The Power of Music
Unit 6: Chorus and Other Ensembles
Transcript
VOICEOVER:
Although orchestra is at the center of Sistema programs, other kinds of
ensembles provide students with rich music-making experiences. The AMPlify
after-school program in Atlanta is founded on the idea of transformation through
singing. At Glacier Valley Elementary in Juneau, Alaska, ensembles include rock
band, African drumming, step dance, and Tlingit dance and drumming. These
ensembles provide unique pathways for students to learn, grow, and perform
together joyfully.
AMPLIFY/ATLANTA MUSIC PROJECT, IVY PREPATORY ACADEMY, ATLANTA, GA
STUDENTS (singing):
Do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-la-so-fa-mi-re-do.
JAMES DEKLE, TEACHING ARTIST, AMPLIFY, ATLANTA MUSIC PROJECT,
ATLANTA, GA:
Everyone stand up.
STUDENTS (singing):
Many mumbling mice…
JAMES DEKLE:
Piano! Sshh…
STUDENTS (singing)
Are making mini-music in the moonlight.
JAMES DEKLE:
Forte.
AISHA BOWDEN, CO-FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR, AMPLIFY, ATLANTA MUSIC
PROJECT, ATLANTA, GA:
AMPlify is the choral program of the Atlanta Music Project. Atlanta Music Project
exists to provide intense music education for underserved youth right in their
neighborhood.
I am proud to say it is the first El Sistema-inspired choral program in the state of
Georgia. And it was founded here at Ivy Preparatory Academy. We have an afterschool program here where the students come for three days a week for two
hours each day and they learn choral music. They learn how to perform in an
ensemble. They learn how to read and notate music. They learn how to perform on
stage — stage presence. They learn how to work as a community. All those
Sistema-like initiatives that are so dear to us.
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STUDENTS (singing):
Singing legato
Aah, ooh, aah, ooh
Smoothly…
AISHA BOWDEN:
I was fortunate enough to participate in the Sistema fellowship at New England
Conservatory, and as a part of that fellowship, you go to Venezuela and you study
El Sistema for yourself, for several weeks on the ground. And what I brought back
from that I try to implement in my choral program. It was so very impressive to go
there and see the way they built the system. The students start from very, very
young and they just kind of go from level to level, just like the orchestral students.
And when I saw that, I realized, “Wow, there’s so much more we could be doing
with our preschool age, with our first graders, than what we typically think that
they can do here.” So what we do is we give them intense music instruction. We
do teach them the proper way to create music. But we grab them by making them
love the music first, by getting them in the sound, by having their friends there, by
creating fun opportunities that they can share with their family when they go
home. And I know plenty of parents say, “What did you do in AMPlify today?” and
the kid will say, “Oh, this is what we did in AMPlify today. We did this, we did
that,” and AMPlify has become a thing.
JAMES DEKLE:
One, two, sing, and…
AISHA BOWDEN:
I’m very proud to be working alongside Mr. James Dekle, who is an accomplished
composer, singer, arranger, pianist.
JAMES DEKLE:
The young kids, we started with the hand signals and them singing a little song.
The solfège syllables are as follows: do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do. We have “do”
here, and if you heard the kids singing they said, “Do at your bellybutton.” So that
signifies “low do.” And then we have “do” here, which is the top of the scale.
STUDENTS (singing):
Fa with your thumbs down, so like a gate open, la like a mustache…
AISHA BOWDEN:
We use solfège here, which is like a basic building block of reading music, of
sight singing. It’s very important to us that our students are literate musicians. We
want them to be able to pick up a sheet of music, read it. So that they will have
that skill later on in life.
STUDENTS (singing):
Re like a rooftop, do is at your belly button.
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JAMES DEKLE:
One, two, ready, sing.
STUDENTS (singing):
Do-re-mi-fa-so-fa-mi-re-do.
JAMES DEKLE:
Now…
We want to encourage the older and the younger kids to work together as much
as possible. A lot of the music notation and music skills, such as solfège, and
those kind and the rhythm exercises we do, they can learn those together.
One, two, ready, and…
STUDENTS (singing):
Do, do-re-do. Do-re-mi-re-do.
AISHA BOWDEN:
Something we noticed in El Sistema in Venezuela is they’re grouped by level, on
some levels you have kids all together with pretty wide age ranges. So we try to
bring that into the way we teach here at AMPlify.
JAMES DEKLE (singing):
Do. Do-re-do. Do-re-mi-re-do. Do-re-mi-fa-mi-re-do. Do-re-mi-fa-so-fa-mi-re-do.
ERIK HOLMGREN, FORMER DIRECTOR, SISTEMA FELLOWS PROGRAM, NEW
ENGLAND CONSERVATOTY:
Young kids in Aisha’s program learn solfẻge at an early age, just like they do in
Venezuela. This isn’t always common in the United States.
Many students don’t learn it until college. But as her students are showing, it is
possible, and they’ll have a foundation to build upon for the rest of their musical
careers.
JAMES DEKLE:
One, two, ready, and…
STUDENTS (singing):
Do. Do-re-do. Do-re-mi-re-do. Do-re-mi-fa-mi-re-do.
JAMES DEKLE:
Good.
STUDENTS (singing):
Do-re-mi-fa-so-fa-mi-re-do.
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JAMES DEKLE:
All right.
We use solfège to teach melodic line in our pieces.
One, two, sing.
JAMES DEKLE AND STUDENTS (singing to the tune of “America the Beautiful”):
So-so, mi-mi, so-so, re-re,
Mi-fa-so-la-ti-so.
JAMES DEKLE:
It really helps to separate the lyrics from the melody. From that, once they learn
the solfège and learn the melodic line, then we can add the dynamics; we can add
the expressions. And then last, we can apply the lyrics. I find that to be a very
good strategy in teaching choral literature.
Your turn.
STUDENTS (singing):
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain…
AISHA BOWDEN:
One and two and ready, go.
STUDENTS (singing):
So-so-so-so, so-la-so, mi-mi-mi-mi
AISHA BOWDEN:
Today we started off with some solfège exercises that prepared the students to
sing “Tue Tue,” which is an African children’s song. We had a few measures from
the song written out on chart paper on the board. We went through the scale first,
and then we put the measures on the board. They sang through those few
measures and then they went into their sheet music, where the same measures
that were on the board were on their sheets.
STUDENTS (singing):
Mi
AISHA BOWDEN:
Do-do
So they see how it’s not just random black shapes on a board, but it actually
makes music. And that’s the whole part of El Sistema; experience the music first
and then understand it.
Go.
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STUDENTS (singing):
So-so-so-so, so-la-so, mi-mi-mi-mi
AISHA BOWDEN:
And then they were able to continue reading the song in solfège. And later on, we
add the lyrics.
AISHA BOWEN (playing piano):
One, two, everyone together, sing.
STUDENTS (singing “Tue Tue”):
Tue tue barima tue tue…
AISHA:
Now, that that note you are making into a half note. I don’t know why.
AISHA BOWDEN:
“Tue Tue” serves several purposes. It’s a great show opener. Children love it. It’s
a fun piece to sing. But it’s also functional. We’re teaching them sight singing, and
it’s based on the C-major scale and it really focuses on the tonic and the
dominant, one and five, C and G. And, at this point in their reading, they’re really
familiar with that interval going from one to five, and you have a lot of G-G-G-G in
that song, and then it goes to C. It really helps their ear to get focused on those
notes.
Five, six, Isaiah, six, seven, eight.
ISAIAH (singing):
Tue tue barima tue tue
AISHA:
Ready, and.
STUDENTS (singing):
Tue tue barima tue tue.
Abofra ba, ama da wa da wa, tue tue.
Abofra ba, ama da wa da wa, tue tue.
Barima tue tue.
AISHA BOWDEN:
There’s not a rule book; there are not ten ways to do El Sistema. Some people
think, if you do these ten things, you’re doing El Sistema. It’s really just good
teaching and as our teaching artists know, it’s doing what you do best and
learning how to adapt to the students that you have in front of you. So, this is
what works for us here. To go through that scale, give them the pitches and let
them experience it first and understand it and then show them, this is what you’re
doing. This (singing) “so-so-so-so-so-la-so” really translates right into (singing)
“Tue, tue, barima…” And they see the connection and they’re like, “Oh, this is,
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this is what music looks like.” Yes, this is what music looks like. And then they
take it to church, and they pick up a hymn book, and they’re able to follow the
hymns, and then they take it somewhere else. And our goal is for them to take it
wherever they may go.
STUDENTS (singing):
Abofra ba, ama da wa da wa, tue tue.
Barima tue tue.
Tue tue, barima tue tue.
AISHA BOWDEN:
We arrange a lot of our stuff ourselves. And because we arrange it for our
students — and that’s very Sistema-like. You create an arrangement for who you
have in front of you.
Now, I want to see smiles. That’s my girl right here; smiles and energy. Okay.
JAMES DEKLE:
All right, I’m gonna sing the first verse. Listen.
(singing) Tell me how do you feel, when you get up in the morning?
JAMES DEKLE:
The piece “Shine” was a piece that I wrote when I was in college. I was working
with a songwriter, and he just provided the music and said, “You know, James,
could you provide some background vocals for me?” And, I, just “Shine” just
came to me, and I always wrote positive, lyrical songs. I guess that’s why I work
so well with El Sistema and with teaching kids music.
(singing) I just want you to live your dreams, and soon together we’ll sing.
When I wake up in the mornin’…
STUDENTS (singing):
Shine!
JAMES DEKLE (singing):
When I ride with my homies…
STUDENTS (singing):
Shine!
JAMES DEKLE (singing):
And when you see me with my people…
STUDENTS (singing):
Shine!
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JAMES DEKLE (singing):
Every time you see me…
STUDENTS (singing):
Shine!
JAMES DEKLE (singing):
When I wake up in the mornin’…
STUDENTS (singing):
Shine!
JAMES DEKLE (singing):
When I ride with my homies…
STUDENTS (singing):
Shine!
JAMES DEKLE (singing):
And when you see me with my people…
I like to pick songs that talk about peace, or joy, or happiness, or love, like
“Shine.”
STUDENTS (singing):
S-H-I-N-E
JAMES DEKLE (singing):
Say shine, shine, shine, shine.
STUDENTS (singing):
Shine, shine, shine, shine.
JAMES DEKLE (singing):
And when I wake up in the mornin’…
STUDENTS (singing):
Shine!
JAMES DEKLE (singing):
When I ride with my homies…
STUDENTS (singing):
Shine!
JAMES DEKLE (singing):
And when you see me with my people…
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STUDENTS (singing):
Shine!
JAMES DEKLE (singing):
Every time you see me…
STUDENTS (singing):
Shine!
JAMES DEKLE (singing):
Hey-ey-ey-ey.
STUDENTS (singing):
Hey-ey-ey-ey.
JAMES DEKLE and STUDENTS (singing):
Hey-ey-ey-ey.
JAMES DEKLE (singing):
Yes, oh-oh-oh-yes. Your turn!
STUDENTS (singing):
Oh-oh-oh-yes.
KAREN ZORN, PRESIDENT, LONGY SCHOOL OF MUSIC OF BARD COLLEGE:
The biggest export of El Sistema that we see in this country and other places are
the orchestras and the choirs, which are classically based. But if you go to
Venezuela, what you see is every kind of music is being taught and performed in
the El Sistema sites, from folk music to rock, popular music, composing.
Everything is happening and everything is equally important.
JUNEAU ALASKA MUSIC MATTERS (JAMM), GLACIER VALLEY ELEMENTARY
SCHOOL, JUNEAU, AK
[STUDENTS playing instruments]
LORRIE HEAGY, PROGRAM DIRECTOR, JUNEAU ALASKA MUSIC MATTERS
(JAMM), GLACIER VALLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, JUNEAU, AK:
If your vision and your goal is to create exceptional human beings who continue
to give back to their community, then that changes everything; the focus is
immediately on the ensemble. At Glacier Valley Elementary School in Juneau,
Alaska, we really want to provide as many opportunities in music through
ensemble.
In Venezuela, they would always have an ensemble for the students to aspire to.
So that if you kept working and you kept practicing, you knew that you could
move forward. And I think in the United States that’s something we have to work
on, because I think sometimes students fall in between the gaps when there isn’t a
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continuum of ensembles to help keep them motivated and feeling challenged. So
rock band fits that need.
One, two, here we go.
[STRINGS playing “La Bamba,” LORRIE vocalizing]
LORRIE HEAGY:
Good, let’s put it all together, clarinets you’re next. So, it’ll be the same notes as the
trumpets. Two, here we go.
[TRUMPETS playing “La Bamba,” Lorrie vocalizing]
LORRIE HEAGY:
Again, try force.
[TRUMPETS playing “La Bamba,” Lorrie vocalizing]
LORRIE HEAGY:
What I saw in Venezuela, you would see different ensembles perform, but then at
the very end they would all come together. So, when I came back to Glacier Valley,
we were finding that we had all these different ensembles and really no
opportunity to bring them together. And then came rock band — the morning
musician program for fourth and fifth graders who learned guitar, clarinet, flute,
and trumpet.
[STUDENTS playing intro to “La Bamba”]
LORRIE HEAGY:
It’s been exciting for me as a teacher, learning from the counselor, Rod Crist, who
just happens to be a musician and approaches music in a very different way than I
do. I was classically trained; you read what’s on the page, you don’t deviate, and if
you do, you played incorrectly. And what that did was killed a lot of my creative
opportunity or at least confidence to just improvise.
[STUDENTS playing “La Bamba”]
ROD CRIST AND STUDENTS (singing):
Para bailar la bamba
Se necesita una poca de gracia…
ROD CRIST, GUIDANCE COUNSELOR, GLACIER VALLEY ELEMENTARY
SCHOOL, JUNEAU, AK:
We incorporated rock band, was originally like the classic rock band where the
guitars, bass, drums, keyboards, and singers, but when I was watching the violins
I realized how well they knew their notes and it just really took off, and filled it up.
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LORRIE HEAGY:
They now have to learn a key that is much more challenging because they now
have to play in the key of D, which is most of what we do in rock band for the
strings. And they don’t mind playing E-E-G#-A-A over and over again. So it’s a
great way for them to learn more technique, but in a very powerful and cool way.
[STUDENTS playing “La Bamba”]
ROD CHRIST:
That’s it! Here we go:
ROD CRIST AND STUDENTS (singing):
Para bailar la bamba
Para bailar la bamba
Se necesita una poca de gracia
Una poca de gracia para mi para ti
Arriba, arriba…
LORRIE HEAGY:
One of the other principles in El Sistema is peer mentoring, and rock band serves
that purpose. You have first and second graders, fourth and fifth graders, and now
we actually have some of our returning fifth-grade students who are at the middle
school but choose to come back so that they can play and continue to play as a
sixth-grade student. So it’s wonderful — the peer mentoring that happens.
One, two, ready, and [vocalizes]. So your heels are actually on the offbeat [vocalizes].
Another important principle from El Sistema is embodying the music fully, like
whole body. When you see Dudamel or the Simón Bolívar orchestra play, it’s the
music is not moving just with their instrument hand. You can actually see the
whole orchestra move as an entity, and expressing that music through their
bodies. So, how do you encourage that early on with children? So that they see
their whole body as an instrument, and a way to express the music that they’re
producing. And rock band is a great way to do that.
ROD CRIST, LORRIE HEAGY, AND STUDENTS (singing):
Ba-ba-bamba
Ba-ba-bamba
Ba-ba-bamba
Ba-ba-bamba
ROD CRIST AND LORRIE HEAGY:
La bamba!
LORRIE HEAGY:
A violin teacher in Caracas, when I asked him you know, “What’s the one thing I
should remember about El Sistema to share with people back in the United
States?” He said, “Never place limits on what a child can do. They’re a musician
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from the very start.” And I’ve taken that to heart. So, why not try it with African
drums?
LORRIE AND STUDENTS (singing):
Funga alafia, Ashe, ashe.
Funga alafia, Ashe, ashe.
Funga alafia, Ashe, ashe…
LORRIE HEAGY:
With the fourth grade, I always start with singing before we play the drums.
Anytime a student is asked to accompany a song it’s important that they know
how to sing it first. “Funga Alafia” is the first piece that we learn in the World
Music Drumming Curriculum, and it’s a welcome song from Africa. It’s a perfect
fit, I believe, for an El Sistema-inspired program because what I saw in Venezuela
was folk music embraced at every level, and the World Music Drumming
Curriculum incorporates Latin rhythms, African rhythms, and it has worked really
well in our program here at school; the kids just love it.
[LORRIE and STUDENTS drumming]
LORRIE HEAGY:
I break it down into levels so that they know immediately that they can be
successful at this.
So the first thing we want to do is make sure that you’re following the drum leader. See
how I’m not touching the drum yet. And you’re going to use your hand, so if I speed up, if
I slow down. Good. And you’re looking for the center of the drum.
Drums are a great way to teach steady beat — in such a physical way. With the
fourth graders, I showed them that by using your body you can establish a steady
beat by just always returning to the same height.
That’s it, Gracie.
And we talk about ensemble skills, where one is a complement of another; while
one is resting, the other part is speaking.
Who are the low drums? Raise your hands. Who are the high drums?
And so they begin to see where their parts fit in.
That’s it. Thank you for your eyes.
Hayden.
Once they can play it on their own, I pull away and don’t play at all, and then I start
to bring in the other parts to see if they can still maintain their part as a team. And
that’s another level to double-check that, okay, they’re ready to learn the next part.
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Softer.
(singing) Funga alafia, Ashe, ashe…
Drums are a great way to build ensemble skills, reinforce steady beat, and it’s
such a great way to bring the group together. It’s just so powerful.
[LORRIE and CLASS playing drums.]
[CLASS step dancing]
STUDENTS (chanting):
Yes I can, I know I can, right now.
LORRIE HEAGY:
Again.
We teach step dance to our fifth graders as a rite of passage. It has become
something that they work on throughout the year to get ready for their promotion
in May.
STUDENTS (chanting):
Yes I can, I know I can.
LORRIE HEAGY:
Two, three…
STUDENTS (chanting):
Hey!
LORRIE HEAGY:
In El Sistema, ensemble is at the core of everything that we do and with step
dance, you don’t need any instruments. Your body is an instrument. So we’re
always talking about the body being your first instrument that you’re working from
and step dance helps build complex rhythms by putting it on their bodies.
STUDENTS (chanting):
Yes I can, I know I can, right now.
[Four STUDENTS step dancing together]
STUDENTS (chanting):
Hey!
JUDITH HILL BOSE, DIRECTOR OF EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVES, LONGY SCHOOL
OF MUSIC OF BARD COLLEGE:
Lorrie Heagy is meeting the needs of some of her older students who were not
able to begin with the violin program in kindergarten. The idea that this is a very
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physical music-making experience also reminds me a lot of Venezuela. When I
was there, I saw and heard some of the most physical music-making I’d ever seen
in my life. The movement, the embodied view of music, was incredible. So, Lorrie
is taking these ideas and adapting the physicality and the ensemble experience
for all of her fifth graders and making this opportunity available to all of them.
LORRIE HEAGY:
Okay.
LORRIE HEAGY AND STUDENTS (chanting):
Yes I can, I know I can.
Yes I can, I know I can.
LORRIE HEAGY:
Two, three…
LORRIE HEAGY AND STUDENTS (chanting):
Hey!
Yes I can, I know I can.
Yes I can, I know I can right now.
LORRIE HEAGY:
Did that help?
STUDENTS:
Yeah.
LORRIE HEAGY:
Okay. All right. Take a bow.
Should we try adding it with the hands?
[LORRIE and STUDENTS step dancing and clapping]
LORRIE HEAGY AND STUDENTS:
Hey!
LORRIE HEAGY:
Keep going.
What I love about the step dance rhythm that I learned from an Orff training
several years ago through Jim Solomon is that he put language to it. And that’s
very powerful. “Yes I can, I know I can.” We did that over and over again; vocally,
they heard it. But then once they start saying it in their mind and they’re doing just
the rhythms on their bodies, you know that they’re still saying that message
inside their mind, so why not choose language that’s positive so that that’s the
message that’s going through their mind over and over and over again?
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[LORRIE and STUDENTS step dancing and clapping]
LORRIE HEAGY:
And stop. So, Mrs. Denton’s going to teach. She’s got the low back going, and making
sure that it happens on what part of your body?
I collaborate with the PE teacher Suzy Denton. She works on the refining of the
body movements and making sure that everything is in place.
SUZY DENTON:
Your hands can go to the side of your calf.
LORRIE HEAGY:
I focus on the musicality of the rhythms and making sure that those pieces are in
place.
So as soon as I say “lift up,” “and” is your foot, your leg. Lift up and stomp.
LORRIE HEAGY AND STUDENTS (chanting):
Yes I can, I know I can.
Hey!
LORRIE HEAGY:
The step dance is a great way to teach rhythm, but more importantly, it’s about
keeping a steady beat, and being able to hear the other rhythms while focusing on
yours specifically. And that ensemble skill is complex and it’s a challenging one
and using your body as percussion has relevance for kids. It’s very cool; they love
it, they practice it all the time. It’s a strategy that has a musical purpose, but it also
has a purpose for their focus and their coordination.
[LORRIE HEAGY and STUDENTS step dancing.]
LORRIE HEAGY AND STUDENTS (chanting):
Hey!
HANS CHESTER, SECOND GRADE TEACHER, GLACIER VALLEY ELEMENTARY
SCHOOL, JUNEAU, AK:
[speaking Tlingit]
STUDENTS:
[responding in Tlingit]
HANS CHESTER:
[responding in Tlingit]
[HANS and STUDENTS singing Tlingit song and dancing]
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LORRIE HEAGY:
When I was in Venezuela, it was very clear that the music of that community and
of that culture was a part of every initiative. So when I came back to Juneau —
yes, we have violin as part of our program and classical music is a part of it, but
so should Tlingit dance and drumming. It should reflect who we are as a
community. It also gave teachers in our school an opportunity to be a part of this
program.
[HANS and STUDENTS singing Tlingit song and dancing]
LORRIE HEAGY:
Hans Chester offers this class for all ages, second through fifth grade, and for all
backgrounds. Once a week, they practice and get ready for performing here at our
school, but also for Celebration, which happens once every two years, where
tribes from all over the southeast come to gather, to sing and dance, and share a
very rich heritage and culture.
HANS CHESTER:
[Speaking Tlingit]
[HANS and STUDENTS singing Tlingit song and dance.]
HANS CHESTER:
I teach second and third grade here at Glacier Valley Elementary School. In our
after-school program for Tlingit drumming and dancing, we learn clan songs
which have been handed down to stewards of clans for countless generations.
And we learn the words to the song, we learn the way to dance to the song, and
we learn the history behind the song.
[Tlingit] Entrance. [Tlingit] Just go.
[STUDENTS singing and dancing to entrance song]
HANS CHESTER:
There’s always an entrance song; it can also be used to exit out of a performance.
I grew up with five days out of an entire school year dedicated to Tlingit. So I feel
it’s really important for not just our own Tlingit children but for everyone to learn
who we are because this is Tlingitani, this is the land of the Tlingits. And I think
it’s crucial to our legacy as a culture because we’re on the fringes of what’s going
to be left for the future generations.
[Tlingit dancing and singing]
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