Unit: Experimenting with sound

Part A: Developing symbols

Lesson outcomes

The need for notation

Provide percussion instruments for student groups to replay their compositions from last lesson.
Compare live group performances with the taped version from the previous lesson.

Did you remember the composition from last time?
Was the piece exactly the same as last time? Why not?

Discuss ways of solving this problem.

How can we remember what we composed yesterday, a week ago, a year ago so that it can be played again the same way?
How can we make sure that other people can play our compositions?
How can musicians play what other people have composed?
Consider the positive and negative consequences of students’ suggestions.

Developing symbols in graphic notation

What symbols can be used to represent the sounds played?
Explain that a symbol is a quick, simple line drawing, not a complicated picture which stands for a particular type of sound.

Distribute Student handout 12: Graphic notation. Play one short sound on a woodblock, then one long sound on a triangle. Ask students to draw a symbol on the handout for each, showing the difference between the two sounds. Ask some of the students to write their ideas on the board and discuss how appropriate they are.

Experiment with symbols for each changing pitch, then changes in dynamics, followed by changes in duration and then changes in tone colour.

Gradually increase the complexity to combine dynamics and duration (e.g. four soft sounds getting faster), then pitch, duration and dynamics (e.g. six sounds getting lower, slower and softer) and finally all four elements (e.g. a dry wooden sound getting higher, louder and longer).

Discuss the fact that tone colour is the most difficult of all the elements to represent, as sound is perceived differently by different people. Explain that some composers use a key to ensure that performers use the correct instruments to play their music.

Reading symbols in graphic notation

Display two or three cards using different graphic notation symbols. Discuss what the symbols are showing and possible ways of performing them.

Discuss the difference between linear and vertical positioning e.g. means two sounds played one after the other, but   means two sounds played at the same time. Display a selection of graphic notation cards. Divide class into small groups (different from the percussion composition groups) to develop a performance as shown by the symbols, using the cards in any order.
Ask each group to play their realisations of the graphic notation cards to the class, with other students working out the order in which the group played the cards.

Resources

Student handout 12: Graphic notation

Top