Term 2 - Lessons 14 and 15, 6th and 10th March 2017

For the Grade 5 Theory Exam, they ask you to add chords to form cadences.

This link gives a good explanation of what cadences are.

You only need to know about these three types of cadence:

Perfect (V - I)

Plagal (IV - I)

Imperfect (I - V,   IV - V  or   II - V)


So, there are only 4 chords you can use (I, II, IV or V) and only in those 5 orders above!!

The other good news, is that the question will only be in C, G, D or F Major!!


This link takes you through the method in great detail.

Term 2 - Lessons 12 and 13 - 27th February and 3rd March 2017

NB: This Friday (3rd March), I will look through your listening work if you would like.






Today we are setting text to rhythm.

My suggested method would be:

i) recite the poem until you are happy that you have got the stresses in the right place.
ii) figure out the time signature
iii) mark the stresses on the text
iv) add bar lines to the text
v) notate the rhythm you have been saying (although you may need to change it slightly to make it keep to the time signature)
vi) read back what you have written
vii) edit as necessary

NB: make sure that you put hyphens between syllables of the same word, always starting each syllable with a consonant
eg. syl-la-bles


In groups, you are setting this poem:

The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea

   In a beautiful pea-green boat,

They took some honey, and plenty of money,

   Wrapped up in a five-pound note.

and this one:

Gone were but the winter cold,
And gone were but the snow,
I could sleep in the wild woods
Where primroses blow.

ALSO:
By next Friday (10th March) , please learn the following words (there will be a test!!)

a	at, to, by, for, in, in the style of
al, alla	to the, in the manner of (eg. alla marcia - in the style of a march)
allargando	broadening (getting a little slower and probably a little louder)
allegro assai	very quick
andantino	slightly faster than andante (but may also mean slightly slower)
assai	very (eg. allegro assai - very quick)
con, col	with
dolce	sweet, soft
e, ed	and
espressivo (or espress or espr)	expressive
fp (= fortepiano)	loud, then immediately soft
giocoso	playful, merry
grave	very slow, solemn
grazioso	graceful
larghetto	rather slow (but not as slow as largo)
largo	slow, stately
ma	but
maestoso	majestic
meno	less
molto	very, much
mosso, moto	movement (eg. meno mosso: slower; con moto: with movement)
non	not
piu	more
presto	fast (faster than allegro)
senza	without
sforzando, sforzato (sf, sfz)	forced, accented
simile (or sim.)	in the same way
sostenuto	sustained
tenuto	held
troppo	too much (eg. non troppo: not too much)
vivace, vivo	lively, quick

Term 2 - Lessons 10 & 11 - 20th and 24th February 2017

Most of what we looked at today was revision (dotted rhythms, time signatures etc) and there are already plenty of resources on this blog for you to revise further.


Here is a reminder of the difference between simple and compound time signatures.


We used this sheet to practise reading in compound time signatures.
(please have a go at this)

And this explains how triplets work.

(this is just revision)

Here are the basic rules of beaming.
(please read this)

Here are some guidelines for beaming in compound time.
(we didn't get on to this in the lesson, please read if you're interested)

Here are some simple exercises to practise beaming.
(we worked on these exercises in the lesson - please complete for homework).



We began to look at text setting by putting short phrases of text with appropriate rhythms.

Like this:

Term 2 - Lesson 9 - Friday 3rd February

Remember:
Those of you who are being retested, this will happen in the first lesson after half term. 

Everyone: please revise rhythm (note values and time signatures) as we will be working on this after half term,



Listening Task

Here is your task sheet for the listening analysis.

You should be analysing the errors in the recording/performance that you have found. In addition, there are errors in the following tracks. Again, give a brief account of the error and what could have been done to prevent or fix.

Track 1: (around 8.50)


Track 2: (in the introduction)



Track 3: 

Faulty version:

 

And to help you find the errors, here is a "good version" to compare with.



List all the errors (at least 8) you notice in the faulty version. In each case, describe exactly what is wrong and suggest ways in which the problem could have been prevented, fixed or both.

Term 2 - Lesson 8, Monday 30th January

Here's a page which talks about the alto and the tenor clefs.

Term 2 - Lesson 7 - Friday 27th January

Some horrid stuff to listen to...





This is one of my favourite songs ever, but it is full of "faults". What are they?



This is far from horrible. This is a very good example of scat singing





Popping is a common fault in recordings. Read about it here .





Homework:

FOR NEXT FRIDAY: find examples of errors in performance or production in recordings from the last 5 years...

Term 2 - Lesson 6 - Monday 23rd January 2017

Acoustics (by which I mean the science of sounds).

This page recaps pretty much all the stuff we covered.



Here are various modes of a string vibrating:

Here is a violin string vibrating in slow motion (showing the different modes happening at the same time:




and here is the harmonic series

This video explains things really well:



These videos are Leonard Bernstein talking about the Harmonic Series (giving a very similar demonstration to that which I gave so anyone who missed the lesson must watch this.)








Finally, if you like maths: