Today I began the process of developing a unit of work for the mandatory topic of the NSW Music 2 HSC Course. The mandatory topic is titled Music of the Last 25 years ‘Australia Focus’ and within the unit students are required to study a total of 5 pieces which fit into the topic. Within the topic students are also required to study at least one piece that was written by a female composer, at least one piece that is not Australian and at least one piece which is not classified as Western Art Music (WAM). The pieces I have chosen for the students to study in the topic are;
- ‘String Quartet No. 6 – Child’s Play’ – Carl Vine (Focus Work) – 2017
- ‘Eugenia’s Secret’ – Brendan Collins – 2018
- ‘Eliza’s Aria’ – Elena Kats-Chernin (female composer) – 2016
- ‘Tio Macaco’ – Snarky Puppy (Non-Australian & Non-WAM) – 2014
- ‘Forty reasons to be cheerful’ – Graeme Koehne – 2013
As can be seen in bold above, the focus work for the students to study in this unit will be Carl Vine’s ‘String Quartet No. 6 – Child’s Play’ which is a very interesting and ‘fun’ piece where Vine uses many interesting compositional techniques and as such consists of numerous interesting musical aspects. This versatility of Vine’s compositional style means that the students are able to find many instances where the concepts of music are represented within the piece.
Most of my work time today was spent becoming familiar with the Carl Vine’s ‘String Quartet No. 6 – Child’s Play’ and deciding which key aspects of the piece I would focus on in addition to how I would teach the concepts of music within the constraints of the piece. I have decided that the stylistic elements of the piece which I will focus on are Vine’s use of hemiola’s and his use of voice layering and dovetailing within the quartet. Furthermore, I will also be drawing on Vine’s use of motivic development within the piece to enable the students to expand their individual composition portfolios.
Piece No. 2 ‘Eugenia’s Secret’ by Brendan Collins is a work for Wind Symphony with an interesting story behind it. The piece draws on numerous styles and in itself tells a story. Through the study of this piece students will investigate musicologically how the a story can be represented through music.
Piece No. 3 ‘Eliza’s Aria’ by Elena Kats-Chernin is a work for Violin and Piano which draws on aspects of motivic development and utilises many compositional techniques and is a great piece for showing students how to compose and develop ideas.
Piece No. 4 ‘Tio Macaco’ by Snarky Puppy is a contemporary work which draws on Latin and Afro Cuban rhythms and stylistic effects. The piece is written in a jazz contemporary style and is integrated as the Non-WAM piece for the unit.
Piece No. 5 ‘Forty Reasons to be Cheerful’ by Graeme Koehne is a symphonic work which highlights the upper winds and brass within the orchestra. It is an uplifting work which focusses on the bright and positive tonality an orchestra is able to create.
As I conclude my work for today I have began research into extra pieces I can use to teach the key aspects within Carl Vine’s ‘String Quartet No. 6 – Child’s Play’ as well as think about how I am going to teach the unit. At this point I have decided that I will accompany my lesson plans with an iBook which can be used by the teacher as well as the students.
LJS Music Education 