This page describes the practical realisation of the notes from stage 2 carried out by Fraser Trainer and members of the London Sinfonietta, with staff and students from St. Martin's in the Field School, Tulse Hill, London and Maria Fidelis Convent School, Euston, London.
We began our second visit to both schools by refreshing our memory of the Japanese "Dark Scale" and the Bb mode which Takemitsu uses in Tree line. Each of the smaller groups also revised the melodies composed in session 1.
1. The first new task was to invent a second version of their melodies by changing either the construction, playing techniques or the orchestration of the groups original melody.
Here is melody 3 from St. Martin’s in the Field school in the orignal and then new versions
The second half of the session was devoted to texture in music.
2. The group sat in a circle. Each student was asked to sing or play an A on their instrument listening to many different qualities of sound that each instrument produced. Each member of the group was then asked to find two different ways of playing or singing the note A - eg. bowed, pizzicato or tremolando.
Students from Maria Fidelis Convent School
3. Once again in the smaller groups, the students made short texture pieces based on the playing techniques they had just explored. They chose just two pitches from which to build their texture pieces.
Students working with David Purser from the London Sinfonietta
4. Finally, we experimented to see how the original melodies sounded when played over the texture pieces.The following extract is from the St. Martin’s in the Field school.
Some worked better than others and several members of the group made suggestions about how to combine material and refine it further.
[stage 1] [stage 2] [stage 3] [stage 4] [ls 1] [ls 2] [ls 3] [ls 4]
Contact us: treeline@soundintermedia.co.uk