Introduction
Graphic notations, more commonly known as Graphic Scores, can be described as the representation of music through the use of visual symbols and falling outside traditional musical notations. With its lack of standardisation and the variability that defines its main characteristics. The group I was assigned to lead a community music placement at Leeds Junior Conservatoire, after discussions, decided to keep Graphic Scores as the main theme of our placement, which will be delivered over the course of 3 weeks.
Background
Composers in the 1950’s began to experiment with contemporary visual art trends, where they began to use visual symbols, images, shapes, as well as text instead of using traditional notes. Graphic scores, being a non-traditional method of scoring, allowed composers to express complex sounds and encouraged more interpretative playing concerning pitch, rhythm and texture. This led to more open and flexible musical experiences..
Project Plan
When this group was first assigned to Leeds Junior Conservatoire, the group that I was assigned to had to discuss what theme we could discuss amongst budding musicians undergoing professional training. It was then that we came across the theme of Graphic Scores. Using symbols and images to notate music rather than traditional notation. We wanted to explore this theme, as most of the teaching at the Junior Conservatoire is done with regard to Western classical notation, leaving very little room to explore alternate forms of musical notation.
As one of our team members creates graphic scores for their own practice, we wanted to explore how graphic scores could be used to improve the participants’ own improvisational and compositional skills.
End Goals
With a placement at the Leeds Junior Conservatoire, we would be working with two different groups: a younger group aged 8-11 and an older group aged 11-17.
As the younger group have just started their musical journey, we wanted to introduce the theme of graphic scores to the younger cohort. We wanted to see how alternative scores could promote the seeds of compositional skills. We also wanted to them to try to create a playable Graphic score, and have the facilitators of the activity perform the score they create as an end goal.
As for the older cohort, they have already been introduced to alternative means of scoring, so we wanted to work on their understanding of Graphic Scoring. Due to the scoring’s nature being inherently interpretative, we wanted to use this opportunity to further develop the participants’ improvisational skills and be comfortable with exploring the instruments in a non-traditional way. But our final goal was that all participants could be comfortable implementing the skills they had learnt into their own practice.
Anticipated Timeline
Leeds Junior Conservatoire has the unique distinction of having the project done in 3 weeks due to being assigned 4 hours per week. Each session that this section will cover follows a similar structure while building up to the final session.
All sessions will begin with an introductory activity, as they help to create a welcoming environment that fosters social bonding. Week 1 for the younger cohort, after the introductory activity, would start with a presentation about Graphic Scores. We would introduce graphic scores to the participants. As each group is allocated 2 hours, with a break in the middle. After the break, we also planned a centring activity, as the energy the participants might get during the break, we wanted to involve centring by using listening games, and activities to get the participants ready for the next segment
After the break, we begin creating our first graphic score. Since this activity requires no instruments, we anticipate that it will take some time, as it will be their first time. As community music inherently requires a group of people taking part, participatory music making is a key component of the activity. After the scores have been created, we will discuss how it felt to create scores and discuss what the upcoming sessions would look like.
For the older cohort, an introductory activity must also be conducted, which could take on the form of an icebreaker, as the community music activities are centred around teenagers, as communities that consist of their peers are very important to counter the isolation many teenagers face in this stage of their lives.
After the icebreaker activities are conducted, we will also have a presentation explaining what graphic scores are. Due to the older cohort already being introduced to graphic scores, we wanted to use the first half an hour to brush up on what a graphic score consists of. Due to the long nature of sessions, a break is taken every hour for 15 minutes. After the break, we would be taking part in playing scores we have created, and explaining how it could be a part of their practice.
As always, each session will always end with time allocated to discussing next week’s sessions as well as checking in with each participant and discussing what they liked about the activity and what they were looking forward to. This feedback would help us develop the next session to fit in better with what the participants expect from the activity.
Week 2 also starts off the same way with an introductory activity, for the younger cohort, we start with the creation of their scores that we would perform in the final session. As this session would require minimal intervention from the facilitators, we felt that we could leave them to create, intervening to help only when necessary. All sessions will have a 15-minute break. We use 10 minutes after the break as a contingency to finish the scores, should there be any remaining. For the next 30 minutes, we wanted to use the time to have the participants play their own scores to get a feel of playing to a score and improvisational abilities that do not fall within the traditional Western music notation. After all the scores have been performed, we wanted to evaluate the same with the participants about any features that stood out
For the older cohort after the introductory activity, we wanted to introduce them to the relation between colour and pictures, using pictures we bring in to represent certain moods and themes and how we would interpret those colours with the instruments we have. As this session also has a break, we would create scores with participants during the second half and present them before we end the session by evaluating and discussing the final session!
The final session is meant to tie the activity to the end, and give the participants something to take away from the 2 sessions they took part in. The younger cohort after their introductory activity. The facilitators would perform scores, being only split up by the break in between. This would also be recorded for the participants to have a reminder of their experience with graphic scores. At the end, we wanted to discuss how graphic scores could play a huge role in their early musical journey and how they could implement it in their own practice.
With the older group, we also discuss how they can implement extended techniques they learnt while learning about Graphic scores, before playing scores together as part of an ensemble being directed by one of the facilitators. And at the end of the session, we would discuss the theme in relevance to their practice and how they could incorporate it into their own practice.
Considerations and Workarounds
As our placement is set in a music institution, we had three main concerns that required workarounds or considerations.
One of the main concerns when it comes to graphic scores is that participants affected by colour blindness would not be able to distinguish between the colours we would use while directing the ensemble. While presenting the activity practically in the seminars, we found that some participants couldn’t distinguish between certain colours we used and missed their cues to start playing.
To combat issues regarding colour blindness, we were advised to use symbols as well as more contrasting colours, so that participants could recognise the difference in the colours being used by the director.
Evaluation
Graphic Scores have always been a very effective way of expressing ideas musically, where traditional Western notation fails. The activity we would conduct would introduce the theme of graphic scores to the younger cohort and dive deeper into what’s already been taught to the older cohort. Creating and playing Graphic scores is very valuable to our activity, as breaking away from traditional practices would foster new skills that the participants could impart in their own practices.
This project also borrows techniques from community music making, as participants would perform the scores they created together as a group, regardless of prior skill. The project is also guided by the participants and their own interpretation of the scores, while the facilitators are present to guide the project. In addition, the feedback we received from our lecturer and peers informed us that the project was on the right track and would be perfectly suited for musicians beginning their professional training, with the only concerns being about the logistics of having our sessions with large gaps between them. We were instructed to send constant reminders to mentors about what would be required by the participants.
Presentation Recording
Presentation
Reference List
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