Bringing the Groove Back into Music Studies with Pattern Play

Yesterday, ARMTA Calgary hosted a workshop on Pattern Play with piano pedagogue Forrest Kinney. He and his wife Akiko developed this extremely aural-kinesthetic approach to music playing. Seeing as I've been incorporating more of the VARK Learning Preferences into the music lessons I teach, I was looking really forward to this session.In a nutshell, students are taught two patterns. These are imparted in a "talking drum" fashion: the teacher improvises a short motif using one of the patterns (e.g. E, G, A, B). The student answers with their own improvised motif. With young students, perhaps that is all you want to give them for that lesson as their "pattern play project".

Once the student has gotten the hang of that, the teacher can show the student a simple accompaniment pattern and they switch roles at the keyboard (e.g., E, B). (BTW, the pattern I just described is called Japan).

The next step is to get students to jam hands together. Forrest advises to have them start by playing the same pattern in both hands. When one hand is bored, melodic and rhythmic variation start to creep in.

With this approach, the feeling drives and shapes the music (not the brain) just as equally as boredom does. Forrest said that "boredom makes us receptive to new ideas and to change."

That was an extremely condensed version. Check out Forrest and Akiko's website and their books for a more in-depth explanation.

Two very important points to keep in mind when working on Pattern Play - eyes closed and tap the heel. Yes, that's a very jazzy approach. When Forrest said that, it made me recall my jazz lessons last year when Derek Stoll said the exact same thing.

Pattern Play can be used to help develop students' inner ear, phrasing, and rhythm and flow. Wait a minute, didn't I write about rhythm and flow at some point?

Hiyoshi is a Japanese concept called "rhythm-timing". In his Book of Five Rings, 16th century samurai Miyamoto Musashi said, "In the field of martial arts, one finds rhythm-timing in the techniques of shooting an arrow, firing a gun and riding a horse. The concept of rythm-timing should not be ignored in any profession or art."

Forrest said that somewhere along the way, we lost our hiyoshi. We lost the groove. In the quest to reach a certain playing level by age X and our quest for perfection, we lost the tamashii (soul) and the kokoro (heart)of music. This isn't the first time I've heard this. I heard this during my jazz lessons too and variations of this in my Iaido training.

Pattern Play was developed as a way for musicians, music students and music teachers to get back their groove. To just close our eyes and feel the music. Feel the beat.

Now Kinney's approach won't work for all students or all teachers and Forrest is the first to admit that. However, there are many nuggets teachers and students of all walks can take and use form the Pattern Play approach.

For those of us teaching Royal Conservatory students, we have to follow the syllabus for technical requirements. As supplemental material for the traditional exam students - Pattern Play will be a life saver. Conservatory Canada students do get to improvise in their exams. Pattern Play is a great springboard. Pattern Play will inspire students of all levels who want to go home and be able to play something "cool" each week.

Final thoughts? I jammed on D Dorian last night (eyes closed). I selected one of the "golden chord progressions" and started with one octave arpeggios in my LH and single melody notes in my RH. I soon tired of that and remembered that Forrest jammed on doubled thirds. I hate doubled thirds and normally avoid practicing them. Jamming on double thirds? Much more do-able....and fun. Soon, I tired of that and tried parallel 6ths and the "Mozart trill". I haven't tried transposing the pattern yet into all the Dorian modes, but I know I'll get to it eventually.

When playing back the recording, I got the sense my "inner child" was having a blast. I was giddy in the recording and as I listened to it. I can't wait for my Pattern Play books to come in just so I can play.

Ditto for when I checked out the lesson videos I uploaded yesterday. The kids were pumped and they're stoked that we're going to jam "lots" this month. How apropos that this month's focus in our Musical Exploration is jazz, blues and ragtime.

September 3, 2020 update: The Pattern Play series is available at most local music stores. Online, you may find them at Sheetmusicplus (affiliate link)

Musical Breakthroughs with Read/Write Learners

As I mentioned in my Teaching Music Using VARK Learning Preferences (new link to comes soon) entry, I had all my students ages nine and up complete the VARK Learning Preferences questionnaire. One interesting finding was that five of my students are "pure" Read/Write learners. In many of the VARK articles on the web, Read/Write Learners are not addressed. Trying to teach this group how to work through musical trouble spots poses a challenge when there is nothing to glean pearls of wisdom from. Basically, a person needs to visit the VARK website, read the Read/Write study tips there and extrapolate on how the tips can be applied to music. At the suggestion of my brother (and colleague), I instructed one student who has been struggling with two-note slurs to transcribe her music. After months of struggles, I was running out of ideas. Transcription was my last hope for this piece.

In one week, the piece was transformed - ALL articulation and dynamics were observed when my student played her Scarlatti piece for me this week. As an aside, I found this exercise also worked for my sole VAK learner.

I also found that rhythmic dictation is working well for this group. Another Read/Write student and I were jumping for joy when the ta-ti-ti-ta rhythm she had been struggling with disappeared after doing some rhythmic dictation using rhythms from the piece in question.

I think it also helps that I'm making all my Read/Write students write out their homework in their own words.

(c) 2010 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.

Music Students With Blogs - Speedlinking

Another short entry. Yes, it is indeed "crazy" season, when students and teachers find it hard to keep up with the pace, which only seems to push forward with an unceasing accelerando. Here are a few blogs I've found written by music students. They provide an interesting view of the trials and tribulations of studying music:

Harvard College Student Blog

UMS Student Blog Vocal Chords

California College of Music

Royal Music Association Student Blogs

Enjoy!

September 3, 2020: Added some new blogs.

Piano Exam Tips - Speedlinking

Yes, it's that time again: time for teachers and students to really buckle down and refine all the required elements on their upcoming exam. Here are some websites with tips for preparing for your piano examination:

http://www.wikihow.com/Do-Well-on-a-Piano-Exam http://www.ukpianos.co.uk/piano-exams-a-guide-to-preparation.html http://www.ehow.com/how_2239058_ace-piano-exam.html http://ezinearticles.com/?Tips-For-Preparing-For-Your-Piano-Exam&id=505598

(c) 2010 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada.

Music through the Ages Exploration Engages Students

This year, my students are exploring a different genre of music every month. Sometimes, it's a quick study. Sometimes it's just a case of listening to a CD or watching youtube and then discussing the music afterward. My student Namitha calls our exploration, "Music through the Ages". Last month, we explored the Classical period. Their comments on the music were colourful, ranging from "it sounds like someone's being chased" during Beethoven's 5th Symphony to "it sounds happy yet sad" for Mozart's Rondo alla Turk. The intermediate students have started to notice patterns that are similar to their pieces (sonata allegro form, anyone?).

This month, I've fast forwarded the timeline to the present for them to explore pop, rock and country. One student classified Carrie Underwood as "country", while the next day, one classified her as "pop". We listened to a couple of her songs and I asked them to tell me what madeJust a Dream more country than Cowboy Cassanova. A similar scenario happened with Taylor Swift.

(FYI: my students said it was the instrumentation and drum groove used that differentiated the styles).

After listening to The Beatles, I asked my student Tess what she thought of song and the style. "What am I supposed to say?" she asked me.

"The truth," I replied. "Did you like it? Love it? Hate it? Doesn't make you feel anything?"

She discovered that it doesn't make her feel anything and that it's a style she'll probably stay away from.

A few days later, I learned that young Gabe loves the 80s band Journey ("They're just cool!").

That's what it's all about for me, showing them what's out there. I hope by the end of the year, they will have a better idea of just how wide and diverse music is and along the way, find out what they would like to explore further (or avoid like the plague). If their active listening skills improve along the way as we discuss melody, timbre, rhythm, form and texture - all the better!

(c) 2009 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.