Afternoon Ti

Afternoon Ti Podcast Season 9 Episode 172 Pentatonic Scales with Singing There are a substantial amount of songs that use the pentatonic scale. And I love it so much.  It’s such a joy to sing pentatonic pieces.  Just makes me happy.  I’m going to share four pentatonic songs that you can sing with students as well as a few listening examples of pop and classical songs that utilize pentatonic scales.  The longer list of these songs will be shared in the blog.  It’s great for students to have examples from the music that they are familiar with so that it allows them to see that what we are teaching them happens now.  Not just in the olden days when the men with white hair who look like presidents created music, but current pop artists and people they might listen to at home use the things we are teaching them.  Makes it more relevant for them. So let’s look at the four songs that we can teach students to help them explore the pentatonic scales..  This is only a glimpse at pentatonic song

 Afternoon Ti Season 9 Episode 171 Pentatonic Scales with Barred Instruments Here we are - pentatonic scales on barred instruments.  I’ll start by sharing about different types of borduns, also called drones.  Then we’ll talk about improvisation ideas and composition as well. When students play a pentatonic melody, there are options for what you can have the bass line play.  Borduns are the bass line of the piece.  This is what anchors the piece.  It can add interest to the piece and secure the steady beat for an ensemble. There are three main options:  Simple, Single moving, and double moving. Bordun/Drone options: Simple Drone Simple drone is the most common and uses the tonic and dominant (1st and 5th scale degrees).  There four variations of the simple drone: Simple on a steady beat with both 1 and 5 playing at the same time Simple broken - Alternating between 1 and 5 on the beat Simple level - playing 1/5 together on long bars and again on the high bars Simple crossover - 1-5-1

 Afternoon Ti Season 9 Episode 170 Pentatonic Scales with Recorders The pentatonic scale is one of my favorite parts of elemental music teaching.  It’s easy for students to engage in improvisation and composition without fear of others hearing mistakes.  It’s easy to transpose between C, F, and G pentatonic scales on barred instruments so students can experiment with changing of tonal centers and modulating.  It’s easy on the ears when students are creating because the tones all work well together and are pleasing to our hearing.  And it’s easy to facilitate in the classroom with singing, barred instruments, and recorders.   I’m going to spend the next few episodes focused on the pentatonic scale with a particular focus on lesson ideas.  That means that this episode is all about the soprano recorder!  Today we’re spending time with recorders and I’m sharing two songs that I’ve written that use the pentatonic scale and provide opportunities for students to play (and sing) in G pentatoni

 Afternoon Ti Podcast Season 9 Episode 169 Pentatonic Scales The Pentatonic Scale.  The power of five pitches. Can be created in a variety of ways to give a specific sound to the piece. Easy to manipulate home tones to create different sounds within the scale.  Can be played by the black keys on the piano.  Can be sung beautifully.  Great for improvisations and compositions.  So versatile in the classroom.  Some of the reasons I find so much joy using the pentatonic scale with students. Today we’re going to talk about pentatonic scales - what they are and how we can use them with students, in a broad sense.  Then over the next few episodes you’ll hear lesson ideas using this concept with recorders, singing, barred instruments, composition, and improvisation.  Lots of great things in store over the next few weeks! A pentatonic scale is a series of five pitches used within a musical piece.  It can be helpful to break down the word - Penta meaning five… where else do we hear this?  What o