Embedded Files
Objectives
Objectives
By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
Summarize the process of musical transcription and utilize one of two types of musical shorthand: protonotation or notehead shorthand.
Sight read and aurally recognize rhythms that incorporate quarter and 8th note rests in simple time.
Sight read and transcribe stepwise melodies in major and minor modes.
Aurally identify changes in expressive markings, including dynamics (volume) and articulation, and represent them using Western notational practices.
Preparation for Class
Preparation for Class
Read:
Read:
Dynamics (Foundations of Aural Skills)
Music Transcription (Foundations of Aural Skills):
Optional: Watch "Introduction to Protonotation" (video by Drs. Yunek & Wadsworth)
Watch
Watch
I Have a Dream
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
While you may have heard this speech before, listen to it all the way through, carefully paying attention to how King changes volume throughout. How do the changes in volume enhance the meaning of his words?
Explore
Explore
Singing Major & Minor Scales with a Drone: Practice singing up and down major and minor scales against a droning pitch. Don't rush! Sing slowly and focus on intonation. Navigate to the Tuning Drone site here. Click on the starting note of your scale. Sing a steady pitch without vibrato until you don't hear any beating against the drone, then slowly sing up the scale using solfège or scale degrees, listening to each pitch as you sing. Hold scale degrees 3, 5, and 6 and carefully tune them with the drone pitch. You can add a second drone on the 5th with the piano if you'd like a another anchor for your scale. Sing up and down the scale until you're comfortable with your intonation, then switch to a new starting note. If you need a keyboard to help you find scale pitches there's one here.
Study Aids
Study Aids
Major Scale Degree & Solfege Syllables
Minor Scale Degree & Solfege Syllables.
In-Class Activities
In-Class Activities
Discussion
Discussion
Dictation Shorthand: Before working through any melodic or rhythmic dictation, summarize the steps and differences between protonotation and notehead shorthand discussed in the reading. Are there any other methods for melodic/rhythmic shorthand that you've used and found helpful? Why might it be important for a musician to learn some form of shorthand?
Dynamic Contour in Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" Speech:
Having listened to the speech before class, jot down a few ideas about the impact of King's dynamic contour in the speech. What is a particularly striking moment for you in the speech? Is it part of a gradual build? Is it a sudden change in volume?
Discuss your impressions as a class, attempting to answer whether the contour/performance is more important to the speech's meaning than its content.
Activities
Activities
Listening for Expressive Markings: Have your instructor or a group member select a melody from your anthology to perform (singing or on an instrument). The performer should incorporate clear articulations (staccatos, sforzandos, legatos, slurs, etc.) and changes in dynamics and tempo. Following along with the notation, mark it up with the expressive markings you hear. Work out the BPM and a good tempo marking for the start of the melody.
Transcribing Dynamics: Listen to singer Jeff Buckley’s rendition of songwriter Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” The song has a recurring melody for each verse, but each time Buckley sings it, he changes the dynamic contour. On the handout provided here, use dynamic markings (like mf, p, crescendos, diminuendos, subito) to represent the shifting volume of Buckley’s dynamic performance underneath the lyrics. The first verse is done for you as an example.
Major and Minor Scales:
Point & Sing: Open the major and minor solfège ladders at the links provided. Sing up and down the major and minor scales with solfège as a class. Add in the Kodaly hand signs on the left of each syllable as you sing. Then, have one member of the class come up and point to notes while the class sings along with solfège. Be sure to try different keys.
The Solfege Improv Train: Everyone lines up. Using the solfège ladders above as a guide, the first person sings a 4-note stepwise solfège pattern on a neutral syllable. The whole class repeats back the notes. The second person in line has to improvise a pattern starting on the last note of the previous pattern. The entire class sings back Pattern 1, then Pattern 2. The third person continues with a third pattern starting on the last note and the progression continues until the class is no longer able to remember the patterns. For an added challenge, use a rhythmic pattern from the lesson.
Multiple Choice Pattern Dictation: A group member or your instructor selects patterns to play (or to string together into melodies) from this selection of Stepwise Scale Patterns. Notate the pattern number that you heard in the order you heard it. Sing each one back using solfège syllables.
Repertoire for Practice
Repertoire for Practice
Melody Sight Reading: Major and minor stepwise melodies.
Use examples in the anthology for both sight-reading and melodic dictation practice.
Rhythm Sight Reading: Adding quarter note and 8th note rests
Practice call & response and short dictation using the rhythm grid for the unit (see the activity in Unit 1-1 for an example).
Sight read and practice rhythm transcription with the rhythm examples from the repertoire.
Additional Optional Practice
Additional Optional Practice
Musition:
Rhythm Tapping: Level 1c
Auralia:
Articulation: Levels 1–2
Dynamics: Levels 1–2
Tempo: Levels 1–2
Solfege ID: Levels 1–4
Auralia:
Rhythm Dictation: Level 1c
Two-Part Rhythmic Dictation: Levels 3a, 3b
Scales: Level 1
Melodic Dictation: Level 1a–1c
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