Musical Caravanning - By Todd Fadel
Our church has valued the practice of community singing and songwriting for eleven years, and just recently have arrived at a realization that music (and the learning of it) has been put on a sort of mysterious pedestal. Those that aren't "in the know" have a hard time finding the confidence to attempt to learn because experiences with musicians in the past have left them feeling incapable of learning even the basics. Enter "Musical CaravanninG": a two-Monday-a-month night where people gather in a home to learn how to "stay together".
We have all been subject to a poor caravanner (or been one ourselves) at one time or another in our lives. Poor caravanners cannot see how their own actions throw folks off, they tend to not be able to listen to suggestions, are easily offended and extremely impatient. After we spend a trip with a poor caravanner, we are exhausted and disappointed. The caravanner isn't satisfied either. This, as you can well imagine, is an adequate metaphor for community music.
As you and I learn how to slow down enough for all to catch up, we all can participate in the joy of the arrival at the destination. This activity promotes the type of creative environment where people feel like they can move forward without being humiliated.
- 10-12 people arrive with melodic instruments in hand (no rhythmic instruments allowed, for now)
*right now we don't introduce brass or woodwinds, just pianos, basses, banjos, mandolins and guitars and ukeleles
BASIC THEORY:- We review that the musical alphabet is only 7 letters, that half-steps and whole-steps make scales, and scales make melodies and chords/melodies and chords make songs
- We explain that diatonic scale is made up of a sequence of half-steps and whole-steps and show what the difference is on a keyboard for all to see
- We all recite THE FORMULA (starting with an arbitrary root note, which we call "X"): "Xwhole-whole-half-whole" and show that the first, third and fifth note give us the notes of the "X" major chord - for EVERY CHORD
- We prove that the formula works by showing all of the instrumentalists how to build two different chords on the keyboards using THE FORMULA
- We recite THE BEAT BEDROCK "1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &" and illustrate what it sounds like to lock with the even beat
SYNC UP:We tune off the keyboard, and as we do:
- We talk about what notes the strings (for banjos, basses, guitars and ukeleles) represent and how each fret is a half-step
- We remind that the musical alphabet names the half steps (sharps) and that there are points where there are no half steps separate the names (B to C and E to F)
- We remind that way we walk up the alphabet is "A - Asharp - B - C - D - Dsharp - E - F - Fsharp - G - Gsharp"
- Then we build a "G" chord string-by-string, key by key for every instrument
- Then we play the G chord on the "1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &" (showing pick-holding and strumming technique along the way) Believe it or not, that process only takes us 25-30 minutes. We dispel the music mystery in 20 minutes.
ACCLIMATING:One of the things we talk about is how experiences of our past my have shown us otherwise, but we are completely capable of learning music. We try to redirect feelings of regret, remorse or frustration about having not learned sooner and remind the group of how we can use that energy showing someone else the process. The rest of the time is spent playing 1-2 chord songs and experimenting with assign each instrument a different portion of the beat to sync with (ie. banjo on "2" and "4", piano play on each beat of ""1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &", guitar play on "1 and "3"). We also have had people bring in their own simple 1-2 chord songs/segments and we all learn them, which is extremely rewarding. We have also found much joy from listening to songs we like and identifying what the characteristics of the song are and trying to emulate them. (ie. These nights have been an encouragement to all who have attended.)
Love Is Concrete : online worship facilitator community
Agents of Future : music from our church community
Ink Brethren : music from the songwriting game
