The focus work.
I chose this piece as the focus work because of the numerous teaching points ie. additive rhythms, contemporary notation, call and response, but most importantly it clearly demonstrates the development of a motif.
I remember back in first year uni, I was introduced to this piece by Paul Stanhope himself in Composition Principal study class, where he clearly explained how he came up with a motif and developed it in all sorts of ways throughout the work. It brought back memories of when I was a year 12 student composing my pieces for HSC. The big issue for me (and just composers in general) was starting the piece with a brilliant idea and not knowing where it would lead me. Then, I’d end up composing a piece that sounded like 3 excerpts from different pieces sewed together into one. There was no unity. Therefore, as a teacher, I believe it’s important for students to learn how to develop a motif well, so at least they will have somewhere to start and an idea to begin with for their 2 min core comp.
The Resources.
1. The motivic development table is a musicology activity for students to find examples of the motif hidden in different forms e.g. fragmented, augmented etc. For students to first understand what those terms mean, the whole class first participates in brief analysis of the famous Beethoven’s Symphony no. 5, to realise how the iconic 4 notes turned into a multiple movement symphony.
2. Once students understand how a motif is developed, they attempt to compose their own motif and complete a motivic development table under the guidance of the website resource. Following this, students are to complete a composition planner (inspired by Jim Coyle) to make a rough sketch/outline of the whole piece (16 bars to start with) which will avoid the “I’ve ran out of ideas” issue discussed earlier.
3. As this is the focus work, I want students to be more familiar with the work through performing a section of it - I chose the “easiest” section to perform; perfect for an SATB setting - treble melodic instrument, 2 alto range driving ostinato-like rhythm, and the bass. (Transposed parts for clarinet) Perfect spread of registers and suitable for the instruments the "class" plays
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