Literacy

Numeracy

Games

in instrumental lessons

by Alan Coady

Literacy

Literacy

(From - etymonline.com):

literacy 1883, formed in English from literate + -cy; illiteracy

dates back to 1650s.

literate early 15c., from L. lit(t)eratus "educated, learned,"

lit. "one who knows the letters," formed in imitation of Gk. grammatikos from L. lit(t)era

"letter."

Notation

note (v.) early 13c., "observe, mark carefully," from O.Fr.

noter, from L. notare, from nota "letter, note," originally "a mark, sign," possibly an alteration of

Old L. *gnata, infl. by gnoscere "to recognize." Meaning "to set in writing" is from c.1400.

Related: Noted; noting. The noun is first attested c.1300, in the musical sense; meaning "brief

writing" is from 1540s

Musical notation...

...is limited to:

ABCDEFGAnd that's it!

The rest is done with smoke & mirrorsor repetition, grouping, recycling

or sharpening and flattening

Notes are grouped into...

Sentences – or phrases

which peak at the main word – we stress or accent this note/word – this often occurs at Fibonacci

moment – of which more later...

there may be more than one clauseeach with a key word, which will be stressed

Commas shouldn't sound like full-stops

This is known as...Phrasing

And getting the stresses wrong is an error of prosody

mid-15c., from L. prosodia, from Gk. prosoidia "song sung to music," also "accent, modulation," from

pros "to" + oide "song, poem" (see ode).

Similar to someone who speaks a second language very well, but occasionally puts the stress in the

wrong place – or to early speech synthesis – a field in which Edinburgh is a world leader!

How can you tell when you are at the end of one phrase and, therefore, the start of another?

There will usually beinactivity of some sort -

A rest (silence) or a long note– equivalent to breathingin normal conversation

Languages

late 13c., "words, what is said, conversation, talk,"

from O.Fr. langage (12c.)from V.L. *linguaticum, from L. lingua

"tongue,"

also "speech, language" (see lingual).

Meaning "a language" is from c.1300

Italian

the international languageof written music

and musical terms

(vocabulary tends to bein the language

of the country of origin of an activity)

e.g. Japanese for Karate, JudoFrench for Ballet, Fencing, Cuisine

examples

Some of which have made their wayinto everyday English usage...

accelerando; adagio; ad libitum; affrettando; allegro; andante; andantino; appassionato; brio; cello; coda;

crescendo; cuartetto; da capo; dal segno; diminuendo; duo; facile; forte; giocoso; largo;

leggero; maestoso; moderato; niente; ossia; ostinato; piano; pesante; pizzicato; quintetto; ritardadno; scherzo; tempo; trio; troppo; tutti;

vivace

SpanishThe language of the techniques of the guitar

e.g. fingers: indice; medio; anular; pulgar;

Right-hand techniques:apoyando (rest stroke) tirando (free stroke)

rasgueado (Flamenco-style strumming)golpe (striking body of guitar)

Left-hand techniques:ligado – slur (a way of joining notes together)

ligar also means to get off with

Latin...

...through the text of the Mass and other liturgical sources:

Kyrie; Gloria; Credo; Sanctus; Benedictus; Agnus Dei

others

In titles of pieces (often involving names of people, cities, countries), composers' names etc.

French; German; Russian; Portuguese; Polish; Czech; Swedish; Finnish; Norwegian;

And through Spain's colonial history titles/names/stories/legends from:

Argentina; Bolivia; Chile; Cuba; Colombia;Mexico; Paraguay; Uruguay; Venezuela;

Etymology and guesswork will get you a long way.

Langsam (German for slow/long)

Allargando (Italian - large/broadening out)

Links are occasionally at some remove...

eg. Forte (fort = strong = loud)

If all else fails, try 'onomatopoeia'.

For this idea, I'm indebted to neuroscientist, and 2003 Reith Lecturer, V. S. Ramachandran

- author of Phantoms in the Brain.

This idea has less to do witha word imitating the sound it describes

than the vocal apparatusmimicking the idea (or feeling) of a word...

...possibly the way in which language evolved...perhaps we'll never know...

Examples in English..

Teeny-weeny - mouth tightens up

Large - mouth opens more widely

Huge – syllable often elongated

Compare, for example lament with jig

Examples in Italian musical terminology

Largo – slow, wide spaces between notes Pizzicato – plucked e.g. violin – short notes hinted at

by short plosives (p zz c t) Arco – bowed – longer notes hinted at by longer vowel Stretto – narrowing (in fugue) – hinted at by restricted

vocal movements. Consider similar English words

strict; strife; struggle; strainAll hinting at a voluntary, temporary and useful form of

synaesthesia

Degrees of the Scale

Degree:

early 13c., from O.Fr. degré (12c.) "a step (of a stair), […] gradus "step" (see grade).

Scale:

"to climb," late 14c., from L. scala, from scandere "to climb"

There are choices here:

Fixed letter names A-B-C-D-E-F-G/A etc.

Moveable tonic sol-fa (1540s, from It., from M.L. sol + fa)

do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti/do etc. think Sound of Music

Moveable numbers 1-2-3-4-5-6-7/8 etc.

and.......

Functional names

• Tonic – the main note (tone) and centre of gravity of the scale/key/tune

• Supertonic – super = above tonic• Mediant – in the middle of 1 & 5 (tonic chord)

• Subdominant – below dominant• Dominant – strongest note in scale (with obvious

exception of tonic)• Submediant – in the middle of chord built on

subdominant• Leading note – does what it says on the tin - leads

to tonic

Modality

"manner," late 14c., "kind of musical scale," from L. modus

"measure, rhythm, song, manner" (in L.L. also "mood" in grammar

and logic)

MAJOR / minor

Often thought of as happy/sad Actually describing distance between notes (intervals - c.1300, from O.Fr. intervalle (14c.)

Parallel with MAJOR DISASTER/minor disaster MAJOR in the army/minor (can't yet vote, marry

or watch scary films - yet, curiously can star in them

e.g. Taxi Driver - 1907, shortening of taximeter - "one who drives" - c.1400

And now ...

Numeracy

Numeracy

from numerus “number”(see number)

on model of literacy, etc.

Number - c.1300, "sum, aggregate of a collection," from Anglo-Fr. noumbre, from O.Fr. nombre, from L. numerus "a number,

quantity,"

The trouble with numbers in music is......that the same few numbers are used for everything:

1234567 for scales (notes in chords)

12345 for fingering (unless you go to Torness Primary)

beats per bar bars per phrase

phrases per section sections per movement...

Section numbers (rehearsal marks!!!)

Why do I use rehearsal numbers when letters are more common?

B, C, D, E, G, P, T, V - all rhyme

("agreement in terminal sounds," 1560s)

This can be a nightmare in a reverberant rehearsal space

You have a 1:8 chance of everyonestarting in the right section

Time Signature

e.g. 4/4

Numerator – how many you get per bar- in this case, 4

Denominator – name of what you get

- in this case ¼ notes (American terminology)

or – crotchets (European terminology)

Time signature and proportion

2/4, 4/8, 8/16 3/4, 6,8. 12/16

There are also indivisibles e.g. 9/8 There are also irregular time signatures

e.g. 7/8, 11/16 Most irregularities can be dealt with by

subdividing

for 7/8 - count 12, 12, 123 or 12, 123, 12

for 11/16 – count 123,123,123,12

European vs. American names for note durations and implications for understanding time signatures

4 beats – Semibreve – Whole note 2 beats – Minim – 1/2 note 1 beat – crotchet – 1/4 note

½ beat – quaver - 1/8th note ¼ beat – semiquaver – 1/16th note

1/8th beat – demisemiquaver - 1/32nd note 1/16th beat – hemidemisemiquaver - 1/64th note –

and we're back to literacy hemisphere; demigod; semicircle

Sequence

from O.Fr. sequence "answering verses" (13c.),

from M.L. sequentia "a following, a succession,"

from L. sequentem (nom. sequens),

prp. of sequi "to follow" (see sequel).

Complete the following... 2, 4, 6, 8, ? 1, 3, 5, 7, ?

1, 4, 7, 10, ? 1, 5, 9, 13, ?

0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, ? abc, bcd, cde, ?

ace, bdf, ?

My preferred definition of sequence:

A sequence must have a pattern which you can see/hear easily

You must be able to predict what should be coming next

You should be able to see/hear whether what you were expecting to come next actually did happen

When what we are expecting doesn't happen this is called.....

A break

Why is it important to know where these are?

Expectationis as much in the ear of the audience

as the player

If the expected doesn't happen it can sound like an error has occurred...

Unless the moment is handled with sufficient confidence!

We do this naturally in language (prosody again)

For example:

“Now, Primary 5, when you've finished, put your rulers in the green tray

and your protractorsin .… the yellow tray.”

The space makes people listen more.

Where else do we get sequences?

Maths Art – motifs, patterns

Dance Science - DNA...

History – sequence of events (prediction is less certain here

as the recent lack of Rapture confirms) Any other suggestions?

Fibonacci and growth

Finbonacci series again 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21...

Each number..

is the sum of the previous two

The series is found

in nature e.g. fir cones

Dividing any number...

...into the following number comes out atapprox 1.6

Dividing any number...

...into the preceding number comes out at

approx 0.6

Resulting in either of the following ratios* .....

1 : 1.6or

1 : 0.6

*ratio 1636, "reason, rationale," from L. ratio "reckoning, calculation, business affair, procedure," also "reason," from rat-, pp. stem of reri "to reckon, calculate," also

"think" (see reason).Mathematical sense is attested from 1660.

This ratio...

...known as the golden section,

matches the proportions of the rectangle

thought to be most pleasing to the eye

Fibonacci point in a musical phrase

Imagine a phrase of music e.g. Twinkle, twinkle, little star -

Including the rest, at the end, there are 8 beats (2 bars of 4 beats – time signature 4/4) 0.6 of the way along this journey is 4.8

In other words beat 5 Where the natural peak occurs

At the 1st syllable of little Ironically, the biggest point of the phrase is on the

word, “little” Don't blame me, I didnae write it

What's the point of the whole Fibonacci thing?

To get a natural feel forgrowth and decay in musical phrasing

whichlike the length of lines of poetry

is based on breathing.(Accidental alliteration – honest, guv

I don't even like alliteration- a device for dullards)

Where does this come from?

Mary Oliver in A Poetry Handbook says the iambic* pentameter **

represents the lung capacityof the average human lung.

*(1570s, from L. iambicus, from Gk. iambikos, from iambos "metrical foot of one unaccented followed

by one accented syllable,")

**1540s, from M.Fr. pentametre, from L. pentameter, from Gk. pentametros (adj.) "having five

measures," from pente "five" + metron "meter"

Why is this not more obvious?

In riff*-based pop musicwhere vocal phrases are draped

over a pre-existing rhythmic frameworkthis is much less obvious – and less still on X Factor.

*riff "melodic phrase in jazz," 1935 (but said to have been

used by musicians since c.1917), of uncertain origin, perhaps a shortened form of riffle, or altered from refrain. The verb is attested from 1955. Related:

Riffed; riffing.

Axes

No, not things to chop down trees...

but...

The plural of...

axis 1540s, "imaginary straight line around which a body

(such as the Earth) rotates," from L. axis "axle, pivot, axis of the earth or sky," from PIE *aks-

"axis" (cf. O.E. eax, O.H.G. ahsa "axle;" Gk. axon "axis, axle, wagon;" Skt. aksah "an axle, axis,

beam of a balance;" Lith. aszis "axle").

x, y and z

x = along the stringi.e. changing fret

y = along the freti.e. changing string

z = distance from the strings – which should always beas small as possible

Games

Always better in group lessons :-)

Spelling game

There are approx 70 wordswhich can be spelled outusing the musical letters

ABCDEFG

Version 1

Pupils are given a word(either by me or one another)

to spell out in notes.First to complete the word

is the winner

A variation on this...

is to relocate at least one of the notes

to another octave

or another string

Version 2

Pupils are told the starting noteand then have to identify a

word(played by me or another pupil)

Surprising things which many people don't notice...

Double letters e.g. EGGPrefixes e.g. AGE followed by CAGE

Suffixes e.g. EDGE followed by EDGEDInsertions e.g. FED followed by FEED

End matching beginning e.g. DAD; FAFF; That O, R, S, T, U etc. are not notes

When pupils improve at this game...

You know thattheir listening skillshave sharpened up

a great deal

Name that rhythm..

Where the rhythm* of a well known tune

is played on one note

*rhythm - 1550s, from L. rhythmus "movement in time,"

from Gk. rhythmos "measured flow or movement, rhythm,"

related to rhein "to flow," from PIE base *sreu- "to flow" (see rheum).

Supply the next note...

I play a phrase from a famous tune,stopping on the penultimate note

The pupils endeavour to landon the correct finishing note

A good game for beginnerswith limited note range

Good fodder: nursery rhymes; Christmas carols; TV/film theme tunes; national anthems

Reading Games

Play one bar each

The purpose of whichis to practise* the skill

of re-entering afterhaving lost the place

* s - because it's a verb :-)

When things are going well....

We change personnel..

Every half-barEvery beatEvery note

The last one results in little more than hilaritywhich is not a bad way to end a lesson

Name that tune...

Not very high-brow but a good way to relax

Of all these games...

Which do you thinkis the most popular?

The spelling game!

Funny old world.

Thank you!