His creativity strategy for composing and performing music has been the subject of several NLP modeling studies. He presents the
NOVA SCOTIA MUSIC CREATIVITY PROJECT
On March 27-30, I ran a graphic notation workshop along with high school band director Richard Bennett and his 51-piece band. Graphics are marks like wavy lines, straight lines, dots, curliques, etc., a form of musical notation which you interpret with your voice or instrument using your own pitches and interpretation of length. Prior to my coming, Richard rehearsed the band in reading a set of typical graphics I had sent him. When I arrived here’s what we did:
DAY I AM:
The band collectively created on a blackboard a graphic piece. Then, one by one, band members directed the band in a vocal performance their graphic piece. Next, all the students wrote a graphic piece of their own on paper, then, one by one, posted it on a blackboard and led us through a performance of it.
DAY I PM:
Those who wanted to compose a piece for the Monday night concert 3 days later went with me to another room where they started composing their pieces with me mentoring, while Richard played through more of the graphic pieces from the morning with the remainder of the band in the band room.
DAY II & III:
Same basic pattern as Day I — composing and reading graphics.
DAY lV:
We rehearsed for the evening concert, which included three of my pieces for young band, which Richard and I conducted, and seven graphic pieces written and conducted by the students.
CONCERT 7:30:
Seven student composers directed their own pieces in performance, interspersed with my three composed works, and talked about them to the audience, who viewed these pieces on an overhead projector. One of the student composers was a dancer and conducted her piece with dance movements, cueing entrances by waving her arms in the air, swooping this way and that with her body, and finishing with a dramatic exit as she gave her last cue to the band.
The students got a standing ovation from the audience of 110 parents and villagers present.
Interspersed with these activities during our four days I conducted exercises in mind and body preparation for performance, including dance, mime and Neuro Linguistics (NLP).
This project was the most exciting I have ever done with students, and both Richard Bennett and Nova Scotia Education consultant Ardith Haley said they want to utilize these techniques in further education planning for the province.
| Mainly, I was extremely proud of the students, who showed us how much they could produce when it was expected of them. And of course, they have a music educator and band director in Richard Bennett who encourages that spirit and lays the groundwork that makes it possible. Before going to Middleton, I wrote Richard and said: „Can we really do this all in four days?“ Following the concert, exhausted, we both sat back with a shot of single malt scotch and shook our heads in disbelief that we had pulled it off. |
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The result of this project is that the Province of Nova Scotia has added this graphic notation technique to their standard junior high school teaching curriculum.
These kinds of developments are really more exciting to me than what is going on in the orchestral world today. I think helping shape a growing human being is the greatest creative act we can undertake.
And what fun it is!
(Autor: M. Colgrass | Foto: Unbekannt | Quelle: http://www.michaelcolgrass.com)
