Teachers College, Columbia University- Masters Work in Progress
Comprehensive Musicianship
Seventh Post: 7/27/14
As a finish up my research on Israel Kamakawiwo’ole and the Hawaiian culture, I took time to reflect and put together a slide show for my presentation.
Here’s a link to a radio story on NPR that explains most of his accomplishments and livelihood.: http://www.npr.org/2010/12/06/131812500/israel-kamakawiwo-ole-the-voice-of-hawaii
Here’s my final slideshow, and hopefully today I’ll have a video for my references later of my final performance!
Here’s a link of my final in class performance! Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4gP8d_elWU
Sixth Post: 7/26/14
A final recording! I have decided that I will strum chords on beats 1 & 3 in order to keep time, and focus on chords and singing. Obviously there are some spots that could be better, but I think for three weeks time, it’s pretty good! 🙂
Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World Final
The most direct access to a different way of thinking and making music, based on different assumptions and expectations about human action and sensation, is gained by making an intense, long-term effort to absorb those ways of music from within, attempting to get inside other peoples’ heads and fingers. The failures and obstacles encountered in the course of this endeavor are often as enlightening as the successes, provided one is able to step aside and observe oneself and others, analyzing the problems that arise from clashing assumptions, perceptions, demands, and capabilities, few of which are made explicit (p. 8).
– Benjamin Brinner (1995), Knowing music, making music
I faced several obstacles including rhythmic patterns, chord knowledge, singing and correlating all these areas of musicianship together. This forced me to listen to recordings and aurally relate, rather than being focused on sheet music only. Sheet music is consistently used as a crutch in my studies, and I’m glad I was given the opportunity to try and shy away from it while performing.
I think this quote perfectly describes my process of learning the ukulele. The most efficient way of learning anything is to be totally immersed in the cultural context of the subject. For example, while learning Spanish a student might take a trip to Spain, in order to culturally immerse him or her self into the language. This can be applied to any subject or context, including learning an instrument. Practicing and researching the culture and skills everyday, forces one to become somewhat immersed into their learning. As a teacher, it is important that we educate ourselves quickly and efficiently in order to move onto other subjects in our field. Being a music teacher, one has many subjects, genres and time periods to learn and discover. This also applies to our students. The variety and spectrum of interest in our students is huge. Some students will ask a wide variety of questions about different cultures and learning skills. It’s our job as educators to become somewhat familiar with interests of our students, in order to better relay the skills in the classroom to the “real world”. This also creates an intrinsic interest in our students, creating culturally aware musicians.
Fifth Post: 7/20/14
Chordal Somewhere Over The Rainbow 1
Chordal Somewhere Over The Rainbow 2
Tonight’s assignment is to further understand the cultural aspects of our song aurally. I have outlined a chordal analysis, to better understand the form and structure of the piece. Some of my classmates performed a transcription, but since I already have the sheet music, I felt this better suited my needs. Especially because the melody that I’m playing on the ukulele are simply chord progressions, a chordal analysis was the best use of my investigation. While looking at this analysis you’ll quickly realize that there are shapes that represent each section of the song: the intro, Somewhere Over the Rainbow and What a Wonderful World. The chords are written in both letters and Roman Numerals for even deeper understanding.
Somewhere Over the Rainbow, 7/21
This video, I try and shoot for a “final performance”. I demonstrate singing and strumming together in efforts of creating a polished presentation. In the video, I strum only on “1”, instead of strumming on the down, up, down pattern. I’ve decided to try and correlate the singing and strumming by compromising the rhythmic pattern. The Hawaiian culture demonstrates telling stories and expression.
Fourth Post: 7/18/14
Lots to talk about today! First here are some practice sessions from today and last night…
Somewhere Over the Rainbow, 7/16
This is the first recording of my final presentation song. Like I’ve stated in previous videos, singing and playing at the same time is very difficult for me. In this particular song, the strumming pattern is down, up, down. So instead of only thinking about strumming and singing, (which is already difficult), this song also adds a difficult rhythmic pattern. In this video, I just focus on chord movement and becoming comfortable with the fluidity of the chordal structure.
Somewhere Over the Rainbow, 7/18 Vocals
In regards to singing and playing at the same time, this video focuses on my singing. Being an instrumentalist I have always struggled with singing in general. This has always been a continued effort for my musical ability. I joined multiple choruses in college in efforts to become better, but I still struggle on a solo basis. I sing along with the recording in order to confirm my pitch. Usually I am more confident while singing with someone else. I have never been confident in my pitch while singing; I can however match pitch very well. This also helps me learn aurally.
Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Ukulele 7/18
In contrast to my last video, where I focused on singing, this video focuses on the chord progressions and my efforts to learn the ukulele. I start by showing the process of tuning the ukulele. I have a wonderful tuner on my phone, where it spells out the strings, and provides a pitch for each: A, E, C, G. I simply match each pitch to their corresponding string. The song contains the following chords: C, F, Am, Em, G, E7, Dm. In this video, I simply strum on the first beat of every measure. If you listen closely you can hear my foot tapping on the floor. Again, I think half of the battle of learning a string instrument is simply learning how to move around the fret board, not just placing your fingers on each chord; or simply learning how you arrive at each chord to make the movement as minimal as possible. The end of this video, I demonstrate the down, up, down pattern. The more I try and coordinate all these things together, the harder it gets and the more I struggle. I think with the deadline approaching quickly I’m going to focus on one or two aspects instead of trying to multitask at a subpar level.
I’ve started thinking about how I’m going to outline my presentation. I’ve come up with the following titles for my slideshow…
1.) The History of Hawaii
Here I will be describing a brief history on Hawaii, some of its troubles and some of Hawaii’s shining moments.
2.) Israel Kamakawiwo’ole
He is the arranger of the ukulele song I will be performing. I will give a brief biography on him, and his influences. Helping to further understand the song, the ukulele and Hawaiian culture.
3.) The Hawaiian Dance
Hawaiians have expressed themselves for centuries through dance and music, here I will give a brief demonstration and have volunteers perform!
4.) Hawaiian Instruments
Other Hawaiian instruments, that have influenced Hawaiian culture today!
5.) Ukulele- Parts of the Instrument/ Playing the Ukulele
A diagram and demonstration on how the ukulele works and its functionality.
Third Post: 7/16/14
Today my main goal is to outline what context my presentation is going to contain. Hawaiian culture consists of many different facets of music, dance and art.
Dance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btS2AJ1phKE
The other aspect of my presentation is going to be a performance of ukulele playing. Here’s a video of last night’s practice session!
I wanted to start with a basic song, that I am familiar with, and could apply my musical knowledge to the instrument in order to make it tangible. Some struggles that I had during this practice session were keeping in time while strumming and singing. As a saxophone specialist I have always been more of a one-track mind, in a sense where as I play, I only have to worry about one line of music. It’s difficult for me to focus on more than one line. Even when playing piano, I struggle with coordinating my hands to play as one overall melody.
& Today’s practice session.
This song was definitely more difficult than my first. I tried for a “reach” song, in order to expand my chordal palate. This song also showcases trying to sing and play at the same time. This song is familiar to me, but taught me several chords that I have not learned yet. I found this song to be difficult because of the complexity of the fingerings and motion from one chord to the next. Being fluid in performance is key. When learning a string instrument especially, it’s easy to loose placement on the fret board when trying to keep in time. Hopefully with lots of practice I’ll be able to obtain more fluidity!
Second Post: 7/14/14
Tonight, our assignment is to generate a list of resources for our references in beginning our projects. Being somewhat technology savvy I decided my main resource would be the internet, and all it has to offer.
Here are some links I’ve come across so far:
For Tab: http://ukutabs.com/top-tabs/99-most-popular-ukulele-songs/all-time/
For Popular Music Selection: http://www.ukulele-tabs.com
For Beginner Steps: http://www.wikihow.com/Play-the-Ukulele
For Sheet Music (Featuring my chosen song “Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What A Wonderful World”): http://liveukulele.com/tabs/
For A YouTube Reference: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4NA3TVpatvSWx0rZ1P18Ow
History of Hawaii: http://www.gohawaii.com/statewide/travel-tips/history
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Hawaii
Artists History: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_Kamakawiwo%27ole
I plan on buying some sort of book to reference specifically Hawaiian ukulele playing. I also plan on taking a trip to the library to see if I can pull up anything else on the Hawaiian culture or the ukulele. I have always had an interest in the relaxing sound of the ukulele. I’ve always been intrigued, but never thought to pick it up or how a teacher might involve the instrument into his or her classroom. I want to understand the basic Hawaiian history, and understand what the role of the ukulele has had on the Hawaiian culture. I will also research how this song “Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World” brought awareness to the Hawaiian culture and influence on America and American music.
First Post: 7/13/2014
My final presentation in Basic Musicianship is to explore and perform a piece from a culture I am not comfortable or familiar with. I find the prompt to speak on a higher level of education. I think this ideal of researching and emerging yourself into a culture of unknown is the best way to learn and understand the process. When given this prompt I had a lot of ideas and interests. Based off my resources and time restraint, I chose the ukulele. I have always had an interest in the ukulele; I have always wanted an opportunity to play it. I was able to get one over the weekend from a friend, and he is helping me learn slowly but surely. I told him that I needed a teacher of some sort, and he was happy to help. I will be sending him videos of myself playing throughout my weeks here, and with his critique and knowledge I’ll become somewhat of a decent player.
I piece I chose was Isreal Kamakawiwo’ole’s “Somewhere Over The Rainbow/Wonderful World” piece that launched him into stardom. This piece is one of the more well-known ukulele features in American mainstream music. This brought awareness of the Hawaiian culture and instrument. My plan of action is to learn the meaning behind his message, and learn his story through his Hawaiian culture. I’m so excited to begin!