MUSIC WITH A MESSAGE MEMORY
In the leaflet this is what we offered.
On the following pages we have collected the activities and ideas.
Enjoy !
Explore your imagination, discover ways of inspiring others
For musicians, teachers, youth workers, composers and anyone wanting to use music in their work
Practical, creative, wholly participatory
Bring instruments and an open mind
Non-European instruments and players are particularly welcome
This weekend will consider
Making songs – simple techniques for lyrics, melodies and accompaniment
Storytelling through music – traditional and modern contexts
Songs, Games and Grooves – how to make them relevant in your work
Working with Global Link we will explore global issues such as social justice, conflict resolution and sustainable development and use fun and participatory activities to reflect on how we work with world music styles and cultural representations that avoids stereotyping and clichés.
Knowledge and experience gained in sessions will be useful to your workshop and education practice whether you work in schools or across the community.
It's for you whatever your level of experience
It's for you if you want to compose and invent
It's for you if you want to learn more about leading workshops
Grow in confidence
WEEKEND MEMORY
Themes
Workshop Skills
Intention
Express yourself
What are your roots
Global Development skills
Improvisation
Shared leading techniques
EXPOSITION
Saturday morning session (all in one group)
Introductions round circle / house keeping - Pete
Oreee (the sea) - Leon
Song of sea – warm up and rumble
Feel the intensity of the sound
100,000 people sing but they don’t know what the words say
It doesn’t matter – feel the feeling
Oree be a – Oree be o
Areeo (the storm)
Song and a groove
Romany Song - Tea
Chajorije shukarije (ATTACHED)
WHY ARE YOU HERE
Pete and Yue ask the question – here are the answers
Learn more about music from around the world
After a 2 year break – new energy
Share ideas and approaches, how to approach issues in new school project
Ideas of how to run workshops
Voice and percussion in bigger groups
Enrichment – different people – find my instrument
How music brings people together
More ideas
New experiences
Nourishment – so alone
Meet and play – time out
Weekend off
Do some things I haven’t done – a campaigning song
Write songs
First steps into workshop leading
To learn how to become a workshop leader
Keen to grab something from everyone
Learn play and meet people
See how others work
Holiday out – compare how people work
Lived in one world of music – want to hear others and find different ways of learning
Global development themes – Gisela
Into 2 lines across the room
‘How much do you know’
How important is it to know’
These showed the difference between where people thought they needed to be and where they actually were. This sets up the need for learning about the themes. They are
Human Rights
Interdependence
Values and perceptions
Conflict resolution
Diversity
Social Justice
Sustainability
Global justice
(see attached document SEAL strategies for more information)
Globingo
We played the game to find out about each other and also to reflect on the themes. The questions were
DETAIL TO FOLLOW
Start Again
Pete demonstrated and sang 2 songs from the More Music project
ASK ME
A song that reflects on the Right to Privacy
THE OLD PRESIDENT
A gospel style song that calls for people to shout down an Old President
Music, Food and Love - Yue
Asked the question – What is the most popular instrument in your culture ?
Electric guitar ?
In China it is the flute – and so a story was told and a song was sung.
‘Autumn Thought’ – a classical tune.
Asking the question – what is classical music in your culture ?
We learnt a song in Mandarin and were asked to each create a song title.
This is the list of song commissions
As the sun glowed through the mist
Transparency of dew
Bare tress in a clear white sky
Sun sparkling on the bubbling brook in the grassy meadow
The girl with the long brown hair in the drak deep woods on the the long hard road to somewhere
Springtime for everyone
Spring Buds are peeping through
Spring with the winter wind
Spring in your step
The first flow of spring
The sweet bird leaves the eaves of my mothers house
Thunderstorms of summer
I love the summer
Summer opportunities
Shimmering sands of the setting summer sun
The colour of turning leaves
Sweaty summer
Rhythm of the falling leaves
Les feulles mortes
Autumn Jewels
Marroning bracken, rusting leaves
Winter haven
Frozen shards of winters thought
Winter sun
Long dark miserable winter
K’dum - Ben
2 hands on a drum with a pattern. Play with the improvisation, with drop outs and solos.
Horseshit
Writing a long rhythmic figure from a random word phrase
Afternoon session
Street scene beat
Pete and Leon construct a simple beat with tunes drawn from the mornings songs
Starting from GD themes - Leon / Gisela
The following lyrics were developed through discussion
The mountain before us stands so high
If we step together we can reach the sky
You can do it
We can do it
We can make a change
There were only ten of us
But we took them on
There were only 10 of us
But we took them on
You can do it
We can do it
We can make a change
With this song, we said no
We petitioned, we camped
We wrote, we shouted and
We changed the rivers flow
You can do it
We can do it
We can make a change
Never doubt that we can change the world
Let the sun shine
Let the rain fall
Please listen to the rhythm of the earths call
Live simple so others can simply live
It’s the greatest offering from the heart to give
Leon and Gisela’s workshop: exploring the global dimension through music
Both workshops started with a discussion of the 8 key concepts of the global dimension, using the global dimension pie chart and a series of ‘quotes’ as the stimulus.
In the first group there was some discussion about how to encourage people to see the relevance of global issues to their lives; we discussed the importance of linking the global to the local and personal eg linking global conflicts with conflicts in the playground etc. There was also some discussion about how to get people to ‘care’, develop empathy; the importance of personal story, and relationships through linking/pen pals were highlighted eg. Leon’s work linking young people in Manchester with young people in Brazil.
In the second group there was some discussion about HOW to bring the global dimension into the wider opportunities programme; again using music from around the world is a way to do this, and include some background information about where the tune/song comes from, its origin, country etc.
In both workshops the group created a song (above), using one of the global dimension quotes as a stimulus.
In the first workshop the quote ‘Live simply so that others can simply live’ (Gandhi) was used, with Sam (participant) coming up with the words & tune, while the other participants created the music.
In the second workshop the group used the quote ‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it’s the only thing that ever has.’ (Margaret Mead); Akiel and Gisela created some lyrics which were combined into a song (above).
Games and storytelling - Yue / Ben
We started each session by learning a traditional chinese melody with Yue.
First group played Dancing and Singing in the Village by ear, second group played Parmir Mountain with dots. We made an arrangement for both exploring different textures as well as backing figures, improvised solos…..
We then looked at group composition games and processes from Hugh Nankivell, Dangerous Volume and Makoto Nomura
Both groups looked at
Dancing Mole - a short and longer line notation method – and made vastly different arrangements
The first group made a very expressive Shogi score
The second group looked at
Secret Partners improvising game (Stephen Grew) and also
No Notes (Makoto Nomura)
Songs - Tea / Pete
In the first session we learnt and sang in 7/8
LYRIC ATTACHED
In the second session the song was in 9/8
LYRIC ATTACHED
The discussions in both sessions were about why we would consider teaching songs in different time schemes and what this does to us and our groups.
“turns the head round
Opens new space
Challenges perceptions
More things to play with
Good to challenge yourself
Think outside the box
Easy to fall into clichés
Fried the brain with the different feel
Shared learning takes us all to a common place”
We also asked what else we could do and how it might feel
Teach a scale or a mode
Learn a new instrument
Language
Excited at the new experience, scared it may be wrong
Learning something new give new confidence and pleasure at the new world of sound
SINGING SUPPER
In a transformed space we ate food prepared by Yue with a small team of helpers. Afterwards the concert included songs by almost everyone in the room. A very special affair
Pete wrote
Transformed hall
Kitchen sending out great vibes and smells
Stage set for a show
22 people entertained, amazed
Connected
Truths told, melodies harmonies rhythms expressed
Voices alive and excited
So much potential
Such a privileged place to be
A great band
Sunday
Morning Session One - CREATION
Warm Up Sticks
Pete started with some very simple games to help everyone arrive
AIM : Inclusive rhythm games for groups of any size.
Equipment : enough sticks for everyone to have a pair. These can be big cooking chopsticks (or drumsticks.)
Hold sticks between first finger and thumb… grasp
Relax and drop arms
Follow leader…speed up and roll
Play with chair sounds
- Left and Right exercises LLR or RRL – LLRRLLRR – 2468…….
- Play simple tunes as rhythms
- Copies – led by leader – round circle – in fours
- Teach beats of a groove ……
Chinese New Year Animals
And a set of warm ups that opened the voices and discovered about the years
Tigerfingers as claws, growls
Rabbitjumping, quiet tsh sound
Dragonall together, a choice of noise, get louder with direction
Snakesssssss and arms, also as a chain follow each other
Horseloose lips (horse blowing) and neighs across the registers
Goatbutbutbutbutbut ??
Monkeyscratch under arms, hoot up and down, loud and soft
Roostercockadoodle, strut, cockaricki (Japanese)
Dogsniff and bark
Pigpig grunts
Ratsqueaky sirens/ really quiet high sounds
Ox moos, sirens in the very low to middle range
Orisha songs
(Cuba – Santeria Tradition) / Orixa (Brazil – Candomble Tradition)
Oxossi – A hunter, Prince of the forest, Master bow man clearly seeing your targets and reaching them, The hunt, Horse rider.
Corro: OK OK O OK ODE OK
Call: E OKO OK ODAY
12/8 with the shifting pulse – Pulse on the 4 or accenting the 6 beats over the bar change the feel of the phrase. (Sometimes called Konkolo)
Song for Yemanaja / Imanja – Goddess of the sea, Motherhood, Fertility, Fish
Corro: Ceen Ceen Kolobo Kolobo
Kolobo Ceen Ceen
Ceen Ceen Kolobo
Call: O kolobo, Kolobo Ceen Ceen
Bungalow Song
Bungalow
(Solo) Hey RickHey What
(All) Hey RickHey What
Show me how you bungalow
Show me how you bungalow
(Solo) My hands are high, my hands are low
And this is how I bungalow
(All) My hands are high, my hands are low
And this is how I bungalow
Numbers
Everyone choose a number between 1 and 8.
As the leader counts play just on your number.
Listen to the sequence. Find other people on your beat.
Leader can double time / half time .
People can choose 2 numbers / change instruments / improvise
Passing the instrument songs
Aka baka paper cracker
Aka baka boo
Aka baka paper cracker
Pass to you!
Hot potato pass it on x 3
Get rid of the hot potato
Argh!
Second morning session
Harmony Vocals – Tea
This was traditional Dalmatian (Croatian) song. Learnt the original tunes, very simple. They were then following the harmonies that were taught.
Amazed how anxious people are at opening voices in harmony.
Opens up the question of harmony and getting in right or getting it wrong.
LYRIC ATTACHED
Developing an idea – Ben / Gisela
We started looking at redoing the “compose a long rhythm melody” exercise
from yesterday but using themes that link to the Global Dimension.
Gisela mentioned that the random way of coming up with one lyric per person
Didn’t lead to a very meaningful phrase so we decided to discuss the issues
And see if that led to any interesting lines.
Sue suggested that we look at fracking so we discussed what that means and
the positive and negative effects it has. I captured some of what people were
saying on the whiteboard and we used these four lines as the starting point for
our rhythm.
B Breaking up the earth
Poisoning the water
Seismic effects
But there’s energy in there!
We then looked at picking out words that would give us interesting rhythms to
build up a long rhythmic sentence but were drawn towards one particular phrase and the idea of using it as a riff:
seismic effects
We found notes for this by choosing a mode (which would suit the instruments
we had – alto sax, fiddle, uke, guitar) giving each note a number and rolling
an imaginary dice to come up with a melodic line.
So using CDE GAC (C major pentatonic) and numbering them 1 – 6 we
We ended up with CEGA
We tried the words over this riff and Bernie eventually came up with some
Chords – a bluesy C to A- over which we set the words
A What’s happening?
Wake up, wake up
Stop and think
This is no way to go
Because the song (which we’d now decided to write) needed a
challenging/questioning element
We then worked up an arrangement
AA
Riff
BB
A/B together
Stop and think
We then took the B section words and squeezed a bit more detail from each
line which gave us a second verse
Drilling through the rock
Seeping through the well wall
Distant earthquake
Total devastation
At some point in trying the arrangement out we Lis added a swooping
Glissando which gave us a third element to the piece
Final arrangement (altered in performance)
AA
Riff
BB Vs 1
A/B together
Stop and think (rpt)
BB Vs 2
A/B together (both verses)
Glissando
Stop and think x 1
Rhythm games – Leon
Warm up with hand drums
Playing the different sounds copy cat
Introducing claps as well as drum sounds
Introduce Coordination by adding movements with the beats. Spit the sequence up in chunks and then try all together.
- One hand on the drum making the beat the other in the air
- One hand on the drum making the beat, other to the side of the drum
- One hand on the drum making the beat the other holding the nose
- One hand on the drum making the beat, other touching the opp ear.
- Introduce a simple song over the coordination game while continuing the beat. Maybe - twinkle twinkle little star
Warm up body percussion
Copy can using claps, stamps, body hits on chest and legs. Start adding movement left and right with the stamps and beats
Introduce a simple two bar phrase for one group to continue. (maybe based on we will rock you, two stamps one clap, two stamps three claps)
Start the same pattern with another group at the same time but starting after two beats – could add vocal phrases wooo’s , ahhh’s etc.
Warm up stick trick
Scouts rhythm:
Roll , left beat (while passing right stick under the left arm), Pass left stick to right and beat then left hand takes stick from under left arm and beats.
Can do the same while taking the persons stick to your right.
Roll, left beat (while passing right stick under the left arm), Left beat while taking stick from under the persons arm to your right with the right arm finish with a right beat with other persons stick.
Compose a Chinese Melody – Yue