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| OFFERINGS FOR 4 TO 14 YEAR OLDS |
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| Curriculum: MUSIC: Understanding and
appreciation |
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Understanding, creating, and performing are areas that the Spiny Babbler music curriculum is oriented towards. In order to achieve effective coverage, four distinct packages complimenting each other are on offer. Each packages lasts a quarter (three-months).
- Understanding music: Classical, Blues/Soul, Jazz, Rock, Pop, Disco, Hip Hop, Country, and a peek into traditional Nepalese music. Participants attempt to recognize, understand differences; appreciate backgrounds and influences whether they are from Africa, Europe, or the Americas.
- Knowing musical instruments: Wind, percussion, string… participants learn how they become similar and how they support each other. They listen to unique sounds, rhythms, and beats and sensitize their hearing to varied instruments and learn roots and fmailies.
- Music and Nepalese culture: Participants learn the diversity of music along Nepal’s geographical lines: Terai, hills, mountains. They become familiar with music/sounds along Nepalese religious lines: Buddhist, Hindu, and Animistic. They are introduced to music along ethnic lines: Newari, Damai, Tibetan….
- Making music: Participants make original music experimenting, learning, exploring wind, string, and percussion instruments and using MIDI technology. The class comes out with a compact disc that they can share, enjoy, place before the public and treasure for a lifetime.
The following curriculum outlines the first package Understanding music: |
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| Developing aural sensitivity. Participants sit on a hill-top and listen to silence. They imagine a world with only natural sounds and the inspiration that led to the human being to make sounds that make sense and portray emotions. Birds, leaves, a brook nearby, the wind, insects, faraway traffic. In this quiet environment, they listen to the guitar and appreciate its sound. They are introduced notations and pluck at the notes. |
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| Participants are familiarized with the diversity of classical music. Classical music performed by European orchestras and opera performed by Italian maestros. They visit to the music museum in Bhadrakali or music related display at Royal Nepal Academy. They come back to find the guitar and again review notes and try memorizing the basics as they pluck at the strings. Quite a packed session featuring geniuses like Beethoven, Bach, and Mozart on video; an old dusty instrument outlay; and notations and performing. |
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| A historical tour with the flute. Visit to a fourth century bihar where Mandev and Amsuvarma offered prayers and music. Participants enjoy the serenity and gentle rolling hills and fields as they identify tunes and listen to a fine melody that flows through the flute of their instructor. They learn about the Blues and Soul music. Then they try their hand at playing a wind instrument while coordinating the notations that they have learned in the past two sessions. |
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| Percussions and then Hip Hop. Drums, cymbals and other percussion instruments rumble at Spiny Babbler. Will it be an age old tune that calls upon the rain gods to bless us or will it be a fast emotive rock beat. They learn how the guitar, the flute, and the percussion instruments impact our senses differently and how the body reacts to them as separate sounds. They strum the guitar, the peep the flute, and they bang and clang some percussion instruments all the while remaining aware of the underlying notations that bind them together as a coordinated language. Then they move into Hip hop, hear a little about break dance, and listen to some clean Rap. |
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| The making of musical instruments and a contrast with new technology. The music is important and so is the maker of musical instruments, otherwise where would the instruments come from? Production requires finesse, good acoustics sense, and quality raw material. Visit a guitar maker uptown and a madal maker downtown. Spiny Babbler designs, performs and records music for movies, CDs, and live performances using internal resources. Walk through music planning, sound acquisition, audio engines such as Reasons, designing software such as Nuendo, and editing using Audition. Lets do the disco today and try a hand at the keyboard understand the logistics behind using high-end MIDI. |
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| The world of the Jazz. The rise, influence, leading performers, and basic instruments. Participants meet Nepalese jazz music performer and listen to his presentation. They learn about career development in music and performances in leading hotels, before international audiences, and what it is like to go live. Then it is practice time. He will make the effort to listen to their progress with the instruments and give individual feedback. |
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| Rock and Pop Music. Kings and Queens. “King of Rock ‘n’ Roll” Elvis Presley, The “Boss” Bruce Springsteen, “the Prince of Pop” Michael Jackson, “The Queen of Rock & Roll” Tina Turner, and experimental artists/bands take participants on a roller coaster ride. Listening to them and understanding why their music is different and special will be an experience. Also learning to collect, support, and encourage artists who deliver quality and originality even if they are not a part of the mainstream creators with big record labels. |
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| Back to the guitar and Country Songs. Listen to “Country Road,” and the singers of Country song. John Denver, Bonnie Raitt, Kenny Rogers, Olivia Newton John, Dirt Band, Alabama and other help us understand more. Just the place to do it is before a Nepali barn somewhere beneath the great Himalayas thinking about cowboys and chewing on sukuti. We try and become creative with our musical instruments now that we have a much better idea. |
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| Making music. Each participants is encouraged to prepared two minutes of original work for an audio CD now that they have been exposed to so much. They use real instruments, household items, MIDI technology and let their imaginations come up with creations that are of publishable quality. |
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| Making music. Spend time with a musician and perform on your own using advance MIDI techniques from Reason sound engine, Nuendo sound designer, Audition sound editor to easy to access players such as Media Player. Work on the audio CD meanwhile and visit a leading personality in the music industry. Spend time talking to a creator and learning about her/his life and work and contribution to the music sector. |
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| Sharing what we have learned and what we have created. Participants and instructors, and listen to the music created by the group and share ideas and opinions and further fine tune to the final product as needed. Introduce critical thinking, prepare for a presentation, share what they have created as an important component of the education cycle. |
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| Let’s party! A visit to the discotheque for hip hop, techno, or disco. What better way than to wriggle, squiggle, or prance around and loosen up. As well as get first-hand insight into these music forms. Come on, let’s shake our body, swing our arms, do a twist or take the stage by storm. Fast numbers, slow numbers, let’s try to do the moon walk! It is here that we will launch our CD by the very same Nepalese music maestro that we visited. |
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COLLECTIBLES