Sunday, September 25, 2016

A Case Study in Cool: The Saxophone


If there is a western instrument that everyone knows, it the sax. There are several different types which form the saxophone family — each having a different sound. There are plenty of connotations with the instrument, some of which are over a hundred years old, others from more recent times. Even so, the device is only about 150 years old making it a relatively modern horn. 

Classification:

Instruments are classified into around five groups. The saxophone is classified into the group of Areophones, which means sound that is produced by a vibrating column of air. In the western classification, the saxophone is classified into the wind family even though it is made out of brass. Reason being is that is requires a reed. This one below is a tenor saxophone 



Item of Technology 


The saxophone was invented by a Belgian instrument maker named Adolphe Sax in the mid 1800’s. A product of innovation, creativity and determination, it threw a curveball into the music world with listeners wither loving or hating its unique sound. The idea was to take the technical capabilities of a woodwind like a a clarinet with the raw power and projection of a brass instrument. It was created to closely emulate the human voice and emotion. Unlike anything before it, the saxophone would not have been possible without the technical advancements of the industrial revolution. 



Items of Commodity

   The saxophone’s main use is for entertainment and it is a valuable asset to Jazz. Automatically, when you think of Jazz, you think of the Saxophone usually. As an instrument, i.e. a wind instrument, the Saxophone helps regulate your airflow at will and developing as well as developing diaphragms. As an instrument in general, the Saxophone provides one with a source of expression. Being involved with music also helps people develop better focusing skills as well as working together in groups. Being more related to Jazz, the saxophone is much better at allowing one to be more free in expression. In Jazz, it is more of free will rather than sticking with a beat. 

Spirituals Associations 

As noted by Bonnie C. Wade, some instruments have been know as being “Devil’s” instruments. The fiddle even was during a point in history. Alas, the sax was too know as a “Devil’s horn.” By 1903, tensions of the vile saxophone had mounted and Pope Pius X had enough of the disgusting saxophone, he found it profane. In fact, a recent Telegraph articled reported that he was “alarmed by the incursion of saxophones into sacramental music, warned of their dangerous capacity to ferment "disgust or scandal", Under the Second section of the 1903 “Tra le Sollecitudini” , modern music had  “risen mainly to serve profane uses,”.  Instead of just banning the saxophone, he banished all bands from playing inside the church—even banning piano inside the church. Here is a brief example of what was banned—and still is—under Section VI of the 1903 “Tra le Sollecitudini” :

“19. The employment of the piano is forbidden in church, as is also that of noisy  or frivolous instruments such as drums, cymbals, bells and the like.
20. It is strictly forbidden to have bands play in church, and only in special cases with the consent of the Ordinary will it be permissible to admit wind instruments, limited in number, judiciously used, and proportioned to the size of the  placeprovided the composition and accompaniment be written in grave andsuitable style, and conform in all respects to that proper to the organ.”
By the mid 1910s, saxophone had become a part of the jazz culture. However, that still didn't help its image. Jazz “lowers all the moral standards. Unlike liquor, a great deal of its harm is direct and immediate.”, this from a December 1921 issue of Ladies Home Journal.

The associations with the instrument continue to this day, from gender to even sultry sax renditions in spicy love scenes in movies and TV shows. It is also common in mood music. 
For example,
Here is a youtube video of sax music for whatever needs that may arise, such as love.



Furthermore, sax is considered one of the most iconic Jazz instruments, Charlie Parker is a quintessential Jazz artist, perhaps one of the greatest saxophonists to ever live. His style undoubtedly shaped Jazz to what we know it as today. 
This song below is “Ornithology” and particularly interesting song which uses the same chord changes as “How High The Moon”


Timbre and Aesthetics.

The horn itself has a distinctive sound. The warm sound is produced by a reed and is blown to a metal body. It has many keys, which have been refined and added upon throughout the years. The instrument can have beautiful designs and now is in many different colors. Normally it is brass or silver in color. There are several common saxophones, the tenor, alto, baritone and soprano. However, there are other less known and played models available. 

Capacity and Instrumentation

By design, the saxophone is very resonant and fills the air with sound. The reed vibrates against the mouthpiece and is amplifies by the brass body of the instrument which not only creates a loud sound but also allows the sound to carry. The saxophone ranges from decently quiet to very loud and is thereby able to be used in both small ensembles, as a solo act and in larger groups. However, it is not necessary to have more than a few in a Wind Ensemble or Concert Band. In fact, because of their unique sound and fairly recent history, saxophones are not frequently used in symphony orchestras due to both the conductors choice and lack of music written that includes them. More recently saxophone only ensembles have emerged, like the example below with more music being written and performed for Saxophone Quartets and Choirs. 




Association of Sexuality/Gender

The saxophone has long been associated with passion and is often utilized to strike a mood. Elaborating on what was previously mentioned, the tune below, the saxophone is used to illustrate the flirty female lead, Lee Remick, in the 1959 film noir Anatomy of a Murder. It is definitely associated with passion and sensuality. However, when thinking of famous sax players almost all that come to mind are men. Even though the saxophone has been defined as a more androgynous instrument (Dolorfino 2011) falling somewhere in the middle of the masculine-feminine range, the instrument is primarily associated with male performers like Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Jonny Hodges or even Kenny G. As a young female saxophone student I was told by my teacher that saxophones were made to be played by big black men, not small white women. This could have to do with any number of reasons, societal norms, roles of women, type of music played, time when music was performed, for what purpose. 


Overall, the sax is perhaps one of the most interesting instruments of the last two centuries, from it being a kind of novelty, to becoming one of the most popular instruments in Western Culture. It has associations and connotations to so many different groups and ideological fundamentals. Perhaps a distinct sound can do that. 

Credits:

Jonna
  • Build Blog
  • Association of Sexuality/Gender
  • Capacity/Instrumentation
  • Item of Technology 
Chase 
  • Spiritual Associations
  • Ideas about Particular Instruments (Saxophone)
  • Timbre 
Kailee
  • Classification
  • Item of Commodity 
  • Bibliography
  • Credits
  • Post to Sakai


Resources:

Dolorfino, Justine. "Gender Associations and Musical Instruments - Leading Notes." Leading Notes. N.p., 2014. Web. 26 Sept. 2016.

MidnightSwinger. "Duke Ellington - Flirtibird (Anatomy of a Murder)." YouTube. YouTube, 2012. Web. 26 Sept. 2016.

s13. "Noah Jenkins - Transfuse Performed by PRISM Quartet." YouTube. YouTube, 2013. Web. 26 Sept. 2016.

ARTISMUSICtv. "SELMER How Saxophones Are Made." YouTube. YouTube, 2009. Web. 26 Sept. 2016.

Scimonetti. "This Original Adolphe Saxophone circa Late 1800's." YouTube. YouTube, 2013. Web. 26 Sept. 2016.

60otaku4. "Charlie Parker Quintet at Birdland - Ornithology." YouTube. YouTube, 09 Oct. 2011. Web. 25 Sept. 2016.

YourRelaxMusic1. "Romantic Relaxing Saxophone Music. Healing Background Music for Stress Relief, Love, Massage, Study." YouTube. YouTube, 11 Oct. 2015. Web. 25 Sept. 2016.

Langley, William. "The Devil's Horn Always Plays the Best Tunes." The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 20 June 2011. Web. 26 Sept. 2016.

Mahon, John R. "Jazz Must Go." Jazz Must Go. Ladies Home Journal December 1921, 2012. Web. 25 Sept. 2016.


Pope Pius X. "Tra Le Sollecitudini." Tra Le Sollecitudini. N.p., 1999. Web. 25 Sept. 2016.

Posted by at No comments:

Sunday, September 18, 2016

Methods of Transmission for Teaching in Various Cultures

One of the key factors in how music is shared between people is the methods by which it is taught, or the modes of transmission. Bonnie C. Wade claims transmission is the “most crucial factor for music everywhere” and defines it as “the process by which musical knowledge is taught and learned.” In the teaching of music there are four main categories: Tactile, Oral, Aural, and Visual transmission. Each of these methods are used in various ways by cultures all over the world to help educate others in their quest for musical knowledge.  

Tactile Transmission


In the most hands on approach, tactile transmission is the process of teaching by touch. In this case the teacher would manipulate the student’s body to demonstrate how each movement should feel. In the case of legong dance, the instructor stands behind the dancer moving her limbs and counting out the beats so that she feels the correct positions of each gesture. I remember in my early saxophone lessons my teacher standing behind me to correct my posture and adjusting my hand position to ensure I was playing the instrument correctly. A large benefit of this teaching style is that it allows the student to learn exactly what it feels like to do something both correctly and incorrectly, careful to note the difference. It also is useful when there is something inhibiting the aural learning process. Students with hearing or seeing disabilities can still learn to make music and interact in the musical world by touch rather than sounds or sight. The only way to move past learning and into doing it to learn how it feels to make music, thus making tactile transmission a crucial part of the learning process and a helpful tool for music educators. 

In this video you can see legong instructors holding onto the limbs of their students and moving them to the proper places.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_iOEPKCqko 
A teacher explains how tactile transmission is used to help students with communication impairment. 

Oral Transmission


Oral Teaching is probably the most popular method of teaching in many cultures. While aural is more of the learner’s perspective, oral is more of the teacher’s perspective and how they are the ones providing the information or teachings. In the third paragraph on page 20 of Bonnie C. Wade’s book: “Thinking Musically,” It says, “oral transmission takes perspective of the teacher and implies interaction between the teacher and the learner, while aural transmission takes perspective of the learner, who hears the music through some aural source.” 

Oral teaching is shown literally all around the world. Am example of oral transmission being when the Native Americans would tell the stories of their ancestors. There was no pencil or paper back then, so they told their stories orally. The most common example of oral transmission is really in a class setting. In orchestra, the conductor would tell you if you played something wrong and then he would describe to you what it should sound like. There are times when just listening to something won’t help. You need someone to tell you how it should sound and what exactly you should be doing in order to achieve that. 


In this example, these 6 music schools in Berlin are having this performance together and they are currently having a rehearsal. Everyone has the same music, they can all read music, and they can all play their instruments. The piece they are performing is the Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, Op. 46: In the Hall of the Mountain King, so it is very well known. As they are performing, there was one part where the bassoons were kind of overpowering the melody. They are playing what is written and since it is well known, they are also playing by what they hear. They didn’t know that until they were told what they were doing and then told how they should play it. As the rehearsal is going on, the conductor is making all these little comments of how each section should sound, or what should be fixed. 

Aural Transmission


In regards to learning music, this is undoubtedly the most common method of learning. According to Bonnie C. Wade, music learned aurally is by “intentionally listening and by osmosis, that is, by absorbing what we here around us.” Of course, this may look different throughout cultures and even time. Many can attest to purchasing songs or listening to them on YouTube to improve their playing abilities or just to learn a song they enjoy. This is a fairly typical American tradition. It can even just be listening to music on the radio while driving down the road. No specific person is teaching you but you are still learning song. 

In the link below, the significance of listening to others play and sing is examined by a irish fiddle player. However, the watcher must note that oral and aural is still misunderstood as they often seem interchangeable. She mentions listening to her parents sing and eventually picking up on her own, all of the music she absorbed. Now she is a professional player, but this due to her roots with the music. Often, this is similar throughout many cultures. Being taught by your own listening is perhaps the simplest takeaway of this — the definition of aural transmission. 


Richard Gill

The Value of Music Education.

Richard Gill, the music director of the Victorian Opera Company, discusses the teaching of music, discussing the oral tradition and various methods of learning. He bring up many good points, including how most anyone can learn.  


Visual Transmission 


The last mode of transmission can be both simple and very complicated. Visual Transmission is the process of learning through sight, either through observation of the music making process or by reading written notation. The simple was to learn is by watching a performer of the music you are attempting to learn. I remember watching live jazz bands and trying to emulate the lead saxophone player; the way he tapped his toe, the way he lead the beginning of each phrase with a noticeable nod to his section and the way he confidently stood and danced to his improvised solo musically smiling at the crowd. The other more complication type of transmission is through notation. In Western cultures that primarily evokes images of sheet music lines top to bottom with five line staffs and a flurry of small dots and lines, however there are many types of notation all over the world and depends on what purpose it is intended for. This breaks down into prescriptive notation or specifically how to make the sound, or descriptive notation simply how the music should sound. In the video below you can learn the basics of reading staff notation spread throughout the world through colonialism so that it now functions as a sort of universal musical language. Written notation helps to spread music by creating a physical copy of music that can be shared between different generations, cultures and places all over the world. It helps teachers establish a working vocabulary to discuss and teach music with their students. 


Learning how to read sheet music, dancing Legong styled dance, to listening to your parents sing or learning from a professional instructor. These are only a few of the many examples of transmission out in the world.  Looking at these different cultures and their perspectives of transmission and how they value them, it just comes to show how each culture is different and how nobody is exactly alike. No two people are exactly alike and so they take in information differently. Teachers all around in every culture should take in the aspects of each different type of transmission. In terms of music, these types of transmission would prove useful when learning a piece and performing it. Though it may be evident in some cultures, others have yet to grasp the aspect of this idea. 

Sources

Wade, Bonnie C. Thinking Musically. Third ed. New York: Oxford UP, 2013


Thomandy. "How To Read Sheet Music - The Basics." YouTube. YouTube, 20 Jan. 2009. Web. 17 Sept. 2016.



BerlinPhil. "In Rehearsal: Simon Rattle Conducts 6 Berlin School Orchestras - YouTube." YouTube. YouTube, 14 May 2013. Web. 17 Sept. 2016.


NationalMuseumofAust. "Irish Fiddling and the Oral Tradition." YouTube. YouTube, 12 May 2011. Web. 17 Sept. 2016.



Educationgovuk. "Teaching Pupils with Communication Impairment Using Music." YouTube. YouTube, 27 Mar. 2012. Web. 17 Sept. 2016.


TEDxTalks. "TEDxSydney - Richard Gill - The Value of Music Education." YouTube. YouTube, 15 June 2011. Web. 17 Sept. 2016.
Posted by at 1 comment:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)