Music Musing Monday - Sound or Sense?

In the past week or so I have been pondering the curious phenomenon of student singers to ask after a performance, “How did it sound?” or “Was my voice okay?”

 Not “Was my interpretation clear?” or “Was I singing correct pitches and rhythms?” or “Could you understand the text?” or “Did you believe me?”

 The acting students I work with rarely ask, after performing a monologue or role, “How did it sound?” or “Was my voice okay?” But - the moment we work on songs, those same questions arise. 

When I draw the comparison with the speaking voice, the student actors are usually amused. Sure, they will ask whether they were successful in maintaining accent and dialect in a speech or role, or whether they could be heard clearly. But the sound of their spoken voice rarely concerns them. 

Successful singing and acting both rely on a secure vocal technique. And, of course, singing and speaking voices vary enormously in their inherent timbre and beauty. But where most of us will look forward to seeing a particular actor, more because of his / her ability to tell a story and transform into character than the essential sound of his / her voice; many more of us will go to hear a singer because of the voice itself.

I have always ranked the story-telling above the sound of the voice but over the years have come to realise that people are pretty evenly split on this.

Where do you fit? Is it the essential sound or the sense of what is being sung or spoken which hooks you?

Media Term Thursday #23

Horror film

Popular film genre designed to frighten the audience using explicit violence and supernatural creatures such as vampires, zombies, aliens or deranged people with chainsaws. Sometimes called ‘slasher’ films, as opposed to Thrillers which are more subtle and psychological, creating the horror in the viewer’s mind.

Excerpt from Media Key Terms and Concepts.

Drama Term Tuesday #23

Juxtaposition

When dramatic action holds up side by side different, generally contrasting, ideas or characters; the power of juxtaposition lies in its capacity to allow an audience to draw conclusions, to explore dramatic irony; juxtaposition is frequently more than the sum of the individual parts; juxtaposition uses contrast and dislocation to provoke fresh understanding and dramatic impact.

Excerpt from Drama Key Terms and Concepts

Music Musing Monday - Awareness of beat in music and its significance to children beginning to read language.

Back in June I wrote about the work of Dr Anita Collins, an Australian neuromusical educator from the ACT. Dr Anita Collins has been back in Perth this past week and was a presenter at the national ASME (Australian Society for Music Education) conference held at the University of Western Australia. Although I was unable to attend the conference, I met up for coffee on Saturday with a singing teacher friend and colleague from Sydney. Of course, the conversation turned to the conference themes and presenters and my friend spoke excitedly of the neuromusical research presented – in particular the early childhood musical opportunities which, if utilised, can make a significant difference to a child’s capacity for learning.

We spoke about Dr Collins’ findings that a child who cannot maintain a rhythmic beat is not yet ready to read language. This seems, on one hand a concept so simple, and yet so elusive in our current education systems.

Why do we not train all early childhood teachers in the most fundamental concepts of music – beat and rhythm?

It is important to recognise that this is quite a different need to the equally important one of providing specialist music (and all arts) teachers in primary schools to provide worthwhile teaching and learning experiences. The significance of the early childhood beat and rhythmic work is that, if missed, the neurological benefit cannot be made up for in later childhood. Your thoughts?

I will be asking my primary music and early childhood teacher friends for their most effective classroom beat activities. Watch out for further details in future posts.

In the meantime – keep an eye on Dr Collins’ work – check out ‘Bigger Better Brains’ on facebook.

Media Term Thursday #22

Motif

A recurring theme.

Any significant repeated element in a film is a motif. It could be an object, colour, place, sound etc. For example, the recurring image of the ring in the horror film The Ring (2002).

Our recognition of these motifs contributes to our enjoyment of the film.

A famous example is the word ‘Rosebud’’ in Citizen Kane (1941); a common Hollywood thematic motif is humankind vs nature in Armageddon (1998) and The Day After Tomorrow (2004) reminding us of our fragile existence as a species in the universe.

Excerpt from Media Key Terms and Concepts.

Drama Term Tuesday #22

Absurdism

Theatre of the absurd

Form or style of theatre that focuses on the irrational and illogical aspects of human life and interaction to highlight a sense of helplessness and the inadequacy of rationalistic approach. Theatre of the Absurd has been a powerful mid Twentieth Century influence. 

While often funny in a serious or unusual way, absurdist drama is not to be confused with other forms of comedy. Nor should the term be used indiscriminately for dramatic material that is confusing, contradictory, or obscure.

Music Musings Monday - Saying goodbye

At this time of year across Australia secondary teachers are saying goodbye to their year 12 students as they prepare for final exams and departure from the school system.

Those of us teaching music (or for that matter any of the arts) know the special nostalgia of farewelling students after sharing years of arts-rich teaching and learning experiences with them - experiences which both student and teacher will remember for many years to come; probably for life.

Over the past weekend I had two opportunities to reflect on the power of music and the arts in our lives.

On Friday as I packed up to leave school, a colleague and friend mused on the coming week when she would say goodbye to her year 12 singing students. A number of these kids had done weekly voice lessons and several choir rehearsals with her for the past five years. In time the weekly lessons may retreat to the back recesses of their collective memory, but it is likely that most will carry memories of their choir performances for life.

 On Saturday I attended a reunion of my own old school year group. I attended an all-girls school and back in my day music was not offered as a subject at the school. Our school music experience involved some half-hearted group singalongs with a well-meaning volunteer teacher in the old stables building at the back of the school. Although I was learning piano outside of school, I probably played the school piano fewer than five times in as many years. Nevertheless, at the reunion several old girls asked me whether I was still playing piano. I was pretty amazed that they remembered at all – but obviously they saw the piano playing as part of who I was.

 There is no doubt that we tend to remember our school arts experiences – music concerts, drama productions, musicals, dance shows and so on. What do all of these experiences have in common? I think that part of the positive memory is tied to the discipline, practice and training that precedes the performance and contributes to the satisfaction of getting to performance standard – being stage worthy. Best practice in the performing arts is hard fun. And that is what creates those lifelong memories.

Media Term Thursday #21

Cult Film

Non-mainstream, eccentric films which avoid using traditional narrative and technical conventions. They appeal to a small but passionate audience who enjoy their controversial subject matter, oddball characters and highly stylised design. Some do achieve commercial success and some mainstream films acquire a certain ‘cult status’ but most cult films are usually too outrageous or contrived for most audiences.

They range from such movies as Freaks (1932), Reefer Madness (1936), Little Shop of Horrors (1960) and any film by director Ed Wood; to such mainstream films as Pirates of the Caribbean (2003), It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), Two for the Road (1967) and Scott Pilgrim Vs The World (2010).

Excerpt from Media Key Terms and Concepts

Drama Term Tuesday #21

Method Acting

Stanislavski

The Method

System of acting derived from Stanislavski and popularised in the USA by Group Theatre, Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler, Uta Hagen, Elia Kazan and Boleslavsky amongst others. There are various interpretations of method acting.

There is a focus on creating life-like realistic performances with actors drawing on their own emotions, memories and experiences. Based on the sense or emotional memory process, method acting focuses on actors fully immersing themselves in their characters in order to sense all of the experiences the character would sense.

Well suited to film and realistic acting, Method Acting has been highly popular and also highly criticised for over indulgent focus on internalised emotion and excess.

Excerpt from Drama Key Terms and Concepts

Media Term Thursday #20

Over Exposed

Too much light has reached the film or photographic paper to produce a correctly exposed image.

Whilst taking the photograph, the light meter will register above the line (the aperture is set too high or the shutter speed too slow to allowing too much light to hit the film), resulting in an overexposed negative.

In the darkroom, the photographic paper may be exposed for too long, resulting in an overexposed print.

Overexposed images appear as being too light.

Excerpt from Media Key Terms and Concepts