What Did We Talk About In Yesterday's Class (4/12):

Here's a summary of what we did and talked about yesterday:

• Close Listening for 2 minutes; write down and describe what you heard; shared findings.
• Spent a few minutes trying to replicate the sound using anything that could be found in the classroom (hitting them with things like chopsticks, fingers/hands, etc.)
• Played through a piece: first part consists of independent sounds, second part consists of interactions between sounds (i.e. trying to play as soon as someone else plays), third part consists of all sounds sounding at once. Each section is activated when the moderator (or teacher) hits a cymbal.
• Discussed: what is music? (some ideas that were thrown out: art, maybe an organization of sounds, something that is listened to, something that can be played) What does it mean to compose? (perhaps, organizing the order of events to some degree to get at an idea).
• What are some parameters of music that we can alter? (Some ideas: tempo, beat, rhythm, pitches, dynamics, articulations, form)

These are certainly great ideas to start with, and we'll build off of this in the next few weeks. In the meantime, please work on your compositions (hint: you can definitely use these definitions that we discussed, and hopefully it can help you start somewhere). Again, don't stress about it, try to have fun and experiment with it.

Remember: 30 seconds to 2 minutes; use found sounds (try to shoot for 3-5); give your piece a title; bring in the notated piece (not necessarily formal "sheet music").