Song Switch Sunday - Timbre
I really enjoy moving music from one setting into another. I've been really making many of my students angry these days because I insist on playing our choir songs using the guitar or piano instead of the iPod! They are quite angry with me when I start to play the piano. It doesn't sound like Katy Perry's version of whatever song we're singing, but it's as close as I can get to it!
The advantage to changing how the music is presented (iPod to instrument) is that I can use the musical elements to adapt the music for my students to provide them with success in getting the words out and singing appropriately. The disadvantage is that they often do not recognize the song without the original timbre.
I wonder why this is, and then I remember that my students do not have an easy time of abstract thought and the concept of music staying the same even when the sounds change a bit is an abstract one.
Taking a familiar melody from the original setting to another is a good way to assess how people process sounds. Changing the instrumentation (and the timbre) alters the music that is presented in ways that assist the therapist in assessing whether the client depends on the entire sound or can isolate one sound within the whole. Many of my students cannot identify their favorite songs if the drum pattern and guitar riffs are removed. They process a song by the entire instrumentation and format rather than by melody line. If I sing just a melody, they cannot identify the song. It's fascinating to me.
That's all I got today...
Happy Sunday!
The advantage to changing how the music is presented (iPod to instrument) is that I can use the musical elements to adapt the music for my students to provide them with success in getting the words out and singing appropriately. The disadvantage is that they often do not recognize the song without the original timbre.
I wonder why this is, and then I remember that my students do not have an easy time of abstract thought and the concept of music staying the same even when the sounds change a bit is an abstract one.
Taking a familiar melody from the original setting to another is a good way to assess how people process sounds. Changing the instrumentation (and the timbre) alters the music that is presented in ways that assist the therapist in assessing whether the client depends on the entire sound or can isolate one sound within the whole. Many of my students cannot identify their favorite songs if the drum pattern and guitar riffs are removed. They process a song by the entire instrumentation and format rather than by melody line. If I sing just a melody, they cannot identify the song. It's fascinating to me.
That's all I got today...
Happy Sunday!
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