THE ANATOMY OF MELODY
"The Book", as we've called it during its lengthy birthing process, is finally in print! It's the fruit of some 60 years of arranging, composing and teaching - in that order, because I really learned most from working with traditional songs. All those arrangements for the Robert Shaw Chorale taught me what melody is, why the good ones work and last, how the setting needs to grow out of the original line (that's Volume II), and how to transmit that knowledge to others.
Now that it's available, in attractive form, will people recognize it for what it is? I think it's the first step in any kind of music study: awakening ears and voices to the subtle components of a sung line. But it can also be enjoyed by anyone who loves to sing, and wants to investigate what's actually going on when we set these vibrations in motion.
Most theory books use the page as a base - but this book celebrates the ear. The expressive values in music are precisely what cannot be notated, so we must learn how to read the page in order to make musical sounds. What's the first step? Listening and echoing, just as my 18th-month-old granddaughter does. I must capture her attention through my tone of voice, facial expression, body language and focus on the song. When it's alive to me, it is to her, and she's drawn in, as the bee to honey or the nail to the magnet. Singing "correct to the page" simply doesn't do it. When I'm with her I'm not teaching notes and rhythms, I'm conveying mood, energy and the mysteries of human emotions and language through the medium of notes and rhythms. The latter are of little value in themselves. They are just the froth left behind by the waves.
So, The Anatomy of Melody underlies vocal or instrumental performance, or theory, or history, or education, or appreciation, or analysis, or stylistic exploration. The teacher sings a simple melody, and the students echo. The focus is on expressivity and ear-learning, not on the page, or vocal prowess. Everyone sings in whatever voice they've got. The pathways between ear and voice are opened, cleared, easily responsive to those complex sound waves. That's what music is, only sound. Can the teacher - can you - make a ballad come alive? A dance tune? A lullaby? A spiritual? Can the listener respond, concentrating on the challenge of expressive ensemble sound, rather than shyness or vocal inadequacy or inability to read music? If you can talk, you can sing. What comes out of the mouth is the mirror of what has been understood in the mind through the ears. If we can really sing it, we can play, or arrange, or lead, or improvise, or teach it.
It's impossible to read this book without listening and singing. Discussion follows immediately after the vibrations fade: we talk about what we have just heard. We may affirm an abstract concept through the analysis; we never start with one.
I've heard from the few friends that have taught from this book in its formative stages that the level of class participation is completely different after this beginning. Students in all disciplines are using their ears and voices, as well as knowing a vocabulary for discussing the results. What better foundation could there be for a musical life?
ANALYZING MY WORK
Editorial
I just spent the better part of two days reading and commenting on a 'conductor's analysis' of three of my more extended works. The author wrote well, and it was interesting to me to see how her perceptions of the music both underscored and differed from my own. On the positive side, she began with quoting the texts in full, recognizing their germinal place in my thinking. Yet she didn't stop to analyze the poetry at all - the kind of language employed by the different poets, the contrasts and repetitions within the separate poems, or the form of both individual movements and the whole. She drew very simple flow charts showing the proportions of each movement along with the measure numbers, tonal centers, dynamics, and poetic lines. Thank goodness she didn't do a detailed harmonic analysis: I just don't think that way! But she did spend an inordinate amount of time trying to decide which scale or mode I was in within any phrase, rather than seeing the melody as a whole, and examining its complex balances.
Which is, again, not the way I'm thinking. I certainly am fond of modal scales, but don't have any 'theory' about how or when they should be used. My concept of tonality comes down to a home tone - whichever I choose. But no system comes with it: no major scale and chords, or feeling that I must choose Dorian or Phrygian or any variant of Aeolian. I have free range of any combination of tones that cross my mind as I begin to find the melody-in-the-words. My experience teaches me that I will be most successful if I don't dictate to that process: I let it go where it will, and live with the results. Changing a note or more almost always weakens the whole line. If it turns out major, fine. Then I may well specify the cadence points which come with that system, so I'm making explicit what has been implicit in the melody. And perhaps the next step is to draw a chorale-like bass line, just to see if I can find one that pleases me.
But a far more familiar pattern is to write out the melody and then try to construct an answering contrapuntal line. I'm listening to the singing in my head. If one half of my brain hears the words and tones of my melody, how does the other half respond? Intensive listening comes first, and then the moment of discovery of when the second line may enter, and what the words are (and thus the rhythms). This process is familiar to all my students as 'text-counterpoint' - the answering singer responds first to the words, and then to the rhythms and pitch curves surrounding them. The conscious ordering of harmony does not enter my mind at all - in fact, the harmony is for me simply the vertical result of flowing contrapuntal lines.
All of which is to say that a harmonic analysis, or one based on a particular world-view of scale organization, is bound to be less than enlightening simply because my music is being examined through the wrong looking glass. What's the right one? First, examine the mood and voice of the poem, and then how I respond to them. How does my melodic setting grow out of those words? Is it literal or free? Who am I (the composer) as I sing those words (think about the difference between the poet's, and the composer's, and the reader's "singer's" viewpoint; between the poem's voice and the poet.) Then, the setting: how does my choice of voicing and/or instrumentation illumine the melody? What kind of conversation is going on between the voices, or between voices and instruments? Is there any exact repetition, or is it through-composed? Is there a climactic moment? How is it approached and left? Many times I'm working within a strophic structure: how do I overcome those limitations? Finally, does the piece work? Convince a listener? Are there places that are difficult to understand, or that don't seem to accomplish their mission? Does it have an inevitable flow?
I seem to be working outside of the usual technical parameters taught in our conservatories. I'm certainly not inventing a new language: pushing back the boundaries is far from my aim. Working with the rhythms of beautifully spoken language is one bottom-line; another is simplicity. The rhythmic basis of my music may be very complex as it tries to capture those speech-rhythms, but the pitch curves are almost always simple - "white-note" music with little chromaticism. I don't want the pitches to get in the way of that beautifully inflected word-singing.
It seems to me that the point of analysis is to dig inside the music to find the composer's intentions and method of working. Thus, analyzing late-Romantic music in terms of the Renaissance - or vice versa -- is not going to yield any insight. Can we learn to approach any music without pigeon-holing it first, but rather trying to listen to just what's there? Let's not allow the wish to theorize get in the way of primary understanding. The music is what it is: accept, appreciate and enjoy it.
Alice Parker
Study with Alice Parker
THE 2007 MELODIOUS ACCORD
FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM
Hawley, MA
For adventurous musicians who wish to expand their horizons
January 9-12, 2007
Score Study in New York City: Three days of intensive Score Study in Manhattan. There is reasonable housing available, and time to explore the city's cultural attractions.
June 15-18, 2007
Melody Studies: Explore what happens when we sing with and for each other. Based on Alice's book, The Anatomy of Melody.
July 15-22, 2007
Teaching Melody through Song Leading: An in-depth study of song leading, including intensive melodic analysis, repertoire, planning SINGS and hands-on practice in leading both small and large groups.
October 14-21, 2007
Composers Workshop: For those wishing to share their work with a small, non-judgmental group. The focus is on setting texts and writing for voices, through daily assignments and discussions.
For further information and forms, visit the the Institute web pages or contact Kay Holt at 413-536-1753 or kay@aliceparker.com
THE VIEW FROM HERE
James Whitcomb Riley, a 19th century vernacular versifier, said it well:
"...The air's so appetizing; and the landscape through the haze Of a crisp and sunny morning of the airly autumn days Is a pictur' that no painter has the colorin' to mock - When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock."
Those early autumn days are here - the first frost came last night, and I harvested the crop of green marbles that are my tomatoes. I've already made two batches of pesto with the last of the basil, and try to enjoy fresh corn every day while it lasts. The trees have started to turn, with muted rusts and oranges.
But something's awry here. The leaves on the maple trees, which never regained their full size after the caterpillars last May, are shriveled and gray, with no hint of the glorious bright reds and yellows which usually characterize the New England autumn. I can see the skeletons of the trees already - that doesn't usually happen until a month from now. The sky is the right blue, and the air clean and cidery - but what has happened? Even the lower lands that didn't get the plague are struck by the same dullness.
And one of the huge old maples that line the hillside behind the house came down after a wind- and rain-storm. Fortunately it was far enough away so that only the tips of the top branches came to the edge of my lawn ...it could have mashed the house if it had been nearer. The broken trunk, rotted through, must measure a good 30 inches in diameter, and its fellows are some 60 to 70 feet tall. I wasn't home when it happened - it must have given the ground a good shake.
On the other hand, the hydrangea that dominates my yard is dense with heavy blooms after a vigorous pruning in the spring. And the hostas along the slate walk have to get dug up and separated this Fall - they are ridiculously huge. Where, oh where are the teen-agers with brawn and shovels to tackle such a task? And how about the handyman with a splitter to work on the woodpile? These day-laborers are harder and harder to find.
Now, the shorter days seem to be heavy with the passing of time. Our local general store is changing hands after being in the same family for five generations, and the nearby dairy farm is fighting to keep afloat. But, as always, it's the "worst of times and the best of times." Time to enjoy the colorful heaps of apples and 'punkins' at the roadside stands, and lift a glass of fresh cider to the changing seasons, toasting these 'airly autumn days'.
Alice Parker
JULY FELLOWSHIPS
This past summer, for the first time, I taught a Song Leading session in July, away from home. Jim and Angie Clemens hosted a group of seven at their home in the mountains near Harrisonburg, VA, and we all enjoyed their warm hospitality. Here are some comments from the participants..."It's OK to ask for all sorts of sounds from the voice, and use no instruments." "The most significant image for me was how the rivers of text, melody, rhythm, etc., influence and become the energy of the song." "The most helpful times are the hands-on practice times." "I can incorporate improvisation into both classroom and church, and will seek to be more expressive." "I learned that I can trust the song rather than focusing on technicality." "First, learning to discover the 'soul' of the song in its purest form. Then communicating the love of the song, and its mood, to an audience." "I was reminded of how much I love hearing a congregation, or community, or group sing without the pressure of a performance or adjudication. It can and should be expressive, prayerful, or even just fun. I'm hoping to keep that at the core of my teaching this year."
In July 2007, we're offering, again for the first time, a week here in Hawley entitled Teaching Melody through Song Leading. Based on my book, we'll look at the phenomenon of singing from the points of view of singers, song leaders, arrangers, teachers and collectors. It will be a special time to see Hawley in midsummer, and explore this new focus as well. I hope the date will allow some of you heretofore bound by church and school schedules to enjoy this kind of study. Or, some of you who live farther away might want to follow Jim and Angie's example and host a class in your community. Do write and ask about it.
Alice Parker
DEAR FRIENDS,
We do live in a world of tumult and confusion, with noises assaulting us from all sides. Disorderly wrangling passes for conversation, with folks exercising their 'freedom' to proclaim, through the media, outrageous views on all subjects. How can we escape?
Many of us with sensitive ears find an oasis in chamber music. There's a personal aspect to this kind of music-making, with a few voices or instruments drawing listeners into a unique kind of communion. Even in larger groups, ensemble music demands that the individual put aside personal ego to create through this medium an ideal world. Through tone and time and text, our hearts and minds and spirits are touched and uplifted - yes, there is beauty in the world, and calm, and order. Within these bounds, all our emotions can be brought into play, without physical or mental harm. Singers, players and listeners recognize and celebrate their common humanity.
But we can't divorce economic or physical needs from this world of song. We do need to eat and sleep and have a place to practice our art. It's impossible in this culture to earn a living through our activities, so we ask you to help support us. Melodious Accord is a tiny organization, but we are part of a whole civilizing network operating around the world - the flip side, as it were, of the military/industrial complex. Think of how much of our financial support goes there, and then think how much the arts matter to you, and what portion of your income you might give to balance this equation.
Our work continues to be both challenging and rewarding. Many groups around the country still want me to share my experience with them; many individuals come to my home to study with me; and many singers are involved in our performances, recordings and SINGS. Melodious Accord, Inc. makes all this work possible. It deserves your continuing support, and we are immensely grateful for it.
All best wishes,
Alice Parker
Stepping into a New World
We're just back from a lively and fruitful visit to New York, meeting with our friends and advisors on the Melodious Accord Board of Trustees. Looking back on our discussions, it seems to me that we are at a watershed moment. It's exciting - and frightening -- at the same time.
Several events have slowly triggered my change in perception. There are two recordings awaiting a distributor - now I find that Tower Records is almost passed. Publications, both books and music, keep going quickly -- and needlessly -- out of print. There's more and more correspondence on e-mail that takes advantage of instantaneous replies. My children have i-pods that contain baby pictures as well as complete CDs. . .
My great awakening at the meeting was that Melodious Accord needs to move boldly into the electronic age. We are in a good position to focus much of our work through an enlarged and more varied Website. We could offer books, articles, music and the newsletter through this portal, selling directly to the individual buyer. The Alice Parker Music Company already exists: it could expand to make a variety of publications available electronically.
There are many legal and procedural intricacies to be explored. We need contact with folks with experience in electronic publishing and communication and intellectual property rights, and people on the Board to oversee these activities. Most of all, I need to expand my vision of what Melodious Accord can become in the years ahead. It would be a comfort to know that if my health were impaired, our active and capable Board, focused through the Website, would be able to continue our mission of creating communities of song.
WE LOVE OUR CORRESPONDENTS
Letter from Latin America
"I will never forget the hours spent with you, and the concert with our two choirs...In this period of war, death and pain I often think: oh if the soldiers could use music-weapons, you know the world will be during the whole year a big big party."
from a letter to Jim Heiks
Nature Note from Oklahoma
"I'm afraid you're not in for a 'plague' of butterflies, but of small moths. If you're lucky they'll be colored and not plain brown. Their sole job in life is to eat and grow ...(Butterflies don't make cocoons.)"
Entomologist and song-lover Patricia Woolever
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