Topic: Pedagogy - Vocal Rhythm
Music education was a small world into which student teachers were initiated. While Lowell Mason changed the repertoire of singing schools, he made no great changes in the pedagogical techniques. That came with the establishment of Teacher’s College as the graduate school of education within Columbia University.
The school had begun as an independent progressive project to train teachers for the poor of New York City. When it affiliated with Columbia it 1898, its focus shifted to providing "reliable knowledge about the conditions under which children learn most effectively." It developed its strong bent toward assimilating immigrant children into democratic life when John Dewey joined the faculty in 1904. [1]
The Lincoln School was established in 1917 with money from John D. Rockefeller as a laboratory for Teacher’s College researchers to test their ideas. Many of the students came from families like his. [2]
Satis Coleman began teaching music at Lincoln in 1920, and published her research with children five- to nine-years-old in 1922. She began with the hypothesis that children’s development recapitulated the evolution of humans from savagery to civilization. While that theory largely has been abandoned, it gave her the freedom to introduce children to music from other cultures, both ancient and modern.
She reasoned before children could play a melody by ear on the piano, they had to have a concept of melody. To achieve that they had to be able to sing rhythmically. That led her to begin with movements like marching and dancing as ways to instill regular rhythms. [3]
From that basis she taught singing by imitation. [4] Once her students could carry a tune, she let them experiment with drums and rattles. She counseled parents:
"With only a few suggestions from a parent many children will be able to make a variety of drums of things already at hand. Anything that is cylindrical and hollow can be made into a barrel drum if the edges are smooth enough to be covered by a skin or cloth or stiff paper, for instance a hat box, a round oatmeal box, a coffee can, a pail with the bottom removed, a section of gourd, section of hollow log, butter tub, mailing tube, all kinds of kegs, etc." [5]
When her students switched to melodic instruments Coleman had them play one, then two, then three notes. At that point, they could manage melodies. Her primary example was "Hot Cross Buns." [6] When their range expanded to six notes, they could handle "London Bridge" and "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." [7] These three songs became standards in instrumental education. [8]
Soon after Coleman published Creative Music for Children, Peter Dykema joined Teacher’s College [9] and added Twice 55 Games with Music to the series of community songbooks he had been editing for Clarence Birchard. [10]
While he was chairman of Teacher’s College’s music department, Lilla Belle Pitts took classes and began experimenting with children of Italian immigrants in a New Jersey junior high school. Dykema later hired her as a lecturer. [11] One person she taught was Charles Leonard, [12] who, in turn, mentored Eunice Boardman. [13] Lorrain Watters was one of the co-editors of Pitts’ Our Singing World series [14]
The web of personal relationships between public school music theorists at Teacher’s College should not obscure the fact others were independently making similar discoveries. Carl Orff began working with young children in Münich, Germany, in 1925. [15] Like Coleman, he began with percussive instruments then progressed to melodic ones. [16] After some experimentation, he settled on the soprano recorder as the ideal instrument for children. [17]
His influence spread in the late 1950s. Doreen Hall introduced his ideas in Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music in 1956. [18] In 1961, his former student, Gunild Keetman, began training teachers in Orff’s methods in Austria. [19] The University of Toronto hosted an international conference on Orff, with his participation in 1962. [20] Then in 1968, the American Orff-Schulwerk Association was organized in the United States. [21]
These efforts coincided with innovations in the manufacture of recorders. During World War II, Schott [22] began substituting plastic for wood. Carl Dolmetsch produced an improved one made from Bakelite in 1948 that was heavy and fragile. [23] A Japanese company introduced lighter, nearly indestructible ones made from AB plastics in 1966. [24] Others sold cheaper versions in bulk packages to school boards. [25]
By 1971, the theories of Orff, Coleman, and others at Teacher’s College had merged into a single view of childhood music represented by the version of "Kumbaya" included in a third-grade music book edited by William Sur.
He used the CRS version, but substituted "knocking" for singing." One headnote indicated it was suitable for recorder. I doubt this meant children should sing along with the recorder. Even though its music used middle C, it was pitched an octave higher. [26] I would think it would be difficult for eight-year-olds to sing parallel eighths.
Instead of the recorder, Sur included chords for stringed accompaniment. However, while guitars and ukeleles were then widely played, he explicitly suggested the teacher use an autoharp and strum the chords "three times to a measure." Watter’s role in introducing the autoharp to public schools was mentioned in the post for 12 August 2018.
More interestingly, Sur incorporated Coleman’s oatmeal box drum. He identified the song to students as an "African folk song" and informed teachers "the African people have used many kinds of drums." He further suggested they
"have the children play the drum part on a small drum. Have them experiment with different percussion sounds as, for example, that produced by hitting oatmeal boxes."
The drum part included in the students’ book followed the melody with a dotted-eighth-note followed by a sixteenth for "yah, my." They were to use even eighth notes for the remainder of each measure, which contained one quarter note and two eight notes. Presumably, they were to beat slowly to match the suggested tempo, rather than rapidly as children might do naturally.
The slow tempo was used as an opportunity for helping "the children develop breath control by asking them to take only one breath for each staff" or line of the song.
Performers
Vocal Soloist: none
Vocal Group: school class
Instrumental Accompaniment: autoharp (optional)
Rhythm Accompaniment: drum (optional)
Credits
Student edition
African folk song
Hymns of Universal Praise, Cooperative Recreation Service, Inc.
Teacher’s edition
Some say that it came from southern United States, got to Africa and was rediscovered there. Regardless of its origins, it is a typical African song, expressing in a very simple manner a great faith. Kum ba yah (Koom bah yah) is the African pronunciation of Come by Here.
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: Koom bah yah
Verses: kumbaya, knocking, crying, praying
Vocabulary
Pronoun: someone
Term for Deity: Lord
Special Terms: knocking
Basic Form: four-verse song
Verse Repetition Pattern: none
Ending: none
Unique Features: none
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Time Signature: 3/4
Tempo: slowly with dignity
Rhythm: duplicated melody
Key Signature: no sharps or flats
Autoharp Chords: C F G7
Basic Structure: strophic repetition
Singing Style: unison with one syllable to one note except for final Lord. Sur suggested it be sung "in a slow, dignified manner" with the final verse "sung very softly, almost a whisper."
Notes on Performers
Sur was reticent about his past. In 1943, he told Michigan State he was from New York state and had earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Columbia. [27] He did not indicate the type of degree. Since he was born in 1903, [28] he would have been a student there in the 1920s. If his masters were in music education, he would have had contact with Dykema and possibly Coleman.
After Columbia, Sur earned his PhD from the University of Wisconsin, where he also taught. He served as chairmen of Michigan State College’s music education program until he retired in 1968. He and his wife moved to Sanibel Island, Florida, where they became hibiscus growers. In 1973, he edited What Every Hibiscus Grower Should Know. [29]
Availability
Book: "Kum Ba Yah (Come by Here)." 139 and 139a in This Is Music for Today. 3. Edited by William R. Sur, William R. Fisher, Adeline McCall, and Mary R. Tolbert. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, Inc., 1971 teacher’s edition.
End Notes
1. Wikipedia. "Teachers College, Columbia University."
2. John M. Heffron. "Lincoln School." State University website.
3. Satis N. Coleman. Creative Music for Children. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, April 1922. 85-88.
4. Coleman. 100-103.
5. Coleman. 192. Emphasis added.
6. Coleman. 110.
7. Coleman. 196.
8. "Hot Cross Buns" was used by 15 of the 28 books I examined beginning in 1960. "London Bridge" was in 14 starting in 1923. "Twinkle, Twinkle" or Mozart’s arrangement appeared in 17 beginning in 1923
9. Dykema became chairman of Teacher’s College’s music department in 1924. ("Peter W. Dykema Dies; Past T. C. Music Prof." Columbia Daily Spectator, 15 May 1951.)
10. Peter W. Dykema. Twice 55 Games with Music. The Red Book. Boston: C. C. Birchard and Company, 1924.
11. Brian Shifflet. "A History of Ten Influential Women in Music Education 1885-1997." MMus. Bowling Green State University, 2007. 33. Pitts taught at the Grover Cleveland Junior High in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
12. George N. Heller. Charles Leonhard. Metuchen, New Jersey: The Scarecrow Press, 1995. 39-40. He was discussed in the posts for 8 July 2018 and 19 August 2018.
13. For more on Boardman, see the post for 24 June 2018.
14. Lilla Belle Pitts, Maybelle Glenn, and Lorrain E. Watters. Our Singing World. Boston: Ginn and Company, 1949. Watters was discussed in the post for 12 August 2018.
15. Wikipedia. "Carl Orff." This was the same Orff who composed the Carmina Burana.
16. Wikipedia. "Orff Schulwerk."
17. Maddy Shaw Roberts. "Why do we learn to play the recorder at school?" Classic FM website. 13 April 2018. Before the recorder, the tonette was used in this country, [30] and was included in both editions of Leonhard’s fourth-grade music book that included "Kumbaya." [31] See #12 for more information.
18. Doreen Hall, Keith Bissell, and Emily-Jane Orford. "Orff Approach." The Canadian Encyclopedia. 7 February 2006; last updated 16 December 2013.
19. "Why Did We Learn to Play the Recorder in School?" WQXR [New York] Blog.
20. Hall.
21. Wikipedia. "American Orff-Schulwerk Association."
22. "In Memoriam: Carl Dolmetsch (1911-1997)." Chrestologia, October 1997. Antique Sound Workshop website. I have not been able to find any information on Schott and Company as an instrument manufacturer.
23. Chrestologia.
24. "AULOS Brand." Its website. The recorders were made by Toyama Manufacturing Company.
25. The most aggressive instrument maker today is Lyons. When I looked on Google, I saw it offered packages of 100 recorders for $269.95 or 25 for $69.95.
26. Wikipedia. "Recorder (Musical Instrument)."
27. "Dr. Sur on Faculty." Michigan State College Record, December 1943. 5.
28. William R. Sur in the 1940 United States Census for Madison, Wisconsin.
29. Item. [Fort Myers, Florida] News-Press. 20 October 1973. 17. What Every Hibiscus Grower Should Know was published in 1974 by the American Hibiscus Society of Eagle Lake, Florida.
30. Wikipedia. "Tonette."
31. Leonard, 1966, 60-61, and Leonard, 1970, 54-55. The first tune was "Hot Cross Buns." See #12 for more information.
Thursday, August 30, 2018
Tuesday, August 28, 2018
Fayette Middle School - Kum Ba Yah
Topic: Pedagogy - Instrumental Rhythm
High school marching bands used bass and snare drums. Neither was a melodic instrument. [1] Both had one head that was struck and another that was vibrated by the sound waves from the first that amplified the sound. Bass drums were muffled by placing a hand on the vibrating surface. Snare drums had wire strings across the bottom that give them their characteristic sound. When the snares were disengaged, the drums sounded more like tom-toms. Both types of drums were beaten on the rims by marching bands when they were not playing.
Since school drums were not melodic, young percussionists did not need to learn tones. Instead, they learned standardized beating patterns called rudiments. The band method books showed the beats or rudiment patterns on five-line staves without clef symbols.
The melodies for "Kumbaya" included in five method books had the same intervals and durations, but were in different key and tempos. The bass drum part was similar in all and congruent with the expectation that it set the beat. For the first full measure in the three lines that supported "yah my Lord," Band Folio [2] and Yamaha Advantage mirrored the melody’s dotted-quarter-eighth-note pattern. Essential Elements and Standard of Excellence began with a half note.
Elements and Evans echoed the melody’s use of a half note. Standard and Yamaha finished the measure with two quarter notes. Standard’s tympani part was like Yamaha
Elements, Standard and Yamaha used nearly identical patterns for the snare drums, but Elements and Standard had the wires released. They began with an eighth and two sixteenths, followed by two eight notes. Yamaha continued the eighth notes on the third and fourth beats, while Standard specified two quarter notes. Elements concluded with four sixteenth notes and two quarters.
Band Folio’s arrangement for the first phrase was more challenging. The first three beats were single eighth notes followed by two sixteenth notes. The last beat reversed the pattern with two sixteenths and an eighth note. [3]
Accent on Achievement was more inventive. John O’Reilly used a wooden block instead of a bass drum and had the snares off. The block sounded on the first, third, and fourth beats. The snare/tom-tom began with a dotted-quarter and an eighth that sounded when the block was silent. The third beat was a quarter note and the last a nine-stroke roll. [4] The last had been defined a few pages earlier as using "alternate single strokes, beginning with either hand" to play sixteenth notes rapidly. [5]
Some used other methods to accent the beat. Elements specified a triangle on the first and third beats. Yamaha had the snare drummer emphasize the taps that coincided with the beginning of syllables in the melody.
Several of the band books that included "Kumbaya" also included directions on how to play instruments struck by mallets like marimbas or bells, but none showed the glockenspiel held upright as was done by marching bands. The directions for playing drums were on the left hand page and the melodic ones on the right, so young musicians were exposed to the same information.
The only editors to go beyond those two instrument classes were Standard, which had a separate book for tympani and "auxiliary percussion," [6] and Accent. O’Reilly included triangles, tambourines, suspended cymbals, and crash cymbals. The photographs of mallet instruments included a vibraphone, xylophone, and chimes. Accent suggested these other instruments at strategic points in the book, like the use of the block with "Kumbaya."
Elements only provided instructions on how to play the snare drum, although it used the bass drum from the beginning. In the opening pages it had a list of percussion instruments that it included for specific songs without comment. [7] Keyboard percussion was introduced at the very end.
Few schools had many of the more exotic instruments, and their teachers were probably like David Wright at Hilltop Christian who was trained on flute, not drums. [8] Jason Currin was the exception at Fayette Middle School, located less than twenty-five miles from downtown Atlanta. [9] He’d studied percussion at Berklee College, [10] and had several adults or older students help him when the middle school’s world percussion ensemble played "Kumbaya" in 2007.
Currin’s arrangement began with a cowbell playing a rhythm. He was joined by a man playing a floor drum, then by one playing a goblet drum with paddles. The three adults set a three-layered rhythm for the students who joined them with a djembé, floor drums, and shakers.
After twenty seconds of percussion, the marimbas begin alternating between two notes. The multiple rhythms continued for a full minute. Then, the marimbas played the melody of "Kumbaya."
Shakers took over after the verse was completed. The man with the goblet drum had a solo with a small drum held under his arm and played with both a hammer and a hand that was accompanied by only the drums. They stop while the marimbas played the melody alone. The piece concluded with the drums joining the melodic instruments.
Performers
Vocal Soloist: none
Vocal Group: none
Instrumental Solo: marimba family, [11] small drum held under the arm
Rhythm Accompaniment: floor drums, djembé, shakers, cowbell
Credits
Traditional, arr. Currin
Notes on Lyrics
There were none.
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Tempo: moderate
Basic Structure: alternated rhythm sections with solo or melodic ones
Rhythm Style: African, with layers of repeating, but offset patterns of strong and weak beats that were kept together by one instrument that set the cadence.
Notes on Performance
Occasion: concert, 21 April 2007
Location: stage; Jason Currin’s Ultra Terrific Udu Xylorimba Tom Tom Gong-a-Thon
Microphones: one on the small drum held under the arm
Clothing: casual clothes
Notes on Movement
The drummers were seated in a semicircle in front. The marimbas were arrayed behind with shakers and possibly other percussion instruments behind them. The second and third rows stood. Currin stood behind the drummers and played the cowbell.
Notes on Audience
Some in the audience started to applaud when the music got soft before the final section. They all clapped at the end.
Audience Perceptions
One boy wrote: "I got to that school and we’re know for it!" [12]
Notes on Performers
Fayette County grew cotton before the Civil War. Its schools served both the town of Fayetteville and the county. [13] Fayette Middle School was closed in 2014. It had served about 720 students in grades 6 to 8. [14]
Availability
Band Books
Book: "Kum Ba Yah." 30 in Accent on Achievement. Book 1 Combined Percussion. Edited by John O’Reilly and Mark Williams. Van Nuys, California: Alfred Publishing Company, 1998.
Book: "Kum Bah Yah." 19-B in Essential Elements. Book 1. Percussion. Edited by Tom C. Rhodes, Donald Bierschenk, and Tim Lautzenheiser. Milwaukee: Hal Leonard Corporation, 1991.
Book: "Kum Ba Yah." 35 in Standard of Excellence. Book 1. Drums and Mallet Percussion. Edited by Bruce Pearson. San Diego: Neil A. Kjos Company, 1993.
Book: "Kum Ba Yah." 35 in Standard of Excellence. Book 1. Timpani and Auxiliary Percussion. Edited by Bruce Pearson. San Diego: Neil A. Kjos Company, 1993.
Book: "Kum Ba Yah." 32 in The Yamaha Advantage. Book 1. Combined Percussion. Edited by Sandy Feldstein and Larry Clark. Paoli, Pennsylvania: Sandy Feldstein Music, 2001.
Fayette Middle School World Percussion Ensemble
YouTube: uploaded by Jason Currin on 17 October 2007.
End Notes
1. The lack of tonality in snare drums is a cultural value. When Haskell W. Harr wrote his manual on drumming in 1937, calf skin was used for the head that was "very susceptible to weather conditions." [page 4] A drummer had to adjust his heads accordingly. [page 5] He or she also had to strike the drum near the center, because "the pitch of the drumhead varies. The tone in the center of the head is dead, due to the strain applied by the tension rods pulling from all sides. The farther away from the center you play the higher the pitch of the tone. [. . .] By playing with each stick an equal distance from the center of the head you will have an even tone." [page 12] (Drum Method. Book 1. Chicago: Cole Publishing Company, 1937.)
Since he wrote, synthetic materials have been adapted for heads and method books have been written for younger musicians. Only one of the modern books I reviewed mentioned striking in the center (Elements, 2) and only one mentioned the need to tune. (Yamaha, 2) They assumed the band teacher would correct errors. It also was possible beginners did not, in fact, play on drums, but learned by using sticks on table tops. This was how drumming was taught when I was in elementary school in 1956.
2. For more on Evans’ Band Folio, see the post for band 27 June 2018.
3. This was the pattern reversal mentioned was for "Skip to My Lou" in the post for 26 August 2018.
4. Accent introduced the nine-stroke roll on page 27 as "a double bounce roll based on sticking for sixteenth notes." Harr told young snare drum players: "The NINE STROKE ROLL is played from hand to hand, the same as the five stroke. This roll has five primary strokes, the first four are bounced, the fifth stroke is single." [page 34] When he introduced rolls on page 31, he said "each stick strikes the drumhead and rebounces once." He also noted that the roll did not vary with tempo; when the pace changed, the number of strokes changed to fill the time.
5. Accent. 27.
6. The tympani part was like the bass drum of Yamaha Advantage. The auxiliary percussion included: crash and suspended cymbals, temple and wood blocks, triangle, tambourine, sleigh bells, maracas, and claves. It provided instructions when the instruments first were used.
7. These included: crash and suspended cymbals, wood block, triangle, tambourine, sleigh and cow bells, maracas and claves.
8. For more on Wright and Hilltop Christian, see the post for 1 July 2018.
9. Wikipedia. "Fayetteville, Georgia."
10. "About Jason Currin." Facebook.
11. I couldn’t see details of the instruments on the video.
12. Bob Marlin. YouTube comment, 2011.
13. Wikipedia. "Fayetteville, Georgia."
14. "Fayette Middle School." Public School Review website.
High school marching bands used bass and snare drums. Neither was a melodic instrument. [1] Both had one head that was struck and another that was vibrated by the sound waves from the first that amplified the sound. Bass drums were muffled by placing a hand on the vibrating surface. Snare drums had wire strings across the bottom that give them their characteristic sound. When the snares were disengaged, the drums sounded more like tom-toms. Both types of drums were beaten on the rims by marching bands when they were not playing.
Since school drums were not melodic, young percussionists did not need to learn tones. Instead, they learned standardized beating patterns called rudiments. The band method books showed the beats or rudiment patterns on five-line staves without clef symbols.
The melodies for "Kumbaya" included in five method books had the same intervals and durations, but were in different key and tempos. The bass drum part was similar in all and congruent with the expectation that it set the beat. For the first full measure in the three lines that supported "yah my Lord," Band Folio [2] and Yamaha Advantage mirrored the melody’s dotted-quarter-eighth-note pattern. Essential Elements and Standard of Excellence began with a half note.
Elements and Evans echoed the melody’s use of a half note. Standard and Yamaha finished the measure with two quarter notes. Standard’s tympani part was like Yamaha
Elements, Standard and Yamaha used nearly identical patterns for the snare drums, but Elements and Standard had the wires released. They began with an eighth and two sixteenths, followed by two eight notes. Yamaha continued the eighth notes on the third and fourth beats, while Standard specified two quarter notes. Elements concluded with four sixteenth notes and two quarters.
Band Folio’s arrangement for the first phrase was more challenging. The first three beats were single eighth notes followed by two sixteenth notes. The last beat reversed the pattern with two sixteenths and an eighth note. [3]
Accent on Achievement was more inventive. John O’Reilly used a wooden block instead of a bass drum and had the snares off. The block sounded on the first, third, and fourth beats. The snare/tom-tom began with a dotted-quarter and an eighth that sounded when the block was silent. The third beat was a quarter note and the last a nine-stroke roll. [4] The last had been defined a few pages earlier as using "alternate single strokes, beginning with either hand" to play sixteenth notes rapidly. [5]
Some used other methods to accent the beat. Elements specified a triangle on the first and third beats. Yamaha had the snare drummer emphasize the taps that coincided with the beginning of syllables in the melody.
Several of the band books that included "Kumbaya" also included directions on how to play instruments struck by mallets like marimbas or bells, but none showed the glockenspiel held upright as was done by marching bands. The directions for playing drums were on the left hand page and the melodic ones on the right, so young musicians were exposed to the same information.
The only editors to go beyond those two instrument classes were Standard, which had a separate book for tympani and "auxiliary percussion," [6] and Accent. O’Reilly included triangles, tambourines, suspended cymbals, and crash cymbals. The photographs of mallet instruments included a vibraphone, xylophone, and chimes. Accent suggested these other instruments at strategic points in the book, like the use of the block with "Kumbaya."
Elements only provided instructions on how to play the snare drum, although it used the bass drum from the beginning. In the opening pages it had a list of percussion instruments that it included for specific songs without comment. [7] Keyboard percussion was introduced at the very end.
Few schools had many of the more exotic instruments, and their teachers were probably like David Wright at Hilltop Christian who was trained on flute, not drums. [8] Jason Currin was the exception at Fayette Middle School, located less than twenty-five miles from downtown Atlanta. [9] He’d studied percussion at Berklee College, [10] and had several adults or older students help him when the middle school’s world percussion ensemble played "Kumbaya" in 2007.
Currin’s arrangement began with a cowbell playing a rhythm. He was joined by a man playing a floor drum, then by one playing a goblet drum with paddles. The three adults set a three-layered rhythm for the students who joined them with a djembé, floor drums, and shakers.
After twenty seconds of percussion, the marimbas begin alternating between two notes. The multiple rhythms continued for a full minute. Then, the marimbas played the melody of "Kumbaya."
Shakers took over after the verse was completed. The man with the goblet drum had a solo with a small drum held under his arm and played with both a hammer and a hand that was accompanied by only the drums. They stop while the marimbas played the melody alone. The piece concluded with the drums joining the melodic instruments.
Performers
Vocal Soloist: none
Vocal Group: none
Instrumental Solo: marimba family, [11] small drum held under the arm
Rhythm Accompaniment: floor drums, djembé, shakers, cowbell
Credits
Traditional, arr. Currin
Notes on Lyrics
There were none.
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Tempo: moderate
Basic Structure: alternated rhythm sections with solo or melodic ones
Rhythm Style: African, with layers of repeating, but offset patterns of strong and weak beats that were kept together by one instrument that set the cadence.
Notes on Performance
Occasion: concert, 21 April 2007
Location: stage; Jason Currin’s Ultra Terrific Udu Xylorimba Tom Tom Gong-a-Thon
Microphones: one on the small drum held under the arm
Clothing: casual clothes
Notes on Movement
The drummers were seated in a semicircle in front. The marimbas were arrayed behind with shakers and possibly other percussion instruments behind them. The second and third rows stood. Currin stood behind the drummers and played the cowbell.
Notes on Audience
Some in the audience started to applaud when the music got soft before the final section. They all clapped at the end.
Audience Perceptions
One boy wrote: "I got to that school and we’re know for it!" [12]
Notes on Performers
Fayette County grew cotton before the Civil War. Its schools served both the town of Fayetteville and the county. [13] Fayette Middle School was closed in 2014. It had served about 720 students in grades 6 to 8. [14]
Availability
Band Books
Book: "Kum Ba Yah." 30 in Accent on Achievement. Book 1 Combined Percussion. Edited by John O’Reilly and Mark Williams. Van Nuys, California: Alfred Publishing Company, 1998.
Book: "Kum Bah Yah." 19-B in Essential Elements. Book 1. Percussion. Edited by Tom C. Rhodes, Donald Bierschenk, and Tim Lautzenheiser. Milwaukee: Hal Leonard Corporation, 1991.
Book: "Kum Ba Yah." 35 in Standard of Excellence. Book 1. Drums and Mallet Percussion. Edited by Bruce Pearson. San Diego: Neil A. Kjos Company, 1993.
Book: "Kum Ba Yah." 35 in Standard of Excellence. Book 1. Timpani and Auxiliary Percussion. Edited by Bruce Pearson. San Diego: Neil A. Kjos Company, 1993.
Book: "Kum Ba Yah." 32 in The Yamaha Advantage. Book 1. Combined Percussion. Edited by Sandy Feldstein and Larry Clark. Paoli, Pennsylvania: Sandy Feldstein Music, 2001.
Fayette Middle School World Percussion Ensemble
YouTube: uploaded by Jason Currin on 17 October 2007.
End Notes
1. The lack of tonality in snare drums is a cultural value. When Haskell W. Harr wrote his manual on drumming in 1937, calf skin was used for the head that was "very susceptible to weather conditions." [page 4] A drummer had to adjust his heads accordingly. [page 5] He or she also had to strike the drum near the center, because "the pitch of the drumhead varies. The tone in the center of the head is dead, due to the strain applied by the tension rods pulling from all sides. The farther away from the center you play the higher the pitch of the tone. [. . .] By playing with each stick an equal distance from the center of the head you will have an even tone." [page 12] (Drum Method. Book 1. Chicago: Cole Publishing Company, 1937.)
Since he wrote, synthetic materials have been adapted for heads and method books have been written for younger musicians. Only one of the modern books I reviewed mentioned striking in the center (Elements, 2) and only one mentioned the need to tune. (Yamaha, 2) They assumed the band teacher would correct errors. It also was possible beginners did not, in fact, play on drums, but learned by using sticks on table tops. This was how drumming was taught when I was in elementary school in 1956.
2. For more on Evans’ Band Folio, see the post for band 27 June 2018.
3. This was the pattern reversal mentioned was for "Skip to My Lou" in the post for 26 August 2018.
4. Accent introduced the nine-stroke roll on page 27 as "a double bounce roll based on sticking for sixteenth notes." Harr told young snare drum players: "The NINE STROKE ROLL is played from hand to hand, the same as the five stroke. This roll has five primary strokes, the first four are bounced, the fifth stroke is single." [page 34] When he introduced rolls on page 31, he said "each stick strikes the drumhead and rebounces once." He also noted that the roll did not vary with tempo; when the pace changed, the number of strokes changed to fill the time.
5. Accent. 27.
6. The tympani part was like the bass drum of Yamaha Advantage. The auxiliary percussion included: crash and suspended cymbals, temple and wood blocks, triangle, tambourine, sleigh bells, maracas, and claves. It provided instructions when the instruments first were used.
7. These included: crash and suspended cymbals, wood block, triangle, tambourine, sleigh and cow bells, maracas and claves.
8. For more on Wright and Hilltop Christian, see the post for 1 July 2018.
9. Wikipedia. "Fayetteville, Georgia."
10. "About Jason Currin." Facebook.
11. I couldn’t see details of the instruments on the video.
12. Bob Marlin. YouTube comment, 2011.
13. Wikipedia. "Fayetteville, Georgia."
14. "Fayette Middle School." Public School Review website.
Sunday, August 26, 2018
John O’Reilly - Kum Ba Yah
Topic: Pedagogy - Melodic Instrumental Rhythm
Rhythm need not be restricted to percussion instruments. Melodies may contain durations that are not binary divisions of one another. When a measure begins with a short note like a sixteenth, so a longer note begins a fraction later, it is considered syncopated. There’s no term for the opposite, the equally rhythmic longer note followed by a shorter one. [1]
Melodic rhythm assumes certain mental and physical skills. Merry Texter reviewed band method books published before 1973, and noticed "in most of the books published before 1940, the sixteenth note is the shortest unit of duration. After 1940, the eighth note is more frequently the shortest unit of duration." [2]
She added the elimination of the sixteenth note "affects the rhythmic complexity. Syncopation, triplets, and compound and complex rhythms are more common in books published before 1940." [3]
An eighth note, was as far as many of the modern instruction manuals I could purchase went. Accent on Achievement introduced them in series of four spelled by two quarter notes in "Bile Them Cabbage Down." [4] John O’Reilly and Mark Williams followed this with a theme from Haydn’s Surprise Symphony. Students played it through once with quarter notes, then repeated it with every other quarter note turned into two eighth notes. [5]
Using quarter notes to anchor series of eighth notes can easily become habitual. The Yamaha Band Student, edited by O’Reilly and Sandy Feldstein, broke up the mental pattern with a version of "Skip to My Lou" that changed from repetitions of a quarter and two eighths to repetitions of a quarter and four eighths and then to two eighths and a quarter (Xxx/Xxx to Xxx/xxX to xxX/Xxx). [6] This motif is common in drum books, but not brass or reed ones. Both editors were percussionists and used this exercise in their later books. [7].
The two Essential Elements books used the more familiar eighth notes leading to quarter notes pattern for the Southern dance song. [8] This kind of simplification was partly the result of lowering the beginning age for instrumental training. As mentioned in the post for 1 August 2018, there simply were things a twelve-year-old could do that an average nine-year-old could not. Harry Haines and John McEntyre introduced sixteenth notes in lesson 21 of 22 of their Division of the Beat. They included part of "Dixie" with the challenge: "This line is too difficult for this book. Can you play it?" [9]
Beginning band book editors introduced variations to a beat on every count slowly. The first alteration young musicians were taught was the "tied note," a half or quarter note that was sustained longer. Thus, a half-note tied to a quarter note took the time of three beats. A quarter-note tied to an eighth-note was the more radical one-and-one-half beats.
Without the sixteenth note, the dotted-quarter preceded or followed by an eighth note was as irregular as instrumental instruction books could be. Texter recorded the motif appeared in "every book published between 1907 and 1940" but was absent from "eighteen books published after 1940." [10] The combinations appeared in most of the manuals I looked at. Among the ones containing "Kumbaya," it only was missing from Yamaha Advantage.
Accenting notes by playing them stronger without altering dynamics appeared in many, but not all the method books I reviewed, but the use of staccato began disappearing in the early 1990s. The only "Kumbaya" band books to teach students to introduce irregularity into a string of notes of even duration by playing a "note 1/2 its normal length" were Accent and Band Folio.
Accent, along with all the other method books, converted "Kumbaya" from 3/4 to 4/4 time. As mentioned in the post for 29 July 2018, several slowed the tempo to largo. They kept the dotted-quarter/eighth notes at the beginnings of lines, but eliminated the syncopation of the final "Lord." They all turned the eighth/dotted-quarter-note figure into a quarter note/dotted half.
The elimination of melodic irregularities like syncopation coincided with changes in the repertoire. When folklorists complained many of the British folk songs like "Auld Lang Syne" weren’t really traditional, they were dropped by singing book editors in favor of international folk songs. The Irish reels had used quick patterns of notes, while ones by Robert Burns contained the Scottish snap that used the syncopated eighth/dotted-quarter pattern. [11]
Editors also began dropping songs by Stephen Foster and other tunes from nineteenth-century minstrel shows because they were associated, if not by text, by association, with negative stereotypes. Many of those with faster tempi happened to include African-American rhythms. Yamaha Advantage’s version of Foster’s "Camp Town Races included staccato notes followed by rests. [12] Rhythm Master’s arrangement used eighth notes followed by dotted quarters. [13] Accent used neither in an early exercise. [14]
The elimination of these folk and popular tunes marked the final triumph of the western European view that some instruments existed to play melody or harmony, and only drums played rhythm. Thus, the tunes with rhythmic melodies were not replaced with songs from African-American tradition. [15]
Some books had pieces labeled as "boogies" that used series of even eighth-notes ascending and descending the scale. [16] Band Expressions included works by Duke Ellington and George Gershwin that relied on quarter and eighth notes. "‘S Wonderful" had one dotted-quarter note followed by an eighth. [17] Robert and Susan Smith also included a number of more recent songs, only, by the time the book was published they either were passé or had been popular before fifth graders were born. [18]
Instead of finding other familiar songs with rhythmic melodies, band book editors used Latin songs with series of eighth notes. This was partly because their purpose was training instrumentalists, and there were few unique African-American concert band instruments. [19] Cuba had the conga and shakers and claves. The exercises then resembled Ginsberg’s arrangement of "Kumbaya," melodies with evenly divided notes played by the reeds and brass instruments against Latin percussion.
Accent used a Jamaican tune to illustrate tied notes. The insertion of two quarter notes into a string of half notes created a rhythmic melody that was hard not to change to a dotted-quarter and eighth note to fit the way "Mary Ann" was pronounced. [20]
The next Latin song, "Chiapanecas" used the same broken chord pattern as the Haydn theme from the Surprise Symphony found two pages earlier, but every note in the phrases was an eighth except the first and last, which were quarter notes. [21] "La Bamba," also from México, used series of eight notes introduced by quarter-notes (Xxx). [22]
O’Reilly and Williams were unique among the books containing "Kumbaya" in not completely abandoning the older rhythmic melodies and also were unique in introducing syncopation. The Scots "Ye Banks and Braes of Bonnie Doon" concluded with a measure that began with an eighth followed by a quarter note. It had been preceded by three instances of its opposite, a dotted quarter and an eighter. They arranged it as a duet with the second part starting the syncopated measure with a half note. [23]
"Bonnie Doon" was followed immediately by the Appalachian "Tom Dooley," which began a measure with a staccato eight note and rest before a dotted half note that coincided with the word "Dooley" (x X). [24] The next page had "Las Mañanitas," which reversed the syncopated pattern. That is, measures began with dotted quarter notes followed by three eighths (Xxxx). [25]
Numerically, the rhythmic permutations and syncopations were few in a songbook that regularized "Kumbaya" and "Camp Town Races." They could have been omitted by band directors who thought them too challenging for their students, for nothing required them to teach every exercise. However, the mere fact the tunes took more practice might have helped to instill the skills necessary to playing irregular melodies: quick tonguing and, more important, flexible thinking.
Performers
Accent on Achievement for B-flat trumpet
Vocal Soloist: none
Vocal Group: none
Instrumental Soloist: none
Instrumental Group: B-flat trumpets
Instrumental Accompaniment: none
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
Credits
Accent on Achievement for B-flat trumpet
African Folk Song
Notes on Lyrics
There were none
Notes on Music
Accent on Achievement for B-flat trumpet
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Time Signature: 4/4
Tempo: largo
Key Signature: one flat
Basic Structure: played melody through once
Unique Features: the trumpet part was conventional. The clarinet part, as mentioned in the post for 11 July 2018, was arranged to test player’s abilities to negotiate the break. The combined parts began with parallel octaves and ended in unison.
Audience Perceptions
The book was widely used by band teachers, and thus attracted a number of comments on Amazon. Most were laudatory or kvetches about bad copies shipped by third-party vendors. One person complained it had a "few wrong notes in some songs;" [26] they may in fact have been variations in the melody intended to give young musicians experience playing parts.
One young man testified:
"I’m not sure if all schools use this same book but my school was probably one of the best, probably because of this book and our instructor. This book is very simple to understand and includes pictures in color that make it more interesting. We used this book for learning, and for playing at concerts. In one year our class went from not knowing how to clean and put our instrument together, to playing intermediate songs." [27]
Notes on Performers
Accent on Achievement was produced by John O’Reilly, who was a percussionist, [28] and Mark Williams, who began playing clarinet. [29] Each had taught band, O’Reilly in East Meadow, New York, [30] and Williams in Spokane, Washington. [31]
When Alfred Music asked them to produce a new method book that was in compliance with the National Standards for Arts Education in 1994, [32] Williams "created elaborate flow charts to track what had been taught and then track where it was reinforced throughout the book. This careful review cycle was built into the method and it is one of the concepts that helped make Accent on Achievement so successful." [33]
O’Reilly’s earlier work for Alfred on Yamaha Band Student was discussed in the post for 11 July 2018.
Availability
Book: "Kum Ba Yah." 30 in Accent on Achievement. Book 1. Bb Trumpet. Edited by John O’Reilly and Mark Williams. Van Nuys, California: Alfred Music, 1997. It came with a CD. Books also were available for flute, oboe, various clarinets, various saxophones, bassoon, trumpet, French horn, baritone horn, trombone, tuba, electric bass, combined percussion, and piano.
End Notes
1. Syncopation was discussed in the post for 19 August 2018.
2. Merry Elizabeth Texter. "A Historical and Analytical Investigation of the Beginning Band Method Book." PhD dissertation. The Ohio State University, 1975. 105-106.
3. Texter. 109.
4. Accent. 12. "Cabbage" was a fiddle tune.
5. Accent. 12.
6. Sandy Feldstein and John O’Reilly. Yamaha Band Student. Van Nuys, California: Alfred Publishing Company, 1988. 12.
7. Accent, 13, Yamaha Advantage, 14. Publishing information on other method books containing "Kumbaya" was included in the post for 27 June 2018.
8. Essential Elements, 8, and Essential Elements 2000, 10. Both contained "Kumbaya."
9. Harry H. Haines and J. R. McEntyre. Division of Beat. Book 1. Cornet/Trumpet, Baritone TC. San Antonio: Southern Music Company, 1980. 26.
10. Texter. 109.
11. Willi Apel. "Dotted Notes." 242-243 in Harvard Dictionary of Music. Edited by Willi Apel. Cambridge: Belnap Press, 1969 edition. 243. Robert Burns used strathspeys for "Auld Lang Syne" and the closely related "Coming through the Rye." The strathspey was a dance characterized by the use of Scottish snaps. (Wikipedia. "Strathspey (Dance).")
12. Yamaha Advantage. 21.
13. J. R. McEntyre and Harry Haines. Rhythm Master. Book 1. Cornet/Trumpet, Baritone TC. San Antonio: Southern Music Company, 1992. 25.
14. Accent. 15.
15. The only common African-American song was "When the Saints." Fred Weber used it in 1962 without syncopation. For more Weber’s use, see the post for 27 June 2018.
16. "Bottom Bass Boogie." 18 in Essential Elements and 21 in Essential Elements 2000.
"Band Boogie." 39 in Now Go Home and Practice! Book 1. Bb Trumpet/Cornet. Edited by Jim Probasco, David Grable, and Dan Meeks. Dayton: Heritage Music Press, 1994.
"Boogie Blues." 24 in Tradition of Excellence. Book 1. Bb Trumpet/Cornet. Edited by Bruce Pearson and Ryan Nowlin. San Diego: Neil A. Kjos Music Company, 2010. This one used the scale in thirds and added accidentals.
17. Band Expressions. Book 1. Trumpet. Edited by Robert W. Smith and Susan L. Smith. Van Nuys, California: Alfred Publishing Company, 2003. Gershwin, 36-37; Ellington 40-41.
18. For instance, Todd Rundgren’s "Bang the Drum All Day" was released in 1983 (page 15), while Perry Como recorded "Catch a Falling Star" in 1957 (page 17).
19. Banjos, guitars, and folk instruments like washboards weren’t concert or marching band instruments, except by the Mummers in Philadelphia. All the commercial band books included tambourines. Many of the Cuban instruments, in fact, were Afro-Cuban.
20. Accent. 10. "Mary Ann" was popularized by Harry Belafonte in 1958
21. Accent. 14. They titled the exercise "Mexican Jumping Beans."
22. Accent. 20. Ritchie Valens recorded "La Bamba" in 1958.
23. Accent. 32.
24. Accent. 32. "Tom Dooley" popularized by The Kingston Trio in 1958.
25. Accent. 33. It was a Mexican folk song.
26. Lion. Comment posted 17 December 2012. Amazon website for Accent on Achievement, Book 1, Percussion, 1 June 1997 paper edition.
27. Ruben. Comment posted 16 February 2013. Amazon website for Accent on Achievement, Book 1, Percussion, 1 June 1997 paper edition.
28. "Prolific Composer and Alfred Music Editor John O’Reilly Speaks to SUNY Potsdam Master’s Graduates." readMedia website. 9 May 2014.
29. "A Tribute: Mark Williams." Choral Director website. 11 March 2008.
30. readMedia.
31. Choral Director.
32. Tracy Lee Heavner emphasized the importance of the new standards in "An Analysis of Beginning Band Method Books for Principles of Comprehensive Musicianship." DMe diss. University of Northern Colorado, 1995. Cited by 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. 4.
33. O’Reilly. Quoted by Choral Director.
Rhythm need not be restricted to percussion instruments. Melodies may contain durations that are not binary divisions of one another. When a measure begins with a short note like a sixteenth, so a longer note begins a fraction later, it is considered syncopated. There’s no term for the opposite, the equally rhythmic longer note followed by a shorter one. [1]
Melodic rhythm assumes certain mental and physical skills. Merry Texter reviewed band method books published before 1973, and noticed "in most of the books published before 1940, the sixteenth note is the shortest unit of duration. After 1940, the eighth note is more frequently the shortest unit of duration." [2]
She added the elimination of the sixteenth note "affects the rhythmic complexity. Syncopation, triplets, and compound and complex rhythms are more common in books published before 1940." [3]
An eighth note, was as far as many of the modern instruction manuals I could purchase went. Accent on Achievement introduced them in series of four spelled by two quarter notes in "Bile Them Cabbage Down." [4] John O’Reilly and Mark Williams followed this with a theme from Haydn’s Surprise Symphony. Students played it through once with quarter notes, then repeated it with every other quarter note turned into two eighth notes. [5]
Using quarter notes to anchor series of eighth notes can easily become habitual. The Yamaha Band Student, edited by O’Reilly and Sandy Feldstein, broke up the mental pattern with a version of "Skip to My Lou" that changed from repetitions of a quarter and two eighths to repetitions of a quarter and four eighths and then to two eighths and a quarter (Xxx/Xxx to Xxx/xxX to xxX/Xxx). [6] This motif is common in drum books, but not brass or reed ones. Both editors were percussionists and used this exercise in their later books. [7].
The two Essential Elements books used the more familiar eighth notes leading to quarter notes pattern for the Southern dance song. [8] This kind of simplification was partly the result of lowering the beginning age for instrumental training. As mentioned in the post for 1 August 2018, there simply were things a twelve-year-old could do that an average nine-year-old could not. Harry Haines and John McEntyre introduced sixteenth notes in lesson 21 of 22 of their Division of the Beat. They included part of "Dixie" with the challenge: "This line is too difficult for this book. Can you play it?" [9]
Beginning band book editors introduced variations to a beat on every count slowly. The first alteration young musicians were taught was the "tied note," a half or quarter note that was sustained longer. Thus, a half-note tied to a quarter note took the time of three beats. A quarter-note tied to an eighth-note was the more radical one-and-one-half beats.
Without the sixteenth note, the dotted-quarter preceded or followed by an eighth note was as irregular as instrumental instruction books could be. Texter recorded the motif appeared in "every book published between 1907 and 1940" but was absent from "eighteen books published after 1940." [10] The combinations appeared in most of the manuals I looked at. Among the ones containing "Kumbaya," it only was missing from Yamaha Advantage.
Accenting notes by playing them stronger without altering dynamics appeared in many, but not all the method books I reviewed, but the use of staccato began disappearing in the early 1990s. The only "Kumbaya" band books to teach students to introduce irregularity into a string of notes of even duration by playing a "note 1/2 its normal length" were Accent and Band Folio.
Accent, along with all the other method books, converted "Kumbaya" from 3/4 to 4/4 time. As mentioned in the post for 29 July 2018, several slowed the tempo to largo. They kept the dotted-quarter/eighth notes at the beginnings of lines, but eliminated the syncopation of the final "Lord." They all turned the eighth/dotted-quarter-note figure into a quarter note/dotted half.
The elimination of melodic irregularities like syncopation coincided with changes in the repertoire. When folklorists complained many of the British folk songs like "Auld Lang Syne" weren’t really traditional, they were dropped by singing book editors in favor of international folk songs. The Irish reels had used quick patterns of notes, while ones by Robert Burns contained the Scottish snap that used the syncopated eighth/dotted-quarter pattern. [11]
Editors also began dropping songs by Stephen Foster and other tunes from nineteenth-century minstrel shows because they were associated, if not by text, by association, with negative stereotypes. Many of those with faster tempi happened to include African-American rhythms. Yamaha Advantage’s version of Foster’s "Camp Town Races included staccato notes followed by rests. [12] Rhythm Master’s arrangement used eighth notes followed by dotted quarters. [13] Accent used neither in an early exercise. [14]
The elimination of these folk and popular tunes marked the final triumph of the western European view that some instruments existed to play melody or harmony, and only drums played rhythm. Thus, the tunes with rhythmic melodies were not replaced with songs from African-American tradition. [15]
Some books had pieces labeled as "boogies" that used series of even eighth-notes ascending and descending the scale. [16] Band Expressions included works by Duke Ellington and George Gershwin that relied on quarter and eighth notes. "‘S Wonderful" had one dotted-quarter note followed by an eighth. [17] Robert and Susan Smith also included a number of more recent songs, only, by the time the book was published they either were passé or had been popular before fifth graders were born. [18]
Instead of finding other familiar songs with rhythmic melodies, band book editors used Latin songs with series of eighth notes. This was partly because their purpose was training instrumentalists, and there were few unique African-American concert band instruments. [19] Cuba had the conga and shakers and claves. The exercises then resembled Ginsberg’s arrangement of "Kumbaya," melodies with evenly divided notes played by the reeds and brass instruments against Latin percussion.
Accent used a Jamaican tune to illustrate tied notes. The insertion of two quarter notes into a string of half notes created a rhythmic melody that was hard not to change to a dotted-quarter and eighth note to fit the way "Mary Ann" was pronounced. [20]
The next Latin song, "Chiapanecas" used the same broken chord pattern as the Haydn theme from the Surprise Symphony found two pages earlier, but every note in the phrases was an eighth except the first and last, which were quarter notes. [21] "La Bamba," also from México, used series of eight notes introduced by quarter-notes (Xxx). [22]
O’Reilly and Williams were unique among the books containing "Kumbaya" in not completely abandoning the older rhythmic melodies and also were unique in introducing syncopation. The Scots "Ye Banks and Braes of Bonnie Doon" concluded with a measure that began with an eighth followed by a quarter note. It had been preceded by three instances of its opposite, a dotted quarter and an eighter. They arranged it as a duet with the second part starting the syncopated measure with a half note. [23]
"Bonnie Doon" was followed immediately by the Appalachian "Tom Dooley," which began a measure with a staccato eight note and rest before a dotted half note that coincided with the word "Dooley" (x X). [24] The next page had "Las Mañanitas," which reversed the syncopated pattern. That is, measures began with dotted quarter notes followed by three eighths (Xxxx). [25]
Numerically, the rhythmic permutations and syncopations were few in a songbook that regularized "Kumbaya" and "Camp Town Races." They could have been omitted by band directors who thought them too challenging for their students, for nothing required them to teach every exercise. However, the mere fact the tunes took more practice might have helped to instill the skills necessary to playing irregular melodies: quick tonguing and, more important, flexible thinking.
Performers
Accent on Achievement for B-flat trumpet
Vocal Soloist: none
Vocal Group: none
Instrumental Soloist: none
Instrumental Group: B-flat trumpets
Instrumental Accompaniment: none
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
Credits
Accent on Achievement for B-flat trumpet
African Folk Song
Notes on Lyrics
There were none
Notes on Music
Accent on Achievement for B-flat trumpet
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Time Signature: 4/4
Tempo: largo
Key Signature: one flat
Basic Structure: played melody through once
Unique Features: the trumpet part was conventional. The clarinet part, as mentioned in the post for 11 July 2018, was arranged to test player’s abilities to negotiate the break. The combined parts began with parallel octaves and ended in unison.
Audience Perceptions
The book was widely used by band teachers, and thus attracted a number of comments on Amazon. Most were laudatory or kvetches about bad copies shipped by third-party vendors. One person complained it had a "few wrong notes in some songs;" [26] they may in fact have been variations in the melody intended to give young musicians experience playing parts.
One young man testified:
"I’m not sure if all schools use this same book but my school was probably one of the best, probably because of this book and our instructor. This book is very simple to understand and includes pictures in color that make it more interesting. We used this book for learning, and for playing at concerts. In one year our class went from not knowing how to clean and put our instrument together, to playing intermediate songs." [27]
Notes on Performers
Accent on Achievement was produced by John O’Reilly, who was a percussionist, [28] and Mark Williams, who began playing clarinet. [29] Each had taught band, O’Reilly in East Meadow, New York, [30] and Williams in Spokane, Washington. [31]
When Alfred Music asked them to produce a new method book that was in compliance with the National Standards for Arts Education in 1994, [32] Williams "created elaborate flow charts to track what had been taught and then track where it was reinforced throughout the book. This careful review cycle was built into the method and it is one of the concepts that helped make Accent on Achievement so successful." [33]
O’Reilly’s earlier work for Alfred on Yamaha Band Student was discussed in the post for 11 July 2018.
Availability
Book: "Kum Ba Yah." 30 in Accent on Achievement. Book 1. Bb Trumpet. Edited by John O’Reilly and Mark Williams. Van Nuys, California: Alfred Music, 1997. It came with a CD. Books also were available for flute, oboe, various clarinets, various saxophones, bassoon, trumpet, French horn, baritone horn, trombone, tuba, electric bass, combined percussion, and piano.
End Notes
1. Syncopation was discussed in the post for 19 August 2018.
2. Merry Elizabeth Texter. "A Historical and Analytical Investigation of the Beginning Band Method Book." PhD dissertation. The Ohio State University, 1975. 105-106.
3. Texter. 109.
4. Accent. 12. "Cabbage" was a fiddle tune.
5. Accent. 12.
6. Sandy Feldstein and John O’Reilly. Yamaha Band Student. Van Nuys, California: Alfred Publishing Company, 1988. 12.
7. Accent, 13, Yamaha Advantage, 14. Publishing information on other method books containing "Kumbaya" was included in the post for 27 June 2018.
8. Essential Elements, 8, and Essential Elements 2000, 10. Both contained "Kumbaya."
9. Harry H. Haines and J. R. McEntyre. Division of Beat. Book 1. Cornet/Trumpet, Baritone TC. San Antonio: Southern Music Company, 1980. 26.
10. Texter. 109.
11. Willi Apel. "Dotted Notes." 242-243 in Harvard Dictionary of Music. Edited by Willi Apel. Cambridge: Belnap Press, 1969 edition. 243. Robert Burns used strathspeys for "Auld Lang Syne" and the closely related "Coming through the Rye." The strathspey was a dance characterized by the use of Scottish snaps. (Wikipedia. "Strathspey (Dance).")
12. Yamaha Advantage. 21.
13. J. R. McEntyre and Harry Haines. Rhythm Master. Book 1. Cornet/Trumpet, Baritone TC. San Antonio: Southern Music Company, 1992. 25.
14. Accent. 15.
15. The only common African-American song was "When the Saints." Fred Weber used it in 1962 without syncopation. For more Weber’s use, see the post for 27 June 2018.
16. "Bottom Bass Boogie." 18 in Essential Elements and 21 in Essential Elements 2000.
"Band Boogie." 39 in Now Go Home and Practice! Book 1. Bb Trumpet/Cornet. Edited by Jim Probasco, David Grable, and Dan Meeks. Dayton: Heritage Music Press, 1994.
"Boogie Blues." 24 in Tradition of Excellence. Book 1. Bb Trumpet/Cornet. Edited by Bruce Pearson and Ryan Nowlin. San Diego: Neil A. Kjos Music Company, 2010. This one used the scale in thirds and added accidentals.
17. Band Expressions. Book 1. Trumpet. Edited by Robert W. Smith and Susan L. Smith. Van Nuys, California: Alfred Publishing Company, 2003. Gershwin, 36-37; Ellington 40-41.
18. For instance, Todd Rundgren’s "Bang the Drum All Day" was released in 1983 (page 15), while Perry Como recorded "Catch a Falling Star" in 1957 (page 17).
19. Banjos, guitars, and folk instruments like washboards weren’t concert or marching band instruments, except by the Mummers in Philadelphia. All the commercial band books included tambourines. Many of the Cuban instruments, in fact, were Afro-Cuban.
20. Accent. 10. "Mary Ann" was popularized by Harry Belafonte in 1958
21. Accent. 14. They titled the exercise "Mexican Jumping Beans."
22. Accent. 20. Ritchie Valens recorded "La Bamba" in 1958.
23. Accent. 32.
24. Accent. 32. "Tom Dooley" popularized by The Kingston Trio in 1958.
25. Accent. 33. It was a Mexican folk song.
26. Lion. Comment posted 17 December 2012. Amazon website for Accent on Achievement, Book 1, Percussion, 1 June 1997 paper edition.
27. Ruben. Comment posted 16 February 2013. Amazon website for Accent on Achievement, Book 1, Percussion, 1 June 1997 paper edition.
28. "Prolific Composer and Alfred Music Editor John O’Reilly Speaks to SUNY Potsdam Master’s Graduates." readMedia website. 9 May 2014.
29. "A Tribute: Mark Williams." Choral Director website. 11 March 2008.
30. readMedia.
31. Choral Director.
32. Tracy Lee Heavner emphasized the importance of the new standards in "An Analysis of Beginning Band Method Books for Principles of Comprehensive Musicianship." DMe diss. University of Northern Colorado, 1995. Cited by 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. 4.
33. O’Reilly. Quoted by Choral Director.
Thursday, August 23, 2018
Neil Ginsberg - Kumbaya (continued)
Topic: Pedagogy - Vocal Rhythm
Continued from previous post dated 21 August 2018
Notes on Movement
Bonita High School
The choir was standing of three risers and executed choreographed moves. The drummer was seated on the floor in front, and the boys with the shaker and triangle were in the choir. The grand piano was on the floor to their right. The director stood by the piano and used both arms symmetrically to conduct. He and pianists were the only ones with music.
Illiana Christian High School
The choir was standing on three risers with the director standing in front. The upright piano was to their left and the three instrumentalists were at the right. They and the pianist were the only ones who had a music; the women with the triangle and shaker stood, while the male drummer was seated. The choir faced the audience with their arms at their sides. The director used both arms symmetrically to direct.
Martin Luther High School
The choir was in three rows on two risers with the director conducting from the grand piano to their front right. A boy stood next to him to turn pages. The three instrumentalists were at stage left with a music stand. The drummer was seated and the others stood. No one else had music. The choir faced the audience with their arms at their sides. A few girls at the end of the first row moved between diagonals.
Mission Viejo High School
The choir stood facing the audience on three risers with the director in front. The grand piano was to their left and drummer was seated near the piano. The director used both arms symmetrically to direct. She and the pianist were the only ones with music.
Notes on Audience
The video of Martin Luther’s concert cut off with the last note. The audiences for the other three were heard applauding.
Audience Perceptions
The only video to attract comments was posted to YouTube by Illiana. They included the usual notes of appreciation in English, French, Portuguese and Polish, as well as religious discussions. Rhode Lopez remembered "singing this in 6th grade." [1]
Some whites complained about the whiteness of the group singing with percussion. One wrote:
"Ok, first of all that was beautiful.
Second. I can’t keep a straight face when any group of people that White bread, sings an African song. (The darkest kid in the group looked maybe Sicilian or Hispanic)
Third, Acapella means.....Oh, never mind......" [2]
His YouTube logo was the fife and drummers from Archibald Willard’s painting, The Spirit of ‘76.
A gamer suggested "Need some Kumbaya Dubstep...
add some bass ‘woo woo woo woo, wowwowowow, wowow wowowow, woo woo woo’." [3]
to which a white video-game composer responded "qoaa shut up u wierdo , dubstep is wack, it would spoil it lol." [4] He also observed "there is no black guys there." [5]
For the most part, they seemed to be saying Ginsberg’s attempt to combine legato singing with Cuban percussion diluted the rhythm. However, since several of the criticism were made by people who promoted the idea of a coming war, it’s hard to know if they were serious, disdained whites adopting African-American rhythms, or were being ironic. One other person who used a Russian moniker wrote: "If you turn up the Tempo to 1.5 it sounds with a Better Rhythm!!!!!" [6] He also posted videos about trucks.
Notes on Performers
Ginsberg earned his music degrees from the Hartt School at Hartford University and Brooklyn College. [7] He taught at Brooklyn Friends and Essex Academy High School in New York, and worked on Broadway and Hollywood projects. [8] He said another composition, the theme to "From Israelite to Jew," was meant "to demonstrate my commitment to 21st century media and my religion." [9]
La Verne, California, was orange-grove country until the end of World War II. [10] Its first high school opened in 1903. By 1959, it was overcrowded and Bonita High School was built. [11] Today it has just under 2,000 students in four grades [12]
The school had five "auditioned choral ensembles" directed by Todd Helm. [13] The "Concert Choir is a select vocal ensemble of approximately 70 singers in grades 11-12." [14] Helm’s music degrees were from UCLA and California State Fullerton. He also directed the music program at St. Juliana Catholic Church in Fullerton. [15]
Mission Viejo was south of La Verne in Orange County. It was located on dry lands used for grazing before Donald Bren turned it into a planned community. The high school was built in 1966, [16] and served just over 2,400 students. [17]
Sarah Norris oversaw four vocal groups. The entry level ones were the mixed-voice Concert Choir and the all-female Diablo Chorus. The more advanced ensembles required auditions. [18] She earned her music degree from Chapman University and the directed the choirs at San Clemente Presbyterian Church. [19]
Martin Luther High School was built by Lutherans in 1961 to provide religious education for families living on the south side of Milwaukee. [20] Many of the area’s original religious leaders were born in Germany. [21] One group within the Wisconsin Synod rejected the imposition of Reformed Practices and joined the Missouri Synod in 1872. The latter adhered to the confession of the older Lutheran tradition. It originally required all its hymns "be in harmony with the Bible and Book of Concord" [22] and accompanied by an organ or piano. Recently, some congregations have accepted more contemporary religious music, including guitars and praise bands. [23]
Great Schools reported the school located in Greendale, Wisconsin, had just over 300 students in four grades. [24] The high school offered a "Jazz Band, Brass Choir, Flute Choir, Clarinet Choir, Woodwind Ensemble, Sax Choir and Pep Band. Martin Luther also has a choir program comprising four choirs, including a men’s and women’s choir and two mixed choirs." [25] The choral director, Tim Franz, earned his music degrees from Concordia University, Nebraska and Concordia University-Wisconsin. [26]
Lansing, Illinois, the home of Illiana Christian High School, was founded by German and Dutch farmers in the 1840s. [27] Dutch Calvinists maintained a separatist tradition when they seceded from the Reformed Church in 1857. One reason they left was they still sang psalms rather than hymns. [28]
Most Reformed children only attended religious primary schools until World War II; those who wanted a secondary education went to a religious school in Chicago. A number of Dutch Reformed communities located south of Calumet in Illinois and Indiana joined together in 1945 to establish a local secondary school [29] controlled by the parents, not the church. [30] One teacher explained:
"Reformed Christian education is about so much more than chapel and Bible class. It’s about how the Lordship of Christ affects every area of life, every subject, every action, every recreation. So Illiana Christian High School emphasizes that science and history, business and band, lunch time and basketball practice all have to do with our faith in God. There’s no area that’s not sacred; there’s no part of school life where we can hang up a ‘Keep Out’ sign for God." [31]
Illiana enrolled 520 students in four grades. [32] The choir director was Erin Lanenga, who graduated from Calvin College in Music Education and Spanish. At the time she was at Illiana, she was working on a masters from Northern Illinois University, and left for Timothy Christian School in Elmhurst, Illinois, in 2011. [33]
Availability
Neil Ginsberg
Sheet Music: Neil Ginsberg. "Kumbaya." Santa Barbara: Santa Barbara Publishing Company, 2001.
Bonita High School Choir, La Verne, California
YouTube: "Kumbaya." Uploaded by mychannel on 14 October 2009.
Illiana A Cappella Choir, Lansing, Illinois
YouTube: "Kumbaya." Uploaded by abajkl on 31 October 2008.
Martin Luther High School Concert Choir, Greendale, Wisconsin
YouTube: "Kumbaya." Uploaded by Paul Kiyono on 29 May 2013.
Mission Viejo High School Concert Choir, Mission Viejo, California
YouTube: "Kumbaya." Uploaded by Mission Viejo on 22 June 2014.
End Notes
1. Rhode Lopez. YouTube comment on Illiana version, 2012. "awwww!!!!! i remember singing this in 6th grade :')"
2. Tony Dadon. YouTube comment on Illiana version, 2013. SysExDump also complained about an a capella choir using instruments. He wrote: "Somebody needs to look up a capella...." (YouTube comment on Illiana version, 2012.)
3. qoaa. YouTube comment on Illiana version, 2012. Dub step was a fast form of syncopated electronic dance music that emerged in London in the late 1990s. (Wikipedia. "Dubstep.")
4. Music Composer - Daniel J.K. Hill. YouTube comment on Illiana version, 2012.
5. Music Composer - Daniel J.K. Hill. Different YouTube comment on Illiana version, 2012.
6. Ivansky1. YouTube comment on Illiana version, 2012.
7. "GIA Publications." Its website.
8. "Neil Ginsberg." Santa Barbara Music Publishing website.
9. "Musical Director/Pianist." Neil Ginsberg’s website.
10. Wikipedia. "La Verne, California."
11. Wikipedia. "Bonita High School."
12. "Bonita High School." Great Schools website.
13. "Mr. Todd Helm." Bonita High School website.
14. Choir class description. Bonita High School website.
15. Helm.
16. Wikipedia. "Mission Viejo High School."
17. "Mission Viejo High School." Great Schools website.
18. "Mission Viejo HS Choir Program." School website.
19. "Mrs. Sarah Norris." Mission Viejo High School website.
20. "History of Martin Luther." School website.
21. Wikipedia. "Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod."
22. The Book of Concord "published in German on June 25, 1580 in Dresden, the fiftieth anniversary of the presentation of the Augsburg Confession." It was compiled by Jakob Andreae and Martin Chemnitz to resolve disputes that arose after Luther died, and is taken as the "doctrinal standard of the Lutheran Church." (Wikipedia. "Book of Concord.")
23. Wikipedia. "Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod."
24. "Martin Luther High School." Great Schools website.
25. Wikipedia. "Martin Luther High School."
26. "Tim Franz." LinkedIn.
27. Wikipedia. "Lansing, Illinois."
28. Wikipedia. "Christian Reformed Church in North America."
29. "Our History." Illiana website.
30. "Governance." Illiana website.
31. Mary Lagerwey. "What Does It Mean to be Reformed?" Illiana website. January 2006.
32. "Illiana Christian High School." Great Schools website.
33. "Erin Lanenga." LinkedIn. Timothy Christian was a Dutch Reformed school.
Continued from previous post dated 21 August 2018
Notes on Movement
Bonita High School
The choir was standing of three risers and executed choreographed moves. The drummer was seated on the floor in front, and the boys with the shaker and triangle were in the choir. The grand piano was on the floor to their right. The director stood by the piano and used both arms symmetrically to conduct. He and pianists were the only ones with music.
Illiana Christian High School
The choir was standing on three risers with the director standing in front. The upright piano was to their left and the three instrumentalists were at the right. They and the pianist were the only ones who had a music; the women with the triangle and shaker stood, while the male drummer was seated. The choir faced the audience with their arms at their sides. The director used both arms symmetrically to direct.
Martin Luther High School
The choir was in three rows on two risers with the director conducting from the grand piano to their front right. A boy stood next to him to turn pages. The three instrumentalists were at stage left with a music stand. The drummer was seated and the others stood. No one else had music. The choir faced the audience with their arms at their sides. A few girls at the end of the first row moved between diagonals.
Mission Viejo High School
The choir stood facing the audience on three risers with the director in front. The grand piano was to their left and drummer was seated near the piano. The director used both arms symmetrically to direct. She and the pianist were the only ones with music.
Notes on Audience
The video of Martin Luther’s concert cut off with the last note. The audiences for the other three were heard applauding.
Audience Perceptions
The only video to attract comments was posted to YouTube by Illiana. They included the usual notes of appreciation in English, French, Portuguese and Polish, as well as religious discussions. Rhode Lopez remembered "singing this in 6th grade." [1]
Some whites complained about the whiteness of the group singing with percussion. One wrote:
"Ok, first of all that was beautiful.
Second. I can’t keep a straight face when any group of people that White bread, sings an African song. (The darkest kid in the group looked maybe Sicilian or Hispanic)
Third, Acapella means.....Oh, never mind......" [2]
His YouTube logo was the fife and drummers from Archibald Willard’s painting, The Spirit of ‘76.
A gamer suggested "Need some Kumbaya Dubstep...
add some bass ‘woo woo woo woo, wowwowowow, wowow wowowow, woo woo woo’." [3]
to which a white video-game composer responded "qoaa shut up u wierdo , dubstep is wack, it would spoil it lol." [4] He also observed "there is no black guys there." [5]
For the most part, they seemed to be saying Ginsberg’s attempt to combine legato singing with Cuban percussion diluted the rhythm. However, since several of the criticism were made by people who promoted the idea of a coming war, it’s hard to know if they were serious, disdained whites adopting African-American rhythms, or were being ironic. One other person who used a Russian moniker wrote: "If you turn up the Tempo to 1.5 it sounds with a Better Rhythm!!!!!" [6] He also posted videos about trucks.
Notes on Performers
Ginsberg earned his music degrees from the Hartt School at Hartford University and Brooklyn College. [7] He taught at Brooklyn Friends and Essex Academy High School in New York, and worked on Broadway and Hollywood projects. [8] He said another composition, the theme to "From Israelite to Jew," was meant "to demonstrate my commitment to 21st century media and my religion." [9]
La Verne, California, was orange-grove country until the end of World War II. [10] Its first high school opened in 1903. By 1959, it was overcrowded and Bonita High School was built. [11] Today it has just under 2,000 students in four grades [12]
The school had five "auditioned choral ensembles" directed by Todd Helm. [13] The "Concert Choir is a select vocal ensemble of approximately 70 singers in grades 11-12." [14] Helm’s music degrees were from UCLA and California State Fullerton. He also directed the music program at St. Juliana Catholic Church in Fullerton. [15]
Mission Viejo was south of La Verne in Orange County. It was located on dry lands used for grazing before Donald Bren turned it into a planned community. The high school was built in 1966, [16] and served just over 2,400 students. [17]
Sarah Norris oversaw four vocal groups. The entry level ones were the mixed-voice Concert Choir and the all-female Diablo Chorus. The more advanced ensembles required auditions. [18] She earned her music degree from Chapman University and the directed the choirs at San Clemente Presbyterian Church. [19]
Martin Luther High School was built by Lutherans in 1961 to provide religious education for families living on the south side of Milwaukee. [20] Many of the area’s original religious leaders were born in Germany. [21] One group within the Wisconsin Synod rejected the imposition of Reformed Practices and joined the Missouri Synod in 1872. The latter adhered to the confession of the older Lutheran tradition. It originally required all its hymns "be in harmony with the Bible and Book of Concord" [22] and accompanied by an organ or piano. Recently, some congregations have accepted more contemporary religious music, including guitars and praise bands. [23]
Great Schools reported the school located in Greendale, Wisconsin, had just over 300 students in four grades. [24] The high school offered a "Jazz Band, Brass Choir, Flute Choir, Clarinet Choir, Woodwind Ensemble, Sax Choir and Pep Band. Martin Luther also has a choir program comprising four choirs, including a men’s and women’s choir and two mixed choirs." [25] The choral director, Tim Franz, earned his music degrees from Concordia University, Nebraska and Concordia University-Wisconsin. [26]
Lansing, Illinois, the home of Illiana Christian High School, was founded by German and Dutch farmers in the 1840s. [27] Dutch Calvinists maintained a separatist tradition when they seceded from the Reformed Church in 1857. One reason they left was they still sang psalms rather than hymns. [28]
Most Reformed children only attended religious primary schools until World War II; those who wanted a secondary education went to a religious school in Chicago. A number of Dutch Reformed communities located south of Calumet in Illinois and Indiana joined together in 1945 to establish a local secondary school [29] controlled by the parents, not the church. [30] One teacher explained:
"Reformed Christian education is about so much more than chapel and Bible class. It’s about how the Lordship of Christ affects every area of life, every subject, every action, every recreation. So Illiana Christian High School emphasizes that science and history, business and band, lunch time and basketball practice all have to do with our faith in God. There’s no area that’s not sacred; there’s no part of school life where we can hang up a ‘Keep Out’ sign for God." [31]
Illiana enrolled 520 students in four grades. [32] The choir director was Erin Lanenga, who graduated from Calvin College in Music Education and Spanish. At the time she was at Illiana, she was working on a masters from Northern Illinois University, and left for Timothy Christian School in Elmhurst, Illinois, in 2011. [33]
Availability
Neil Ginsberg
Sheet Music: Neil Ginsberg. "Kumbaya." Santa Barbara: Santa Barbara Publishing Company, 2001.
Bonita High School Choir, La Verne, California
YouTube: "Kumbaya." Uploaded by mychannel on 14 October 2009.
Illiana A Cappella Choir, Lansing, Illinois
YouTube: "Kumbaya." Uploaded by abajkl on 31 October 2008.
Martin Luther High School Concert Choir, Greendale, Wisconsin
YouTube: "Kumbaya." Uploaded by Paul Kiyono on 29 May 2013.
Mission Viejo High School Concert Choir, Mission Viejo, California
YouTube: "Kumbaya." Uploaded by Mission Viejo on 22 June 2014.
End Notes
1. Rhode Lopez. YouTube comment on Illiana version, 2012. "awwww!!!!! i remember singing this in 6th grade :')"
2. Tony Dadon. YouTube comment on Illiana version, 2013. SysExDump also complained about an a capella choir using instruments. He wrote: "Somebody needs to look up a capella...." (YouTube comment on Illiana version, 2012.)
3. qoaa. YouTube comment on Illiana version, 2012. Dub step was a fast form of syncopated electronic dance music that emerged in London in the late 1990s. (Wikipedia. "Dubstep.")
4. Music Composer - Daniel J.K. Hill. YouTube comment on Illiana version, 2012.
5. Music Composer - Daniel J.K. Hill. Different YouTube comment on Illiana version, 2012.
6. Ivansky1. YouTube comment on Illiana version, 2012.
7. "GIA Publications." Its website.
8. "Neil Ginsberg." Santa Barbara Music Publishing website.
9. "Musical Director/Pianist." Neil Ginsberg’s website.
10. Wikipedia. "La Verne, California."
11. Wikipedia. "Bonita High School."
12. "Bonita High School." Great Schools website.
13. "Mr. Todd Helm." Bonita High School website.
14. Choir class description. Bonita High School website.
15. Helm.
16. Wikipedia. "Mission Viejo High School."
17. "Mission Viejo High School." Great Schools website.
18. "Mission Viejo HS Choir Program." School website.
19. "Mrs. Sarah Norris." Mission Viejo High School website.
20. "History of Martin Luther." School website.
21. Wikipedia. "Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod."
22. The Book of Concord "published in German on June 25, 1580 in Dresden, the fiftieth anniversary of the presentation of the Augsburg Confession." It was compiled by Jakob Andreae and Martin Chemnitz to resolve disputes that arose after Luther died, and is taken as the "doctrinal standard of the Lutheran Church." (Wikipedia. "Book of Concord.")
23. Wikipedia. "Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod."
24. "Martin Luther High School." Great Schools website.
25. Wikipedia. "Martin Luther High School."
26. "Tim Franz." LinkedIn.
27. Wikipedia. "Lansing, Illinois."
28. Wikipedia. "Christian Reformed Church in North America."
29. "Our History." Illiana website.
30. "Governance." Illiana website.
31. Mary Lagerwey. "What Does It Mean to be Reformed?" Illiana website. January 2006.
32. "Illiana Christian High School." Great Schools website.
33. "Erin Lanenga." LinkedIn. Timothy Christian was a Dutch Reformed school.
Tuesday, August 21, 2018
Neil Ginsberg - Kumbaya
Topic: Pedagogy - Vocal Rhythm
The dichotomy persists between schools that insist children must read music to sing and the musical aesthetic children absorb by listening to radios and watching videos. When choral composers wanted to do something modern, the best they could imagine was adding percussion instruments to traditional vocal arrangements.
Thus, Neil Ginsberg’s version of "Kumbaya" began with a piano arpeggio to sound the tones needed by the singers. He added a conga when the lower male voices began singing "kumbaya, k-k-kumbaya." The score showed the conga pattern for one measure, then said "conga repeat pattern ad lib." By the sixth measure, three parts were singing, and the score was marked legato, meaning "in a smooth flowing manner, without breaks between notes." [1]
When the group began the "someone’s crying" verse, the score showed the conga and shaker parts for one measure with the comment "continues pattern." The percussion didn’t appear again on the conductor’s version until "someone’s singing when the triangle was added, and again the instrumentation was shown for one measure. Rhythm details reappeared on the last page for the final two measures when the group was repeating "kumbaya" twice.
The sporadic appearance of the instruments with the instructions to continue left some room for interpretation by a conductor. Most of the high school groups who uploaded performances of Ginsberg’s arrangement followed the score and had the drum begin on the second measure, but Martin Luther High School in Greendale, Wisconsin, began with the drum.
Most stopped the drum in places, then began it again when they reached the last line of a verse. Bonita High School in La Verne, California, made this obvious because the singers moved to diagonals during the verse, then stood still. They resumed moving with the drum.
Ginsberg created his arrangement in 2001 when African instruments were scarcer than they are today, and so specified drums associated with Latin music. Illiana Christian High School in Lansing, Illinois, and California’s Mission Viejo High School used djembés instead. [2]
All four high schools had pianos, but differed in their choices of shakers. Martin Luther used a metal instrument shaped like a maraca, [3] while Illiana used a Native American gourd rattle. A young man in the back row of the Bonita choir shook a metal circle like a small tambourine. Mission Viejo used only the drum.
Only one high school, Martin Luther, recognized "k-k-kumbaya" was a rhythm vocal part. The others simply sang "kumbaya," perhaps thinking the repeated "k" was offensive to people who stuttered. The rhythm part ended when they began the "someone’s singing verse," and the lower voices took over the melody while the upper parts sang a descending descant during the held notes. The final verse, "someone’s praying" used four part-chords, then expanded to more parts in the final repetitions of "oh Lord, kumbaya."
The percussion parts fit within the confines of a 4/4 measure, but with some complexity in accents. The drum alternated an eighth note and two sixteenths with two sixteenths and an eighth. The accents were on the first eighth note and the first sixteenth of the last set, making the strong beats "four one." The triangle underscored the pattern by playing the last two sixteenth notes of a measure and the first eighth of the next bar. The shaker played even eighth notes.
The drummers who could be seen used their right hands for the accents and their left hands for the other notes. Because of the acoustics in the concert halls and capabilities of the individual video cameras, only the strong drum beats and the shakers could be heard on YouTube.
Performers
Neil Ginsberg
Vocal Soloist: none
Vocal Group: SATB
Instrumental Accompaniment: piano
Rhythm Accompaniment: conga, shaker, triangle
Credits
Neil Ginsberg
arr. Neil Ginsberg
© copyright 2001 by Santa Barbara Music Publishing
Bonita High School
No credits
Illiana Christian High School
arranged by Neil Ginsberg
Martin Luther
No credits
Mission Viejo High School
by Neil Ginsberg
Notes on Lyrics
Neil Ginsberg
Language: English
Pronunciation: k-k-kumbaya in places
Verses: kumbaya, crying, singing, praying
Vocabulary
Pronoun: someone
Term for Deity: Lord
Special Terms: none
Basic Form: four-verse song
Verse Repetition Pattern: none
Ending: Oh Lord, oh Lord, kumbaya, kumbaya
Unique Features: none
Notes on Music
Neil Ginsberg
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Time Signature: 4/4
Tempo: Andante, quarter note = 92 beats per minute
Key Signature: four sharps
Basic Structure: theme and three variations
Singing Style: clear, pure tones with one syllable to one note, except for one "singing" in the descant
Notes on Performance
Bonita High School
Occasion: concert, 2009
Location: auditorium stage
Microphones: floor mikes
Clothing: white shirts and black skirts, shorts, or slacks. The male director was wearing a black shirt and slacks.
Illiana Christian High School
Occasion: fall concert, 28 October 2008
Location: acoustic shell in the gymnasium
Microphones: none
Clothing: mint green robes with long white stoles. The female director was wearing black slacks and white shirt with a black overtop.
Martin Luther High School
Occasion: Sacred Concert, 2013
Location: Hales Corners Lutheran Church. Hales Corners was the village directly west of Greendale. [4]
Microphones: floor mikes
Clothing: sage green robes with white V-stoles and white borders along the robes’ front openings
Mission Viejo High School
Occasion: closing number of Spring Festival concert, 2014
Location: acoustic shell on stage
Microphones: two floor mikes
Clothing: cerise robes with white V-stoles. The female director was wearing a black jacket and slacks.
To be continued in next post
End Notes
1. "Legato." Oxford Dictionaries website.
2. Martin Luther used a conga-style drum. The boy playing the drum for Bonita was seated below the stage and his instrument didn’t appear in the video. Djembés were discussed in the post for 28 August 2017.
3. I couldn’t see enough in the video to know if the shaker was a calabasa.
4. Wikipedia. "Hales Corners, Wisconsin."
The dichotomy persists between schools that insist children must read music to sing and the musical aesthetic children absorb by listening to radios and watching videos. When choral composers wanted to do something modern, the best they could imagine was adding percussion instruments to traditional vocal arrangements.
Thus, Neil Ginsberg’s version of "Kumbaya" began with a piano arpeggio to sound the tones needed by the singers. He added a conga when the lower male voices began singing "kumbaya, k-k-kumbaya." The score showed the conga pattern for one measure, then said "conga repeat pattern ad lib." By the sixth measure, three parts were singing, and the score was marked legato, meaning "in a smooth flowing manner, without breaks between notes." [1]
When the group began the "someone’s crying" verse, the score showed the conga and shaker parts for one measure with the comment "continues pattern." The percussion didn’t appear again on the conductor’s version until "someone’s singing when the triangle was added, and again the instrumentation was shown for one measure. Rhythm details reappeared on the last page for the final two measures when the group was repeating "kumbaya" twice.
The sporadic appearance of the instruments with the instructions to continue left some room for interpretation by a conductor. Most of the high school groups who uploaded performances of Ginsberg’s arrangement followed the score and had the drum begin on the second measure, but Martin Luther High School in Greendale, Wisconsin, began with the drum.
Most stopped the drum in places, then began it again when they reached the last line of a verse. Bonita High School in La Verne, California, made this obvious because the singers moved to diagonals during the verse, then stood still. They resumed moving with the drum.
Ginsberg created his arrangement in 2001 when African instruments were scarcer than they are today, and so specified drums associated with Latin music. Illiana Christian High School in Lansing, Illinois, and California’s Mission Viejo High School used djembés instead. [2]
All four high schools had pianos, but differed in their choices of shakers. Martin Luther used a metal instrument shaped like a maraca, [3] while Illiana used a Native American gourd rattle. A young man in the back row of the Bonita choir shook a metal circle like a small tambourine. Mission Viejo used only the drum.
Only one high school, Martin Luther, recognized "k-k-kumbaya" was a rhythm vocal part. The others simply sang "kumbaya," perhaps thinking the repeated "k" was offensive to people who stuttered. The rhythm part ended when they began the "someone’s singing verse," and the lower voices took over the melody while the upper parts sang a descending descant during the held notes. The final verse, "someone’s praying" used four part-chords, then expanded to more parts in the final repetitions of "oh Lord, kumbaya."
The percussion parts fit within the confines of a 4/4 measure, but with some complexity in accents. The drum alternated an eighth note and two sixteenths with two sixteenths and an eighth. The accents were on the first eighth note and the first sixteenth of the last set, making the strong beats "four one." The triangle underscored the pattern by playing the last two sixteenth notes of a measure and the first eighth of the next bar. The shaker played even eighth notes.
The drummers who could be seen used their right hands for the accents and their left hands for the other notes. Because of the acoustics in the concert halls and capabilities of the individual video cameras, only the strong drum beats and the shakers could be heard on YouTube.
Performers
Neil Ginsberg
Vocal Soloist: none
Vocal Group: SATB
Instrumental Accompaniment: piano
Rhythm Accompaniment: conga, shaker, triangle
Credits
Neil Ginsberg
arr. Neil Ginsberg
© copyright 2001 by Santa Barbara Music Publishing
Bonita High School
No credits
Illiana Christian High School
arranged by Neil Ginsberg
Martin Luther
No credits
Mission Viejo High School
by Neil Ginsberg
Notes on Lyrics
Neil Ginsberg
Language: English
Pronunciation: k-k-kumbaya in places
Verses: kumbaya, crying, singing, praying
Vocabulary
Pronoun: someone
Term for Deity: Lord
Special Terms: none
Basic Form: four-verse song
Verse Repetition Pattern: none
Ending: Oh Lord, oh Lord, kumbaya, kumbaya
Unique Features: none
Notes on Music
Neil Ginsberg
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Time Signature: 4/4
Tempo: Andante, quarter note = 92 beats per minute
Key Signature: four sharps
Basic Structure: theme and three variations
Singing Style: clear, pure tones with one syllable to one note, except for one "singing" in the descant
Notes on Performance
Bonita High School
Occasion: concert, 2009
Location: auditorium stage
Microphones: floor mikes
Clothing: white shirts and black skirts, shorts, or slacks. The male director was wearing a black shirt and slacks.
Illiana Christian High School
Occasion: fall concert, 28 October 2008
Location: acoustic shell in the gymnasium
Microphones: none
Clothing: mint green robes with long white stoles. The female director was wearing black slacks and white shirt with a black overtop.
Martin Luther High School
Occasion: Sacred Concert, 2013
Location: Hales Corners Lutheran Church. Hales Corners was the village directly west of Greendale. [4]
Microphones: floor mikes
Clothing: sage green robes with white V-stoles and white borders along the robes’ front openings
Mission Viejo High School
Occasion: closing number of Spring Festival concert, 2014
Location: acoustic shell on stage
Microphones: two floor mikes
Clothing: cerise robes with white V-stoles. The female director was wearing a black jacket and slacks.
To be continued in next post
End Notes
1. "Legato." Oxford Dictionaries website.
2. Martin Luther used a conga-style drum. The boy playing the drum for Bonita was seated below the stage and his instrument didn’t appear in the video. Djembés were discussed in the post for 28 August 2017.
3. I couldn’t see enough in the video to know if the shaker was a calabasa.
4. Wikipedia. "Hales Corners, Wisconsin."
Sunday, August 19, 2018
Charles Leonhard - Kum Ba Yah (1970)
Topic: Pedagogy - Vocal Rhythm
Meter existed as a word before rhythm did, and both terms first were applied to language. The Oxford English Dictionary reported meter first appeared around 900, [1] and the first published use of rhythm occurred in 1560. [2] The two appeared in a 1657 commentary on the Book of Common Prayer, the one as a characteristic of hymns and psalms, [3] the other as the way they were sung. [4]
Willi Apel and Grosvenor Cooper suggested rhythm meantime was progressing from the Xxx of polyphony in the 1300s to the Xx of counterpoint in the 1500s. With Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier of 1722 "the effect of the measure-to-measure rhythm became much simpler, because of the strong accents in regular recurrence that pervade and regulate the entire fabric." [5]
The conceptual separation of meter from rhythm occurred in England when scholars began studying rediscovered Greek works. In 1737, Edward Manwaring declared "Metre is therefore Rhythm, but not all Rhythm Metre." [6] A generation later, in 1786, John Gillies observed "accent regulated the melody" and "quantity regulated the rhythm of ancient music." [7]
Metric pattern came to be seen in mathematical terms as even binary subdivisions. Lowell Mason even described the time signature as a fraction in which "the upper figure, or NUMERATOR, showing the number of parts, or kind of measure; and the lower figure, or DENOMINATOR, showing the particular note used on each part of the measure, or the variety of the measure." [8] He then defined the different forms like half notes as derivatives of quarter notes. [9]
This became simplified into a hierarchical tree that appeared in some band books [10] and some teacher’s editions of singing books. [11] At the top was a whole note. Below it were two half notes connected by lines to the parent. Below them were four quarter notes similarly associated to half notes.
At the same time singing schools were emphasizing regular rhythmic patterns, minstrel shows featured singers and musicians who began measures with single eighth notes in syncopated patterns. Stephen Foster’s "Camptown Races," written in 2/4, began with a series of regular eight notes for "De Camptown ladies sing dis song." "Doo-dah!" used the syncopated eighth followed by a dotted-quarter. The left hand of the piano accompaniment played whole or quarter notes on the first beats; the right hand played chords that matched the voice in the verse and even quarter and eighth-note patterns on the refrain. [12]
Ragtime piano, which emerged at the end of the nineteenth century, used a short-long melodic motif played by the right hand against a strong march tempo by the left. [A] Big bands in the 1930s and 40s spread syncopated African-American rhythms via radio and recordings. By 1950, Louis Kifer Myers said "children learn songs with the most intricate rhythmic patterns after hearing them over and over again on the radio," [14] but noted their teachers and songbooks only presented evenly divided metric patterns. The emergence of Elvis Presley in the middle 1950s widened the chasm between what children heard and what they were taught. [15]
Public school music books editors perpetuated the schism between classroom and playground. In their 1971 revision, Eunice Boardman and Beth Landis began their section on music fundamentals with melody and ways to explore music through singing. Rhythm was relegated to dance and playing percussion instruments. There was no concept the voice could have rhythmic qualities. [16]
Charles Leonhard’s team abandoned even that acknowledgment that rhythm existed in popular music in its 1970 revision of Discovering Music Together. They replaced their earlier organization based on American and international folk songs with the pure music theory approach used by Lorrain Watter’s team in 1967. [17] Four units were devoted to melody, rhythm, harmony, and "singing in harmony." The last primarily used echo songs, rather than two simultaneous parts.
They began their fourth-grade text with a summary of music concepts presumably introduced in an earlier volume. Next, nine-year-olds were taught to verbalize a song before they sang it. That meant converting the notes to "do re mi," identifying the note that represented "do," and using coordinating hand symbols as they sang syllables. In addition, they were expected to say the rhythm with the syllables "tah-ah" for a half note, "tah" for a quarter note, and "tee" for an eight note. Finally, they had to clap the rhythm before they were allowed to sing.
The use of "do re mi" went back to Medieval Europe, [18] and was widely used by people like Mason in singing schools. The counting system was borrowed from Alan McHose who trained generations of musicians at the Eastman School of Music concerned with teaching students to read music. [19] Colin Walley attributed the current interest in rhythm syllables to Carl Orff, [20] who "reminded us of the importance of encouraging children to feel rhythms through words," [21] rather than movement or dance.
Leonhard’s group moved "Kumbaya" from the unit on international songs to the opening section on reading music. The version looked the same as it had in the 1966 book because it cost money to change graphics. [22] It showed the first three notes as "do mi sol" that had been used to show the opening phrase was a broken chord. It also still had the symbols for chords that previously had been used for autoharps.
The comments about chords were replaced with observations on the "uneven rhythm" patterns in the song. The measure that began "yah, my Lord" used a dotted eighth, an eighth, and a quarter note. It wasn’t syncopated since it didn’t begin with the short note, but it was irregular. Leonard’s group informed them the first two notes should be counted as "tee dee."
The penultimate measure in fact had hidden syncopation: "Lord" began with an eight note and changed to a dotted quarter. It ended with two eight notes. Students were told that translated to "tee tah-ee tee tee."
To make room for the longer comments and illustrations of motifs, the line with the words for the second and third verses in the 1966 edition was dropped. The song became a simple one-verse iteration of "kumbaya."
The publisher made one other change. The painting of African men poling a long boat, which had appeared with "Kumbaya" in the earlier edition, was moved to the "African Canoe Chant" [23] that had been on the opposing page. The empty space on the "Kumbaya" page was replaced with a photograph of a wooden statue of an African American with his head facing upward and his hands close to his chest.
The book’s designer introduced other photographs drawn from African-American sources into this revision. One was a portrait of N. Nathaniel Dett, who wrote the "Juba Dance" that appeared on page 69. Another was a sculpted head on page 137 of a Black man entitled Self Portrait by Douglas R. Williams.
The graphics designer probably thought the statue represented a man in prayer, but, without the praying verse, the photograph of Minority Man I had no meaning. In fact, the African-American artist, Ed Wilson, intended it as a satire of "a begging attitude minority people were expected to assume" by the dominant society. [24]
Performers
Vocal Soloist: none
Vocal Group: class
Instrumental Accompaniment: none
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
Credits
Same as 1966 edition
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: not specified
Verses: kumbaya; 1966 had three verses
Vocabulary
Pronoun: none
Term for Deity: none
Special Terms: none
Basic Form: one-verse song
Verse Repetition Pattern: none
Ending: none
Unique Features: none
Notes on Music
Same as 1966 edition
Availability
Book: "Kum Ba Yah." 31 in Discovering Music Together, Book 4. Edited by Charles Leonhard, Beatrice Perham Krone, Irving Wolfe, and Margaret Fullerton. Chicago: Follett Educational Corporation, 1970 revised edition.
End Notes
1. "Ymenbec misenlice metre." Anonymous old English translation of Bede. Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Translated as "book of hymns in varied metre" by Thomas Miller. London: N. Trübner and Company, 1890. 485. Cited by The Oxford English Dictionary. "Metre." Edited by J. A. Simpson and E. S. C. Weiner. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989 edition. 9:697. Emphasis added.
2. "For nothinge is more pleasaunte than hys syle, nothynge purer than his speache, nothynge apter or more pleasaunt than hys Rythme." Ihon Daus on Clément Marot. London: Ihon Daye, 1560. 201. Translation of Johannes Sleidanus’ commentaries. Cited by OED, "Rhythm." 13:874. Emphasis added.
3. "They used all decent and grave variety of rhymes and Meeters in their Hymns and Psalms." Anthony Sparrow. A Rationale upon the Book of Common Prayer. London: T Garthwait, 1661. 361. Cited by OED, Metre. 9:697. Emphasis added.
4. "One began and sang in rhythm, the rest..hearing with silence." Sparrow. 314. Cited by OED, Rhythm. 13:874. Emphasis added.
5. Willi Apel. "Rhythm." Revised by Grosvenor Cooper. 729-731 in Harvard Dictionary of Music. Edited by Willi Apel. Cambridge: Belnap Press, 1969 edition. Quotation, 731,
6. Edward Manwaring. Stichology. London: Manwaring, 1737. viii 27. Cited by OED, Rhythm. 13:874.
7. John Gillies. History of Ancient Greece, its Colonies and Conquests. London: A. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1786. I.v 179. Cited by OED, Rhythm. 13:874.
8. Lowell Mason and George James Webb. The Psaltery. Boston: Wilkins, Carter, and Company, 1848 edition. 7. This was the language that drew the ire of Jesse Bowman Aikin mentioned in the post for 1 July 2018.
9. Mason. 8.
10. Harold W. Rusch. Hal Leonard Elementary Band Method. Bb Cornet or Trumpet. Winona, Minnesota: Hal Leonard Music, Inc., 1961. 11.
The Yamaha Advantage, discussed in the post for 11 July 2018 included the chart of page 7 of both the trumpet and percussion books. Accent on Achievement, discussed in the post for 26 August 2018, printed it on page 5 of the percussion book but did not use it in the trumpet book.
11. Eunice Boardman and Beth Landis’ Exploring Music 4 showed the table on page iv of the 1966 teacher’s edition, and page xv of the 1971 teacher’s edition. They were discussed in the post for 24 June 2018.
12. S. C. Foster. "Camptown Races." Baltimore: T. D. Benteen, 1850.
13. Wikipedia. "Ragtime."
14. Louise Kifer Myers. Teaching Children Music in the Elementary School. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1956 edition. 36
15. The gulf between the academy and popular music remained. Debbie Hays remembered: "In 8th grade, when all of us teenage girls (especially me) were falling head over heels in love with the Beatles, we got a class lecture from him about the Beatles, how they were NOT musicians, couldn’t read or write music, blah, blah, blah, but to this day I still love the Beatles and Opera." ("Madison ‘Reb’ Short Was My Choral Director." Facebook group. Comment posted 27 January 2012). The teacher was discussed in the post for 12 August 2018.
16. For more on the text edited by Boardman and Landis, see the post for 24 June 2018.
17. For more on Lorrain Watter’s text, see the post for 12 August 2018.
18. Apel, Harvard. "Solfège," 785-786, and "Solmization," 786-787.
19. J. R. McEntyre and Harry Haines. Rhythm Master. Book 1. Eb Alto/Baritone Saxophone. San Antonio: Southern Music Company, 1992. 33.
20. Orff’s role in music education was discussed in the post for 30 August 2018.
21. Colin Walley, Beth Douglas, and Glen Harrison. Fanfare Act 1. Toronto: Clarke, Irwin, and Company, 1969. 331. ii. Walley identified his method as "French Rhythm Syllables." Paul C. Varley, Junior, traced this and McHose back to "Pierre Galin, Aimé Paris, Paris’ sister, Nanine and her husband Emile Chevé." ("An Analysis of Rhythm Systems in the United States: Their Development and Frequency of Use by Teachers, Students, and Authors; and Relation to Perceived Learning Preferences." EdD diss. University of Missouri-st. Louis, August 2005. 47)
22. Leonhard’s 1966 edition was discussed in the post for 8 July 2018.
23. The song was "Wo-Ye-Le" on page 50.
24. "Ed Wilson." 454-461 in Romare Bearden and Harry Henderson. A History of African-American Artists. NY: Pantheon Books, 1993. 455.
Meter existed as a word before rhythm did, and both terms first were applied to language. The Oxford English Dictionary reported meter first appeared around 900, [1] and the first published use of rhythm occurred in 1560. [2] The two appeared in a 1657 commentary on the Book of Common Prayer, the one as a characteristic of hymns and psalms, [3] the other as the way they were sung. [4]
Willi Apel and Grosvenor Cooper suggested rhythm meantime was progressing from the Xxx of polyphony in the 1300s to the Xx of counterpoint in the 1500s. With Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier of 1722 "the effect of the measure-to-measure rhythm became much simpler, because of the strong accents in regular recurrence that pervade and regulate the entire fabric." [5]
The conceptual separation of meter from rhythm occurred in England when scholars began studying rediscovered Greek works. In 1737, Edward Manwaring declared "Metre is therefore Rhythm, but not all Rhythm Metre." [6] A generation later, in 1786, John Gillies observed "accent regulated the melody" and "quantity regulated the rhythm of ancient music." [7]
Metric pattern came to be seen in mathematical terms as even binary subdivisions. Lowell Mason even described the time signature as a fraction in which "the upper figure, or NUMERATOR, showing the number of parts, or kind of measure; and the lower figure, or DENOMINATOR, showing the particular note used on each part of the measure, or the variety of the measure." [8] He then defined the different forms like half notes as derivatives of quarter notes. [9]
This became simplified into a hierarchical tree that appeared in some band books [10] and some teacher’s editions of singing books. [11] At the top was a whole note. Below it were two half notes connected by lines to the parent. Below them were four quarter notes similarly associated to half notes.
At the same time singing schools were emphasizing regular rhythmic patterns, minstrel shows featured singers and musicians who began measures with single eighth notes in syncopated patterns. Stephen Foster’s "Camptown Races," written in 2/4, began with a series of regular eight notes for "De Camptown ladies sing dis song." "Doo-dah!" used the syncopated eighth followed by a dotted-quarter. The left hand of the piano accompaniment played whole or quarter notes on the first beats; the right hand played chords that matched the voice in the verse and even quarter and eighth-note patterns on the refrain. [12]
Ragtime piano, which emerged at the end of the nineteenth century, used a short-long melodic motif played by the right hand against a strong march tempo by the left. [A] Big bands in the 1930s and 40s spread syncopated African-American rhythms via radio and recordings. By 1950, Louis Kifer Myers said "children learn songs with the most intricate rhythmic patterns after hearing them over and over again on the radio," [14] but noted their teachers and songbooks only presented evenly divided metric patterns. The emergence of Elvis Presley in the middle 1950s widened the chasm between what children heard and what they were taught. [15]
Public school music books editors perpetuated the schism between classroom and playground. In their 1971 revision, Eunice Boardman and Beth Landis began their section on music fundamentals with melody and ways to explore music through singing. Rhythm was relegated to dance and playing percussion instruments. There was no concept the voice could have rhythmic qualities. [16]
Charles Leonhard’s team abandoned even that acknowledgment that rhythm existed in popular music in its 1970 revision of Discovering Music Together. They replaced their earlier organization based on American and international folk songs with the pure music theory approach used by Lorrain Watter’s team in 1967. [17] Four units were devoted to melody, rhythm, harmony, and "singing in harmony." The last primarily used echo songs, rather than two simultaneous parts.
They began their fourth-grade text with a summary of music concepts presumably introduced in an earlier volume. Next, nine-year-olds were taught to verbalize a song before they sang it. That meant converting the notes to "do re mi," identifying the note that represented "do," and using coordinating hand symbols as they sang syllables. In addition, they were expected to say the rhythm with the syllables "tah-ah" for a half note, "tah" for a quarter note, and "tee" for an eight note. Finally, they had to clap the rhythm before they were allowed to sing.
The use of "do re mi" went back to Medieval Europe, [18] and was widely used by people like Mason in singing schools. The counting system was borrowed from Alan McHose who trained generations of musicians at the Eastman School of Music concerned with teaching students to read music. [19] Colin Walley attributed the current interest in rhythm syllables to Carl Orff, [20] who "reminded us of the importance of encouraging children to feel rhythms through words," [21] rather than movement or dance.
Leonhard’s group moved "Kumbaya" from the unit on international songs to the opening section on reading music. The version looked the same as it had in the 1966 book because it cost money to change graphics. [22] It showed the first three notes as "do mi sol" that had been used to show the opening phrase was a broken chord. It also still had the symbols for chords that previously had been used for autoharps.
The comments about chords were replaced with observations on the "uneven rhythm" patterns in the song. The measure that began "yah, my Lord" used a dotted eighth, an eighth, and a quarter note. It wasn’t syncopated since it didn’t begin with the short note, but it was irregular. Leonard’s group informed them the first two notes should be counted as "tee dee."
The penultimate measure in fact had hidden syncopation: "Lord" began with an eight note and changed to a dotted quarter. It ended with two eight notes. Students were told that translated to "tee tah-ee tee tee."
To make room for the longer comments and illustrations of motifs, the line with the words for the second and third verses in the 1966 edition was dropped. The song became a simple one-verse iteration of "kumbaya."
The publisher made one other change. The painting of African men poling a long boat, which had appeared with "Kumbaya" in the earlier edition, was moved to the "African Canoe Chant" [23] that had been on the opposing page. The empty space on the "Kumbaya" page was replaced with a photograph of a wooden statue of an African American with his head facing upward and his hands close to his chest.
The book’s designer introduced other photographs drawn from African-American sources into this revision. One was a portrait of N. Nathaniel Dett, who wrote the "Juba Dance" that appeared on page 69. Another was a sculpted head on page 137 of a Black man entitled Self Portrait by Douglas R. Williams.
The graphics designer probably thought the statue represented a man in prayer, but, without the praying verse, the photograph of Minority Man I had no meaning. In fact, the African-American artist, Ed Wilson, intended it as a satire of "a begging attitude minority people were expected to assume" by the dominant society. [24]
Performers
Vocal Soloist: none
Vocal Group: class
Instrumental Accompaniment: none
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
Credits
Same as 1966 edition
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: not specified
Verses: kumbaya; 1966 had three verses
Vocabulary
Pronoun: none
Term for Deity: none
Special Terms: none
Basic Form: one-verse song
Verse Repetition Pattern: none
Ending: none
Unique Features: none
Notes on Music
Same as 1966 edition
Availability
Book: "Kum Ba Yah." 31 in Discovering Music Together, Book 4. Edited by Charles Leonhard, Beatrice Perham Krone, Irving Wolfe, and Margaret Fullerton. Chicago: Follett Educational Corporation, 1970 revised edition.
End Notes
1. "Ymenbec misenlice metre." Anonymous old English translation of Bede. Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Translated as "book of hymns in varied metre" by Thomas Miller. London: N. Trübner and Company, 1890. 485. Cited by The Oxford English Dictionary. "Metre." Edited by J. A. Simpson and E. S. C. Weiner. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989 edition. 9:697. Emphasis added.
2. "For nothinge is more pleasaunte than hys syle, nothynge purer than his speache, nothynge apter or more pleasaunt than hys Rythme." Ihon Daus on Clément Marot. London: Ihon Daye, 1560. 201. Translation of Johannes Sleidanus’ commentaries. Cited by OED, "Rhythm." 13:874. Emphasis added.
3. "They used all decent and grave variety of rhymes and Meeters in their Hymns and Psalms." Anthony Sparrow. A Rationale upon the Book of Common Prayer. London: T Garthwait, 1661. 361. Cited by OED, Metre. 9:697. Emphasis added.
4. "One began and sang in rhythm, the rest..hearing with silence." Sparrow. 314. Cited by OED, Rhythm. 13:874. Emphasis added.
5. Willi Apel. "Rhythm." Revised by Grosvenor Cooper. 729-731 in Harvard Dictionary of Music. Edited by Willi Apel. Cambridge: Belnap Press, 1969 edition. Quotation, 731,
6. Edward Manwaring. Stichology. London: Manwaring, 1737. viii 27. Cited by OED, Rhythm. 13:874.
7. John Gillies. History of Ancient Greece, its Colonies and Conquests. London: A. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1786. I.v 179. Cited by OED, Rhythm. 13:874.
8. Lowell Mason and George James Webb. The Psaltery. Boston: Wilkins, Carter, and Company, 1848 edition. 7. This was the language that drew the ire of Jesse Bowman Aikin mentioned in the post for 1 July 2018.
9. Mason. 8.
10. Harold W. Rusch. Hal Leonard Elementary Band Method. Bb Cornet or Trumpet. Winona, Minnesota: Hal Leonard Music, Inc., 1961. 11.
The Yamaha Advantage, discussed in the post for 11 July 2018 included the chart of page 7 of both the trumpet and percussion books. Accent on Achievement, discussed in the post for 26 August 2018, printed it on page 5 of the percussion book but did not use it in the trumpet book.
11. Eunice Boardman and Beth Landis’ Exploring Music 4 showed the table on page iv of the 1966 teacher’s edition, and page xv of the 1971 teacher’s edition. They were discussed in the post for 24 June 2018.
12. S. C. Foster. "Camptown Races." Baltimore: T. D. Benteen, 1850.
13. Wikipedia. "Ragtime."
14. Louise Kifer Myers. Teaching Children Music in the Elementary School. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1956 edition. 36
15. The gulf between the academy and popular music remained. Debbie Hays remembered: "In 8th grade, when all of us teenage girls (especially me) were falling head over heels in love with the Beatles, we got a class lecture from him about the Beatles, how they were NOT musicians, couldn’t read or write music, blah, blah, blah, but to this day I still love the Beatles and Opera." ("Madison ‘Reb’ Short Was My Choral Director." Facebook group. Comment posted 27 January 2012). The teacher was discussed in the post for 12 August 2018.
16. For more on the text edited by Boardman and Landis, see the post for 24 June 2018.
17. For more on Lorrain Watter’s text, see the post for 12 August 2018.
18. Apel, Harvard. "Solfège," 785-786, and "Solmization," 786-787.
19. J. R. McEntyre and Harry Haines. Rhythm Master. Book 1. Eb Alto/Baritone Saxophone. San Antonio: Southern Music Company, 1992. 33.
20. Orff’s role in music education was discussed in the post for 30 August 2018.
21. Colin Walley, Beth Douglas, and Glen Harrison. Fanfare Act 1. Toronto: Clarke, Irwin, and Company, 1969. 331. ii. Walley identified his method as "French Rhythm Syllables." Paul C. Varley, Junior, traced this and McHose back to "Pierre Galin, Aimé Paris, Paris’ sister, Nanine and her husband Emile Chevé." ("An Analysis of Rhythm Systems in the United States: Their Development and Frequency of Use by Teachers, Students, and Authors; and Relation to Perceived Learning Preferences." EdD diss. University of Missouri-st. Louis, August 2005. 47)
22. Leonhard’s 1966 edition was discussed in the post for 8 July 2018.
23. The song was "Wo-Ye-Le" on page 50.
24. "Ed Wilson." 454-461 in Romare Bearden and Harry Henderson. A History of African-American Artists. NY: Pantheon Books, 1993. 455.
Thursday, August 16, 2018
LeeAnn Leon - Kum Bah Yah
Topic: Pedagogy - Instrumental Harmony
Vocal music groups were divided into four parts depending on their ranges, and often sang chords. Instrumental groups were divided into three sections depending on their homophonic function. First chair trumpets and first chair clarinets were given the melody, and all the other reeds and trumpets were assigned harmony that usually was based on chords. The remaining brass tended to play sustaining tones in concert bands and rhythm in marching units.
Beginning band books rarely mentioned the third function. Most included duets, but only Joseph Maddy’s original band book, [1] Essential Elements, and Visual Band Method, included three-part harmony, and it only showed two of the parts in its trumpet book. [2] Others may, in fact, in have used full orchestrations in their concert pieces, but individual instrument books only showed one part.
Both editions of Essential Elements used "Kumbaya" as its only example of a trio. The first trumpet played the melody, and the second played a third below. The third trumpet played a monotone series for the first line, went down the scale on the second, returned to beginning note for the third line, and played low notes in the fourth. The three parts moved as a chord throughout.
The editors suggested the young musician "practice this trio with two other players and listen for the 3-part harmony." In fact, few students were ambitious enough to get together outside class and play together. Practice was a solitary business, which LeeAnn Leon solved by overdubbing herself playing three parts of some trio version.
For rhythm, marching bands relied on sousaphones to mark the tempo with a loud "oomp" at the beginnings of measures. Other rhythmic brass instruments played the offbeats, either the "pa" of an "oomp-pa-oomp-pa" march or the "pa pa" of a waltz.
Fred Weber set the melody of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" to an "Ooompah March" that either played the second and fourth beats or the second, third, and fourth beats on page 13. He followed that by pairing the "Carnival of Venice" with "Hear that German Band" on page 18. One group played the down beats in the waltz, and the two others played chords on the off beats. [3]
Andrew Balent introduced the rhythm parts even earlier than Weber. His fourth lesson included a "Band Class Waltz." After more exercises that had a melody, down beat, and two-part off beat, he included a few pieces with a melody accompanied by sustained notes. [4]. His final concert pieces revealed the third formula assigned to brass players: playing nothing for long periods of time. [5]
The difference between the concert band ideal of most beginning band books and the marching band reality only appeared in method books written by men who had directed public school bands: Weber in Michigan City, Indiana; [6] John McEntyre in Odessa, Texas; [7] and Andrew Balent in small and large cities in Michigan. [8]
The variations in scope found in band books may have flowed from the differences in philosophy mentioned in the post for 1 August 2018, but the more fundamental reason may have been beginning instruction manuals were supposed to train everyone at the same time to become proficient in playing tones and durations. Relegating some to rhythm or passive harmonic parts defeated that purpose.
John O’Reilly suggested another motive: the need to keep youngsters interested while they were undergoing the ordeal of learning an instrument. He said his co-author for Accent on Achievement,
"would play through each of the student’s parts to make sure everything was playable and interesting. At some point in every Mark Williams piece everyone gets to play the melody." [9]
Performers
Essential Elements for B-flat trumpet
Vocal Soloist: none
Vocal Group: none
Instrumental Soloist: B-flat trumpet
Instrumental Accompaniment: B-flat trumpet
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
LeeAnn Leon
Vocal Soloist: none
Vocal Group: none
Instrumental Soloist: B-flat trumpet
Instrumental Accompaniment: B-flat trumpet overdubbed
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
Credits
Essential Elements for B-flat trumpet
African Spiritual
Notes on Lyrics
There were none
Notes on Music
Essential Elements, B-flat trumpet
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Time Signature: 4/4
Tempo: moderato
Key Signature: one flat
Basic Structure: one iteration
Ending: last measures changed from mezzo forte to pianissimo
Harmonic Structure: triads
LeeAnn Leon
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Tempo: she wrote "It was kind of hard because most of the time, the sound bytes weren’t in sync and stuff so I had to use a metronome."
Basic Structure: trio based on The Seekers’ version
Notes on Performance
LeeAnn Leon
Occasion: She wrote on YouTube: "one hot day I was very bored so I decided to record myself playing ‘Kum Bah Yah’." Only a graphic title was shown with the video.
Notes on Performers
Leon was part of the Griffiths Middle School Advanced band in Downey, California, when she uploaded her video. [10] She since has graduated from California State University-Long Beach with a bachelor’s degree in Communications and Media Studies. She said her immediate goal was to work in brand management in the entertainment industry. [11] She also indicated she still recorded "music in my free time." [12]
Essential Elements grew out of a series produced in 1991 by a Texas band teacher, Tom Rhodes. [13] When the new standards went into effect, Hal Leonard Corporation added professional educators to the editorial committee to produce its new band music series in 1999. They worked directly for Leonard and had been involved with college band programs. [14]
Availability
Essential Elements for B-flat trumpet
Book: "Kum Bah Yah." 19 in Essential Elements. Book 1. Bb Trumpet. Edited by Tom C. Rhodes, Don Bierschenk, and Tim Lautzenheiser. Milwaukee: Hal Leonard Corporation, 1991. Books also were produced for oboe, flute, various clarinets, various saxophones, bassoon, French horn, alto horn, baritone horn, trombone, various tubas, and percussion.
Book: "Kum Bah Yah." 15 in Essential Elements 2000. Book 1. Bb Trumpet. Edited by Tim Lautzenheiser, Tom C. Rhodes, Don Bierschenk, and three others. Milwaukee: Hal Leonard Corporation, 1999. Books also were produced for oboe, flute, various clarinets, various saxophones, bassoon, French horn, baritone horn, trombone, tuba, guitar, electric bass, percussion with keyboard percussion, and piano.
LeeAnn Leon
YouTube: "Kum Bah Yah Trumpet Trio - LeeDaBandGeek. Uploaded by LeeAnn Leon on 19 May 2008.
End Notes
1. Joseph E. Maddy and Thaddeus P. Giddings. Universal Teacher. Cornet or Trumpet. Elkhart, Indiana: C. G. Conn, Ltd., 1923.
2. Vernon Leidig and Lennie Niehaus. Visual Band Method. Book 1. Bb Trumpet (Cornet). Norwalk, California: Highland Etling Publishing, 1964.
3. Fred Weber. First Division Band Method. Part One. Bb Cornet (Trumpet). First Division Publishing Corporation, 1962.
4. Andrew Balent. Sounds Spectacular. Book 1. Trumpet (Cornet). New York: Carl Fischer, 1991. "Planting Cabbages appeared on page 15; "Vesper Hymn" was on page 17.
5. Balent. "Folk Spectacular," on page 30, had eight measures of rests followed by three measures of rests. "Sippin’ Cider," on page 31, had three measures of rest for the trumpets.
6. For more on Weber, see the post for 27 June 2018.
7. Harry H. Haines and J. R. McEntyre. Division of Beat. Book 1, Cornet/Trumpet, Baritone TC. San Antonio: Southern Music Company, 1980. For more on McEntyre, see the post for 22 July 2018.
8. Balent graduated from the University of Michigan, then worked in New Haven from 1956 to 1960. After earning his masters from Michigan in 1960, he worked in elementary and middle schools in Utica from 1960 to 1962 and Fitzgerald from 1962 to 1986. ("Andrew Balent." World Biographical Encyclopedia Prabook website.) All the schools were in Macomb County, north of Detroit; Fitzgerald was a district within the city of Warren.
9. John O’Reilly. Quoted by "A Tribute: Mark Williams." Choral Director website. 11 March 2008. Accent on Achievement was discussed in the post for 26 August 2018.
10. "LeeAnn Leon." YouTube page.
11. "LeeAnn Leon." LinkedIn.
12. "LeeAnn Leon." Way Up website.
13. "Tom Rhodes." Texas Bandmasters Hall of Fame website. He played clarinet and saxophone in high school, then taught at schools in Kenedy, Marfa, and Fredricksburg. Only later did he work for the University of Texas Longhorn Band. The website also included information on Don Bierschenk, who was a music salesman.
14. "About Tim Lautzenheiser." Attitude Concepts website. He taught at Northern Michigan University, the University of Missouri, and New Mexico State University.
Biographies of Paul Lavender and John Higgins on Hal Leonard website. Lavender was a graduate assistant at Central Michigan Univeristy. Higgens arranged music of the University of Michigan marching band.
"Charles T. Menghini, President." VanderCook College of Music website. He was band director at VanderCook College of Music. Before that, he had taught at high schools in Missouri and Kansas.
Vocal music groups were divided into four parts depending on their ranges, and often sang chords. Instrumental groups were divided into three sections depending on their homophonic function. First chair trumpets and first chair clarinets were given the melody, and all the other reeds and trumpets were assigned harmony that usually was based on chords. The remaining brass tended to play sustaining tones in concert bands and rhythm in marching units.
Beginning band books rarely mentioned the third function. Most included duets, but only Joseph Maddy’s original band book, [1] Essential Elements, and Visual Band Method, included three-part harmony, and it only showed two of the parts in its trumpet book. [2] Others may, in fact, in have used full orchestrations in their concert pieces, but individual instrument books only showed one part.
Both editions of Essential Elements used "Kumbaya" as its only example of a trio. The first trumpet played the melody, and the second played a third below. The third trumpet played a monotone series for the first line, went down the scale on the second, returned to beginning note for the third line, and played low notes in the fourth. The three parts moved as a chord throughout.
The editors suggested the young musician "practice this trio with two other players and listen for the 3-part harmony." In fact, few students were ambitious enough to get together outside class and play together. Practice was a solitary business, which LeeAnn Leon solved by overdubbing herself playing three parts of some trio version.
For rhythm, marching bands relied on sousaphones to mark the tempo with a loud "oomp" at the beginnings of measures. Other rhythmic brass instruments played the offbeats, either the "pa" of an "oomp-pa-oomp-pa" march or the "pa pa" of a waltz.
Fred Weber set the melody of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" to an "Ooompah March" that either played the second and fourth beats or the second, third, and fourth beats on page 13. He followed that by pairing the "Carnival of Venice" with "Hear that German Band" on page 18. One group played the down beats in the waltz, and the two others played chords on the off beats. [3]
Andrew Balent introduced the rhythm parts even earlier than Weber. His fourth lesson included a "Band Class Waltz." After more exercises that had a melody, down beat, and two-part off beat, he included a few pieces with a melody accompanied by sustained notes. [4]. His final concert pieces revealed the third formula assigned to brass players: playing nothing for long periods of time. [5]
The difference between the concert band ideal of most beginning band books and the marching band reality only appeared in method books written by men who had directed public school bands: Weber in Michigan City, Indiana; [6] John McEntyre in Odessa, Texas; [7] and Andrew Balent in small and large cities in Michigan. [8]
The variations in scope found in band books may have flowed from the differences in philosophy mentioned in the post for 1 August 2018, but the more fundamental reason may have been beginning instruction manuals were supposed to train everyone at the same time to become proficient in playing tones and durations. Relegating some to rhythm or passive harmonic parts defeated that purpose.
John O’Reilly suggested another motive: the need to keep youngsters interested while they were undergoing the ordeal of learning an instrument. He said his co-author for Accent on Achievement,
"would play through each of the student’s parts to make sure everything was playable and interesting. At some point in every Mark Williams piece everyone gets to play the melody." [9]
Performers
Essential Elements for B-flat trumpet
Vocal Soloist: none
Vocal Group: none
Instrumental Soloist: B-flat trumpet
Instrumental Accompaniment: B-flat trumpet
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
LeeAnn Leon
Vocal Soloist: none
Vocal Group: none
Instrumental Soloist: B-flat trumpet
Instrumental Accompaniment: B-flat trumpet overdubbed
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
Credits
Essential Elements for B-flat trumpet
African Spiritual
Notes on Lyrics
There were none
Notes on Music
Essential Elements, B-flat trumpet
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Time Signature: 4/4
Tempo: moderato
Key Signature: one flat
Basic Structure: one iteration
Ending: last measures changed from mezzo forte to pianissimo
Harmonic Structure: triads
LeeAnn Leon
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Tempo: she wrote "It was kind of hard because most of the time, the sound bytes weren’t in sync and stuff so I had to use a metronome."
Basic Structure: trio based on The Seekers’ version
Notes on Performance
LeeAnn Leon
Occasion: She wrote on YouTube: "one hot day I was very bored so I decided to record myself playing ‘Kum Bah Yah’." Only a graphic title was shown with the video.
Notes on Performers
Leon was part of the Griffiths Middle School Advanced band in Downey, California, when she uploaded her video. [10] She since has graduated from California State University-Long Beach with a bachelor’s degree in Communications and Media Studies. She said her immediate goal was to work in brand management in the entertainment industry. [11] She also indicated she still recorded "music in my free time." [12]
Essential Elements grew out of a series produced in 1991 by a Texas band teacher, Tom Rhodes. [13] When the new standards went into effect, Hal Leonard Corporation added professional educators to the editorial committee to produce its new band music series in 1999. They worked directly for Leonard and had been involved with college band programs. [14]
Availability
Essential Elements for B-flat trumpet
Book: "Kum Bah Yah." 19 in Essential Elements. Book 1. Bb Trumpet. Edited by Tom C. Rhodes, Don Bierschenk, and Tim Lautzenheiser. Milwaukee: Hal Leonard Corporation, 1991. Books also were produced for oboe, flute, various clarinets, various saxophones, bassoon, French horn, alto horn, baritone horn, trombone, various tubas, and percussion.
Book: "Kum Bah Yah." 15 in Essential Elements 2000. Book 1. Bb Trumpet. Edited by Tim Lautzenheiser, Tom C. Rhodes, Don Bierschenk, and three others. Milwaukee: Hal Leonard Corporation, 1999. Books also were produced for oboe, flute, various clarinets, various saxophones, bassoon, French horn, baritone horn, trombone, tuba, guitar, electric bass, percussion with keyboard percussion, and piano.
LeeAnn Leon
YouTube: "Kum Bah Yah Trumpet Trio - LeeDaBandGeek. Uploaded by LeeAnn Leon on 19 May 2008.
End Notes
1. Joseph E. Maddy and Thaddeus P. Giddings. Universal Teacher. Cornet or Trumpet. Elkhart, Indiana: C. G. Conn, Ltd., 1923.
2. Vernon Leidig and Lennie Niehaus. Visual Band Method. Book 1. Bb Trumpet (Cornet). Norwalk, California: Highland Etling Publishing, 1964.
3. Fred Weber. First Division Band Method. Part One. Bb Cornet (Trumpet). First Division Publishing Corporation, 1962.
4. Andrew Balent. Sounds Spectacular. Book 1. Trumpet (Cornet). New York: Carl Fischer, 1991. "Planting Cabbages appeared on page 15; "Vesper Hymn" was on page 17.
5. Balent. "Folk Spectacular," on page 30, had eight measures of rests followed by three measures of rests. "Sippin’ Cider," on page 31, had three measures of rest for the trumpets.
6. For more on Weber, see the post for 27 June 2018.
7. Harry H. Haines and J. R. McEntyre. Division of Beat. Book 1, Cornet/Trumpet, Baritone TC. San Antonio: Southern Music Company, 1980. For more on McEntyre, see the post for 22 July 2018.
8. Balent graduated from the University of Michigan, then worked in New Haven from 1956 to 1960. After earning his masters from Michigan in 1960, he worked in elementary and middle schools in Utica from 1960 to 1962 and Fitzgerald from 1962 to 1986. ("Andrew Balent." World Biographical Encyclopedia Prabook website.) All the schools were in Macomb County, north of Detroit; Fitzgerald was a district within the city of Warren.
9. John O’Reilly. Quoted by "A Tribute: Mark Williams." Choral Director website. 11 March 2008. Accent on Achievement was discussed in the post for 26 August 2018.
10. "LeeAnn Leon." YouTube page.
11. "LeeAnn Leon." LinkedIn.
12. "LeeAnn Leon." Way Up website.
13. "Tom Rhodes." Texas Bandmasters Hall of Fame website. He played clarinet and saxophone in high school, then taught at schools in Kenedy, Marfa, and Fredricksburg. Only later did he work for the University of Texas Longhorn Band. The website also included information on Don Bierschenk, who was a music salesman.
14. "About Tim Lautzenheiser." Attitude Concepts website. He taught at Northern Michigan University, the University of Missouri, and New Mexico State University.
Biographies of Paul Lavender and John Higgins on Hal Leonard website. Lavender was a graduate assistant at Central Michigan Univeristy. Higgens arranged music of the University of Michigan marching band.
"Charles T. Menghini, President." VanderCook College of Music website. He was band director at VanderCook College of Music. Before that, he had taught at high schools in Missouri and Kansas.
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