CODA
Activity #9: Pentatonic, Compound and Simple Meters
Music:
- Students will be able to perform the solfege of low so, low la, do, re, mi, so la with hand signs. (Doraji)
- Students will be able to perform and explain how selected music connects to and is influenced by specific cultural interests, purposes, or contexts. (Pr. 4.1)
- Students will be able to demonstrate and explain how the music elements (such as tone colors) are used in performers’ and personal interpretations to reflect expressive intent. (Re8.1)
- Students will recognize and refine their performance over time through openness to new ideas to simple and compound meters. (Doraji in 3/4 and 9/8 meters) (Pr5.1)
SEL:
The focuses of this unit are to guide students to explore self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship skills.
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Students will be able to
discover the relationship between individuals and the Korean culture and music, creating harmony with an unfamiliar culture.
Students will be able to identify 16th notes. (Dalcroze Game, Waimānalo Warriors)
| FOCUS | KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS | SONGS/CHANTS/BOOKS |
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MELODY
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FORM |
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METER |
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Korea
Korea is a country with a long and rich history, located northeast of China and Southwest of Japan (See map). During the 14th century, Confucianism influenced the Korean government and education systems (Lauren, I don’t know whether the location is really the factor, it’s more about politics). Even the scholars read and wrote the traditional Chinese characters. However, Emperor Sejong invented Korean characters in 1446. The first dynasty in Korea was the Gojoseon (古朝鮮) dynasty and later was called Joseon. Until this day, Korea maintains its unique and distinct culture, including food.
Have you eaten kimchi? Kimchi is famous Korean food that people can find in many restaurants in Hawai`i. Kimchi is a marinated cabbage. During the old days, there was no refrigerator. When people had no access to vegetables in the winter; thus, they fermented cabbage with salt and spices and stored those underground. By doing this, they will have vegetables to eat during the cold season. Same as kimchi, the roots of the doraji, the bellflower, can be stir-fried or marinated with spicy sauce and served as a side dish. The flower of doraji is in white and purple colors, and the root is bitter (Bburi Kitchen, 2015).
Doraji is also a famous folk song, and it is about food. Folk materials are songs and chants that have been sung in past centuries. Folk songs are closely related to everyday life activities such as rituals, work, child rearing, and entertainment that represent the culture in that people live (Loong, 2007). Doraji depicts a scenery of people pulling doraji in a deep valley, and they fill their bamboo baskets with the roots of doraji. In the chorus part of the song, the singers sing in joy after filling in the basket. The farmers would cook and marinate the roots; they sold the rest of the doraji in the market in the old days. Because it provided the income, they sang Nae sa rang a (my love, doraji).
Here is the clip of teenagers in Korea singing doraji (2'15").
In activity #3, we discussed about classical instruments that have different tone colors/timbre. Same as instruments, voice also has different tone colors.
Describe the the tone colors of the these Korean girls' voice. Are they:
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Bright, light, thin, nasal, or
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Dark, heavy, deep, thick.
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Bright, light, thin, nasal, or
- Do you eat rice? Koreans eat rice every day. Do you like to taste or eat something new? Should we criticize the food just because it is different from what we usually eat?
- Are you familiar with this kind of tone colors, and singing style? How would we react appropriately when hearing a different language that we do not understand?
- What do you notice about the way they dress? What did you see about the colors and outfits?
- If you have a new classmate who is just transferred from Korea, how would you treat her? What might she be feeling coming to a new and unfamiliar place? Will you learn some Korean greeting words?
Doraji, 3/4 meter, pentatonic
Now, let's learn the song by singing after Mrs Sora Yoon, she is a native Korean and a music teacher.
Translation
1. Doraji doraji , Baek doraji. Shim shim San Chun e, baek doraji.
Doraji doraji , white doraji. In the deep valley, white doraji.
2. Han do- ppu ri man, Kae-eo-do, Daebaguniro bansilman doenuna.
Only one or two roots have flooded my bamboo basket.
(Chorus)
E-ya-ra nan-da, Ji hwa ja, Jo- ta
(Meaningless words), it’s great!
Eol ssi- gu, Jo ku -na, Nae sa rang a –
Wow, amazing, my love!
Doraji Music Score - We cannot really use "stick stick" notations? Thus, I made the notations kind of "neutral." What do you think?
Note: Since students do not know some of the rhythmic patterns in this piece (dotted eight-sixteenth and dotted quarter-eighth), thus this score only shows the solfege. The teacher still may sing the solfege following the rhythm of the piece. Or in other words, the students will sing the rhythm "by ear."
In Activity #5, we learned about the Pentatonic scale. In this activity, we will practice the pentatonic scale a Korean folk song, Doraji.
Phrase 1:
- In this piece, we will sing the note F as do. Your teacher will sing the above solfege for you once.
- What is the first solfege? (mi)
- Sing and hand sign this phrase.
Phrase 2:
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Note that there is a "cousin" of la in the second phase, which is
low la. Same as low so, which is the "cousin" of so. Your teacher will sing so and low so; la and low la for you. Can you tell
which one are high and lower?
- What is the last note of this phrase? (low so,) What is the first note of mm 7 (low la,).
- Sight sing with hand signs mm 7-8.
- Sing and hand sign Phrase 2.
Phrase 3:
- Are mm 9 and 10, the same or different? (same)
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What is the first note of mm9? (low la,) Besides low la, which note do you see? (do)
- Sing and hand sign mm 9 and 10, then the whole phrase.
Phrase 4:
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Phrase 4 is similar with which phrase? (Phrase 1)
- Which phrase is different? (mm15) Sight sight this phrase.
- Sing and hand sign the whole phrase.
Phrase 5:
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Phrase 5 is the same as which phrase? (Phrase 2)
- Sing and hand sign the whole phrase.
- Can you identify the melodic form of this song? (abcab)
- Note that there are low so, low la, do, re mi, so, and la in this song. There are five different notes; we call it a pentatonic scale. But the "cousins" of low so, and low la, are also here; we name it an extended pentatonic scale.
- Sing and hand sign the whole song.
- Sing the whole song with lyrics.
Doraji Traditional Singing
Now, let's listen to this video and compare the 3/4 meter and the traditional Korean rhythm, which is in compound meter,
what do you notice? How are they different?
Now, let's try to dance with Miss Sora, can you feel the compound meter?
Now, let's listen to the traditional way Doraji is sung, accompanied by janggu.
Translation
1. Doraji doraji , Baek doraji. Shim shim San Chun e, baek doraji.
Doraji doraji , white doraji. In the deep valley, white doraji.
2. Han do- ppu ri man, Kae-eo- do, Dae ba guni Chul - chul – chul-, Da num - neun da
Only one or two roots have flooded my bamboo basket.
(Chorus)
E-ya-ra nan-da, Ji hwa ja, Jo- ta
(Meaningless words), it’s great!
Eol ssi- gu, Jo ku -na, Nae sa rang a –
Wow, amazing, my love!
Janice (Wednesday, 25 May 2022 18:55)
I agree with Lauren about SEL questions...I don't think each section needs an SEL component. I realize that is one of our two focuses but...I don't think the teachers will have time to ask all the questions. Well we can put it there and let them choose. Maybe we need a section on how to facilitate the SEL question time (e.g. pair-share, group share etc.)
Lauren F (Tuesday, 24 May 2022 00:56)
New videos:
Maybe add title for 3/4 meter like you did for compound. Also maybe add voice over of counting in 3/4.
Maybe ask which is playing the strong beat… her hand or the stick?
I like the videos a lot. I think the kids will find it very interesting, especially the last one since there are rhythms that we don't typically hear in western music.
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Not sure what you mean by this: We cannot really use "stick stick" notations? Thus, I made the notations kind of "neutral." What do you think?
Personally, I think the neutral note heads are a little confusing. I think even if we include it as stick notation, even with rhythms they don't know, at least it holds the spacing of the solfege labels. Kids won't necessarily know the exact durations, but they can guess/follow based on how far apart the sticks and solfege labels are. (Kind of like music video games--like rock band--where they have a running time line and push buttons when the note appears... most of the kids playing aren't thinking about what the rhythms are, but are using visual/spacial reasoning to get it right.)
Kevin Morita (Sunday, 15 May 2022 16:46)
1. Korea has a long history. This country is located in the northeast of China and southwest of Japan. Korea is divided into North and South Korea (See map). -> Could we condense the first two sentences to maybe
"Korea is a country with a long and rich history, located northeast of China and Southwest of Japan."
It feels strange to start with just "Korea has a long history."
2. I am not sure if there are different types of spelling - Kimchi vs. Kimchee? both are used in the introduction. If both are acceptable spellings, I think it would be best to choose one to use for consistency OR acknowledge the fact that there are different ways it is spelled.
3. I think this would be a great time to introduce F major. The others pointed out about ledger lines and I agree that it will get confusing (especially when there are multiple ledger lines per note). If the previous units are used and supplemented, I think introducing F major at this time will smoothly integrate into the unit. I agree with Lauren and Katherine's ideas about using movement for the meter.
As far as singing the notes, my 7th and 8th graders can sing down to the low la and low so
Katherine (Sunday, 15 May 2022 15:35)
Doraji Music Score:
I think I would also lean towards having the notation in F and use stick notation. I think that the ledger lines in C would be pretty confusing for the kids, especially if they're coming into this with little or no music background.
Introducing compound meter:
I really like Lauren's idea of having a beat movement activity with the two meters, so the student can experience the difference between the two. I think after experiencing the meters, it would be appropriate to introduce compound meter.
SEL questions:
I also think we could ask them which meter they prefer, but I agree with Lauren that they might not yet be able to articulate exactly why they have that preference. We could ask what they feel about the overall piece. They might also be able to share if they've heard the song before and what it makes them think of in that aspect.
Lauren F (Monday, 09 May 2022 20:29)
SEL
Do you eat rice? Koreans eat rice everyday. Do you like to taste or eat something new? Should we criticize the food just because it is different from what we normally eat?
Are you familiar with this kind of tone colors and style of singing? How would we react appropriately when hear something that is different? *Or in a different language that we don't understand*
<What do you notice about they way they dress?> What did you notice about the colors and fashion (is there another word, folks)? * I think fashion is an okay word...vague enough to allow students to talk about a variety of things they might notice.
If you have new classmate who is just transferred from Korea, how would you treat her? <What might she be feeling coming to a new and unfamiliar place?> Will you learn some Korean greeting words?
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Yikes, it has low la, low so, what should we do? Is it too low? Should we use stick notations? And, students do not know tim-ri yet.
* I would leave it in the key of F and use stick notations, also blocking out the lines that have tim-ri. Even if you transpose to the key of C, students still might not be able to identify low so/la because not many have experience with ledger lines and it's not something we explicitly covered in previous activities either.
I know you put in the content that they are learning so pentatonic, but would it be enough to just leave it as a pre-prepare type of exercise? If you label it as so pentatonic, then you have to go into discussion about low so/low la, etc. I know this is catered toward upper elementary or intermediate, but if they come from a school with no music program, it is unlikely they would have experienced this. If you just let them experience it/pre-prepare then they can still hear it is pentatonic like in the previous examples we gave them but maybe we mention that it just starts on a different note.
If we are labeling it is so pentatonic, then I would probably do stick notation and label the solfege above it, but you still run into issues with them not knowing tim-ri or maybe even tai-ti.
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Phrase 1:
What is the key of this exercise? (C) *maybe need to reemphasize that the key would be the scale that it's based on... but it would be difficult for them to tell possibly since it is so pentatonic.* What is the first solfege? (mi)
What is the contour *not sure if we explained contour in a previous lesson* of the melodies in mm1-2, 3-4? (descending)
Sing and hand sign this phrase.
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So my thoughts going through the whole procedure, is if we are going to label so pentatonic, then maybe we should actually write out the scale. Same for the other activities as well. If you're expecting students by this activity to be able to read all of this on a staff, then we should show notation of do pentatonic and major scale in the previous activities. In the procedure we never really explain what so pentatonic is and how it's related to do penatonic.
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My plan is to let them hear the difference between 3/4 and 9/8 meter. So, I will ask Sora sing a version of 3/4 and put those side by side.
Question:
1. They can identify the meters by ear. Or, *I think this greatly depends on how much music experience they've had prior. Students with no music experience might hear that it sounds different, but might not understand why. It might be good to maybe have them do a beat movement while listening to each so they can better feel the difference, which can then lead to an explanation.
2. We can introduce compound meter.
* So in short, I think a combination of both.
SEL:
I'm not being lazy here, but maybe not every section needs an SEL component. I mean if anything maybe you could ask which version (3/4 or 9/8) they prefer. They might have an opinion, but I'm not sure they'd be able to articulate why they feel that way (at least my students would probably have a hard time explaining).
You could also talk about folk song variations... like is it okay to make changes to the music? How do we preserve the authenticity of the music while bringing our own experiences and preferences to it? These are deep questions that the kids may not be able to answer.
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Also the white boxes at the top and objectives don't appear to be updated for this lesson.
Lauren F (Monday, 09 May 2022 18:58)
During the 14th, Confucianism influenced the Korea government and education systems. Even the scholars read and wrote the traditional Chinese characters; Emperor Sejong invented Korean characters in 1446. The first dynasty in Korea was the Chosn dynasty. Until this day, Korea maintains its unique and distinct culture, including food.
Maybe change to: Because of its geographic location, Korea was greatly influenced by neighboring China. During the 14th *century?* Confucianism influenced the Korean government and education systems. Even the scholars read and wrote the traditional Chinese characters. However, in 1446, Emperor Sejong invented Korean characters and Korean culture began to develop on its own. The first dynasty in Korea was the Chosn dynasty. Until this day, Korea maintains its unique and distinct culture, including food.
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In the second paragraph, kimchee is spelled two different ways -- kimchi and kimchee. Pick one for consistency.
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I don't know that you need to make a connection to Arirang. It kind of breaks up the flow and focus on Doraji. You can probably omit and just continue with:
Doraji is also a famous folk song, and it is about food. The flower of doraji is in white and purple colors, and the root is bitter (Bburi Kitchen, 2015).
Maybe if you want, you could clarify what a folk song is, if you think that is important.
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Because it provided them income, they would sing, "Nae sa rang a" (my love, doraji).