Anatomy of a Lesson #6

1. Introduction¹
   1. Movement warm-up with piano
      1. “Rag doll” lie on floor
         • Move one limb, then another
         • Allow parts of the body to move you to seated position and then standing.
         • In pairs, student A taps student B, student B follows through
      2. Move it in space
   2. Around the circle: Bat an invisible volleyball across the circle, with a set up and a release.²
      1. Movement and mime
      2. Add sound
      3. Set up = anacrusis (upbeat, pick up)
         Release = crusis (downbeat)
   3. Names around circle, in {4/4}
      1. Speak the name of neighbor on the crusis
      2. Add anacrusic greeting before the crusis i.e. “Hello, John”: {ee | h}
2. Stepping patterns
   1. Step the beat and clap crusis, eventually to a passerby. Piano is in {4/4} with lots of different anacruses.
   2. Clap anacruses; clap cruses to passersby. Establish the systemization³ (x = crusis in {4/4})
      {q | x ee | x e ee | x ee ee | x}
   3. Notate
   4. Step the patterns of the systemization, gesturing to a passerby on the crusis
   5. Call attention to introverted movement (i.e. moving in one’s own space, with peripheral awareness of others, but essentially alone) and extroverted movement (i.e. moving with awareness of others, interacting, moving toward others).
      1. Move again with this in mind.(Introverted  movement tends to be small and enclosed; extroverted movement is larger, and it causes the body to move toward—and interact with—others.)
      2. Watch each other in half groups, enabling a clear visual sense of introverted and extroverted movement.
3. “Wayfaring Stranger”
   1. Teacher plays, students step: {e ee} | {htiee} This becomes a follow.
   2. {e ee | e q.} The new note ({q.} ) is a metacrusis (a note or notes falling away from the crusis)
   3. Although the actual measures start at the barline, the virtual measures of an anacrusic piece start with the anacruses. The form of the virtual measures is abaa.
   4. Hand out score and sing with lyrics. Discuss the meaning of the lyrics.

Wayfaring Stranger

with complementary rhythm (C.R.) at the beat and division

Traditional Spiritual

4. Analysis of measure shape with lyrics
   1. Not all words will fit into the analyzed measure shape structure, so in some phrases, the measure shape will change.
   2. Example: mm. 5-7 “And there’s no sickness toil or trouble” en \hUeen \ej
   3. Here, the metacrusis is on “ness” followed by an anacrusis of only two eighth notes.
5. Sing the song again
   • Sing with a student conductor, being aware of the measure shape phrasing.
6. Complementary rhythm
   • The complementary rhythm (c.r.) is the pulse that happens where there are no new notes (either from a rest or a long note).
     1. At the quarter-note level:
        1. Clap the pattern of the song, step the beats. Identify the steps where there are no claps: that’s the complementary rhythm at the quarter-note level.
        2. Step the complementary rhythm while song is played.
     2. At the eighth-note level:
        1. Clap the pattern and step eighth notes, discovering the complementary rhythms at the eighth-note level.
        2. Step this complementary rhythm
        3. Do in partners, person A steps and/or claps the pattern, person B steps and/or claps the complementary rhythm.⁴
7. Solfège
   1. Sing the melody with scale-degree numbers
      1. Determine that the 2nd and 6th degrees of the scale are missing, so that the song is in the minor pentatonic. There are no half steps, and thus no half step dissonances.
      2. Then sing in syllables
   2. Sing the song in canon.⁵ Although the song is not purportedly a canon, it makes an effective canon because there are no half step dissonances.
      1. Sing in canon in two parts at a distance of two beats, becoming a sort of call-and-response.
      2. Sing in canon in three or more parts one beat apart, creating a pentatonic cluster.

Anacrusic Systemization

Commentary by Katie Couch

1. This introduction includes aural reactions (responding  to music), tactile reactions (responding to physical sensation), and locomotor gestural movement, where students use previously explored gestures to travel through the space. ↩︎
2. This is a game that explores time/space/energy while also incorporating social interaction and vocal improvisation. ↩︎
3. It is important to explore a wide variety of anacrusic rhythms before arranging them into a systemization. ↩︎
4. Performing complementary rhythms in a small group can evoke the feeling of a folk dance, with each part contributing to a lively, interlocking texture. ↩︎
5. Students could also move in canon while singing in canon, creating a process-based plastique animée that allows them to see and hear the music unfolding at different times. ↩︎