notes on music

• 2010-10-17

  moved..

  go to codyloyd.wordpress.com for a continuation of what i started here.

• 2010-10-13

  Puff…

  …the magic dragon lived by the sea and frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honalee.  Little Jackie Paper loved that rascal Puff, and brought him strings and sealing wax and other fancy stuff.

  Together they would travel on a boat with billowed sail. Jackie kept a lookout perched on Puffs gigantic tail.  Noble kings and prices would bow whenever they came.  Pirate ships would lower their flag when Puff roared out his name!

  OH!

  Puff the magic dragon, lived by the sea, and frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honalee…

  IIIIN AAA LAAAAAAAAAND CAAAAAALLED HOOOOOOOOONAAAAAALEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

  You supply the music!

• 2010-10-12

  

  In college I had to take ear training/sight singing classes, and I did ok.  I was always better at the eartraining than the sightsinging.  Because of those classes, since I started teaching, I’ve gotten pretty good at reading sheet music and knowing what it will sound like.  I really have a hard time, however, ‘hearing’ more than one line at a time.

  I’ve decided that this is because I almost always internally vocalize what I’m trying to read.  As I read a line of music i breathe as if I were singing, and I can feel my mouth and throat muscles going on as if I were singing.  This is not so different from how most people read silently, internally saying each word.  Articles and courses on ‘speed reading’ encourage people to try to get past internally vocalizing though, because apparently your brain can comprehend words much faster than your mouth can say them.

  SO…  I need to work on consciously NOT vocalizing as I read music.  It seems logical that my brain would be capable of processing multiple melodic lines at once, even if at a slow tempo. I’ve tried it a couple of times and it has proven difficult for me though, probably because I am so used to doing it the other way.  If I can manage it though, I imagine that I will be a much better reader of music, an incredibly desirable skill for any musician.

• 2010-10-11

  I plan on writing something about this in the future.. but I don’t want to hold out on posting it.  The first fugue from Bach’s ‘The Art of Fugue’.  

  Beautiful, Rapturous, Majestic etc. etc. etc.

  and quite complex to boot!

• →

  music is alive!

  On Saturday I attended with one of my students our District Choir Festival.  This is an auditioned event where selected students come and attend a day of rehearsals and then give a concert that evening.  I posted a photo earlier that i took during the concert. 

  Let me tell you, it is exciting and refreshing to see so many students so excited about making music.  There were more than 500 students in attendance which to me is just wonderful.  These are not students from all over the state, but only a few local schools.

  … and there were boys there too!  It is rather discouraging to see the attitudes of many of the male students i encounter.   These kids have had it presented to them that to do anything creative is ‘gay’.  It can’t possibly be manly to even try to sing the right notes.  On Saturday however I saw hundreds of young male high school students singing beautifully.  There were football quarterbacks and basketball stars sitting in the front row.  I only wish that more kids could have witnessed the event.  

  I occasionally get the feeling that creative arts are withering away, that no one cares about it anymore.. but after Saturday i am reassured that music is alive.

• 2010-10-10

  

  500+ students singing at our District Choir festival… much fun!

  sorry for the lame cellphone photo

• 2010-10-09

  love this guy!

• →

  :)

• 2010-10-08

  alright…

• 2010-10-07

  Milton Babbit + drums = a very good thing

  (please feel free to ignore the dancers)