From Aural Teaching to Musical Literacy in the Elementary Horn Class
(2017)
author(s): Klaske de Haan
published in: KC Research Portal
Name: Klaske de Haan
Main Subject: Master Music Education According to the Kodály concept.
Research Supervisors: Suzanne Konings and Herman Jeurissen
Title of research:
From Aural Teaching to Musical Literacy in the Elementary Horn Class
First steps to a Kodály inspired horn method.
Research Question:
How to develop a methodology for the beginning horn player, from an aural approach to musical literacy?
Summary of Results:
The Netherlands and Germany are almost the only countries where children start playing the B flat horn instead of the F horn because of the rich culture of wind bans. There are almost no horn methods based on the harmonics of the B flat horn. The traditional instrumental music lesson is mainly based on reproducing: a certain image on paper matches a fitting fingering thus producing the matching sound. When the sound is not matching the image than the teacher corrects this sound. I noticed that the children could play well when playing by themselves, but when they played together with other instruments they could easily play the whole phrase on the wrong pitch (wrong harmonics) but with the right fingerings. The horn is an instrument based on harmonic overtone series. Finding the logical steps on the valves of the horn is very difficult. Woodwind players have a logical system on the instrument playing diatonic series like do re mi. For the horn, with 3 valves, there is not a logical sequence playing diatonic series. This made me realize that some changes in the methodology are necessary for the horn to make an aural approach more logical for the beginning horn player. It also did me realize how extremely important it is for the young horn player to develop the inner hearing very well and make the logical steps from sound to symbol. My research paper investigates the possibilities to develop musical literacy in the horn lesson but also in the instrumental group lesson with transposing instruments. My main conclusion is that it is very important to make singing and moving a part of the horn lesson in order to develop inner hearing in relation to the horn. In that way the music will be understand and musical literacy can be developed.
Biography:
Klaske de Haan studied horn at The Royal Conservatoire in The Hague and at the Fontys Conservatoire in Tilburg with Herman Jeurissen. She graduated in 2000 for her diploma Uitvoerend Musicus.
As a free lance horn player Klaske worked with several professional orchestras in the Netherlands for example The Residentie Orchestra. Klaske is a horn teacher at the Music school, Scholen in de Kunst, in Amersfoort and she works at the Royal Conservatoire at The Hague with BASIS. A new music program for young wind players.
From 2014 Klaske specializes in Music education and pedagogy by attending several course such as “muziek als vak”.
The Mental Effect of the (Temporary) Tonic: a study of tones in jazz tunes through John Curwen's Tonic Sol-fa
(2015)
author(s): Patricia Wisse
published in: KC Research Portal
Name: Patricia Wisse
Main Subject: Music Education according to the Kodály Concept Research Supervisors: Suzanne Konings & Ab Schaap
Title of Research:
The Mental Effect of the (Temporary) Tonic: a study of tones in jazz tunes through John Curwen's Tonic Sol-fa
Research Supervisor: Suzanne Konings, Ab Schaap
Research Question:
How can Tonic Sol-fa be used in dealing with (temporary) tonics in short musical forms, such as the 32-bar jazz standard?
Summary of Results::
In general, the level of musicianship of (jazz) singers is considered to lag far behind that of their instrumentalist classmates. Are singers somehow not as musical? Or not as interested? Is something different in the approach? Or is the approach not different enough? Looking at what is really needed to be able to improvise in a jazz context, and approaching this through John Curwen¹s Tonic Sol-fa method, this research is an exploration of a vocal and mental alternative to the pianistic approach of vocal improvisation, that is true to our musical experience.
Biography:
Patricia Wisse studied Theology in Leiden, and then Jazz Voice at Codarts Rotterdam. In 2015 she started her studies at the Royal Conservatoire: Music Education according to the Kodály Concept.
Through studying the work of John Curwen, she has developed her own approach in studying and teaching jazz. She has also developed a new music learning tool, the Movable Do Disc, and is continuously developing ideas and methods around it.
Seventeenth-century cello playing, focussing mainly on bow technique
(2017)
author(s): Anne-Linde Visser
published in: KC Research Portal
Name: Anne-Linde Visser
Main Subject: Baroque Cello
Research Supervisor: Johannes Boer
Title of Research: Seventeenth century (Italian) cello playing, focusing mainly on bow technique
Research Question:
How can we regain seventeenth century bow-technique for cello repertoire?
Summary of Results:
My aim for this research was to find out more about 17th century cello playing, with the focus on bow technique. The first cello treatise was not written until 1741 (Corette) and therefore most cellists will play this repertoire with a late 18th century (bow) technique. Repertoire which is written especially for the violoncello starts in the late 17th century, but a lot of this repertoire was still composed in the old style.
In short, my research contains the following elements: the bow, the bow-hold, bow-technique and other sources on articulation. The sources used include mainly treatises and iconography (taking into account that not all iconography is appropriate).
Iconography shows us that there are a lot of possibilities to play the cello. In terms of bow hold, underhand bow hold is seen the most, but also overhand bow hold can be seen towards the end of the 17th century. The treatises by Sylvestre Ganassi, Riccardo Rognioni and Francesco Frognoni, were my main sources for bow-technique. Ganassi (16th century) already gives some very important ‘rules’ on string-playing that are still applicable today. Written in even greater detail concerning articulation, are the treatises for wind instruments.
In my opinion, those treatises are not only valuable for 17th century repertoire, but could be also a source of inspiration for any other repertoire.
Biography:
Anne-Linde Visser (The Netherlands, 1992) studies baroque cello with Lucia Swarts. Last year she studied with Jonathan Manson at the Royal Academy of Music in London (Erasmus Exchange). Anne-Linde is ‘Young Bach Fellow’ of the Nederlandse Bachvereniging and member of the Theresia Youth Baroque Orchestra (Italy). Besides that, she regularly performs with the Laurenscantorij, Ars Musica and the Dutch Baroque Orchestra. With the Castello Consort she was recently accepted to take part in the Eeemerging-programme. She especially enjoys playing basso continuo, which has been described as ‘excellent’ (Early Music Reviews) and ‘impressive: unobtrusive yet decisive’ (Opera Today).
