The A minor pentatonic scale

Students,

Now you know the names of the five notes to play (A, C, D, E, G). You also know the mnemonic device used to remember the lines and spaces of the staff (every good band deserves fudge and FACE).

You should be able to play the entire length of the keyboard an extended A minor pentatonic scale in the swing rhythm.

To play an interesting solo, you need to make a riff.
A riff is a short phrase of music only a few notes long. You need to compose one. We'll discuss this next class. Just remember to use the swing rhythm:

The Elements of Music

We will continue to listen to very different kinds of sounds while we study the nine elements of music: - tempo - beat - meter - rhythm - melody - harmony - dynamics - timbre - form
Memorize this list, be able to define these words, and be able to give an example.
Here is a slideshare to help you:

Elements of music from tokyosax

Mr. Kozak

Is that Music? Berio's Sequenza for Voice

Students,

We listened to some audio that you might not have thought was music. Remember the Sequenza for Voice by Berio? Click the orange play button to listen to this 30-second sample:

Leitmotifs

Students,

Since we have studied movie themes, it is time for you to compose your own leitmotif. 

In the Oxford dictionary, it states that a leitmotif is:

‘a recurrent theme throughout a musical or literary composition, associated with a particular person, idea, or situation’.

That's right, you have to compose a leitmotif that is associated with you. You only have to play it, not notate it, but there are some examples bellow.

Rubric coming very soon...

For now, here is here is Princess Leia's leitmotif:

and here is Obi Wan Kenobi's leitmotif:

America - West Side Story - NOT a Hemiola

Students,

Like the wikipedia article says, the song 'America' by Leonard Bernstein from the musical West Side Story is NOT a hemiola. That is when you play a simple and compound meter at the same time, like this:

In the case of 'America', simple and compound meter alternates bars of 6/8 and bars of 3/4:

Next class, we will all perform a hemiola using our knees. With our right hand, we will accent simple time and with our left hand we will accent compound time.

The Imperial March played by The Vancouver Symphony

Students,

Here is the Vancouver Symphony (being conducted by Bramwell Tovey) playing the famous Imperial March from the movie Star Wars, composed by one of the most famous and prolific film composers, John Williams.

This "Darth Vader theme" is an excellent example of how a composer can use music to make the character more real - Darth Vader not just looks evil with the black robot helmet and cape, but sounds evil, powerful, and destructive.

Power is provided by a symphony orchestra - one hundred musicians playing forte
Evil-sounding - the minor key of the piece sounds ominous and dark

There is no question, Darth Vader is a bad guy. Just in case you've never seen the very first, original Star Wars (1977), here is a great montage of Darth Vader using the Imperial March.

What is improvisation?

Students,

We talked about what improvisation is (and what it isn't) and listed some examples (like cooking without a recipe, moments in sports without using a play, (comedy skits made up on the fly) and we watched Gabriela Montero make up a new song on the spot.

After that we watched Dave Morris talk about how to teach improvisation. Remember the rules:
- You must be willing to play!
- You must be willing to fail!
- Failing does not make you a failure!
- Say 'yes'!
- Say 'and'!
- Play the game!
- Relax and have fun!