getting started with takadimi - firsteggfirstegg.yolasite.com/resources/takadimi for dmps.pdf ·...
TRANSCRIPT
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GETTING STARTED
WITH TAKADIMI Kris VerSteegt
For Des Moines Public Schools
October 25, 2013
12:30-1:45
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LEARNING TARGET:
I can describe the history of Takadimi.
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FROM WHERE DID IT COME?
First came to America around 1950
through Jazz musicians who were
incorporating Indian traditional
music into their own improvisatory
style
Takadimi is the name for a subdivided
pulse in traditional Indian music
Indian traditional music is in no way
metric and is learned almost exclusively
through oral tradition
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HOW DID THE PEDAGOGICAL SYSTEM
DEVELOP?
Developed by Richard Hoffman,
William Pelto, and John W. White of
Ithaca College in New York for
classroom use
Published as Takadimi: A Beat-
Oriented System of Rhythm Pedagogy
in the Journal of Music Theory
Pedagogy (1996, vol. 10)
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HOW DID IT GAIN POPULARITY IN THE
U.S.?
Gained attention with these
publications:
MEJ, Nov. 2006 vol. 93/2
MEJ, May 2007 vol. 93/5
Kodaly Today by Michael Houlahan and
Philip Tacka (Oxford, 2008)
Progressive Sight Singing by Carol
Krueger (Oxford, 2010)
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AND IN IOWA?
Tom Sletto of Drake University wrote A
Comparison of Rhythm Syllables and a
Recommendation in the Kodaly Envoy,
Spring 2011 vol. 11/3
Carol Krueger made appearances with
ACDA and ICDA sharing her pattern
drills and her book Progressive Sight
Singing
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LEARNING TARGET:
I can compare and contrast Takadimi with other
systems.
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HOW IS IT LIKE OTHER SYSTEMS?
Like natural language acquisition, it is a sound
before sight before theory system
a progression of skills from echoing, to connecting
sounds with syllables, to connecting syllables with
symbols, to reading symbols, to writing and creating
with syllables and symbols, and finally, to a
theoretical understanding
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WHAT OTHER SYSTEMS ARE IN USE?
Kodalys traditional Hungarian system
This system closes the vowel with an m when there is a dot, rather than elongating the sound
This system is durational and thus does not translate well to cut time
Other problems develop in compound meter
What should we call that d ?
Kodaly may have dismissed this complication because compound meter is SO RARE in Hungarian music
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ADAPTATIONS
Many people have changed y to tikatika
tidatida or tipitipi
Tiritiri in American English simply doesnt work
Some have changed how the dot is verbalized,
instead of closing of the vowel
ta-i ti has been widely used for j e, but to do so often leads to j e being performed as q n
Most people recognize that an extra sound is no
better than a closed sound, and is probably worse
Some say tam ti for j e and ta-i ti for qun (this is theoretical again)
Some say ta-ah instead of too, say ta-ah-ah
instead of toom and ta-ah-ah-ah instead of
toe
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What about Ed Gordon (James Froseth)?
No extra sounds and no closed vowels for dots
This system is ALMOST beat functional
o Thus, in cut time, h is du
Thats okay! h has been du before
But where is it NOT beat functional?
Do we still have the d problem? Why or why not?
How can we adapt y to be beat functional?
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WITH SO MANY ADAPTATIONS
Everyone is doing their own thing
For the right reasons
But, the children never learn to speak the syllables
like a language
Children often learn at least 2 systems,
sometimes many more
I once had a kid say thats how we clap it in band!
like this was a great epiphany
Imagine if we could find something that worked
for EVERYONE and didnt need adapted
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HOW IS TAKADIMI DIFFERENT?
No extra sounds for dots
No closed sounds for dots
This system is TOTALLY beat functional
Thus, in cut time, h is ta (as the beat note)
Thats okay! h has been ta before
Hey, that works!
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WHY IS IT BETTER?
It works easily in cut time, simple and compound
meters, asymmetrical meters and mixed meter
Its sound before sight before theory approach
takes children seamlessly from known to
unknown (Pestalozzi)
It is easy to borrow compound rhythms into
simple meter (and vice versa) as they share no
common syllables other than ta and di
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WHY IS IT BETTER?
Ta is ALWAYS on the ictus of the beat
You arent asking kids to do theory when they are
decoding
The right words just fall out!
Sing Great Big House in New Orleans
Sing Good King Wenceslas
It is simple enough for elementary and yet complex enough
for secondary and beyond
This system grows with the child: It is logical when
children are concrete operational and can get ever
more abstract as the children move into the formal
operational stage (Piaget)
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WAIT!
But real musicians count!
Takadimi makes transitioning to counting in high
school VERY EASY (but this should be delayed until
the students can sing/speak, move, create, read, and
decode with the system (as counting is theoretical))
Start with takadimi
Add 1-kadimi, 2-kadimi etc.
Transfer to 1e&a, 2e&a, etc.
You can help! Count your kids in sometimes 1 & 2 & breathe (breath)
Ask your kids on which beat of the measure is the ta dimi?
Etc.
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LEARNING TARGET:
I know how to get started with Takadimi.
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HOW DO I GET STARTED?
Change immediately upon returning from a
break (winter or summer break would work best)
Dont start Monday!
Start by just having the kids say the syllables
and play games with the syllables
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HOW DO I GET STARTED?
Then have kids translate known songs and
rhymes into the syllables
Do this for many lessons for older kids, longer for
youngers kids
A puppet is useful when beginning, but should be
taken away when no longer needed
Dip dictation
Hey Ho! Anybody Home?
NOTE: Songs are easier than poems
But they need to do BOTH
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HOW DO I GET STARTED?
When 80% of your kids can translate accurately,
they are ready to try unknown materials
Come, butter, come
Come, butter, come
Peters waiting at the gate
Waiting for some buttered cake
Come, butter, come
Again, poems are harder
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HOW DO I GET STARTED?
When 80% of kids can translate UNKNOWN
material into Takadimi, you know they are ready
to SEE notation
Use the time signature and bar lines all the time
Each time they see notation, have them begin by
echoing and end with reading
Demonstrationflash cards
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HOW DO I GET STARTED?
Play lots of games with reading
Black Snake
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HOW DO I GET STARTED?
Play lots of games with reading
Turkey Poker (q n Q h)
Are You Smarter than the Music Teacher? (q n Q)
Rhythm Hop (q n)
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HOW DO I GET STARTED?
Use plenty of masterworks for reading.
@ q n|q q |q n| q q |
q n|q q |q n |q Q |
${n n n q |n q n q |n n n n|n n h }
{n n n q |n q n q |n n n q |n q h }
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HOW DO I GET STARTED?
Dont forget to write!
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HOW DO I GET STARTED?
Dont forget to write!
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HOW DO I GET STARTED?
Dont forget to write!
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HOW DO I GET STARTED?
Dont forget to write!
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WHAT ABOUT MY OLDER KIDS?
Start with q and n
Move faster but remember the 80% rule!
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WHAT COMMON PITFALLS SHOULD I
AVOID?
Spend PLENTY of time working conversationally
with the rhythms before presenting an associated
symbol
ALL students should be able to accurately translate
into Takadimispeech, poems, and songs they have
never before heardbefore they are shown the
syllables they are speaking
Cobbler, Cobbler
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WHAT COMMON PITFALLS SHOULD I
AVOID?
Never label isolated symbols with written
words like ta tadi
In cut time and compound time, the beat note looks
different but still sounds ta
Introducing compound early can help kids realize that ta
is the BEAT not the PICTURE
If you feel you must label, make sure you are also showing the
time signature and bar lines making your labels true
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WHAT COMMON PITFALLS SHOULD I
AVOID?
Delay cut time until much later (at least age 12)
If you sang this, what does it sound like in Takadimi?
Yet, this is how this song usually appears in choral octavos Confusing for concrete operational children (ages 7-11)
Some teachers have their kids sing cut time as if NOT cut time to avoid the problem This is a bad idea
Then ta is no longer just beat but also the division
di is no longer the division, but the subdivision, etc.
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WHAT COMMON PITFALLS SHOULD I
AVOID?
Children cant say as much as you can, at least not a
first
M.M. 120-136 for simple meter, divided beat, slower when
subdivided
M.M. 96-120 for compound
Going too slow will change the ta = ictus of beat
connection
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DONT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKES I DID
Change everything at once. Trying to keep some
things (like synCOpa) while changing everything
else will make conversing in ta language
impossible and rob them of the ta=ictus of beat
connection
There is nothing wrong with teaching grammar
(theory), just dont teach it until the kids can read!
Be sure to delay syncopated or dotted rhythms in
simple meter until well into your sequence
Otherwise they will perform n as eq or je
Those all say ta di
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WHAT CURRICULAR MATERIALS ARE
AVAILABLE?
Conversational Solfege by John Feierabend uses
beat-function syllables and a sequence that
delays dotted rhythms and syncopation
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND taking his Conversational
Solfege class (available in many places throughout
the U.S. each summer)
Conversational Solfege also teaches elements of
compound meter early in the sequence, which is
consistent with American Folk Music*
John uses Gordon/Froseth you could easily use Takadimi
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WHAT CURRICULAR MATERIALS ARE
AVAILABLE?
Progressive Sight Singing by Carol Krueger is
filled with patterns and drills appropriate for
older beginners through college level
This book is not repertoire based, it is pattern based
Makes a great addition if you already have loads of
repertoire you love but have better things to do than
recreate patterns and drills
Makes a great addition for ensembles looking to
develop rhythm reading skills (and solmization skills)
She adds what she calls patschen but looks like
Tempo must be significantly slowed (ta=ictus?)
theory
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IS IT PERFECT?
There are no syllables beyond sixteenth notes
The vowels of takadimi are okay, but I would
prefer an oo vowel for choral tone
A few consonants are troublesome for wind
Taka works for double-tonguing on some instruments
mi (simple) and va (compound) dont tongue at all
(labial)
Takida sounds a lot like takadi and is easy to
confuse
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DID WE HIT THE TARGET?
1. I can describe the history of Takadimi.
2. I can compare and contrast Takadimi with
other systems.
3. I know how to get started with Takadimi.