Monday Memorable Musical Moment!

On Facebook recently, there has been a challenge circulating called the  "Artistic Memorable Moments Challenge". The challenge was/is to post a picture a day of your art for five days and nominate two friends to join the challenge. Many musician friends have been writing about their fondest and most impressionable musical memories from their childhood. I though I'd share one of my special memories with you here.

Project Group ’85 & The Wizard of Oz.

My first ‘lead role’ in a school production was as a ‘Princess’ in a year 2 class play with Sharon Ransom. (Well actually, my real first lead role was as the “Star” in a pre-school Nativity Play in Bundaberg, but I got conjunctivitis and wasn’t able to perform!)

I remember auditioning for the role in class one day and we presented it to our parents just before pick-up. Sharon, who was an infinitely more talented actress than me was the “wicked witch” who I think had to put a spell on me. Five years later and as year 7 students at the same school (Heatley Primary), Sharon and I were re-united on stage again.

Amazingly, and seemingly audaciously, a teacher at our school – Ian Griffiths, secured permission to trial a special Performing Arts Immersion Program known as the “Project group 85”, (or PG 85). The concept behind the class (as I recall it) was to bring like-minded artistic children from years 5-7 together and to encompass the key learning areas of the curriculum through the performing arts culminating in an epic “Rich task” which was a completely student directed and produced musical to be publicly staged in the city’s Civic Theatre.

I was lucky enough to score the lead role of Dorothy - a role and character which in many ways shaped me as a young girl. I developed a complete adoration of Judy Garland and of course a special relationship with the music of Harold Arlen and in particular “Over the rainbow”. Sharon performed the most amazing version of Glinda (particularly for a 12 year old!)

A few years ago, when Carson and I were watching Wicked in New York City, I spent most of the night fighting back tears. Not just because it is an incredible, powerful musical performance, nor because the story and songs are so moving but really because I felt I was watching the back story to a majorly important part of my own life and the person I kept thinking about the whole night was “MY” Glinda, Sharon and the incredible journey we shared in 1985 on our own Yellow brick Road! Wish I had a photo – but so fortunate to have the memories!

Techno Tuesday – Brief Review of StaffPad

I thought I’d begin a series of Techno Tuesday Blogs sharing new technology finds which may be of use in the classroom. The first cab off the rank is an extremely exciting new release - StaffPad available from the Windows Store for $70. Composer, Music Engraver and Music Consultant Philip Rothman describes this product as “quite simply, the most fun, innovative, and ground-breaking music notation software available today” and I have to agree!

As avid users of Finale and Sibelius my husband and I were intrigued to try a product for pen-and-touch based Windows 8 tablets like the Surface Pro.

Firstly, let’s watch the 2-minute promotional video for StaffPad:

Amazing stuff?

Phillip Rothman explains, key to the way StaffPad works is its method of recognizing your scribbles. It looks at every individual stroke you make and then interprets what you wrote based on the relationship of each stroke to all of the others. Creator, David William Hearne says that “it’s more efficient and accurate to take the position and temporal information from the pen, and then use musical context to decide what the music is trying to be. That way, you can do things that would totally confuse OCR. Because we know the order of the strokes and where they are in relation to the notes, we can say, OK, that’s a natural, that’s a sharp.”

The real magic of StaffPad starts to become evident as you begin to move from bar to bar. All you need to do to move to any other bar is to simply start writing in it. You don’t need to finish writing in one bar; StaffPad won’t automatically fill the bar with rests. You don’t need to write in contiguous bars or select another bar to prime it.

Take a look at Philip Rothman notating some bars of Rite of spring!

Powerful Playback:

What we probably loved the most in our first experiment with this app was the ability to control and enhance the quality of the playback performance. If you've placed dynamics in your score, you’ll see the expression overlay reflect those dynamics. But you can further customize playback by drawing lines and curves to subtly enhance your score.

Listen to my husband, Carson’s partial transcription of Paraniod Andriod by Radiohead (which he did this morning sitting in a lounge chair and drinking coffee!) and hear some of the subtleties in playback reflecting a more natural and musical sounding performance.

  

Implications for Music Education.

There is no doubt that music educators will take serious note of the potential of this powerful application. In a time where the skills of traditional notation may well be a dying art and the desire for immediacy and authenticity in the front end of composing software is growing, StaffPad provides an exciting hybrid experience for students and teachers alike.

Particular opportunities which could enhance the teaching and learning experience within our music classes could include –

·         Rhythmic and Melodic dictation exercises could be delivered and executed with great ease and fluency.

·         The freedom to move about the score as ideas come forth, filling in only partial content within bars, is a level of highly significant intuition (lacking in other programs).

·         The emphasis on expressive techniques in the notation and the opportunity to create phrasing and subtle musical balance in playback, is a fantastic artistic element adding to the aesthetic experience of music composing and arranging which is currently a bit clunky in other programs, sometimes detracting from the inventive ideas of the student composer.

·         The comfort of working with a tablet, lying flat on the student’s table like a real score using a pen to notate could work incredibly well in classrooms.

·         In the middle of a lesson, instrumental teachers could easily and quickly notate exercises, phrases, melodic ideas, bowing or tonging patterns and print them off for their students with greater ease and efficiency.

·         Being an app available from the Windows Store, installation is a quick and easy process, which would be a great time saver for schools.

·         The $70 for full access to the app is affordable and competitive. 

All in all, this is an absolutely amazing application with exciting potential for Music Educators. Check it out!

Interestingly, Sibelius has just announced a response to StaffPad which can be read here: 

10 Tips For Supporting Music Practice At Home.

“If I were a dictator, I would eliminate the word “practice” from the vocabulary, for it becomes a bogey, a nightmare…
I would ask: “Have you already made and enjoyed music today? If not – go and make music”. - Pianist, Artur Schnabel

Here are some ideas which have worked well for my students and my own children over the years. I hope they may be helpful to you too!


1. Help your child set up a special place at home to play the instrument.
A music stand is very helpful!

2. Establish a time each day to play. Some children are at their best in the morning, before school. Some parents set a time after the evening bath when the child is relaxed, but not tired.

3. Consider using the phrase "playing time" rather than "practice time."

4. If possible, be a positive part of your child's playing time. Sit with your child while she plays and ask, "Show me what you're learning."

5. Praise your child for each step forward.

6. Encourage other family members to applaud the child's efforts. Positive attention is a great motivator.

7. Never make practice time a punishment; it will make your child dislike, or even hate, daily practice if you do so. Rather, make practice time enjoyable by showing him your support and enthusiasm.

8. Regular, shorter playing sessions throughout the week is far more beneficial than one or two long sessions before the lesson.

9. Provide positive role models. Bring your child to hear amateur or professional musicians perform live music.

10. Remember that there are always peaks and valleys in the learning process. You and your child should expect times of discouragement, accept them, and focus on the positive fact that they are learning to make music. Remind them that everything worth doing takes time and effort.