An Examination of the Tonalities and Meters in BEYOND MAJOR AND MINOR 21 st -Century Elementary Music Textbooks by Diane M. Lange Expanding Musical There is a rich history of songs tonalities. Publishers of kindergarten and throughout the world in tonalities other first grade music series might benefit ➤ Example: Grade 1 than major and meters other than duple. music education by providing more of a Experiences Through For ¡example, ¡in ¡Doug ¡Nichol’s ¡ I’d ¡Like ¡to ¡ variety ¡ of ¡ literature ¡ in ¡ their ¡ books” ¡ Roller Skate on the Moon there are twenty- (DeYarman, 1971, p. 57). Considering Varied Tonalities ➤ 163 songs total seven selections of songs. Out of those DeYarman’s ¡recommendations ¡in ¡the ¡early ¡ twenty-seven songs, there are twenty songs 1970’s, ¡ have ¡ publishers ¡ incorporate d a in major, five songs in minor and two wider variety of literature in modern day ➤ 87% Major songs in Mixolydian. With regards to textbooks? Have textbook publishers Diane M. Lange meter, there are twenty songs in duple, changed their anthologies to afford ➤ 7% Minor Whereas, ¡in ¡Richard ¡Johnston’s ¡ ➤ 5% Pentatonic Heather Nelson Shouldice Lange, D. M. (2009). An examination of the tonalities and meters in Eastern Michigan University 21st-century elementary music textbooks. The GIML Audea, 14 (2), 7-10. hshouldi@emich.edu – 1 2 – – WARNING! “MAJOR-ISH” FAMILY “MINOR-ISH” FAMILY ➤ Minor ➤ Major Rather than beginning to learn/audiate tonalities through theoretical explanation, FIRST give students an opportunity to: ➤ Aeolian “hearing ¡ difference ¡ is ¡ far ¡ more ¡ important ¡ ➤ Mixolydian ➤ Listen to songs in the tonality ➤ Dorian opportunities ¡ for ¡ making ¡ comparisons” ¡ ➤ Audiate tonal context (“home”/resting tone) of the tonality ➤ Lydian ➤ Sing songs in the tonality ➤ Phrygian ➤ Learn to audiate harmonic progression in the tonality ➤ Improvise in the tonality meters. ¡ ¡ He ¡ recommended ¡ that ¡ “literature ¡ ➤ Learn to label the tonality and its main harmonic functions upon ¡the ¡tempo ¡and ¡character ¡of ¡the ¡song’s ➤ Read/write notation in the tonality ➤ THEN develop theoretical understanding of the tonality! ???Locrian??? 3 4
MIXOLYDIAN TONALITY MAJOR TONALITY ➤ Composed Song: “Seasons Round” ➤ Folk Song: “Molly Ban” (Irish) ➤ Pop Tune? “Uptight” (Stevie Wonder) “Royals” (Lorde) “Sweet Child of Mine” (GnR) “Born This Way (Lady Gaga) 5 6 LYDIAN TONALITY MINOR TONALITY ➤ Composed Song: “These Are My T wo Hands” ➤ Folk Song: “W Murowanej Piwnicy” (Polish) ➤ Pop Tune? “The Simpsons” theme song (sort of…) “Hey Jealousy” (not really…) 7 8
AEOLIAN TONALITY DORIAN TONALITY ➤ Composed Song: ➤ Composed Song: “Good-bye” “Dorian Swing” ➤ Folk Song: ➤ Folk Song: “Wayfaring Stranger” “The Flower of Hsin-Jang” ➤ Pop Tune? ➤ Pop Tune? “Somebody That I Used to Know” “Stayin’ Alive” (Bee Gees) (Gotye) “Mad World” (Andrews/Jules) “Shape of You” (Ed Sheeran) “Radioactive” (Imagine Dragons) 9 10 WARNING! PHRYGIAN TONALITY Rather than beginning to learn tonalities through theoretical explanation, FIRST give students an opportunity to: ➤ Listen to songs in the tonality ➤ Audiate tonal context (“home”/resting tone) of the tonality ➤ Composed Song: ➤ Sing songs in the tonality “Whisper a Secret” ➤ Folk Song: ➤ Learn to audiate harmonic progression in the tonality “Numi Numi” ➤ Improvise in the tonality ➤ Pop Tune? ➤ Learn to label the tonality and its main harmonic functions “Hot in Herre” (Nelly) “Gin & Juice” (Snoop Dogg) ➤ Read/write notation in the tonality ➤ THEN develop theoretical understanding of the tonality! 11 12
LOCRIAN TONALITY RE DO MI Tonality Tonality Tonality SO ➤ Composed Song: “Heather” ➤ Folk Song: “Dust to Dust” (John Kirkpatrick) TI ➤ Pop Tune? L A “Started from the Bottom”? (Drake) LA FA 13 14 PRACTICE IDENTIFYING TONALITY? ➤ Find “home!” ➤ “Major-ish” or “minor-ish”? Tonality Tonality Tonality ➤ Subtonic or leading tone? ➤ Other characteristic tones? (“Sequence of tones” as a tool!) ➤ 6th scale degree? Tonality of “Yorktown?” ➤ 4th scale degree? ➤ 2nd scale degree? Heather Nelson Shouldice hshouldi@emich.edu 15 16
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