You don’t have to be a specialist for this project, but it’s an advantage to have some basic understanding of what music notation is for. Some of the requirements of the national curriculum are addressed, in particular “Listening, and applying knowledge and understanding”. A key message is that conventional music notation - the kind in school songbooks - evolved to meet the needs of performers, and that even now some musicians need to work with something different.
Passing it on
The oral tradition is still important. Ask children to suggest their own examples of chants and songs learned by repetition. Point out that music and words transmitted like this are likely to change over time - making the music into a living, changing thing.
Notation
If you teach songs you almost unconsciously use your hands to emphasise the up and down movement of the tune. Guido’s Hand is a very sophisticated extension of that - a highly developed system that survives in tonic sol-fa hand signals, which are still used by choir leaders in some churches.
Printed music (p30)
This is an example of music produced with moveable type as opposed to engraving. Printing revolutionised the availability of music, which had up to then been painstakingly reproduced by hand. This example has notes with stems and there are bar lines to give an indication of rhythmic structure.
Single line notation (p31)
The line provides a baseline from which the tune can go up or down. It’s clearly not exact, but it’s also clear that using two, three, four or five lines, and the spaces between, is a natural extension of the single line. Encourage children to write their single-line notated tunes, and try to sing each other’s work or play it on classroom instruments. Emphasise that absolute accuracy isn’t possible - but that they can take advantage of having freedom within the basic framework.
Handwritten music (p31)
Here the single line has been extended to four lines. The notes themselves are simpler in form than those in modern notation, but are placed and drawn to indicate pitch and duration. This notation doesn’t tell the performer everything, but convention and familiarity with the composer’s notation would help to fill in the gaps in information.
Modern notation (p32)
The notation, which is in general use in the Western world, is highly developed so as to transmit every nuance of a composer’s intention as regards pitch, duration of notes, speed of performance, rhythm and dynamics. It’s still laborious to write down before it’s printed, and the invention of composing software has been a huge step forward for composers.
“Stripsody”
Cathy Berberian (1925 - 1983) was a soprano who constantly sought new ways of using her voice. Her composition “Stripsody” is both entertaining and visually attractive on the page. Don’t hesitate to let children try to perform it - they may not approach Berberian’s intentions, but this kind of music is about freedom of interpretation.
Listen to Cathy Berberian performing “Stripsody” on the CD Magnificathy - the Many Voices of Cathy Berberian on Wergo WER6005450 (this also has other interesting tracks including songs by John Cage, Gershwin, and Lennon and McCartney).
