Alternative Styles

I desire to foster a love of listening in my students as soon as possible, so that they can reap the joy of hear-ing any music they listen to in a much more vivid and analytical manner. And, in consideration of the bottom line of “learning eclectic styles,” listening voraciously to authentic examples of any chosen music is absolutely critical to the acquisition of authentic skill. Below are my ideas for the integration of eclectic styles AND western art music listening into my instructional routine:

Individual Listening Quota and Journal:

• Students will analytically listen to at least 20 minutes of specifically chosen music each week ei-ther during class or at home (some of the music will be chosen by the teacher and posted to the district’s interactive website for download; some of the music will be chosen by the student).
• Some of the recorded listening examples will be of the students themselves performing various styles of music.
•  Students will record their thoughts/ discoveries about the music/ performance in a music journal that will be turned in bi-weekly for a grade.
•  Various learning objectives based on the chosen music will be addressed in the journaling exer-cises through writing prompts posted to the district’s interactive website by the teacher such as :
• The student’s first/ later impressions of the music
• The student’s impression of the quality of the performance
• The identification of patterns
• The identification of similarities/ differences in comparison to other musical examples
• The identification of music theory and analysis concepts such as form, tonality, etc.
• Ideas for Eclectic Styles Listening:
• Jazz:
• All standard repertoire by the greats such as Duke Ellington and John Coltrane
• The Turtle Island String Quartet, The Real Vocal String Quartet, Quartet San Francisco
• Darol Anger, Regina Carter, Jean Luc Ponty, Stephane Grappelli, Randy Sabien, Tanya Kalmano-vitch (violist), Christian Howes
• Pearl Django (local Seattle Gypsy Jazz Band)