The Singing Band – Using Conversational Solfege in Instrumental Class
by Carol Swinchoski
Old Mill School, Wall Township, NJ
In the last installment, I described the basic steps used to get musicians to create their first sounds and discover how to take their known folk songs and express them through their new instruments. We can now follow their progress over the next ten weeks.
Week 3
Well it was a good thing we’d reviewed fire drills with instruments – 25 musicians came for extra help during their recess and of course we had an unplanned fire drill! One flute player whispered. “I’m so glad we had the fire drill with our instruments, I feel so grown up!”
We warmed up using tonal patterns drm (Unit 4) using the following techniques:
• Singing/Signing
• Singing and Fingering
• Playing
When they were comfortable, we moved on to our familiar folk songs, Hot Cross Buns and Sailor, Sailor. We added Closet Key which they had learned on recorders in 3rd grade and played more recently as the game song in music class. This was the first time they tried it on their band instruments.
Using the Stop and Go game, my young musicians worked on their listening and ensemble skills, creating unison attacks and cut offs. We also imagined our tone colors where like pieces of chocolate that we were melting into one pot blending all of the different types of chocolate, all the different sounds into one tuneful sound.
Week 4
I asked the students to sing a concert Bb do and they nailed it perfectly in tune. Understanding my musicians also need to be conversant in absolute note names, we reviewed what letter name do is in this key for each instrument.
We reviewed Unit 1 rhythm patterns using do, re or mi. The musicians echoed each pattern that I played on trombone. Volunteers improvised their own rhythm patterns using Unit 1 du and du-de patterns and the band echoed.
One student sang his pattern using mrd and the band beatfully and tunefully echoed without hesitation! Next we reviewed 4C patterns using hand signs, singing and fingering and then played. The kids asked if we could play the CS technique “Poison Pattern” (a game where students learn a specific pattern, chosen in advance by the teacher, that cannot be chanted/sung/played while they are presented with various patterns to either echo or decode) in band next week. We reviewed Hot Cross Buns.
We prepared for a unfamiliar song using the Unit 11 tone set. We have be preparing Unit 11 in classroom music. We began with Unit 11 tonal patterns vocally and then on instruments. Today, we used solfege/hand signs, playing by rote and decoding certain phrases singing and fingering before playing. We then decoded the written song by touching the notation while singing. All to soon the clock ended our rehearsal time!
Week 5
Once again, my musicians sang Concert Bb do beautifully in tune. This made my heart happy! We used Unit 4 (mrd) patterns on long tones, focusing on air support, best tone and blend, always singing before playing. We played Poison Pattern:
• Level 1 – I sang the poison pattern and all patterns on solfege, band echoed appropriately
• Level 2 – band faced away from me, I played patterns band echoed appropriately
The kids love to play this, and never seem to tire of it! We also played Simon at student request. I started with one pitch singing on solfege kept adding one pitch at a time. The students had to memorize pitch sequence and echo.
Though I usually reserve the hand staff for lesson groups I tried it in band. I reviewed hand staff mi for each instrument. Students sang and used hand staff echoing the new song (Step 6). We then made the transition from hand staff to written notation. The musicians sang while pointing to the to the notation. At this point we brought it back to the instruments by singing and fingering and finally playing the new song on the instruments.
Week 6
I led the band using hand signs and solfege. The woodwind and percussion (xylophone) played while the brass players buzzed on mouthpieces. I modeled creating tonal patterns (Step 5) to sing and play. Students echoed unfamiliar patterns or short melodies first singing and fingering and then playing (Step 4). I encouraged them to create patterns with their friends this week so they will feel comfortable leading the band with creative patterns next week in lessons or band.
Building on our success last week, we used the hand staff again to review Hot Cross Buns and Sailor, Sailor. Continuing with Sailor, Sailor, we also used the singing and fingering technique and then read the familiar song (step 7) using the notation. We followed the same process for Shoheen Sho.
At this point I introduced a new song, A La Rueda – (Unit 11 drmfs) from the Tradition of Excellence lesson book. I started with echoing the first phrase by rote (Step 4). The musicians sang using hand signs and then singing and fingering. Here I skipped to step 7 (Reading/Decoding Familiar). The musicians sang the newly-familiar phrases on solfege while touching the notation followed by singing and fingering with eyes on the notation. I felt they were ready, but could have done this with a decoding step. In this way the musicians would have the opportunity to create their own aural understanding of the new melody. Finally, the musicians decoded the unfamiliar last phrase with solfege and sang perfectly in tune! Unfortunately, we ran out of time to play.
Week 8-9
In the following lessons and rehearsals I realized that, for most of my students skipping decoding unfamiliar song (Step 4) A La Rueda, was not really working for them. It was a good reminder for me that just because a few of my clarinet superstars in the front row understood and were right with me, I needed to be aware that the majority of the band was not. There is a reason that the Conversational Solfege Steps are in this order. It is tempting to take a shortcut, but if the ultimate goal is musical independence, the shortcut will ultimately fail the students.
We went on to learn another new song, Love Somebody (Unit 11 drmfs) from Tradition of Excellence. This time learning from my previous fail with La Rueda, I was careful not to skip any steps. Of course as you might imagine, as the students were prepared each step of the way, the learning process was more successful and actually faster. This is always a cause for self-reflection. “Why am I repeating this over and over with little improvement?” “How can I better prepare my students for this new experience?” “Why is this working?” “Why is this not working?”
Week 10-11
We are now in full Winter Concert prep mode. This is relatively stress free for this ensemble as we are simply presenting the songs we know, both singing and playing. I Introduced Good King Wenceslas in concert Eb on neutral syllables using Step 1. I sang and the musicians echoed by rote. I also played it on trombone. I asked my students what the last pitch or resting tone might be on solfege? Some of the kids sang fa, but many sang do. We repeated the process and they agreed that it really sounded like do. Using a combination of rote and and decoding (Steps 2 & 3) we sang good King Wenceslas on solfege. At this point I should mention that in band we use solfege almost exclusively as it is the language that unites all instruments, but during lessons we move fluidly between absolute note names and solfege as the lesson groups are mostly homogeneous. So a lot of the hard work transitioning to a new do took place in lessons. I remind my musicians that solfege helps us hear patterns and songs. Absolute note names never change and will always be in the same place on our instruments. This can be a challenging concept for many kids.
While we do singing and fingering using solfege, I am always careful to label the do that we are using. Some students will want to stay on their original do forever and will strongly resist calling another pitch do. For this reason it is imperative to use multiple keys early in the beginning band experience. I tried a game where I had students call out any random absolute letter name and I used that pitch or do to play Good King Wenceslas on my trombone in 8 or 9 keys did it finally click to my musicians how moveable do works. Another self reflection: Moveable do is only moveable if you in fact use multiple keys!
I found using the reading by rote decoding familiar (Steps 6 & 7) to be very helpful. Using a written tone set (drmfs) on a tonal ladder and on the staff we worked through singing Good King Wenceslas using solfege and then moving on to letter names. I had considered making a separate tone set on the staff for my musicians to keep in their folders, but decided instead to use the same notation and show them how to use it with absolute note names and two different tonal centers. This is a learning process and we are getting there. I knew I had made some progress when this happened in band:
I ask the kids to sing a concert Bb do to begin every rehearsal. I am generally careful to specify Bb do, but we had a real “a ha!” moment when I simply said “sing the do” and a student raised her and asked “which one?”
Another proud moment occurred when a student asked me to show her how to play a song we had sung in class, she then paused and said “I know what to do, I have to decode it myself!” She and her classmates are on the way to becoming independent musicians, and I couldn’t be more pleased! Our concert is in a week or so and we will have stayed the course with Conversational Solfege inspired Singing Band from day one. We will, of course, sing as well as play our songs on the concert. My musicians understand this and are equally proud to sing and play.