Thursday, August 1, 2013
Goals of Bolton String Curriculum
A detailed strings curriculum at Bolton Academy is available at the PTA office. This is what students will be able to demonstrate by May 2014:
1. Students will be able to demonstrate instrument holding position.
A. Students will be able to demonstrate the posture needed to play a string instrument.
B. Students will be able to demonstrate proper holding position for a stringed instrument.
C. Students will be able to demonstrate proper left-hand shape for a stringed instrument.
2. Students will be able to demonstrate left-hand skills.
A. Students will be able to play, with correct inntonation and fingerings, a one octave D major scale and pieces and exercises in G major.
B. Students will be able to play, with correct intonation and fingerings, a one octave G major scale and pieces and exercises in G major.
C. Students will be able to play, with correct inntonation and fingerings, a one octave C major scale and pieces and exercises in C major.
3. Students will be able to demonstrate right-arm skills.
A. Students will be able to play pizzicato with a full tone.
B. Students will be able to demonstrate proper bow hold for their instrument.
C. Students will be able to play arco with a full tone.
D. Students will be able to play with a straight bow.
E. Students will be able to play with a detache bow stroke.
F. Students will be able to play with a staccato bow stroke.
G. Students will be able to play with a legato bow stroke.
H. Students will be able to play separate bows.
I. Students will be able to play one, two, and three note slurs.
4. Students will be able to demonstrate musical skills. (piano/forte) (accel/ritard) (andante/allegro)
Strings Class at Bolton 2013-14
The Bolton Owl orchestra will meet from 7:15 until 8:00am every day, Monday through Friday! I will meet with all returning students on day one. New students will begin after Labor Day. The curriculum is written for students in grades 4&5 (there are pre and post tests required by the State of Georgia that begin at grade 4) but is open to all children who can handle the extremely challenging curriculm. There will be assesments every week and once a child is signed up for the program, they are committed for the entire year and will be graded for the entire year. Application forms will go to all grade 4 and 5 students (and returning grade 2 and 3 students) next week. New students and parents in grades 1, 2 and 3 will have to supply their own instrument as the school system offers instruction at grade 4 (state assesment standards for strings) but Bolton offers strings instruction to students starting at earlier grades, dependent upon student having their own violin in grades 1, 2 and 3. APS provides violins that are limited in number, most are on the repair waiting list, and were purchaced with older children in mind (grades 4 and 5). It is highly recommended that new students "sit in" on orchestra class to see if it is a good fit for them. This is not an exposure class. Owl orchestra is a comprehensive program that meets five days a week for 45 minutes a day, first thing in the morning. It is my personal goal to have the best elementary orchestra in APS. It will be a lot of fun and a lot of work. The PTA office will have a notebook with very detailed information about the orchestra including lesson plans and performances. The power point "Strings at Bolton" is available upon request. My e mail is jpickett@atlanta.k12.ga.us
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Counting
Music is math expressed as sound. Music is math expressed as sound. Music is math expressed as sound. ZERO is math expressed as sound. ZERO is ONE expressed as sound. ZERO is ONE exZERO as sound. ZERO is ONE exZERO as ONE. Music is math expressed as sound. Speaking in poetic meter of a trochee(MU-sic)and three iambic feet(is-MATH ex-PRESSED in-SOUND)creates a pulse, much like that of a heartbeat. The heartbeat is a base 2(binary,[01]),hemiolic, mathematical operation. In music we call this operation "steady beat."
The heart beat itself is a rotation of the emphasis in metric pulse from a division of three to a division of two, or vice versa. Sounding like the stress and repose of iambic and trochaic poetic meter, this “hemiolios,” meaning one and one-half, was originally used to describe the frequency ratio of 3:2. Musicians recognize this frequency as the dominant overtone (fifth degree) of the “gamut” (musical scale) or “SOL,” from ut-re-mi-fa-sol-la-sa-ut (do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti[si]-do). Hemoglobin is the iron-based, oxygen-carrying metalloprotien found in our red blood cells. It is what transports oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body. In the seven-note diationic scale, the dominant function creates the greatest tension (instability) and needs to be resolved to the tonic I-V-I. This could be thought of as the breathing process of taking in and letting go of oxygen.
Sol also refers to sun or a cleansing force. In the Devanagari writing systems of India and Nepal, this force is represented as an unbroken curved line (circle) or a void illustrating a relationship between the psychophysical and worldly experience. This circle is called sunya, or zero, in sandskirt. The number “one” or sandskirt “eka,” is a rotation of the “void” sunya, to reveal a pattern that resembles a “loop of rope” with the circle at the top and a curved line trailing from the circle. Eka shows the rotation of the metaphysical to the physical, or the process of zero moving to one.
The Egyptian cartouche (shenu) shape represents a loop of rope in which a name is written. The shenu serves as a protector of that name inside of it. In Hebrew this symbol is called ayin and means “the eye.” If this symbol is rotated on its side, it will also show a similar zero to one process.
The heart beat itself is a rotation of the emphasis in metric pulse from a division of three to a division of two, or vice versa. Sounding like the stress and repose of iambic and trochaic poetic meter, this “hemiolios,” meaning one and one-half, was originally used to describe the frequency ratio of 3:2. Musicians recognize this frequency as the dominant overtone (fifth degree) of the “gamut” (musical scale) or “SOL,” from ut-re-mi-fa-sol-la-sa-ut (do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti[si]-do). Hemoglobin is the iron-based, oxygen-carrying metalloprotien found in our red blood cells. It is what transports oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body. In the seven-note diationic scale, the dominant function creates the greatest tension (instability) and needs to be resolved to the tonic I-V-I. This could be thought of as the breathing process of taking in and letting go of oxygen.
Sol also refers to sun or a cleansing force. In the Devanagari writing systems of India and Nepal, this force is represented as an unbroken curved line (circle) or a void illustrating a relationship between the psychophysical and worldly experience. This circle is called sunya, or zero, in sandskirt. The number “one” or sandskirt “eka,” is a rotation of the “void” sunya, to reveal a pattern that resembles a “loop of rope” with the circle at the top and a curved line trailing from the circle. Eka shows the rotation of the metaphysical to the physical, or the process of zero moving to one.
The Egyptian cartouche (shenu) shape represents a loop of rope in which a name is written. The shenu serves as a protector of that name inside of it. In Hebrew this symbol is called ayin and means “the eye.” If this symbol is rotated on its side, it will also show a similar zero to one process.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Environment
While posture represents an actual benefit of playing a musical instrument, fostering an awareness of the environment that evolves while engaged in instrumental music performance approaches the realm of visionary possibilities in application of playing a musical instrument. One could make the argument that playing a musical instrument simultaneously engages a rigorous integration of learning, openness, versatility and empathy. For me, the melding of these domains forms an organically electromagnetic l-o-v-e paradigm. By extension, through knowledgeable application of this paradigm, one can create a shift in the model from one perception of actuality, to another viewpoint of reality.
The American art form of the blues provides us with an example for such a model. For many years, blues was recorded only by memory, and relayed only live and in person. This transmission of learning, influenced by aboriginal roots, field hollers, ballads, church music and dance tunes, would evolve into a repeating pattern of 8,12 or 16 measures of music that we define as blues. In this music, a singer would engage in call-and-response with his guitar. The path of that learning evolution crosses the dimensions of openness, versatility and empathy.
If we think of openness more in terms of a promise…a promise to do one’s best to treat everyone fairly; a promise to do one’s best to be kind to everyone, even if they are not like you; then, one develops versatility in order to create the motion (organic electromagnetic regeneration) necessary to honor the promise. In the blues, this promise is a story, a history, an epic memory, that is moved from one generation to the next through the environment of empathy. Contained in that epic memory, is the original promise of everyone’s inherent worth in the eyes of the universe…an abstract form of balancing the equation…a form of perfect sharing.
The American art form of the blues provides us with an example for such a model. For many years, blues was recorded only by memory, and relayed only live and in person. This transmission of learning, influenced by aboriginal roots, field hollers, ballads, church music and dance tunes, would evolve into a repeating pattern of 8,12 or 16 measures of music that we define as blues. In this music, a singer would engage in call-and-response with his guitar. The path of that learning evolution crosses the dimensions of openness, versatility and empathy.
If we think of openness more in terms of a promise…a promise to do one’s best to treat everyone fairly; a promise to do one’s best to be kind to everyone, even if they are not like you; then, one develops versatility in order to create the motion (organic electromagnetic regeneration) necessary to honor the promise. In the blues, this promise is a story, a history, an epic memory, that is moved from one generation to the next through the environment of empathy. Contained in that epic memory, is the original promise of everyone’s inherent worth in the eyes of the universe…an abstract form of balancing the equation…a form of perfect sharing.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Where to begin....proper posture
One of the most important aspects of playing a musical instrument happens even before you have any instrument in your hands. It is making sure you have proper posture. Proper posture is the balancing of the body in order to create the most resonant environment for energy flow.
Developing an awareness of posture involves paying close attention to the position of the feet, knees, hips, shoulders, arms, hands, and head. Correct positioning of these body parts makes it easier for sound to be produced. Here are some check points:
- the chin should be about parallel to the floor.
- Shoulders should be held back and down, with chest held high, but not in a strained position.
- Hands should be relaxed and still at the sides.
- Knees should be flexibly loose, never locked.
- Feet should be slightly apart, one foot slightly in front of the other. Body weight is slightly forward.
If standing, the ears, shoulders, hips, knees and ankles form a line. When sitting, the knees remain behind the toes and the upper body weight is equally balanced on the hips which rest on the edge of the chair.
Practicing proper posture will always insure that you will "bring the instrument to your body, not the body to the instrument."
Developing an awareness of posture involves paying close attention to the position of the feet, knees, hips, shoulders, arms, hands, and head. Correct positioning of these body parts makes it easier for sound to be produced. Here are some check points:
- the chin should be about parallel to the floor.
- Shoulders should be held back and down, with chest held high, but not in a strained position.
- Hands should be relaxed and still at the sides.
- Knees should be flexibly loose, never locked.
- Feet should be slightly apart, one foot slightly in front of the other. Body weight is slightly forward.
If standing, the ears, shoulders, hips, knees and ankles form a line. When sitting, the knees remain behind the toes and the upper body weight is equally balanced on the hips which rest on the edge of the chair.
Practicing proper posture will always insure that you will "bring the instrument to your body, not the body to the instrument."
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Welcome!
My hope with this blog is to provide a space where we can share ideas and visions about the actual and potential benefits of playing a musical instrument. Music has a most profound influence on young people, and, young people of all ages. Playing a musical instrument makes you smarter, teaches discipline, provides a sense of achievement and is just plain fun.
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