This page describes the practical realisation of the notes from stage 3 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.
Our third session in both schools introduced the elements of "solos" and "chords" to the students.
1. Using the notes of the "dark scale" we set up a background accompaniment, over which four soloists improvised melody lines.
Although the thought of improvising caused concern to some students, all those who had a go said later that it had proved to be a lot easier than they first thought.
We then experimented with improvising with notes outside the mode. We talked about how solos may fit into our own piece of music.
2. We then listened to Tree Line.The students were asked to listen for:
1) melodic phrases that were repeated
2) simple textures that were used as background accompaniments
3) solos, both fixed and improvised.
The discussion that followed led us to talk about the final element of our analysis of Takemitsu's compositional language: chords
3. Three groups were given the task of creating a series of chords from either the B flat mode, or the dark scale.
Students from St. Martin in the Field school working with Fraser Trainer and David Purser from the London Sinfonietta
Each set of chords had to have a feeling of resolution at the end - a feeling of resting somewhere.Here are a selection of chords from St. Martin’s in the Field school.
By the end of Workshop 3, we have created all the material for our pieces.
For each school, the elements consist of :
- melodies x 3
- textures x 3
- chord progressions x 3
- improvised solos
In session 4, we will attempt to put it all together and fix a form and a title for thepiece.
[stage 1] [stage 2] [stage 3] [stage 4] [ls 1] [ls 2] [ls 3] [ls 4]
Contact us: treeline@soundintermedia.co.uk
