Street Sounds - Digital Chalkboard

WELCOME TO
CUESHEET, a
performance guide
published by the
Education
Department of The
John F. Kennedy
Center for the
Performing Arts,
Washington, D.C.
This Cuesheet is
designed to be used
by students and
teachers before and
after attending a
performance by the
vocal group Street
Sounds.
What’s in
Cuesheet?
Who is Street
Sounds? page 2
The Human Voice,
page 3
Making Music,
pages 4 and 5
African-American
Music and its
Message,
pages 6 and 7
The Audience: You,
page 8
2
Who is Street Sounds?
An a cappella quintet that celebrates
African-American song traditions
A cappella is an Italian
musical term that means “to
sing without instrumental
accompaniment.”
Quintet—a group of five persons
or things. In music, it is a group of
five musicians.
Activity
Left to Right: Steven Thomas, Michelle Jacques,
Louise Robinson, Rhonda Crane, Bryan S. Dyer
The Quintet
Louise Robinson, Artistic
Director, a native of New York, received
a B.F.A. from Howard University in
Washington D.C. She is a founding member of the internationally known a cappella quintet, Sweet Honey in the Rock.
In addition to singing, Louise has directed, produced, co-produced, and has acted
both on and off-Broadway. In 1989,
Louise formed the a cappella quintet
Street Sounds and has performed for the
United Nations World Conference of
Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland.
Michelle Jacques, a musician and singer, began studying acting,
in secondary school, continuing through
college, where she founded and organized the Rhonda Hudson Singers. She is
currently a member in the Bay Area
Chapter of the Edwin Hawkins Music
and Arts Seminar.
Bryan S. Dyer began his
musical career at an early age singing
in the children’s choir at church.
Membership in the Oakland Youth
Chorus led to the formation of an a cappella group known as The Five Spots
which he was a member of for over five
years. His musical career includes work
with radio stations and tours throughout
the world including France, England,
Germany, Jamaica and Japan.
modern dance, tap, ballet, and violin at a
young age. She is an original member of
Street Sounds. Michelle now performs,
records, and makes radio and television
commercials.
Rhonda Crane is an accomplished musician originally from
Brooklyn, New York. Although her vocal
talents were developed early in the
Baptist church, her vocal training began
Steven Thomas began dancing in 1966 under the direction of the
Oakland Ballet. He has since choreographed for Oakland’s Civic Theatre and
the Performing Arts Committee. It was
during Steven’s work in the Theatre
Works production of Dreamgirls that he
began singing, which led him to many
singing roles and studio background
vocals for numerous Bay Area artists.
The following eight terms
identify the number of musicians in a musical group. In
the box next to each term,
write the number between
one and eight that correctly
identifies each musical term.
trio
octet
septet
solo
quartet
duo
sextet
quintet
An Amazing Instrument
The Human Voice
The members of Street Sounds play
the world’s oldest musical instrument—the voice. All people
have this precious and powerful instrument, but few
learn how to “play” it.
4. Try the exercise together with a friend.
Time yourselves to see who can hiss longer.
The voice is one of the simplest instruments to play, but
one of the most difficult to play
well. Singers must keep their
voices in good working condition, and
must also remain healthy to ensure that
their instruments work well. Singers
“stay in shape” by exercising their
voices every day. They do this
by exercising the muscles
involved in singing: the
diaphragm, which controls
breathing, and the muscles
around the vocal cords in
the larynx.
Activity
larynx—the
Vocal Play
upper end of the
Activity
Breathe Deeply!
Singers support their vocal sounds by controlling their breathing. Many singers use this
exercise to improve breath control:
1. Stand up straight.
2. Inhale deeply through your nose.
3. Blow out slowly through your mouth, making a hissing sound “sssssssssss,” for as
long as you can with one breath.
clock ticking
whistle blowing
larynx and
vocal cords
windpipe
lungs
diaphragm
windpipe
Street Sounds singers use their voices to make
a variety of sounds. With a friend, try imitating some of these sounds:
popcorn popping
mouth
(trachea) that
contains the
vocal cords
Did you know?
When you breathe out (exhale), you make sounds.
Air is pushed out from your lungs by your diaphragm.
This moving air causes your vocal cords to vibrate.
horn honking
vocal cords
The pitch (high or low) of your voice is controlled by
motor humming
—folds of
the tightness (tension) of the cords. The volume
membrane that
(loud/soft) is controlled by the amount of air
vibrate to
passing through the vocal cords.
waves crashing
brakes screeching
wind rustling
produce sound
horse galloping
dishwasher running
diaphragm—
heart beating
dog barking
muscles and
Try to imitate other sounds, and ask a friend
to identify them.
tendons that
control the flow
of air in and out
of the lungs
3
4
Making Music
Melody, Harmony, and Unis
Composing, Arranging, and
Improvising Music
Music can be invented in many different ways. Members of Street
Sounds create music by composing, arranging, and improvising.
Composing means inventing new music and writing it down.
Written music is known as a score. Scores tell musicians which
notes to sing and play and which parts, if any, they may improvise.
Scores written in SATB specify the Soprano, Alto, Tenor, and Bass
vocal parts.
Melody: When people listen to music, the
tune, or musical line, that is easiest to hum
along with is usually the melody. The person
who sings the melody is called the “lead” voice.
In many types of vocal music, the highest
voice often sings the melody ssss,
while the other voices sing different notes.
Arranging means adapting a previously composed piece of
music for another style of performance. A piece of music originally
composed for instruments may be arranged for voice. Music composed for one voice (solo) may be arranged for five voices (quintet).
Improvising means
inventing music on the spot.
Street Sounds will improvise
and create new music during
the performance.
Vocal Range—A singer’s vocal
range is the span of pitches
Harmony is created as different notes are
sung at the same time. Each combination of
different notes creates a new harmony.
between the highest and lowest
notes the singer can produce.
Females tend to sing in the higher
ranges, while male voices fall in the
lower ranges. The Italian musical
terms used to describe singing
voices are:
Activity
Compose and
Improvise
Step 1: Compose a simple
sentence, such as “As I was
coming to school this morning, something unusual happened.”
Step 2: With no preparation,
create a story that continues
from your sentence. Now you
are improvising!
Soprano—the highest female
singing voice
Alto—a low female singing voice,
When all voices sing the same melody notes
together, they are singing in unison.
usually in the range between
soprano and tenor
Tenor—the highest adult male
voice, usually in the range between
alto and bass
Bass—a male singing voice of the
lowest range
In Street Sounds, Michelle Jacques
sings soprano, Louise Robinson and
Rhonda Crane sing alto, Steven
Thomas sings tenor, and Bryan S.
Dyer sings bass.
When the singers in Street Sounds arrange
music, they often “weave” the melody through
the musical texture, so that different members
take turns as the “lead” voice.
5
son Singing
Listening
Activity
Attend a rehearsal of
your school’s choir. Listen for
and hum along with the
melody. Listen for the voices
singing in unison. Listen for
the melody being sung by
the highest voice. Follow the
melody as it is sung by
different voices.
6
African-American Music a
In almost every culture in the world, the voice
has been used as an instrument, but each culture
plays this instrument differently, and has a unique
style of expressing itself through song. AfricanAmerican vocal traditions have their roots in African
music, language, and rhythms.
Traditional
African
Musical Traits
African-American
Musical Traditions
Melody that reflects the
Rap is a musical style based on speech patterns. Scat
sounds and patterns of speech.
singing, created by African-American jazz singers, is performed
by improvising and repeating “nonsense” syllables to imitate
Activity
Have you
heard...
…jazz music by
Wynton Marsalis?
…blues by B.B.
King?
…rap music by
Will Smith?
…CeCe Winans
sing gospel music?
the sounds of language. For example, “Bi-ba-DA bo-BA de-DE?”
might be patterned after “Will you come outside and play?”
Call and response
In gospel music, the music of many African-American
…African-American
vocal groups like
Boyz II Men?
churches, a musical leader sings out a word or a phrase, and
the congregation echoes it. For example, if the leader calls out
“Celebrate!” the congregation responds, “Celebrate!”
Powerful rhythms
Most of the popular music heard today has a heavy beat
that makes you want to dance. Strong rhythms played by
drums are an essential part of rhythm & blues and rock’n’roll
musical styles. Latin American music (like salsa and calypso)
also inherited complex rhythms from traditional African
drumming.
Improvisation
Many African-American musical styles, particularly jazz,
involve the creation of new music on the spot during a
performance. In jazz performances, musicians often take turns
improvising.
Repetition
In African-American religious music, such as spirituals or
gospel music, words and phrases are often repeated several
times. For example: “I believe, I believe, I believe, I believe.”
In blues musical traditions, the first two lines of each three-line
stanza are always repeated. For example:
“I woke up this morning, and saw that you were gone,
I woke up this morning, and saw that you were gone,
Now you’re far away, and I’m here all alone.”
Check your local
library for recordings by these wellknown artists.
Listen for repetition, improvisation,
and call and
response. Feel the
strong rhythms in
each musical style.
To learn more
about AfricanAmerican musical
traditions, read
Black Music in
America by James
Haskins, Thomas Y.
Crowell Jr. Books,
10 East 53rd Street,
New York, NY
10022.
nd Its Message
n traditional African societies, music was
instrumental in maintaining and continuing
culture. African songs were ways for people
to tell news, talk about their neighbors and community, express spiritual beliefs, and describe
their past.
I
Communicating
through Song
African Americans have continued this tradition
of communicating their history, heritage, and culture through song:
f Work songs from the times of slavery tell of
planting cotton, building railroads, and other
hard labor.
f Spirituals often make references to stories and
characters from the Bible. Their words, or lyrics,
expressing Christian beliefs, often have double
meanings that expressed slaves‘ desire for
freedom.
f The lyrics of Gospel music often celebrate,
uplift, and inspire.
f Songs of protest from the Civil Rights movement were motivational, calling people to
action.
f Many songs honor ancestors and important
figures in African-American history.
f African Americans honor their heritage by
singing in African languages.
Activity
What’s the Message?
The following lyrics were taken from different AfricanAmerican songs. Use the information about Communicating
through Song (at left) to figure out what might be the
“message” of each song. (Note: There are many ways to
interpret each of these lyrics.)
“This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine”
“The people of Montgomery sat down to talk
It was decided that all God’s children should walk
Until segregation was brought to its knees
And we obtain freedom and equality”
“When Moses was in Egypt land, Let my people go”
“Tshot sho losa, Sara go demo”
“So we dedicate this song to thee
For being a symbol of our dignity
Thank you, Sister Rosa”
“You bettah, bettah get up…get up…get up”
“I’m gonna fly away”
“Bale o’ cotton, break my back”
Activity
Writing Lyrics
Write original song lyrics that describe important experiences
from your life. For example, write about your feelings when
your closest friend moved to another city, or about your first
exciting trip away from home. You may want to incorporate
African-American musical traits or traditions into your lyrics.
7
8
The Audience: You
his performance has singing,
movement, and hand-clapping.
There will be times during the concert when the Street Sounds singers
invite you, the audience, to participate.
T
During the Performance
There will also be quiet times, when the
music softens, inviting you to be still and
pay close attention to the song lyrics.
The Kennedy
Center is a “living memorial” to
John F. Kennedy,
Watch and listen carefully so that you
know when and how to respond to the
performers.
After the Performance
a popular president of the
United States
from 1961 to
Look for ways the performers
Did each performer move his or her own way, or did
1963. As a “liv-
move their bodies as they sing.
the quintet move together as they sang?
ing memorial,”
How did the performers’ movements help you to feel
the Kennedy
the rhythm of the music?
Center is a place
where dance,
Listen for “call and response.”
Who was the musical leader when the group sang in
music, theater,
“call and response”?
and film can be
When was the audience invited to participate in the
experienced
“call and response”?
every day. There
Listen to how each song is
When did the group sing in unison? When did the
are six theaters
arranged.
performers take turns singing the melody? Were there
in the Kennedy
any solo performances?
Center. You will
attend a perfor-
Look and listen for improvisation.
Did the performers take turns improvising or did they
mance by Street
improvise together?
Sounds in the
Listen carefully to the words, or
Which song was fast and loud? What was the
Theater Lab.
lyrics, of each song.
message of this song?
Which song was slow and soft? What was the
message of this song?
What were relationships between a song’s message
James A. Johnson,
Chairman
and music? What was the message of your favorite
Lawrence J. Wilker,
President
song?
Derek E. Gordon, Vice
President, Education
Listen for each singer’s individual
When could you hear the difference between the
voice.
women’s voices and the men’s voices?
When could you distinguish the soprano from the
bass? the altos? the tenor?
See if you recognize any of Street
Did you hear any familiar songs?
Sounds’ songs.
Did you hear any new arrangements of familiar songs?
Street Sounds
Cuesheet Editor: Rosalind
Flynn. Writer: Marcia
Daft. Design: Paul Dupree
Communications.
Cuesheet is funded in
part through the support
of the U.S. Department of
Education, The Kennedy
Center Corporate Fund,
and The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation.
©2000 The John F.
Kennedy Center for the
Performing Arts.