Topic: Pedagogy - Goals
The avowed purpose of music education may have changed since Lowell Mason wanted to improve the quality of singing by church congregations, but its underlying function has remained embedding our culture’s musical norms.
Thus, Karl Gehrkens listed as the first objective of grade school music in the 1930s:
"Definite enjoyment on the part of the part of the majority of children in producing pure, beautiful tone, together with growing ability to sing in time with as good a voice quality as the individual child’s vocal organs make possible." [1]
When Satis Coleman introduced alternative pedagogical methods that began with what children were doing naturally, her purpose was always to lead them to accepted forms. She noted:
"Dancing is the most spontaneous of all the arts, but when it becomes riotous and uncontrolled it is no longer an art; it is either a pathological nervous reaction or a reversion to the animal plane, and tends to be destructive to the true artistic sense which we are trying to develop. One’s own improvisations in dancing, as well as in singing and playing, must reach toward ideals of form, balance, and simplicity, and must lead to a sane expression and appreciation of art." [2]
All cultures expect their children to conform. The idea that one culture was preferable to another arose when local institutions expanded across social frontiers. Thus, the Roman Catholic church introduced notation as a way for members of all its congregations to perform religious rituals the same way. [3] Later, when local monarchs expanded their reach, they established academies to define national languages. [4]
The problem with music in the United States arose in the 1920s when radio spread a national aesthetic that differed from that of the academy. Gehrkens listed as other goals for public school music teachers, the inculcation of "a gradually developing taste for the better music rather than the poorer" [5] and "a growing desire on the part of the individual pupil to take part in and to listen to high-grade music." [6]
Las Vegas, Nevada, was one place where one assumes most children were acutely aware of popular music: if they didn’t have a relative who worked backstage somewhere, they had friends who did. They not only absorbed the local music forms, but aspired to reproduce them, perhaps professionally. The vocal music program in its magnet performing arts high school sponsored "six choral ensembles, two vocal jazz ensembles and an opera workshop." [7] The last created an "original show" each year that "features Musical Theater, Operatic and Operetta repertoire." [8]
The Konzert Chorale had a different purpose. It was the "most select concert choir" that participated in district festivals. [9] The version of "Kumbaya" it performed at the Advanced Choral Festival in 2016 drew on techniques of modern operatic and choral music. The closest it got to popular music was borrowing George Gershwin’s impression of African-American singing from Porgy and Bess. [10]
Instead of a homophonic arrangement of melody and accompanying harmony, one group of boys began repeating "kumbaya" on different notes of the scale, sometimes ascending, sometimes going down. After being joined by the other boys to create a rhythmic pattern, one group of girls sang "someone’s crying Lord." The words were taken from "Kumbaya" but not the melody.
After the allusions to the original text, the girls began holding notes over the rhythm. Everyone sang the word "kumbaya" together before returning to repeating the word "kumbaya" on different notes of the scale as the tempo increased.
A soprano and tenor stepped forward to sing "wade in the water" and "God’s going to trouble the waters." The chorus took up the phrases as the two returned to their positions.
About three-quarters of the way through the piece, the group stomped one of their feet to signal the return to the repetitions of "kumbaya" on the scale. They then began raising their arms as they sang, and ended with their arms over their heads.
Performers
Vocal Soloist: one girl and one boy
Vocal Group: Konzert Chorale looked like it had 26 girls in three groups and 27 boys in two groups.
Vocal Director: Rossana Cota
Instrumental Accompaniment: none
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
Credits
None given
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: KUM by yah
Verses: allusions to kumbaya, crying and praying
Vocabulary
Pronoun: none
Term for Deity: Lord, God
Special Terms: none
Basic Form: ABA
Verse Repetition Pattern: A was repetitions of "kumbaya"
Ending: none
Unique Features: incorporated elements of "Wade in the Water"
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: random notes of the scale
Tempo: moderate
Basic Structure: medley of "Kumbaya" and "Wade in the Water"
Singing Style: The female solo drew on "Summertime" from Porgy and Bess
Notes on Performance
Occasion: Clark County, Nevada, School District, Advanced Choral Festival, 14 March 2016
Location: acoustic shell on stage of Artemus W. Ham Concert Hall, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Microphones: none
Clothing: girls and female director wore short-sleeved, v-neck, long black dresses; boys wore black suits, white shirts, and black ties
Notes on Movement
The chorale stood in a semicircle on the floor and two risers, with their arms at their sides. They were widely spaced, with the different male and female voices grouped together. Cota stood in front to use her arms symmetrically to conduct. The two soloists stepped forward to sing their parts, then returned to the risers. Only the conductor had a music stand.
Audience Perceptions
Applause at the end.
Notes on Performers
Las Vegas Academy of the Arts was established in 1993 as a magnet school for 1700 students, of whom 200 were in the vocal music program. [11]
The director of the Konzert Chorale had performed with the Nevada, Arizona, and Los Angeles opera companies. [12] Rossana M. Cota was raised in Oro Valley, a suburb of Tucson, and earned her degree in music education from The University of Arizona. She later earned a masters in performance from California State University, Northridge [13] and certification in the methods of Carl Orff. [14]
Availability
YouTube: uploaded by Hunter Brown on 15 March 2016.
End Notes
1. Karl Wilson Gehrkens. Music in the Grade Schools. Boston, C. C. Birchard and Company, 1934. 2.
2. Satis N. Coleman. Creative Music for Children. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, April 1922. 90.
3. For more on the development of musical notation, see the post for 4 July 2018.
4. Cardinal Richelieu established the Académie française in 1635 to extend the power of Louis XIII. When the Bourbons took control of Spain, Philip V authorized the Real Academia Española in 1713 "to fix the voices and vocabularies of the Castilian language with propriety, elegance, and purity." (Wikipedia. "Académie Française" and "Royal Spanish Academy.")
5. Gehrkens. 3.
6. Gehrkens. 4.
7. "Welcome to Las Vegas Academy Vocal Department." School website.
8. "Opera Workshop." School website.
9. "Konzert Chorale." School website.
10. George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin. Porgy and Bess. 1935.
11. "About LVA and Las Vegas." School website.
12. "DIY Messiah Las Vegas." Its website.
13. "About Rossana Cota." Facebook
14. DIY. For more on Carl Orff, see the post for 30 August 2018.
No comments:
Post a Comment