Topic: Pedagogy - Duration
The use of the piano as the regulator of vocal and instrumental music could disguise problems. Louise Kifer Myers noted poor singers "can sing along a fraction of a second behind the leaders and will seemingly be doing well," but they never actually become any better at singing on key [1] and they never learn to read music.
Secondary school teachers were the ones left to address those weaknesses. Karin Pendley Koser remembered her high school choir director in Decatur, Georgia, was the one who "taught us to sight-read, how to breathe, how to enunciate." [2]
Musical notation for vocal music only became necessary when the Medieval Roman Catholic church wanted all its congregations to use the same tunes for the same purposes. Modern reproduction methods emerged after the invention of the printing press and the development of complex instrumental music. Indeed, the technology used to teach orchestra members their parts evolved with the genre, according to Deborah Saidel. [3]
As mentioned in the post for 27 June 2018, the first pages of all modern band method-books began with illustrations of the staff, appropriate clef, and names of notes. They devoted a few exercises to matching sounds from the instruments to the notes, then introduced the idea of duration with whole notes. They mentioned 4/4 time and had students count out a tune before they played it.
There was nothing intuitive about the symbols used to denote relative duration. The melody was marked by dots that rose or fall on a series of horizontal lines. Even if one couldn’t connect the symbols to specific tones, one could visualize a tune’s arc.
Tonal duration was denoted by variations to those dots. Outlined circles were held longer than ones filled in. Perpendicular lines, with or without flags, and small dots were added to further differentiate time lengths.
As soon as possible, instruction manuals had students play together in unison so they absorbed the idea they all had to have the same sense of how long to hold a note. The tendency when they were starting was to hold them for the pleasure in the sound.
Shorter durations were then introduced: some editors used the half-note, and others the quarter-note. [4] At that point instrumental groups were able to play their first song: "Hot Cross Buns" or "Cardiff by the Sea." [5]
When young musicians moved beyond the two basic durations, short and long, they had to learn to interpret temporal symbols as they played. Isiah Boone used "Kumbaya" to drill Augusta, Georgia, middle school students in sight reading a melody that included eighth notes and whole notes. He began by saying "one two one two ready play." At the beginning of each line he repeated "one two play."
Music teachers were essentially conservative. They often used methods they remembered from childhood that had worked for them. Merry Texter noted Boone’s method of counting was introduced in an 1887 band book published in Missouri. William Sewell, who taught bands while in was a college student, [6] recommended:
"It is well . . . to count a measure in the time it is desired the piece should be played. . . . Always say ‘play’ instead of the last count, thus in 4-4 time count, ‘1, 2, 3, play;’ in 2-4 time, ‘1, play;’ in 3-4 time, ‘1, 2, play,’ etc." [7]
At time the video was made most commercial band books came with CDs. However, in 2012, Brandon McDonald found many band-method book editors and publishers lacked the imagination or experience to integrate digital versions into their texts. [8]
If Amazon was any indicator, individuals returning to their instruments were more savvy, perhaps because they understood the discipline that comes from playing with others. J. Pierson recommended "learning the tunes by reading but as soon as possible, close the book and repeatedly play along with the CD from memory. This will develop feel and rhythm." [9]
Another customer, who had used Essential Elements when he was in middle school, said "This is still a solid book to progress from and the online mp3 accompaniment definitely helps you play along with a band." [10]
Of course, band directors know many of their students don’t practice, and all the digital tools in the world won’t motivate them. Like Boone, they have to work with them during class. Another member of that Decatur, Georgia, high school choir remembered that for auditions
"Mr. Short wouldn’t let me pick anything I already knew. Had to pick something I didn’t know, go in the practice room for 10 minutes, then come out and sing it. It was his way of making sure we had learned to READ MUSIC." [11]
"Kumbaya" wasn’t as simple as it seemed because each line began with two quarter notes, followed by a dotted-quarter, eighth, and half notes. The four girls shown in the video had mastered creating tones: only one person squeaked one time in the last line. Remarkably, they were able to handle the multi-note phrasing of the final "Lord." However, while they started each line together, they had a hard time staying together during the initial short-shorter-long phrase that tested their understanding of duration.
Performers
Vocal Soloist: none
Vocal Group: none
Instrumental Group: four girls playing clarinets
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
Conductor: Isiah Boone
Credits
"old negroe spiritual"
Notes on Lyrics
There were none
Pronunciation: Boone introduced it as kum BY yah
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Tempo: moderate
Basic Structure: the melody was played twice through without breaks or intended variations
Notes on Performance
Occasion: section class
Location: school room with painted brick walls
Microphones: none
Clothing: school clothes
Notes on Movement
The girls were seated on flat-bottomed chairs with one music stand.
Notes on Performers
W. S. Hornsby Middle School had a little over 300 students in grades six to eight in 2017. The student body was 96% Black. [12] The Hornsby neighborhood had been developed on the flood plain of the Savannah river by a local African-American entrepreneur. [13]
Boone graduated with a degree in music from Georgia Southwestern State University in 2009 where his primary instrument was drums. While he was taking classes, he also was teaching percussion in local high schools. He began working at Hornsby in July 2016. [14]
Columbia High School in Decatur, Georgia, was discussed in a post for 12 August 2018.
Availability
YouTube: uploaded by Rudimental Reality on 2 October 2017.
End Notes
1. Louise Kifer Myers. Teaching Children Music in the Elementary School. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1956 edition. 63.
2. Karin Pendley Koser. "Madison ‘Reb’ Short Was My Choral Director." Facebook group. Comment posted 23 February 2013.
3. Deborah J. Saidel. "Musical Notation, Music Performance and Technology: A Long Term Synergistic Relationship." Class paper. Virginia Commonwealth University, 8 December 2014. 8. Its Ram Pages website.
4. Of the four commercial books containing "Kumbaya," two used the half note (Standard, Tradition), and two the quarter note (Accent, Elements, Elements 2000). See post for 27 June 2017 for publishing details.
5. Standard used "Cardiff" for its first melody. The others used "Hot Cross Buns."
6. Obituary for W. J. Sewall. Moberly [Missouri] Monitor-Index, 18 February 1957. 5. Also, TJYahoo. "William Jesse Sewall." Find a Grave, 28 May 2008. Updated by NJBrewer. Sewall was a foreman in a Carthage, Missouri, print shop when his book was published, and later bought the newspaper. He played brass instruments in the city’s Light Guard Band.
7. W. J. Sewall. The Band Man’s Handbook. Carthage, Missouri: Press Book and Job Printing House, 1887. 21. Quoted by Merry Elizabeth Texter. "A Historical and Analytical Investigation of the Beginning Band Method Book." PhD dissertation. The Ohio State University, 1975. 59-60. She noted: "Sewall’s directions for giving the signal to play is not only interesting, it describes a technique that is still common today."
J. R. McEntyre and Harry Haines said the modern method of counting "one and" was introduced in the Haskell Hart Drum Method. (Rhythm Master. Book 1. Eb Alto/Baritone Saxophone. San Antonio: Southern Music Company, 1992. 32.)
Haskett W. Harr wrote: "The use of the voice allows even greater division of notes than the foot. In a measure of 4/4 time count 1-2-3-4, one beat for each quarter note. To divide the quarter note into eighth notes and count them, add the word "and" after each number, thus: 1 and (&) 2 & 3 & 4 &. The quarter notes may be divided into sixteenth notes and easily counted by the added the letter "E" after the 1, and the syllable "Ah" after the AND, thus: 1 e & ah 2 e & uh 3 e & uh 4 e & ah." (Drum Method. Book 1. Chicago: Cole Publishing Company, 1937. 12.)
Lawrence Welk famously simplified this to "and uh 1 and uh 2."
8. Brandon K. McDannald. "A Comparative Summary of Content and Integration of Technological Resources in Six Beginning Band Methods." MA thesis. University of Central Missouri, May 2012.
9. J. Pierson. Comment posted to Amazon website for Essential Elements 2001, Book 1, B Flat Trumpet on 5 August 2017.
10. Amazon Customer. Comment posted to Amazon website for Essential Elements 2001, Book 1, B Flat Trumpet on 21 November 2016.
11. Trina Landrum Miller. Short Facebook group. Undated comment. Short published a set of method books to teach his high school vocal music students to sight read. Madison D. Short. The Right to Sight-Sing Music. Stone Mountain, Georgia: Madison Music Publications, 1978. Four volumes.
12. Georgia. Governor’s Office of Student Achievement. Georgia Schools Grades Reports. "W.S. Hornsby Middle School." State website.
13. Walter Spurgeon Hornsby founded the Pilgrim Health and Life Insurance Company in 1898 [15] and opened his real estate company in 1926. [16] The subdivision was built sometime before he died in 1956. [17]
14. "Isiah Boone." LinkedIn
15. "Walter Spurgeon Hornsby" 124-126 in History of the American Negro and His Institutions. Edited by Arthur Bunyan Caldwell. Atlanta: A. B. Caldwell Publishing Company, 1917. 126.
16. "Hattie B. Hornsby." Who’s Who in Commerce and Industry 14:625:1965.
17. W. S. Hornsby Middle School. "2017-2018 School Profile and Special Programs." School website.
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