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Application
Narrative
Project
(describe
project...)
This
residency will build on a previous with folk musician/jazz
guitarist Jim Kanas. All students will sing in call-and-response
and perform on simple folk instruments with Jim in ensembles.
It is an American Music residency with an emphasis on the
cross-cultural influences on American Folk music and history.
The students will be engaged in the "living oral tradition"
of folk music. Many of the instruments the students will play
on are world and homemade instruments. The students will make
and play their own instruments. The students previously made
dulcimers with Mr. Kanas and students will expand on that
experience by performing on them. Jim will incorporate technology
into the residency by engaging the students in an audio recording
project of original music they compose and interpret. The
students will dovetail into the visual arts through the instrument
making activity and less concrete interpretive free-thinking
activities. The students will engage in body movement and
dance through music.
(describe
the core group...)
The core
group is a group of motivated students who indicated their
desire to participate through essay submission. These students
will stay after school to participate in core-group (as in
previous years). .............they were selected by....teachers....
(describe
the activities)
Some
of the activities include a "play circle" where
students arranged in a circle perform world and homemade instruments
with Mr. Kanas who accompanies on banjo. Every other student
get an instrument and everyone else is a clapper. clappers
clap on the beat or half time and instrument players play
syncopated, varied, or double-time rhythms with the beat.
Jim hand picks the instruments with consideration textures
and the complimentary nature of the instruments to each other.
The players (non-clappers) play rhythms with consideration
to the nature of the instrument (long sounds, short sound,
i.e. what the instrument can do) and establish a relationship
with that instrument. This process is guided improvisation.
Students sing choruses and respond to cues from the banjo
(stop, start, sing) and pass instruments around the circle
for each new verse (players become clappers). Instruments
they play include clave, cuica, "boom-pipes", "gut-bucket",
shakers, saw, dulcimer, "canjo", steel drums and
kalimba. The students will engage in "Juba rhythms"
or body rhythms and learn the significance of triplets in
African, jazz and Celtic influenced music. They have to create
swing by incorporating accents and dynamic variations and
will play "three against two" (two groups of triplets
accenting on beats one). This activity ties into American
history and Slavery. The students also team up to play the
rhythms on each other. Another activity uses spoons that the
students play in time with Mr. Kanas playing guitar and free
improvisation during instrumental sections. They play and
sing to the "crawdad song". Flash cards are used
to teach sight-reading with spoons. The students play quarter
notes and rests and eight notes. After they succeed at each
card (one measure) they mix and sequence the cards to form
longer rhythmical phrases. Another activity uses visual imagery
by participants who create visual art suggested by Mr. Kanas'
improvisations on a wide variety of instruments and sound
effects. The visual art creation is guided by visual art specialists
from the building.
top...
Another
activity:
The students
will compose music using non-traditional notation, digital
sampling and hard drive recording.The students will
use traditional form and structure to organize their thoughts
and application of compositional considerations such as theme
and development,
climax,
texture, dynamics, connotation, suggestions and the elements
of music, to give the piece direction and continuity. Jim
will play native American flute and the students will play
on complimentary instruments such as rain sticks, spring drums,
rattles, wanga, chimes and drums. These orchestrated "soundscapes"
or atmospheres are performed live and recorded in an controlled
editing environment with the students via portable audio workstation.
The piece will build to patterns and steady time. The students
will create "grooves" or pattern pieces with professional
drum machine. The students select "on board" instruments
and sounds to use in creating these percussion pieces. Mr.
Kanas guides the students by organizing and sequencing the
layering of parts and helping the students know when to stop
the process, save the pattern and create variations their
own themes. The students will make tune and play panpipes
from pvc pipes with safe "c-clamp" style pipe-cutters
and non-drying modeling clay. The students will play patterns
and the pentatonic scale used in folk music worldwide. The
students will form a dulcimer ensemble from dulcimers made
at a previous residency. The students will also perform and
create pattern pieces on tone bells in which they make-up
and memorize sequence as well as follow the conductor in an
improvised fashion (the conductor/artist improvises and cues
the students). The improvisations and patterns will be combined
(ostinato with counterpoint). The core-group will participate
in all non-core activities.
top...
(describe
the non-core...)
The non-core
students will attend an assembly program that traces the development
of American folk music through its ethnical roots and incorporates
a large assortment of conventional, homemade and world instruments.
The main concepts are 1) American music (jazz, country, folk,
rock, bluegrass, blues, etc) has been profoundly influenced
by various cultures abroad and neighboring and 2) American
"folk" music is people's music that is accessible
and part of a living oral tradition. Non-core students will
play limberjacks, an Appalachian folk instrument and learn
the difference between beat and rhythm. They have to keep
steady time to produce rhythms in time. Jim accompanies on
the fiddle and the students take cues to stop for call-and-response
singing to interpret a story in song form. Non-core students
will sing topical songs that incorporate history and geography,
world, United States and regional. The non-core students will
participate in a "play circle" as in the core description.
(how
will the residency be made accessible to all students...)
The students
will be scheduled through there regular general music time
of which all students attend. The staff will be able to participate
(and have in the past) by helping students, playing and singing.
The teachers will attend an in-service that gears the previous
activities to an adult level. The in-service will also explore
songwriting, analysis of songs, the use of songwriter's devices
and music in the classroom resources for regular teachers.
top...
Desired
Outcomes
(desired
results...)
As a
result of this residency the students will have performed
vocally and instrumentally in ensembles with a professional
musician. They will participate in a culminating event. They
will have composed and recorded original music on instruments
they made. They will have applied compositional devises and
organized music as well as engage in the process of improvisation,
as in jazz and folk music. They will have been exposed to
and applied technology in music. The students will have made
connections to American and world history, other cultures
and other subject matter. The students will have explored
and expressed themselves in a safe environment guided by an
experienced educator and performing artist. The staff/educators
will have been guided through an artist's eye/ear into realms
of abstract and non-concrete thinking. The staff/educators
will have participated and/or observed many of the student
activities. The community will be exposed to and hopefully
carry on living oral traditions via artist-student performances
and brought home by the students.
(...statewide
school improvement goals...)
The above results/outcomes compare and address the following
Statewide School Improvement Goals: Fine Arts (all goals geared
with consideration to student disabilities)- Goal #25, Language
of the Arts in live and recorded performance/composition;
students need to be aware of expressive qualities such as
tone color, harmony, melody and especially form and dynamics.
A variety of musical styles will be explored. Fine Arts Goal
#26, Through Creating and Performing the students will identify
a variety of sounds and instruments, demonstrate proficiency
at half- time, double-time, on-the-beat and syncopated performance
and follow a conductor/leader. Fine Arts Goal #27, the students
will understand the significance and connection to there own
African, Hispanic and European heritage through American musical
instruments and styles. They will have been exposed to alternative
career options and skills needed to be a professional musician
by working with Jim Kanas.
top...
activities
and outcomes
Project
This residency will build on a previous with folk musician/jazz
guitarist Jim Kanas. All students will perform in ensembles
with Jim, sing in call-and-response and play simple folk instruments.
It is an American Music residency with an emphasis on the
cross-cultural influences on American Folk music and history.
The students will be engaged in the "living oral tradition"
of folk music. Many of the instruments the students will play
on are world and homemade instruments. The students will make
and play their own instruments. The students will play dulcimers
previously made with Mr. Kanas. The students will expand on
that experience by performing on the dulcimers. Jim will incorporate
technology into the residency by engaging the students in
an audio recording project of original music. They will compose,
record and interpret the music. The students will use original
notation to create soundscapes or atmospheres of texture and
sound. Mr. Kanas will perform with them. The students will
combine visual arts and music in an instrument making activity.
They will also engage in a less concrete free thinking visual
art-music activity where they interpret sounds and create
images. A similar activity is used to create the original
notation mentioned above. The students will engage in body
movement and dance through music, specifically clogging and
"juba" rhythms which connect into American history/slavery.
The core group will be a group of motivated third through
fifth grade students who indicated their desire to participate
through essay submission. These students will stay after school
to participate in core-group activities, as has been done
in previous residencies. The group will be selected by the
teachers and steering committee.
Core group activities will include a "play circle"
where students arranged in a circle perform world and homemade
instruments with Mr. Kanas who will accompany on banjo. Students
clap and play syncopated, varied, or double-time rhythms with
the beat. Instruments are selected to compliment each other.
The players play rhythms based on the nature of the instrument
(long, short sounds). This process is guided improvisation.
Students sing choruses and respond to cues from the banjo
(stop, start, sing) and pass instruments around the circle
for each new verse (players become clappers). Instruments
to be played include clave, cuica, "boon-pipes",
"gut-bucket", shakers, saw, dulcimer, "canjo",
steel drums and kalimba. The students will engage in "Juba
rhythms" and learn the significance of triplets in African,
jazz, and Celtic influenced music. The juba rhythms will "swing"
when the students incorporate accents and dynamic variations
and play "three against two". The students also
team up to play the rhythms on each other. The students will
play spoons with Mr. Kanas while he plays the guitar and sings.
They play in time and have free improvisation during instrumental
sections. Technique and the song is taught ahead of time.
Jim uses flash cards are used to teach sight-reading with
spoons. The students will also create visual art to improvisations
played on a wide variety of instruments and sound effects
by Mr. Kanas. Visual art will be guided by our community coordinator
and artist Joyce Melton. Students will compose music using
non-traditional notation, digital sampling and hard drive
recording. The students will use traditional form and structure
to organize their thoughts. They will apply theme and development,
climax, texture, dynamics, connotation, and the elements of
music, to give the piece direction and continuity. Jim will
play Native American flute and the students will play on complimentary
instruments such as rain sticks, spring drums, rattles, "wanga",
chimes and drums. These orchestrated "sounds capes"
or atmospheres are performed live and recorded via portable
audio workstation. The students will create "grooves"
or pattern pieces with a professional drum machine. Mr. Kanas
guides the students by helping to organize and sequence the
parts. They will create variations on their own themes. The
students will make, tune, decorate and play panpipes made
from PVC pipes. They will play patterns and the pentatonic
scale. The students will play dulcimers made at a previous
residency. The students will also perform and create pattern
pieces and counterpoint on tone bells. The core-group will
also participate in all non-core activities.
The non-core students will attend an assembly program that
traces the development of American folk music through its
ethnical roots and incorporates a large assortment of conventional,
homemade, and world instruments. Non-core students will play
limberjacks, an Appalachian folk instrument. Non-core students
will sing topical songs that incorporates world, United States
and regional history and geography,. The non-core students
will participate in a "play circle" as in the core
description. The students will be scheduled through their
regular general music time, which all students attend. The
staff will be able to participate, as they have in the past,
by helping students, playing, and singing. The teachers will
attend an in-service that gears some of the previous activities
to an adult level. The in-service will also explore songwriting,
analysis of songs, the use of songwriter's devices and music
in the classroom/ resources for regular teachers.
top...
Desired
Outcomes
As a result of this residency, the students will have performed
vocally and instrumentally in ensembles with a professional
musician. They will have participated in a culminating event.
They will have composed and recorded original music on instruments
they made. They will have applied compositional devices and
organized music as and engaged in the process of improvisation.
They will have been exposed to and applied technology in music.
The students will have made connections to American and world
history, other cultures and other subject matter. The students
will have explored and expressed themselves in a safe environment
guided by an experienced educator and performing artist. The
staff/educators will have been guided through an artist's
eye/ear into realms of abstract and non-concrete thinking.
The staff/educators will have participated and/or observed
many of the student activities. The community will be exposed
to and hopefully carry on living oral traditions via artist-student
performances and brought home by the students.
The steering committee will collect evaluation forms from
students and staff. This information will be compiled to assess
the growth of student and teacher knowledge and as it relates
to the Statewide Goals. The above results/outcomes compare
and address the following Statewide School Improvement Goals:
Fine Arts (all goals geared with consideration to student
disabilities) - Goal #25, Language of the Arts in live and
recorded performance/composition; students need to be aware
of expressive qualities such as tone, color, harmony, melody
and especially form and dynamics. A variety of musical styles
will be explored. Fine Arts Goal #26, Through Creating and
Performing the students will identify a variety of sounds
and instruments, demonstrate proficiency at half, double-time,
on-the-beat and syncopated performance and follow a conductor/leader.
Fine Arts Goal #27, The students will understand the significance
and connection to their own African, Hispanic and European
heritage through American musical instruments and styles.
They will have been exposed to alternative career options
and skills needed to be a professional musician by working
with Mr. Kanas.
top...
Narrative-Project
Our project
will be to expose our students and students in the surrounding
rural community to the history of American folk, jazz and
blues music. This music project utilizes a professional musician
and engages students in a music performance, production and
instrument building. The students perform on conventional
and class-made folk and world instruments and electronic devises.
The artist will accompany and lead small ensembles and will
compose and produce original music with the students. The
core group will be formed from the established art classes
of the school. The group will consist of 8 - 10 students.
The faculty and arts committee will select a group that they
believe from student observation and trends, would most benefit
from, show an interest in, and cooperate in music activities.
Mr. Kanas brings a large assortment of instruments and electronic
devises with him. Jim will work with the students in an ensemble
of which he is a performing member. He will accompany on banjo,
dobro, fiddle, drums and guitars. The students will play a
variety of homemade, conventional, and world instruments ranging
from the spoons, washboards, dulcimers, limberjacks to cuica
and kalimba. They will sing in call and response. This residency
will build on previous by utilizing six dulcimers made from
a previous residency as part of one of the ensemble formats.
The students will engage in movement activities such as juba
rhythms, and clogging and relate them to contemporary music.
The juba rhythms tie directly into many of the students' African
heritage. The students will create visual art to music in
cooperation with the art teacher through instrument building
and audio to visual imagery (creating audio and then visual
art). The students will compose music using non-traditional
notation, digital sampling and hard drive recording. The students
will use traditional form and structure to organize their
thoughts and application of compositional considerations such
as theme and development, climax, texture, dynamics, connotation,
suggestions and the elements of music, to give the piece direction
and continuity. These orchestrated "soundscapes"
or atmospheres are performed live but recorded in an controlled
editing environment with the students via portable audio workstation.
The students will create "grooves" or pattern pieces
with professional digital sampling devises. The students select
"on board" instruments and sounds to use in creating
these percussion pieces. Mr. Kanas guides the students by
organizing and sequencing the layering of parts and helping
the students know when to stop the process, save the pattern
and create variations their own themes. Later the students
and Mr. Kanas play the sequences/grooves back and add live
percussion using instruments and objects he a has brought.
Mr. Kanas accompanies on guitar and "live-on-the-fly"
digital recording of his own playing to create a rich combination
of student prerecording and live music. Some students will
play instruments other than percussion such as "prepared
piano" (for example, the blues scale labeled on a keyboard)
and guitars. The core teacher will play guitar and harmonica.
The end result would be the release of an audio recording,
performance at a local elementary school and collaboration
with guest artist during a special performance for staff,
all students and music students from a local high school.
The non-core group will participate in similar activities
as the core group by making instruments and integrating that
construction with visual art. The students will clap and sing
in call and response, playing instruments and participate
in movement activities. Non-core students will be able to
join the core group if they demonstrate a willingness to do
so.
The residency
program will be made accessible to all students. All students
will participate and attend an opening assembly on the development
of American folk music. The students will clap and sing while
Mr. Kanas plays an assortment of homemade and conventional
instruments. The emphasis will be on African, European and
Latin influences on early American music through contemporary
music including jazz. During that assembly, Mr. Kanas will
also stress the "folk" process and how that connects
to contemporary music oral/aural traditions.
In past
residencies, the core group teacher, his aid and other teachers
have participated and celebrated music by singing and playing
instruments with the students and will do so again for this
residency.
top...
Here are
some activities that could fit into social studies goals:
Audio Recording
Produce an audio cd that reflects various
cultures. Students and artist would first play and digitally
record instruments, sounds and spoken word that reflect various
cultures. The students would then be guided with respect to
compositional devices and arrange sounds to demonstrate an
understanding of form, theme, development etc. by developing
a score or map using original notation. Artist would rearrange,
cut and paste and layer sounds on a digital audio workstation
according to score. Students would then respond and suggest
edits to the composition. Finally a cd would be produced and
made available as documentation, for school web site and for
students and teachers to dub copies of.
Topical Songs
Students would sing and listen to songs that
are about various aspects of US History. Students would then
write lyrics to an original piece(s) regarding subject matter.
Students and artist would select and compose music to the
creative writings and consider compositional devises such
as metaphor, connotation, imagery and symbolism. Artist and/or
students would then digitally record music and produce a cd.
Instrument Making
Students would make and play instruments
modeled after traditional ethnic, indigenous or American instruments.
Students would perform in an ensemble with artist and sing
in call-and-response.
Multidisciplinary Power Point Presentation
Students would research various cultures
with specific goals in mind. Students, artist and teachers
develop a power point presentation integrating the research,
digitally captured images, student recorded music and/or sounds
including narration. The final product could be included on
school web site, coordinated during computer lab periods for
student viewing and/or presented to younger students or other
audiences.
Other
activities I would most likely engage the students in include
an assembly on the development of American music through its
ethnical influences, performing with students, guest artist
collaboration dealing with jazz and improvisation, audio to
visual imagery activities and culminating event.
e-mail
> jimkanas@jimkanas.com
web site > jimkanas.com
phone/fax > 815.562.4553
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