S9: E171 Pentatonic Scales with Barred Instruments

 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:

1. 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:

1. Simple on a steady beat with both 1 and 5 playing at the same time

2. Simple broken - Alternating between 1 and 5 on the beat

3. Simple level - playing 1/5 together on long bars and again on the high bars

4. Simple crossover - 1-5-1'-5

2) Single Moving

3) Double Moving

One idea for challenging students with pentatonic scales:

Teach a Barred Instrument Piece in C Pentatonic.  Orff Schulwerk inspired teachers may equate the pentatonic scale as being the C-do pentatonic scale.  All of the volumes pieces are printed in the key of C.  But many can be transposed to F-do pentatonic or g-do pentatonic.

Ask students to transpose a piece to G.  

Ask students to transpose to F.

Improvisation

1. Begin by asking students to create a four beat pattern in C-do pentatonic.  Have them write it down.

2. As students play one student or more should be playing a bordun of your choosing. I typically choose the simple bordun that alternates between tones 1 and 5.  It keeps it less complicated and allows me to hear what students are doing better.

3. Rotate which students play the bordun part so that all students have the opportunity to create a four beat pattern and practice it.

1. Ask students to play their pattern and then rest for four beats while you play something else.  You will be giving them the ending to their pattern.  So a student might play GG AA G E and you would add EE DD C (rest).  Your pattern should end on the home note - in this case, C.

2. Teach students your part through rote teaching.

3. Ask them to put your part to the end of what they created.  Practice playing this several times in a row so that they have it memorized.

4. Ask students to keep this as the Answer.  You’re going to ask them a musical question that is eight beats long.  They will respond with the answer they’ve been practicing.

5. Assessment:  You play a musical question and individual students respond with their musical Answer.  Assess their mallet technique, if they play rhythms accurately, if they play musically.

6. To extend this, ask students to keep their first four beats and create an ending to their answer that is different than the one you gave them.  However, they must end on the home tone (C) on beat 7 of the phrase (or the third beat of the second half of the phrase).  Students can write down their pattern to help them remember as they practice.

It is up to the teacher to determine which simple Bordun to use with students.  The crossover is more challenging than the broken -since it involves crossing the hand over from low. Tonic to high tonic.  Any of these borduns work well with pentatonic pieces - just depends which one sounds right with the melody being taught and the skill level of the players.

Composition:

7. When composing, Re should not fall on the strong beats.  Or it will clash with the tonic (1) of the chord.  Instead it should be used as a passing tone or on a weak beat.

8. This can be done through chance - students work in partners or by themselves. They  choose one letter for every beat.  Then decide if they want each beat to contain one sound, two sounds, or four sounds.  They then take the rhythm of their piece to create a phrase or two.  This becomes their melody!

9. Students can then partner together with another student or another group of partners to share what they created.  They can then teach each other their melodies and combine them to create an AB form or repeat one of the sections to create an ABA form piece.

It is up to the teacher to determine which simple Bordun to use with students.  The crossover is more challenging than the broken -since it involves crossing the hand over from low. Tonic to high tonic.  Any of these borduns work well with pentatonic pieces - just depends which one sounds right with the melody being taught and the skill level of the players.