89.
Small assignment: Boxes
An ensemble exercise where students may otherwise improvise freely but must comply with a single given parameter.
Assignment author
Esa Ylivaara
Basics
Minimum time required
Goal and output
Pedagogical goal
Explore the properties of a single note.
Improvise music so that only one parameter is predetermined.
Concrete output
Improvised piece
Work progress
- Begin by considering what properties a single note may have (pitch, dynamic, articulation, sonority).
- Draw three boxes on the board. Each box will only contain one parameter. For example, the first box might contain 'A' (pitch), the second 'forte' (dynamic) and the third 'misterioso' (sonority).
- Play the boxes one after the other. You (or a student selected in advance) show when to move to the next box. The students are otherwise free to play whatever they want, except that they must follow the instruction in the box being played.
- In the above example, this means that in box 1 students may only play the pitch 'A' (in any octave) but can otherwise play in any way they wish; in box 2, they may play anything at all but it must be in 'forte'; in box 3, they may still play anything at all, but it must have a 'misterioso' sound.
- When all the boxes have been played, the conductor shows when to stop.
Topics in the assignment
Musical structures and analysis
Playing an instrument & singing
Notation & music terminology
Arranging & parts
Music technology
Styles & techniques
Imagination & other arts
Tools
Remarks
There can be more than three boxes.
The assignment may be made more precise by writing two or even more parameters in each box.
Further assignments
Assignment suitable for further study
