Kodály Based Musicianship
3860 A (Fall 2018)
3861 B (Winter 2019)
Dr. Cathy Benedict
Gabriela Ocadiz
Student Websites- demonstrating work in class:
Katie McClelland
Roisin Miland
Lindsay Orlowski
Jillian Parker
Laura Acton
Amanda Barrett
Olivia Houle
Makiya Hughes
Tamla Mendita
Claire Thornton
Eric Tremblay
Sara Villa
Cheska Viray
Emily Devito
Hannah Couto
Cathy Benedict
Once in David's Royal City
Lo How a Rose
Shubert Canon #211
3860 A (Fall 2018)
3861 B (Winter 2019)
Dr. Cathy Benedict
Gabriela Ocadiz
Student Websites- demonstrating work in class:
Katie McClelland
Roisin Miland
Lindsay Orlowski
Jillian Parker
Laura Acton
Amanda Barrett
Olivia Houle
Makiya Hughes
Tamla Mendita
Claire Thornton
Eric Tremblay
Sara Villa
Cheska Viray
Emily Devito
Hannah Couto
Cathy Benedict
Once in David's Royal City
Lo How a Rose
Shubert Canon #211
Yonder Come day- first learned in three parts, then written out in solfege, recorded in words, and then Katie improvising during the second take! Woo HOO!
We first learned O Freedom with words, then written down in solfege and then performed back in words.
Check out Makiya's reflection: I had a lot of fun recording this! (Even though I’m very sick and you can tell by looking at my face). When I was at home I smacked on a lot of different surfaces to find out what timbres I wanted, but I could not find two that I thought sounded nice and complemented each other, that were both in reach. Then I remembered how many sounds Garageband had! I used so many sounds, but I wanted a high pitch and a lower pitch, so you could sound both equally. This was very fun for me, and set me up for the second, three-part rhythm exercise.
In this example we took a 3 part rhythm exercise and adding chord progression
Bartok's Bolyongas: The class was asked to think through the key changes in terms of solfege and decide where they would switch back and forth - not an easy task to do musically! Check out Katie's reflection:
Reflection: This piece is so beautiful! I spent so much time on focusing on the tuning and energy of the piece. I wanted to get all the tempo changes so I had to put space in between in order to quickly think about the key change and tempo changes. I put a lot of emphasis on the notes that stuck out of the texture such as the fi's in the beginning chords. I also tried swelling some of the half note chords to make the melodic line move more which I think I did nicely. I focused a lot on the energy in the major portion and I think I did that in increasing the tempo. I also focused a lot on balancing the lines of music and brining out the little melodic fragments that sometimes jump between the voices. Overall, was a lot of fun and was a bit of a challenge in terms of the length.
Reflection: This piece is so beautiful! I spent so much time on focusing on the tuning and energy of the piece. I wanted to get all the tempo changes so I had to put space in between in order to quickly think about the key change and tempo changes. I put a lot of emphasis on the notes that stuck out of the texture such as the fi's in the beginning chords. I also tried swelling some of the half note chords to make the melodic line move more which I think I did nicely. I focused a lot on the energy in the major portion and I think I did that in increasing the tempo. I also focused a lot on balancing the lines of music and brining out the little melodic fragments that sometimes jump between the voices. Overall, was a lot of fun and was a bit of a challenge in terms of the length.
Lindsay's version and reflection::
This song was quite the challenge! There were several key changes with really difficult transitions, which made it really hard to sometimes find my next note. However, I found that simply switching my "lah" or "do" to the tonic of whatever key I was in was a really helpful tool. This helped me hear the pitches in the context of each new key rather than simply trying to sing notes and figure out accidentals. I find that knowing how your part fits into the overall context of the piece makes a world of a difference in how easy it is to hold the part. I also think that it makes the piece as a whole sound much more in tune because listening to how one part fits in with the others results in constantly tuning up to ensure nothing goes sharp or flat. The use of solfege is also an excellent tool for this because I can see the chords made by the multiple voices which helps that much more with finding the correct pitches.
This song was quite the challenge! There were several key changes with really difficult transitions, which made it really hard to sometimes find my next note. However, I found that simply switching my "lah" or "do" to the tonic of whatever key I was in was a really helpful tool. This helped me hear the pitches in the context of each new key rather than simply trying to sing notes and figure out accidentals. I find that knowing how your part fits into the overall context of the piece makes a world of a difference in how easy it is to hold the part. I also think that it makes the piece as a whole sound much more in tune because listening to how one part fits in with the others results in constantly tuning up to ensure nothing goes sharp or flat. The use of solfege is also an excellent tool for this because I can see the chords made by the multiple voices which helps that much more with finding the correct pitches.
Amanda and Eric played a two part Arban (of course) trumpet duet - we sang in solfege and then wrote it out and added a third part.
It was Cheska's turn today to play for dictation. Coming soon class covers of other pop songs (in solfege, of course)
Continuing to focus on practical aspects of solfege and its purpose we learned by rote a three part version of Siyhamba. Their assignment was to sing it in solfege in three parts and words - here is Eric and his reflection:
This was genuinely my favourite song we've learned so far! It's so fun and easy to sing and was stuck in my head all week so when it was time to record it I was able to basically just do one take for each voice and I was good (minus the solfege version haha). Since I was so used to singing it with the lyrics, singing it with solfege really messed me up and made it harder! however it did help me hear the different harmonies when all the voices are singing the same words and helped me with the leaps because I associated pitch with solfege. I think the harmonies in this song are so pretty and fun and it really made me motivated to sing! even when I was done recording I didn't want to be and wanted to keep singing it haha. This song helped me with my tuning of chords because most of the time all the voices are singing the same thing but just in harmony.
This was genuinely my favourite song we've learned so far! It's so fun and easy to sing and was stuck in my head all week so when it was time to record it I was able to basically just do one take for each voice and I was good (minus the solfege version haha). Since I was so used to singing it with the lyrics, singing it with solfege really messed me up and made it harder! however it did help me hear the different harmonies when all the voices are singing the same words and helped me with the leaps because I associated pitch with solfege. I think the harmonies in this song are so pretty and fun and it really made me motivated to sing! even when I was done recording I didn't want to be and wanted to keep singing it haha. This song helped me with my tuning of chords because most of the time all the voices are singing the same thing but just in harmony.
In the middle of her recording Claire adds another fabulous song she sang with Siyahamba at her summer camp:
I have known the melody to Siyahamba since I was nine because we sang it to go to final campfire every single year at my old camp. I added the other song in the middle because it was what we used to leave final campfire and it brought back memories. Now for my singing, I thought that my first pick-up was a bit flat in the lowest part but it got better after. For the solfege part, my musicality wasn't as present, especially in the lower parts. I found that once I found out the solfege, I was able to sing the words more in tune and I went back and recorded most of the parts again. The trickiest part was just remembering the solfege (especially on the lowest part) and that's why my tempo fluctuates so much during this part.I have known the melody to Siyahamba since I was nine because we sang it to go to final campfire every single year at my old camp. I added the other song in the middle because it was what we used to leave final campfire and it brought back memories. Now for my singing, I thought that my first pick-up was a bit flat in the lowest part but it got better after. For the solfege part, my musicality wasn't as present, especially in the lower parts. I found that once I found out the solfege, I was able to sing the words more in tune and I went back and recorded most of the parts again. The trickiest part was just remembering the solfege (especially on the lowest part) and that's why my tempo fluctuates so much during this part.
I have known the melody to Siyahamba since I was nine because we sang it to go to final campfire every single year at my old camp. I added the other song in the middle because it was what we used to leave final campfire and it brought back memories. Now for my singing, I thought that my first pick-up was a bit flat in the lowest part but it got better after. For the solfege part, my musicality wasn't as present, especially in the lower parts. I found that once I found out the solfege, I was able to sing the words more in tune and I went back and recorded most of the parts again. The trickiest part was just remembering the solfege (especially on the lowest part) and that's why my tempo fluctuates so much during this part.I have known the melody to Siyahamba since I was nine because we sang it to go to final campfire every single year at my old camp. I added the other song in the middle because it was what we used to leave final campfire and it brought back memories. Now for my singing, I thought that my first pick-up was a bit flat in the lowest part but it got better after. For the solfege part, my musicality wasn't as present, especially in the lower parts. I found that once I found out the solfege, I was able to sing the words more in tune and I went back and recorded most of the parts again. The trickiest part was just remembering the solfege (especially on the lowest part) and that's why my tempo fluctuates so much during this part.
SOLFEGE POP COVERS!
Katie (Kaleidoscope Heart), Roisin (Hotline Bling), Laura (Someone Like You), Claire (Knowing Me, Knowing You) Lindsay (Say you Won't let go)
Katie (Kaleidoscope Heart), Roisin (Hotline Bling), Laura (Someone Like You), Claire (Knowing Me, Knowing You) Lindsay (Say you Won't let go)
Clapping Music by Steven Reich - Roisin going at it fabulously!
