.
The music sample at the beginning of Introduction was cool--the saxophone was used in a non-traditional way, or at least in a specific style being taken out of its genre. It sounded jazzy in non-jazz music, and that was a really cool way to cross the genres. None of the instruments fit together in an especially coherent way, which was part of its appeal in sound.
ReplyDeleteAs for the one in One Quality Sound, I really liked the use of vocal dynamics. The voices blended together and created an altogether beautiful sound that was more aesthetic than the first music sample. One could actually get away with passive listening in this case.
The sample at the end of Babbling had a nice falsetto and movement of voice. It was strikingly Eastern style/sounding music. Its unique sound appealed to me probably more than the three other music samples.
In the beginning of Articulation, the saxophones have a really nice contrast to each other. There re some interesting intervals and syncopation and an overall nice, easy, jazzy sound. Jazz is one of my favorite types of music, so this one really appealed to me as well.
"Creativity that inspired us as children" and returning to it is a concept that is fascinating (from Introduction). There is definitely a need to do that, though I'd never really thought about it that way (fits into 'didn't know I didn't know'). One thing I did disagree with was the "Nobody is better than you, only more experienced" idea. It's simply swapping one expression for another, and that doesn't make "better" any less valid of a term than "experienced," only harsher. At best, this is a euphemism for people suffering from "student panic mode" crisis and a source of comfort they can draw from. Though I'd certainly like to believe in this sense of musical egalitarianism, it's not a very practical concept, especially when taking into consideration all of the competition we're going to face as musicians in the professional world.
Introduction: I loved how the cello started the piece off with a bright happy pace and feel. The way the sax, cello, guitar, and voice blended was very unique and interesting. It was all very bright happy and uplifting.
ReplyDeleteIt's You: The solo in this piece was very interesting. It is amazing how someone can come up with a complex on the spot. The narrator's words about coming up next to an experienced musician is very intimidating and can cause doubt to yourself but you can learn from them and enjoy their talent. "no body is better, only more experienced" was very true in my mind.
One Quality Sound: The sound of this piece initially was eerie but very interesting to listen to. I was hooked on the piece and wanted to hear what was going to happen. It was really interesting how when the speaker talked about giving workshops, that not only musicians wanted to attend and learn. He explained that everyone wanted to come and learn making sounds.
Babbling: Very interesting. Reminded me of scat music or what we did in FYS the other day with the fake a Capella singing. It was very interesting that babbling can help articulation, possibly with instruments? I almost laughed when everyone was babbling, but if it is for the betterment of making good sound, then I am willing to attempt it sometime. It was neat how he connected it to condutors and percussionists and how they use sounds to explain certain articulations, styles, etc.
Articulation: Enjoyed the sax solos. Very jazzy and happy sounding. Very cool how they related sound and articulation to the movements of your hands and fingers and how if we visualize and audiate it, it becomes so much easier to play.
Overall it was really interesting to listen to and insightful to different ways to make better sounds and how it will help make better music.
Articulation: Being a former saxophone player, I appreciate the lovely sounds in the beginning. I liked how he demonstrated the types of articulation sounds. I don't think my mouth could move that fast. I think it is a good idea to articulation and then thinking about playing that fast.
ReplyDeleteBabbling: I liked babbling. Babbling is fun in general! I liked how he related the babbling to jazz singing. I also like how she mentioned babies naturally babbling try to communicate. It is another language. They talked about standing in front of a group and babbling. This is often seen as being a fool. Sometimes it's fun to be a fool!
It's You: I liked how it wasn't that someone was a better musician than you, they just have more experienced. That is so refreshing to hear. I think it brings everyone to the same level somewhat. Everyone wants to "outdo" the other person. If you think of someone as just more experienced than you and not better, I think you can somewhat feel more relaxed.
Introduction: I liked how all they introduced all the instruments. The different sounds, instruments and music just show that no matter what you do, you are always making music. I also like how they said that "this is about how music can be enjoyed and shared". I thought it was an excellent introduction to this cd.
As a general overview, I thought the different articulation were really cool. The way they said to make the articulation with your mouth then try to play it with your fingers was a new thought for me. I also liked the breathing then singing thing they did. That was really neat how that worked. I feel like a learned a lot from just a few of the conversations. They will help me became a better musician in making me believe in myself more.
It’s You: Can I just say that the saxophone is a simply thrilling instrument? Anyway, “It’s You” was interesting for me. On the one hand, I really want to agree with the speakers that musician’s are not “better”, they are just more experienced. However, I can’t. If a person wants to BE a professional musician, at some points they must consider their work as “better” or “worse”. I would love to just be a musician, but in this world with its music colleges and symphonies and auditions I must consider that I could be rejected because I am not good enough. I really do believe that everyone has musical genius inside, as Julie and David said. It is great and healthy to be reminded of that, but to me, practicing proves that better and worse exist. If someone commits to practicing, that in itself proves that musical passion exists as well. I guess this one falls into the category of things that I think I know, but that I also think that I don’t know yet. If that makes sense…
ReplyDeleteOne Quality Sound: The singing at the beginning of this track is just exquisite. What David spoke about doing in his conservatory class about listening to the sounds of nature and being sincere could not remind me more of our drum circle. WE make one quality sound. And as Julie said, everyone does have their own sound inside, I think we would be surprised that all of our unique sounds can come together to make music. Learning about all of these things makes me wonder how I did not know about such cathartic and relaxing therapy before. As music students, I think that we need to advocate this kind of release.
Babbling: Babbling is hard, it sounds silly, it feels funny and hey guess what? It’s natural. I love what David said about being a fool in front of someone, it will help people to trust you. This segment of “The Darling Conversations” reminds of something a friend of mine asked me once. Related to my slight color blindness, she asked me if I could imagine colors that I had not seen before. In some ways I think that babbling is like this. When I babble, I feel as if I am experiencing something new, something that I knew was there, but I just had never experienced. Hearing other people babble is especially fascinating to me because I cannot imagine other people’s sounds just like I cannot imagine new colors. It’s somewhat of a revelation, like you get to live in another person’s brain for just a little while. Babbling is definitely something that I didn’t know that I knew.
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Articulation: This track definitely included my favorite music thus far, the sharp, fluttering of the flute near the middle of the track really made me feel alert and very at home.
Julie’s talk about babies and the elderly and articulation was just beautiful. Babbling is the ultimate language, it has no barrier and I believe that it taps into a part of the brain that is more simple, more free. Ashes to ashes, babbling to babbling. Babbling allows the primary focus of what person “says” to be on cadence and forward or backward motion, expression.
My absolute favorite musical example was the third one in "Articulation," with the flute and the guitar. The guitar was playing a very bluegrass-y rhythm that I loved- fun and upbeat, but with a bit of an edge. Next to that, the flute was going wild with amazing tonguing and articulation techniques. The rhythms that the flute was playing were varied and pretty free. The lines were so different that they worked really well together, even though they shouldn't have.
ReplyDeleteAnother musical example that I enjoyed was the opening vocal example in "One Quality Sounds." Many different voices came together to create intriguing harmonies. A couple times, several of the voices would fall into dissonance, but then they would resolve back up into consonance. This continuously fluctuating pattern of swells and dips created a wonderful sound that was both odd and beautiful.
I also liked the opening of "Articulation." It was extremely jazzy, but not traditionally so. Rather, it began traditionally before falling into a sort of disarray of sound. The saxophones wove their contrasting rhythms together to create and intricate, confusing, yet pleasing sounds that fit together in a surprisingly effective way.
At the end of "One Quality Sound," they featured an example of a vocal group using breathing as a part of the music. I thought it was interesting that they took something that most people try to cover up, and used it as a big aspect of the music itself. The vocalists using their breaths gave the music a very ethereal quality. Also, as a result of the breathing techniques, the harmonies in this example seemed to be given more depth.
Though I thought that the ideas behind the babbling technique were interesting, I didn't really like the babbling itself. I did like the way that they described babbling as a sort of intro into the natural articulation that our bodies/tongues can create. At the beginning of "It's You" they spoke about how it is wrong to say that a person is "better" than you. In truth, it's just that they have more experience. This seemed to go back to something that we read/talked about in the Bill of Musical Rights, and I liked that we were able to connect the two.
We all have musical and genius capabilities inside of us-it's just a matter of reminding yourself that it's there, tapping into it, and harnessing the ideas when they come. This insight was something that I really enjoyed reading about, and something that I agree with in a lot of ways as well.
All of the tracks were very interesting to listen to. I found that I was fascinated with all of them, but my favorite was the one about Babbling. So many times I find myself tongue tied and messing up my words. In this track, babbling is a form of music. It is also something that anyone can be a part of and not screw up.
ReplyDeleteThe "Quality of Sound" was beautiful to listen too. Seeing how something as simple as breathing becomes a beautiful sound is eye opening for me as a vocalist. I'm used to taking in a breath before each phrase in a piece but I do not always make the connection that the breath is what makes the sound. I can also relate that to when I play the flute how each breath is making the music sound the way it does.
Music is definitely a safe place (as the track "It's You" explains) and it is sad to think that people think they're not good enough for it and throw it away. The idea of using positive reinforcement when playing drums is a powerful idea that anyone struggling with self confidence should remember. I liked that they used the same type of encouraging phrases towards each other at the end of this track, as we use in class.
Listening to David Darlings articulation in the last track was entertaining. Being a vocalists for me means a lot of articulation, especially when doing group songs. Hearing his really good articulation makes me want to strive to be better.
Overall these recordings were fun to listen to and I look forward to listening to more of them. I found that I didn't know a lot of the things they talked about on the recordings and what I did know I learned more in depth about.
I thought the examples we listened to were very interesting! At first, when I thought of Darling Conversations I was imagining something along the ideas of a jazz conversation. Not actually talking. I was imagining two or more improv solos having a "conversation," so when the voices started I was little confused but soon caught on. And they were really cool!
ReplyDeleteFrom the conversation "It's You"-
"Someone is not better then we are, just more experienced." I thought this was fantastic! It goes right along with the Bill of Musical Rights and ties together everything we've been talking about during our seminar.
"Parents need to be more liberal with "genius" to encourage genius moments." This literally hit home for me because my family calls each other "genius" when we mess up or do something really silly. So hearing it in this context was very interesting and definitely encouraging. As an education major I can see exactly how this can tie in to success. Concerning the music, I liked the simple melodies and the nice harmonies, it all blended very nicely
They kept saying "You're great" at the end, and the only thought that ran through my mind was "they're saying it wrong, they're supposed to say 'You're wonderful!'"
From One Quality Sound-
"Focused on every note, no vacation." This really connects with what we always hear in band because most of us always here "don't miss a single beat, every note must be accurate."
The conversation talked about good tone and that really hit home for me because a large portion of my lessons at first focused on my tone because it used to be awful! So that section of the conversation was really cool to me.
Overall, the conversation kind of bored me..
For the music on this one, I liked the tone and everything, but it didn't hold my interest very long.
With Babbling-
I loved the connection to jazz! I'm a huge jazz player and that was great to hear that connection!
Babbling was described as a universal language for all genres, which is great because music is already a universal language. So it's a universal language inside a universal language. It's like universal language inception..
I liked how their babbling so much different then what we do in seminar.
My music example, around 6 minutes into it the babbling that was very bluesy I thought was GREAT!
Another music example I liked was the slow ballad babble.
Articulation-
I liked hearing the story of trumpets triple tonguing. We had that issue in my band two years ago right before state contest and everyone tried to do it with us too, not just the trumpets.
I liked his various examples of articulation right after the trumpet example.
The music example from this section was the articulation in the flute reminded me of Ron Burgundy, but actually from someone with talent.
Overall, I thought these conversations were very interesting and showed a new side to things.
It's you:
ReplyDeleteDavid and Julie brought up a point that I have tried to understand for a long time. When is appropriate to praise somebody? This discussion took place within the talk of "genius" - David spoke to the fact that many teachers will not praise their students until they reach a certain level of professionalism. I agree with that to some extent. People should be praised upon accomplishment, upon success. That reinforces the desire to achieve success and therefore stimulates a person to practice and work toward something. That's when praise is most fitting.
I also thought the "you're great" "no, you're great!" mini-arguement was hilarious in the context of this class.
One Quality Sound:
I like that David discussed the fact that quality meant sincere and relaxed. This gathering was never about being the best or most talented musician but rather about connecting to each other and enjoying the music through unity. The initial "choral" sound lulled me to sleep - great for studying :) "Whatever we have within us is correct." (Julie) I love that statement - it reinforces the importance of self. One quality sound is about describing a series of presence and melody - an "offering to the universe" imposed by a unified group. The cello section gave me chills - I absolutely love the richness of the instrument and wish that took majority over the speaking in the recording. The deep and earthy chords sung mid-recording literally ran through my spine. I LOVE it.
David said something about breathing and singing/playing - he said to release the breath, then play so it is a low and relaxed sound. We all get a free lesson in the middle of this recording! YAY.
Hindus thought the music is already in the air, and we just have to go get it. THAT is sweet thinking.
The end was my favorite - with the wood flute and djembe. SO good!
Vocal Timbre:
Addressing the breath issue is so smart. A breath should be the same shape as the sound that follows. The syllable "O" was addressed as the most earthy and round. "Ah" is awe. That's what I gathered, anyway. Ah is more shaky and less grounded. These two vowels are the foundation and the basis.
I love hearing about overtones - they are fascinating and also somewhat elusive until music becomes truly fine. I love how she talked about singing over the toothbrush tone, because I have totally done that! I feel a lot less weird knowing I'm not alone.
Babbling: Babbling is going back to our roots. Babies, toddlers, and kids babble. It's an innate action and I'm sure releases tension and relaxes our being. I can't say I feel comfortable babbling like that, but I do think it's fascinating! They also brought up the notion of imitation and it's relation to babbling. Imitating other languages or sounds help is to create our own. The relationship between babbling and scatting, or jazz, really made sense to me. I love scat and jazz and participated in a lot of vocal jazz and improve in high school. It's really nice hearing about it's "unofficial origins".
Articulation:
Thank goodness one of these sounded like jazz. I adore that genre in its entirety. Articulation is everything in jazz - it creates the tone and overall sound of a piece of music. Everyone wants to be articulate: regardless of the situational context. When speaking we strive for clarity. In playing we see notes and rhythms covered in written articulations. Speaking of articulate, DID YOU HEAR THAT FLUTE? That to me is absolutely crazy, I cannot even imagine improvising like that. It is so fun to hear all of these insightful ideas. I will be revisiting these conversations frequently.
I really don't know anything, if we are going to speak in terms of what we do and do not know. I KNOW that I don't know very much at all. Which is an interesting concept in itself. Learning is infinite, and that I know. Hopefully, I will never question my lack of knowledge, as it keeps me curious.