Thanks for the lengthy reply!
I've done the Murray Schaefer thing with junior high school students. We
have something called "mini-courses" every year, where school kids get to
visit the university department of their choice to get a little taste of what the
university is like, and a lot of them want to come to our School of Music. It
lasts three or four days, and we keep 'em busy with all kinds of neat stuff. In
fact it's happening right now.
Anyway, the point of this is that I've tried the free-form improvised
composition thing, guided by imagery of the students' own construction, and
it always (ALWAYS!) works really well. It's a self-empowerment exercise, and
demystifies the composition process for the kids, both of which are really
valuable. You don't need to be a genius to compose; you just need to be able
to discriminate between sounds you like and sounds you don't, and you also
need to be stubborn enough to keep at it until you come up with something
you like. That's it. All the skills (harmony, counterpoint, orchestration,
knowledge of stylistic differences) can be learned as a result of this process,
when the student is ready to learn them. Most of the time, we teach those
skills independently of any context, so it's no wonder so many students find
theory courses boring!
Thanks for your comment on my
newest piece for orchestra! I would be thrilled if you
played it for your students, and, if possible, if you played the second
movement as well ("
Interlude for String Orchestra"), and let me know what their
reactions are to each. Students are usually pretty honest about their
reactions (probably because they don't have to worry about being point-
bombed!), and it's incredibly valuable for me to hear what people honestly
think. If the music isn't reaching people, I need to know that, so I can do
something different!
Morton Feldman is definitely an acquired taste. It requires lots and lots
and lots of time, and an empty mind, and most of us lack these.
---
New work for
live orchestra.
[ Reply to This ]
brought some foul garbage out there a while earlier), open the
minivan, and dig my headphones out of my work bag. I wanted to
hear every little nuance. I listened many times. I ate a few
cookies, fed the cat, came back and listened some more.
Man, it would be fun to be able to record stuff such as this... oh,
the possibilities! Those layered tones are so expressive in their
see-saw twistiness. Thanks for posting this. It was interesting to
hear your interaction with the students as well. More more more!
I love it.
I started thinking about an interpretive dance that could be done
with this... hmmm...
[ Reply to This ]