The Power of Music

Day three brought on full lesson planning and teaching for sixth and fourth grades, while I observed the second grade classes at the end of the day.

The sixth grade lesson today introduced them to different kinds of part singing for the first time this year. Through two different songs, "O, Desayo" and "Elijah Rock," we learned about unison/harmony singing v. split/descant singing. After studying and learning the first song, we listened to Elijah Rock as performed by the Moses Hogan Chorale. I silently observed the kids listening to this the first time in each of the three sixth grade classes, and was amazed by the students' reactions to the power of the music. Take a minute, and listen to this with your eyes closed and the mind of a twelve-year-old: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLR31UyuFP0&feature=related

The kids couldn't hold still. There was just no way that even I could not help but move to the music and think the words in my head since I have sang an arrangement of the piece before. When it was done playing through, their faces turned from amazement to horror as they asked if they had to sing the "opera" parts (the descant). I laughed and told them only the boys would need to and then quickly told them I was kidding.

Music has the power to cause emotions to well up within us, even with the sixth grade students I taught in my first classes today. These feelings are gripping--often irresistible--and seem to emerge from nowhere. These feelings color our moods, affect our perceptions and generate a behavioral pattern. The indisputable fact about music is its power to evoke emotions. Is there anyone, for whom, music is completely emotional, or neutral? Music has the ability to inevitably tap the still, mysterious deep well of our emotions.

Music is an extremely versatile medium of communication. It is capable of exploring all the features that are used in verbal communication. Moreover, it does so in an explicit and structured way, which makes it an interesting and useful window into human communication, in general. Mrs. Stamer told me to look up this clip of Bobby McFerrin at a Science Conference back in June of 2009, and I was amazed at the natural understanding of the (what I presumed to be) scientists through their musical communication: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne6tB2KiZuk

The repetition of a line as in a lullaby, the regular beating of a drum--they produce a feeling of physical ease and lull the child to sleep. The rhythmic sound of the train, of waves breaking on the shore, the song of a cricket at night--why, even the electric fan is able to produce a soothing physical quiet. But good music does not stop there. It touches our emotions. True music really far deeper and touches our very soul and leaves its imprint on us. It may not be possible to explain or describe this reaction in ordinary language. It can only be felt. It is one of those mystic experiences, which baffle analytical explanation.

Music is known to endow the listener with aesthetic or intellectual pleasure. It can be simple, complex, subtle, overt, and these features may reside in one of the different aspects of the music e.g. rhythm, melody. Some of the greatness of music however, lies in its holistic nature that all the elements form a unique wholeness which may not be understood by studying the parts separately. However complex, music is readily appreciated by the mind without the need for formal knowledge.

The lay listener may not be able to hear which instruments are playing, or which pitches are used. After listening to a brass fanfare today, the second grade classes had trouble identifying that french horns were the only instruments playing. At the same time, people may have no problem appreciating the music as a whole. An experienced listener, on the other hand, may be able to transcribe every note, but might still be at a loss to understand why the music is so pleasing to listen to even for the time!

As a performer, I believe that music can recreate emotions and get the listeners involved with my emotions. Scotty and I have discussed before how any particular music has an inherent emotion, and there is the emotion that one feels while rendering. Besides, the listener is in an emotional state while listening to that music - which is also important because it could be possible that this will now be linked to the emotional state of the listener. So he or she can use the song to recreate this emotion. Very often we hear people say, "This is my song," and feel that special emotion again.

Rhythm and melody are two facets of music that lend themselves to enjoyment in their individual capacities. The experience of beat and rhythm has a simple relation with joy, well-being and even excitement. Babies spontaneously start to rock and move when they hear music with a pronounced beat in a medium or fast tempo. By changing rhythm, we can change the aesthetic appeal of a piece of music. Even a change of tempo can cause variations in the aesthetic appeal.

Similarly, melody, which is the soul of music, can create different types of feelings in listeners. Some melodies bring soulfulness, some sadness, some bring jubilation, while even others bring tranquility.

Music is created from the heart and moulded by emotion. As musicians, we are inherently creative, or so people say, and we have the ability to derive intense pleasure from a particular piece of music, which we listen to or produce. Here, I am referring to an aesthetic experience, which everybody must have felt. Tears of joy, a tug at the heart, goose pimples...True art always comes as an irresistible inner urge. All such works of art are the result of an inner urge. That is why it is something inherently beautiful...And there can be no enjoyment more impersonal and sublimating than what it offers. It prepares the very soul for something higher.

Listening to the observations made by elementary school students on the different pieces in the classes is quite eye-opening! My very first day, when we were asking the fifth graders what the differences between major and minor were, one student spoke up saying it is "a change in atmosphere." How deep is that for a fifth grader?!

New Perks: (From now on referred to as P+)
*I have officially begun my Candidate Work Study that is due in five weeks!

New Things I've Learned/Ideas: (From now on referred to as TILI)
*Enharmonics are two names for the same note, just like Megan Elizabeth are two names for the same person
*Microphones/sound systems in the classroom help so you don't lose your voice by the end of the day, and students can hear you no matter where you are in the room
*Make sure I have a way to cue students when it is their turn to sing to avoid confusion and wasted time
*When kids are sitting in front of the projector, give a thumbs up instead of raising their hands to avoid making shadow animals on the screen
*Jumbo butterfly clips work really well to hold books open under the document-camera