Mi Contra Fa

"Modes for Dummies" class outline draft

I. The Major Scale

A. "Dough, the stuff that buys me beer..."  Ask if everyone is familiar with do- re- mi.  This is the major scale.

B. Show the major scale on a keyboard, starting on C.  Label the whole steps and half steps.  Explain what they are.

C. Show the major scale on a keyboard, starting on G.  Show that the whole step/half step pattern is the same, but different notes are "playing the parts" of do, re, mi and friends. Also that F# has been called in to maintain the pattern, and that this is indicated using a key signature.

D. Perhaps show a few more scales.

E. Summarize how to parse "The key of C Major" - it is a major scale (do re mi, pattern of whole and half tones), starting on C (the key).

II. The Minor Scale

A. Show the major scale starting on C.  

B. Explain that by starting on A (la) and going up, you get the minor scale, a different pattern of whole tones and half tones.

C. Show minor keys corresponding to major keys shown in I.C. and I.D.

D. Summarize how to parse "The key of A minor."

III. Why are the major scale and minor scale different when they use the same notes?

A. Point out that C Major and A minor share a key signature.  Why aren't they the same?

B. Answer: they have different patterns of whole steps and half steps.  Yeah, but so what?  They are the same notes!

C. Bring up the concept of finals (ending notes) and cadences (ending series of notes) and melodic structures in general. Point out that, as they traverse the scale from do to do or from la to la, the whole tone/half tone patterns are different.  This is why they sound different.

D. Play a song in a Major key and a song in a minor key.

IV. What's so special about do and la? Why are there only a Major scale and a minor scale?

A.  Nothing!  The missing scales are the ancient modes.

B. Describe the modes by their whole tone/half tone patterns and their starting scale degree (re, mi, fa, etc) and play examples of each. Point out that they are often almost the same as the Major scale or minor scale.

C. Explain that historically, these modes (especially Dorian and Mixolydian) were the most popular scales for composing music, just like the Major and minor scales are today our most popular scales.

D. Finally, point out that just like you can have the Key of C Major and the Key of G Major both be Major scales, you can also have the Mode of D Dorian (or D Dorian mode) and the Mode of A Dorian.  "Dorian" describes the pattern of whole tones/half tones you get when you start on "re."  The letter (D or A) tells you what note is "re".

Class notes from the vault

Just discovered I hadn't ever posted the Writing Research Papers class notes. Here they are!

Fall University 2016

Class notes!  A Guided Tour of Medieval and Renaissance Music and the new Early Period Music Theory.

The Guided Tour went all right. I think I had two students new to the SCA and two who were not.  My "shotgun all the music" approach was... not engaging.  I should have cut the songlist in half and encouraged more reflection and talking.  Was it really that important to have troubador and trouvere?  All three pieces of chant?  And so on.

Early Period Music Theory was better. Large class - 12 or so? - and mostly engaged.  The feedback was that the class was good, useful and helpful; that musical examples of the modes would have been good; and that the class should properly be 2-4 hours long.

I realized I'm teaching classes way too fast. I'm worried about running out of material, and there's this sense of "I have to tell them ALL THE THINGS because there will never be another chance!" So I cram and cram and cram stuff in.  If you're familiar with the topic, it's actually probably a good pace.  But for someone coming to it for the first time, it's a firehose.

So the first half the Early Period Music Theory should be its own class: The Gamut.  The modes can be a class, padded out with listening examples.  Mistress Arianna did an entire class on organum, whilst I tried to cram it all onto one page. She had musical examples, too.  There could be a whole class using Guido's Instamatic Melody Generator on various texts and seeing what we get.

I bought a webcam a while ago to make some YouTube videos.  Seems like I should actually do that at some point...

10-Minute Monochord

 

10-minute monochord

 

 

I'm teaching my Early Period Music Theory class next weekend at Fall University. As part of it, I want the class to measure out and divide a diatonic scale and then play it on a monochord. Problem: no monochord.

No problem! The thing I made isn't pretty or period, but it gets the job done. It took about 10 minutes or so, using spare hardware around the house, with most of the time being spent fussing with the right way to wrap the fishing line around the eye bolt so it would tighten when I screwed it in clockwise.

1. I found a piece of scrap wood in the house about 18" long.  Anything longer than 14" or so would have done.  About an inch from one end, I screwed in a wood screw, leaving plenty of metal above the wood.  About an inch from the other end, I screwed in an eye bolt (eye screw?).  Exact distance between them doesn't matter, because I don't care about making this A = 440 Hz.  It's a diatonic do-re-mi scale player, and do can be whatever frequency it needs to be.
2. I got the 80lb fishing line from the cigar box lyre project and tied one end to the screw.  The other end went through the eye bolt, then wrapped around it, like you do for harps, zithers, etc. 
3. Turn eye bolt until fishing line gives a reasonable sound.
4. The moveable bridge is a stack of two LEGOs, with a half-height smooth-topped LEGO on the top.

 

 

 

            


Eye bolt/screw; screw; LEGO stack

To use:

1. Draw a line on a piece of paper.  30 cm is a good length.
2. Divide up a line into a diatonic scale or a gamut or what have you. 
3. Put line under the string.
4. Place the leading edge of the LEGO bridge on the hash mark for the start of your scale/gamut/whatever, and pluck the string.
5. Move the leading edge of the bridge to the next note marking, pluck.
6. Continue until you have heard all the notes you drew

 

Diatonic scale marked out and ready to play

How time flies

I'm teaching Early Period Music Theory again, first time in a while, and boy howdy those class notes from 2008 need updated...

Webcast concept: One Simple Thing

Cart before the horse, here. I haven't even managed to turn my existing classes into webcasts yet.

BUT.

I like the idea of a video series that explores Art 101 for a variety of useful SCA arts, with a goal of giving the view the skills to perform those tasks at a basic level, with as little exotic equipment as possible. 

Make a T-tunic with fabric, scissors, needle and thread.
Stem stitch embroidery
Threaded-in tablet weaving
Calligraphy
Make a cold lunch
Make a hot supper
Make small talk
Brew a tasty beverage
Carve a spoon
Dance a bransle
Write a rhyming couplet
Play a whistle
Sing a song
Play a game
Make a leather belt
Pack for a camping trip

Something to think about!

Developing a Research Program: Skill levels

Been thinking about bigger-picture stuff than my research and documentation class.  I touch on it a little in that class, under the general heading of 'pick projects that support your long-term goals,' but that's it.

A little bit of thinking, and I decided that I think your self-determined 'research program' is going to depend on where you are in your journey.  So first, a breakdown on that, then I'll see if I can't say anything more sensible about developing a program. All references to apprentice and master, below, are generic small-a and small-m, not references to Laurels and their students.

Novice/apprentice: Your job is to try a little of everything that seems interesting.  Take classes, ask people what they are doing, read a book or two. Dabble.  You may want to focus on projects that are short duration, with a reasonable payoff - it can be demotivating to sink a lot of time into something if you don't know how it's going to turn out.  Play. Play is important to keep your spirits up; it can be very hard to be a novice. You want to do All the Cool Things, but your skill isn't up to it yet.  All your work looks like crap.  There's nothing for it - you have to do the crap to make the good stuff - but it's emotionally hard, sometimes.  Taking a playful approach can reduce the stakes and remind you that there's supposed to be joy in this.  Your tools are probably not very good, because you're just dabbling, and you don't want to sink a ton of money into this yet. That's fine.

You're done being an apprentice when: You understand the general shape of your field - it is no longer "I like calligraphy!" but more "I like early round hands, but some of the late Renaissance stuff is nice, too."  You have a basic set of skills - you can execute a project from start to finish, even if it isn't as nice as you'd like.  You are running into the limitations imposed by the poor tools you are using, and you are ready to get better ones.

Journeyman/woman: You are probably past the 101 classes most frequently offered at Universities and scholas.  You are going to need to develop your research skills to go and find the information you need to create the projects you want to do.  You upgrade your tools to fit your increased skills.  You may feel capable of teaching 101 classes.  You are probably known in your local area as somebody who does (Your Art).  You are more satisfied with your work, but you still have things you want to do, but can't.  Look out for the classic error at this level - thinking you know more than you do, with more certainty than is warranted.  You will know a lot more than a novice, but if you think you have it all figured out, you are almost certainly wrong.

You're done being a journeyman when: The traditional test is a masterwork.  To my mind, that means you've created a thing that you are completely satisfied with.  It is correct in all its parts, demonstrates technical proficiency, is executed beautifully, and fits your image of the kind of art you set out wanting to make.  You may also be at the point of needing even better tools, as you now have so much experience you have preferences for slightly different tools for slightly different needs - and they make a difference to you.

Master: Ironically, mastery is generally when you realize how little you actually know.  You actually know quite a lot about your field and can speak about it fluently, but you are also aware of all of things touching on it that you have yet to learn about in-depth.  Your skills are well-developed, and you create noteworthy art.  You are the go-to person for your art in your local area, and you are probably known outside of it as well.  You may teach or write guides (or you may not - being able to teach or explain is its own skill set, and being a master of an art doesn't guarantee that you can teach it well).  The chief hazard of mastery is ossification - resting on your laurels, as it were.  Keep learning, and keep an open mind.

Both journeymen and masters may have a problem with the sunk cost fallacy.  Sometimes, the art we thought we wanted to do loses its appeal.  While there is an entirely different essay to be written about the difference between tenacity and foolish stubbornness, let us assume for the moment that you can tell you have actually lost interest in an art, and you're not just avoiding it because you fear failure.  Don't keep doing the thing. It's tempting, because you're good at it, people expect you to do it, they praise you when you do it well.  But if you are not enjoying it, what is now an imposition will become a burden, and you will come to resent the burden, and you may flame out of the SCA, riding the winds of a bitter Facebook post complaining how you haven't had any fun in years.

This ought to be enjoyable for you. Play. It may not always be "wheeee!" fun, but it should at least be satisfying and rewarding.  If it isn't, why do it?

 

Video series

The Dread Orange One has suggested that, since I can't make it to University to teach, that I video record my class.  Great idea! 

Naturally, I can't do anything as simple as give the classes I already do while a recorder runs. Nooooo.  I am thinking of ways to chunk them up into smaller, discrete mini-units more suitable to the YouTube environment.  It may not be possible in all cases - and in some cases, the entire amount of pontificating may actually expand.  Rather than just hit the high points of information search (10 min of a 50 min class), I can spend 10-15 min each on keyword searches, knowing good sources, types of sources, unusual sources and so on.  Whee!

 

New class notes

Better late than never...

Improvisation for Melody Instruments (2015): Update to my improv class

Research for Performing Arts (2015): Includes the 2014 general research class notes plus a cut-down version of the 2013 bardic version.

Motivation (2015): Taught at Winter University

Alliterative Poetry (2015): Revisions to old handout, better examples

How to Do Research (2014): Research class generalized and streamlined a bit, for a general audience

I still owe "Breaking into Bardic," which doesn't seem to be in my Google Drive.  I'll find it later.

Documentation

I usually think in terms of Intro, Background, Method, Results, Conclusions.  And that's good, but I wonder if there's a more useful way to break it down for Scadians?

Who, What, When, Where
At the highest level, tell the reader what this thing is, who made it, and when and where they were from.

A [culture or class] [gizmo] from [date] [place].

A templar's tabard from 12th century Jerusalem.
An Anglo-Saxon poem from 10th century England.

Explain What Makes It the Thing It Is
What are the characteristics of the [gizmo]?  How would I know a good [gizmo] from a bad [gizmo]?  In period, how were [gizmos] made, and from what materials?  Using what methods?  Do they have particular distinctive features?

A [gizmo] is made from [some stuff] that's put together [following some rules].  [Gizmos] frequently looked like [this] and almost never looked like [that].  The most common [gizmos] [were one way], and the most luxurious [gizmos] [were another way].

Remember that chances are excellent that whomever is judging your entry may have no knowledge of your field.  At all.  So here is where you educate them on what they ought to be looking for in your piece.  Note that, just like a fighter has to call good blows, it is honorable to describe a correctly made [gizmo] as fully as you can, so that the most fair evaluation can be made.

Explain How You Made the Thing and Why You Did It That Way
You made your [gizmo] out of [some materials].  Why did you pick those materials?  

You put [the materials] together using [some process] and possibly [some tools].  Why did you pick [that process] and [those tools]?

Be honest.  Maybe the materials are period but you used power tools; maybe the materials are modern but you used a period process.  Probably it's a mix of both.

Performing artists, your materials are your words, music, intonation, props, costumes, gestures and movements.  Your process is your performance development.

Tell What You LearnedExplicitly compare and contrast [your gizmo] to what we know about period [gizmos].  Be honest about where you kicked butt and where your butt was kicked.  Give any ideas about how you'd do it over again.  Say what you learned, if anything, by doing the project.

Tell Why We Should Believe You
Give your sources or references.