MUSIC PROJECTS

for students

James Drew and Mary Gae George

·        grand celebration music                                       

James Drew composed The Grand Celebration Music in order that students, with musical abilities ranging from elementary to advanced, can participate in creating a modern classical chamber music performance.

In this piece, Drew employs a process of combining simple “parts,” layer by layer, to create a complex maze of constantly changing forms that build a massive inner structure. Because of layering choices, indicated by a conductor, these “changing forms,” like a rearranged set of building blocks, cause each performance to be different while maintaining the work’s central character.

The Celebration Music can support a multiple array of performers, including chorus, due largely to its musical construction process (described above) and its large percussion underpinnings – which is not unlike that of a gamelan orchestra.

In addition to the excitement of the performance itself, the students gain many educational benefits including:

·     Heightened listening skills

·     Decision making and problem solving

·     Modifications of melodic and harmonic elements

·     The attention to detail inherent in chamber music

·     And most importantly, a heightened sense of rhythm and tempo.

In other words, the students learn first-hand how music is generated.

The Project consists of several classes to introduce the students to the materials and processes used, followed by rehearsals which culminate in a public performance. Parents and teachers are invited to observe the classes and rehearsals; they, and the general public, attend the public performance.

·         LEARNING BY CREATING: Interactive Projects in Classical Composing and Improvising                                                

Learning by Creating, by James Drew and Mary Gae George, is an important breakthrough in interactive music instruction. This program is being praised for how it engages students in a “one-on-one” format that clearly guides them through exciting adventures in CLASSICAL IMPROVISATION and PRINCIPLES OF COMPOSITION to an authentic understanding of HOW MUSIC WORKS.

In this project, intermediate and advanced students can work through the computer program on their own during Lab time, and then attend classes in which they perform and discuss the works they have created through the guidance of the program. Elementary students are also offered classes to reinforce new issues they encounter in the program.

Each Lesson within Learning by Creating contains explanations and demonstrations of how the structure of music works through applications, analysis, quizzes, and ear training. The program also contains many performances of classical music, from Gregorian Chant through the 20^th century literature.

The educational benefits vary according to the student’s level of advancement:

            ELEMENTARY STUDENTS are introduced to the basic concepts of

·       Rhythm (including meter) and Pitch (including intervals)

·       Melodic Goals and Melodic Direction

·       Composing Melodic Direction in Phrase Structures

INTERMEDIATE AND ADVANCED STUDENTS

·         Review these basic concept, discovering them in a new context through the activities of the program

·         Study and compose Theme and Variation processes

·         Learn how to reconstruct melodies through analysis and experimentation

Teachers and parents are invited to observe the Lab work and the classes.

SUMMARY

These two new projects compliment one another in that the Grand Celebration Music is a collaborative undertaking while Learning by Creating is an individual exploration. Both projects, however, accomplish the same objective of discovering how music works – and making it happen.

The end goal of this emphasis on musical process is to build audiences of discerning listeners and to expand musical understanding, insights, and a world of possibilities for teachers, their students, and performing artists.

• formingreforming

FormingReforming is a study program that involves the participants in fundamental principles of classical improvisation, directing them to invent, form, and reform musical ideas spontaneously. While working with the simplest materials, the participants will nevertheless be discovering and solving important problems of motion and form that apply to any level of music study. In the process, they will experience the freedom and enjoyment of making musical decisions of their own.

The study program closes with a performance of James Drew's Hypothetical Structures performed by James Drew and Mary Gae George, duo pianists.

• ensemble festival

The ensemble festivals bring students together to learn and to perform in teams. In the process, they develop effective study methods as well as listening and interpretation skills. To everyone's delight, the closing repertoire class demonstrates how much can be accomplished in a short but productive time together.

• repertoire and master classes

Performing music requires different skills and states of mind than learning music. To gain the necessary experience and confidence, students need informal opportunities such as these performance classes, which are open to students of all instruments and voice, and which feature solo classical music, chamber music, and Jazz improvisation.

Repertoire Classes are for less advanced students as well as for works in progress, and Master Classes for those with considerable performance experience.

• rhythm readers
  
  

This project is entirely devoted to instruction in rhythm and colour -- the shaping forces of all music .

In this project, elementary school age students learn about rhythm and colour by notating and performing on percussion instruments in a group setting. This experience provides an adventurous and informative approach to music making and listening that will be greatly appreciated not only by the Rhythm-Reader's music teachers, but more importantly it provides an early reasoning base for whatever a child pursues in life.