getting started with takadimi - firsteggfirstegg.yolasite.com/resources/takadimi for dmps.pdf ·...

GETTING STARTED

WITH TAKADIMI Kris VerSteegt

For Des Moines Public Schools

October 25, 2013

12:30-1:45

LEARNING TARGET:

I can describe the history of Takadimi.

FROM WHERE DID IT COME?

First came to America around 1950

through Jazz musicians who were

incorporating Indian traditional

music into their own improvisatory

style

Takadimi is the name for a subdivided

pulse in traditional Indian music

Indian traditional music is in no way

metric and is learned almost exclusively

through oral tradition

HOW DID THE PEDAGOGICAL SYSTEM

DEVELOP?

Developed by Richard Hoffman,

William Pelto, and John W. White of

Ithaca College in New York for

classroom use

Published as Takadimi: A Beat-

Oriented System of Rhythm Pedagogy

in the Journal of Music Theory

Pedagogy (1996, vol. 10)

HOW DID IT GAIN POPULARITY IN THE

U.S.?

Gained attention with these

publications:

MEJ, Nov. 2006 vol. 93/2

MEJ, May 2007 vol. 93/5

Kodaly Today by Michael Houlahan and

Philip Tacka (Oxford, 2008)

Progressive Sight Singing by Carol

Krueger (Oxford, 2010)

AND IN IOWA?

Tom Sletto of Drake University wrote A

Comparison of Rhythm Syllables and a

Recommendation in the Kodaly Envoy,

Spring 2011 vol. 11/3

Carol Krueger made appearances with

ACDA and ICDA sharing her pattern

drills and her book Progressive Sight

Singing

LEARNING TARGET:

I can compare and contrast Takadimi with other

systems.

HOW IS IT LIKE OTHER SYSTEMS?

Like natural language acquisition, it is a sound

before sight before theory system

a progression of skills from echoing, to connecting

sounds with syllables, to connecting syllables with

symbols, to reading symbols, to writing and creating

with syllables and symbols, and finally, to a

theoretical understanding

WHAT OTHER SYSTEMS ARE IN USE?

Kodalys traditional Hungarian system

This system closes the vowel with an m when there is a dot, rather than elongating the sound

This system is durational and thus does not translate well to cut time

Other problems develop in compound meter

What should we call that d ?

Kodaly may have dismissed this complication because compound meter is SO RARE in Hungarian music

ADAPTATIONS

Many people have changed y to tikatika

tidatida or tipitipi

Tiritiri in American English simply doesnt work

Some have changed how the dot is verbalized,

instead of closing of the vowel

ta-i ti has been widely used for j e, but to do so often leads to j e being performed as q n

Most people recognize that an extra sound is no

better than a closed sound, and is probably worse

Some say tam ti for j e and ta-i ti for qun (this is theoretical again)

Some say ta-ah instead of too, say ta-ah-ah

instead of toom and ta-ah-ah-ah instead of

toe

What about Ed Gordon (James Froseth)?

No extra sounds and no closed vowels for dots

This system is ALMOST beat functional

o Thus, in cut time, h is du

Thats okay! h has been du before

But where is it NOT beat functional?

Do we still have the d problem? Why or why not?

How can we adapt y to be beat functional?

WITH SO MANY ADAPTATIONS

Everyone is doing their own thing

For the right reasons

But, the children never learn to speak the syllables

like a language

Children often learn at least 2 systems,

sometimes many more

I once had a kid say thats how we clap it in band!

like this was a great epiphany

Imagine if we could find something that worked

for EVERYONE and didnt need adapted

HOW IS TAKADIMI DIFFERENT?

No extra sounds for dots

No closed sounds for dots

This system is TOTALLY beat functional

Thus, in cut time, h is ta (as the beat note)

Thats okay! h has been ta before

Hey, that works!

WHY IS IT BETTER?

It works easily in cut time, simple and compound

meters, asymmetrical meters and mixed meter

Its sound before sight before theory approach

takes children seamlessly from known to

unknown (Pestalozzi)

It is easy to borrow compound rhythms into

simple meter (and vice versa) as they share no

common syllables other than ta and di

WHY IS IT BETTER?

Ta is ALWAYS on the ictus of the beat

You arent asking kids to do theory when they are

decoding

The right words just fall out!

Sing Great Big House in New Orleans

Sing Good King Wenceslas

It is simple enough for elementary and yet complex enough

for secondary and beyond

This system grows with the child: It is logical when

children are concrete operational and can get ever

more abstract as the children move into the formal

operational stage (Piaget)

WAIT!

But real musicians count!

Takadimi makes transitioning to counting in high

school VERY EASY (but this should be delayed until

the students can sing/speak, move, create, read, and

decode with the system (as counting is theoretical))

Start with takadimi

Add 1-kadimi, 2-kadimi etc.

Transfer to 1e&a, 2e&a, etc.

You can help! Count your kids in sometimes 1 & 2 & breathe (breath)

Ask your kids on which beat of the measure is the ta dimi?

Etc.

LEARNING TARGET:

I know how to get started with Takadimi.

HOW DO I GET STARTED?

Change immediately upon returning from a

break (winter or summer break would work best)

Dont start Monday!

Start by just having the kids say the syllables

and play games with the syllables


Then have kids translate known songs and

rhymes into the syllables

Do this for many lessons for older kids, longer for

youngers kids

A puppet is useful when beginning, but should be

taken away when no longer needed

Dip dictation

Hey Ho! Anybody Home?

NOTE: Songs are easier than poems

But they need to do BOTH


When 80% of your kids can translate accurately,

they are ready to try unknown materials

Come, butter, come

Come, butter, come

Peters waiting at the gate

Waiting for some buttered cake

Come, butter, come

Again, poems are harder


When 80% of kids can translate UNKNOWN

material into Takadimi, you know they are ready

to SEE notation

Use the time signature and bar lines all the time

Each time they see notation, have them begin by

echoing and end with reading

Demonstrationflash cards


Play lots of games with reading

Black Snake


Play lots of games with reading

Turkey Poker (q n Q h)

Are You Smarter than the Music Teacher? (q n Q)

Rhythm Hop (q n)


Use plenty of masterworks for reading.

@ q n|q q |q n| q q |

q n|q q |q n |q Q |

${n n n q |n q n q |n n n n|n n h }

{n n n q |n q n q |n n n q |n q h }


Dont forget to write!

WHAT ABOUT MY OLDER KIDS?

Start with q and n

Move faster but remember the 80% rule!

WHAT COMMON PITFALLS SHOULD I

AVOID?

Spend PLENTY of time working conversationally

with the rhythms before presenting an associated

symbol

ALL students should be able to accurately translate

into Takadimispeech, poems, and songs they have

never before heardbefore they are shown the

syllables they are speaking

Cobbler, Cobbler


AVOID?

Never label isolated symbols with written

words like ta tadi

In cut time and compound time, the beat note looks

different but still sounds ta

Introducing compound early can help kids realize that ta

is the BEAT not the PICTURE

If you feel you must label, make sure you are also showing the

time signature and bar lines making your labels true


AVOID?

Delay cut time until much later (at least age 12)

If you sang this, what does it sound like in Takadimi?

Yet, this is how this song usually appears in choral octavos Confusing for concrete operational children (ages 7-11)

Some teachers have their kids sing cut time as if NOT cut time to avoid the problem This is a bad idea

Then ta is no longer just beat but also the division

di is no longer the division, but the subdivision, etc.


AVOID?

Children cant say as much as you can, at least not a

first

M.M. 120-136 for simple meter, divided beat, slower when

subdivided

M.M. 96-120 for compound

Going too slow will change the ta = ictus of beat

connection

DONT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKES I DID

Change everything at once. Trying to keep some

things (like synCOpa) while changing everything

else will make conversing in ta language

impossible and rob them of the ta=ictus of beat

connection

There is nothing wrong with teaching grammar

(theory), just dont teach it until the kids can read!

Be sure to delay syncopated or dotted rhythms in

simple meter until well into your sequence

Otherwise they will perform n as eq or je

Those all say ta di

WHAT CURRICULAR MATERIALS ARE

AVAILABLE?

Conversational Solfege by John Feierabend uses

beat-function syllables and a sequence that

delays dotted rhythms and syncopation

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND taking his Conversational

Solfege class (available in many places throughout

the U.S. each summer)

Conversational Solfege also teaches elements of

compound meter early in the sequence, which is

consistent with American Folk Music*

John uses Gordon/Froseth you could easily use Takadimi

WHAT CURRICULAR MATERIALS ARE

AVAILABLE?

Progressive Sight Singing by Carol Krueger is

filled with patterns and drills appropriate for

older beginners through college level

This book is not repertoire based, it is pattern based

Makes a great addition if you already have loads of

repertoire you love but have better things to do than

recreate patterns and drills

Makes a great addition for ensembles looking to

develop rhythm reading skills (and solmization skills)

She adds what she calls patschen but looks like

Tempo must be significantly slowed (ta=ictus?)

theory

IS IT PERFECT?

There are no syllables beyond sixteenth notes

The vowels of takadimi are okay, but I would

prefer an oo vowel for choral tone

A few consonants are troublesome for wind

Taka works for double-tonguing on some instruments

mi (simple) and va (compound) dont tongue at all

(labial)

Takida sounds a lot like takadi and is easy to

confuse

DID WE HIT THE TARGET?

1. I can describe the history of Takadimi.

2. I can compare and contrast Takadimi with

other systems.

3. I know how to get started with Takadimi.

getting started with takadimi - firsteggfirstegg.yolasite.com/resources/takadimi for dmps.pdf ·...

Documents