Melodic Composition at School C, July 2016 1 Context

Following the storyboard format of the previous study, I wanted to further explore the capacity for more traditional compositional approaches of melodic and harmonic writing

presented by Graphick Score. The study at School C focused on a more conventional

composing activity with a group of pupils who had prior musical experience. I arranged with my contact at the school to conduct an afternoon session with pupils from a Year 5 class. These were all instrumentalists, mostly consisting of members of the school brass band, and were therefore used to reading and performing music, but had less experience with

composition. School C has a good reputation for musical practice, but my contact wanted to implement more interactive technology, especially for composing activities, and was eager to

see how the pupils responded to new interfaces like Graphick Score. Therefore, seeing how

these ten young instrumentalists approached composition with a digital scaffolding tool was very much a suggestion of the class teacher, which I agreed would make a valuable

situational contrast to the previous study. In some respects the two studies were similar, in that the same resource was used, the pupils were roughly the same age (within one year), and the same time frame and activity for the session. However, the pupils had more musical experience than the previous group, and objective was different, focusing on harmonic and melodic writing.

7.3.2 Method

Learning Objective: To compose a piece with varying rhythmic and melodic patterns

The study involved two successive groups of five pupils taken from years 5 and 6. As with previous studies, five workstations were set up in a classroom. After engaging with each group in an informal discussion about their musicality, a demonstration of the programme was given. This involved comparison of a messy scene and a tidy scene, with the group being

asked ‘which sounds better, and why?’ (Figure 7.20). The group then had 15 minutes to build

some ideas and explore the programme, following which they would share with their neighbours, and then another 20 minutes to complete their pieces. After this, we listened to and discussed the pieces as a group.

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Figure 7.20 – The demonstration from the session

7.3.3 Results

The pupils all decided that the first example from the demonstration sounded the better of the two, being more ‘in time’ due to the notes conforming to the grid. After some prompting, the idea of repeating sequences being ‘catchy’ was also established, and also the spacing of notes to construct harmonies or chords. This latter concept was less readily understood. Although a brief discussion, this was useful in that it gave me a sense of the skill level of the group, perhaps more efficiently than the surveys used in phase 2.

This study yielded some interesting results in terms of music composed, but I felt that engagement and depth of discussion did not match that of the previous study. I attribute this to the learning materials not capturing the pupils’ imaginations, as they were composing without the stimulus to tell a story. I did ask the groups to think of a title for their pieces, and to discuss a possible title with their neighbour after the first 15 minutes, as I hoped that this would provide an insight into compositional intentions. However, no participants had a title in mind when presenting their work.

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Figure 7.21 – Natasha

Figure 7.22 – Ethan

143 Many of the pieces showed use of different phrases, rhythms, and voices, arranged in a metronomic sequence. Several scenes composed by Natasha contain a bass ostinato and repeating cross-rhythms (Figure 7.21). Similarly, Ethan (Figure 7.22) makes use of a repeating motif composed of several voices. This use of tune-blocks for regular formation upon the grid appears to have been very quickly ascertained from the demonstration by these pupils. The example by Rickie (Figure 7.23) contains several conjunct melodic patterns which are partially harmonised and imitated by other voices. Notice how the contour of the blue triangle melody is harmonised a third above by another voice; this appears to quite closely mimic the harmonic pattern used in the demonstration (Figure 7.20). The first harmonic sequence in Rickie’s scene here appears to mimic the harmonic pattern of the demonstration, but places the second voice a tone above, before build a harmony of thirds in the second half of the scene, suggesting that the demonstration acted as something of a visual scaffold which allowed her to attempt this kind of harmonic writing. This resonates with the visual-oriented explorations seen in earlier studies (see 6.6) as well as the mimicking of the visual up-and-down gesture demonstrated in the previous study (see 7.2.3).

The harmonic and melodic constructions from tune-blocks seen here are similar to those which emerged from the previous study. Again here, the pupils appear to have quickly established musical gestures, and developed them into complex textures. Sammy’s piece has particularly interesting examples of polyphonic texture and musical gesture (Figure 7.24). It contains a number of repeating rhythms and melodies spaced apart to form a consonant harmony, and decorated by harp glissandos and flourishes as well as trills; as such, several distinct voices combine to produce a musically and visually coherent piece. The work of Lewis (Figure 7.25) is, by contrast, mainly constructed of percussion instruments and rhythm-blocks, as well as blocks of sound less characteristic of diatonic harmony-oriented writing. It transpired that Lewis was the drummer of the group, and it appears that he drew from his existing experience and knowledge in approaching this piece; this is, of course, an idea very much present in constructivist-oriented instruction (see 2.1).

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Figure 7.25 – Lewis

In this study, the pupils’ use of Graphick Score appears to have again drawn heavily

from the demonstration. This resulted in instances of harmonic and rhythmic sequences, as the objective required. The pupils were mostly able to compose with ease using the

programme, with some evidence of gesture and ornamentation, suggesting that Graphick

Score offered an accessible means of applying existing musical skills, and perhaps a scaffold for more complex compositional writing. However, relatively little attention was given to musical dimensions such as dynamics, with most geos at a uniform velocity. The earliest studies (see chapter 6) suggested that menu options were rarely used for functions such as tempo and velocity, as well as other variable settings. Options such as change of instrument were more readily utilised. The suggestions from pupils of different instrument timbres in the previous study (see 7.2.3) indicates that this is something they were actively considering when composing; part of their creative intention. One of the musical dimensions that become more frequently utilised was tempo. This was previously operated via a slider on the graphics menu; when it changed to a series of animal images, it was not only more frequently utilised, but also influenced discussion and narrative. Perhaps the mode of operation for dynamics should be made more inviting to the user through some sort of conceptual representation, or altered somehow via direct interaction with the canvas window.

There is, perhaps, less evidence of experimentation in this study, compared to the previous study. Less evidence is seen of pupils ‘shaping’ the tools of the environment to achieve creative outcomes. In part, this may be explained by the relative ‘disinclination to

146 experiment’ which has been observed in more experienced students in other research (see 2.2.2). However, I also feel that the task did not establish the forum for discussion observed in the previous study, where the activity focused on telling a story rather than upon abstract musical features. This provided a framework for discussion and reflection, with the pupils able to give clear reasons and suggestions for creative choices, relating these to anecdotal ideas in place of musical terminology. By focusing on musical ideas with no narrative framework in this study, we were effectively dealing with these concepts in the abstract, and the reflective component of the experiential learning cycle was consequently less noticeably propelled; it is worth noting that these students had no titles for their pieces, though this was given as an objective at the start. We also saw very little of the drawing or painting actions which provided many imaginary narrative ideas to the previous study. The pupils were following a more paint-by-numbers approach, and had no incentive to attribute meaning to

what they were doing18. Therefore, the sense of creative ownership, exploration and

reflection observed in the previous study was largely absent. This suggests that, in sandbox

environments such as Graphick Score, the facility for creation of meaning is as important as

the scaffolding tools which support creation of sounds; when dealing with abstract musical concepts, we have seen more promising results, in terms of experiential learning, when pupils shape these ideas within a narrative framework.

7.4 Performance and Composition with iPads at School B,