Bell Trees and Magic Beans

This week I'll be spending a day with a reception class, helping them tell the story of Jack and the Beanstalk with sound effects. I have a beautifully illustrated and laquered dulcimer from St Petersburgh, pictured below, that will do nicely for the giant's harp. And the school has some drums that will be perfect for giant footsteps. There are many opportunities for sound in the tale and a good deal of magic. I thought a whole tone scale (eg C D E F# G# Bb C), or part of one, played on chime bars (one child per note) would be very magical and I may still go for that. But then I was teaching woodwind at a school this morning and saw a bell tree that hasn't moved since last September.

I've loved bell trees since I first set eyes on one. They are satisfyingly solid and well-constructed and make a fabulous sound. They look like they haven't changed since some time in the 19th century, possibly earlier. I asked to borrow the bell tree and now have it for the week. It will provide all the magic Jack's handful of beans could require.


If you have one of these, or add one to your collection, don't be tempted to undo the wing nut on the end. You'll have a devil of a job putting it back together again; there is a plastic sleeve that decouples the brass bells from the central stalk and the end is prone to flaring. My advice is to leave well alone. And Health & Safety (sorry): these are heavy. If one lands on a child's foot that child is going to know about it.

The next day I'm doing We're Going On A Lion Hunt with another reception class. Fortunately I won't need the bell tree for that. My partner is using our car and the school is far enough on a bicycle without lugging around all that brass in my rucksack.

Sensitivity

I have been involved in a couple of projects recently where the ability of children to listen has been an issue of growing concern within the school, not just with respect to music but right across the board. Both the schools are located in suburban areas where traffic noise is a constant. And there is anecdotal evidence that, for many pupils, little conversation takes place within the home but that they are filled with the noise of competing music, television and computer games. The verbal interaction is sparse and perfunctory.

I don't find this difficult to believe. My own children will happily spend hours at a stretch at the computer if allowed.

Recently I have been looking for a new house. When traffic noise is clearly audible the vendor always assures me that 'I really don't hear it anymore'. Are they telling me the truth? Well, sadly, yes they probably are. I've grumbled about my neighbour's fountain before. What I don't like about it is that I can no longer tell, just by listening, whether it's raining or not, whether it's windy outside or whether the birds have woken up. It blocks out these sounds and if I block out his fountain I block out all the other sounds with it. If you live in an environment where you have to block out traffic or the sounds of TVs, computers and stereos you're blocking out so much else as well. You must lose, through lack of use, the ability to distinguish sounds from noise. Is it then a surprise if you have problems listening?

Balafon fun in the Plantation Garden

Last week, with other artists and teaching staff, I took a group of nine and ten year olds to Norwich's Plantation Garden, a former quarry transformed by a Victorian gentleman. We were exploring, very loosely, the concept of sacred space and contrasting the Garden with the Roman Catholic Cathedral in the adjacent plot. The former represents one man's vision while the latter is more corporate in its design and execution.

We had a great time in the Garden, playing with mirrors, pinhole cameras and magnifying glasses. (This was about seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary.) There is a gothic fountain with frogs and fish and we took samples to view through microscopes.

So what was a musician doing there? Well, partly it was about cross-disciplinary exchange and I very much enjoyed that. But my own contribution, besides a magnifying glass grabbed as an afterthought as I left home, was an old wooden xylophone. I brought two pairs of beaters and just the notes C D E F# & A as well as the same notes an octave higher. I could have chosen any other pentatonic scale: the beauty of pentatonic scales is that there are no 'wrong' notes and it is easier to generate sonorous harmonies.

When the time feels right I sit in the sun playing the instrument until it catches a child's attention. I then teach them to play a simple game based on West African balafon technique which needs two people. By now someone else wants a go so I relinquish my beaters and help them get started. From here on in it's just a matter of making sure everyone gets a turn. Occasionally I remind them of the game but they are often happy just enjoying the sound, making up their own games or playing random notes in time with each other. The sound drifts around the garden.

I have yet to play here officially but my friend Andy Kirkham, whom I play with in Eastern Straynotes, has played in the Plantation Garden for weddings. I look forward to my own turn. Oh, and the balafon game will be Game of the Month at www.playwithsound.com in April. I'll describe it and suggest some possible applications.

Knock knock

When you were young did you ever ring doorbells just for a laugh? I confess I didn't. I was almost certainly too scared but, in my defence, I must point out that front paths are much longer in the suburbs where I lived than they are in town and city centres where terraced streets are the norm. If you did, did all the bells sound the same? Doorbells have certainly gone through changes in style over the years from manually pulled or cranked to electronic novelty ringtones. My own front door has a knocker instead of a bell. Both door and knocker are identical to those belonging to the flat upstairs. The doors are right next to each other and, even after ten years, I am occasionally confused.

Today I saw a beautiful old knocker, featuring a Madonna and child (presumably), on a door to a tiny cottage which now forms part of the Maddermarket Theatre in Norwich. I found myself wondering if the tykes of yesteryear took any pleasure in the range of sounds produced by their mischief as they ran from door to door. The lack of either standardisation or mass-production must have made for a greater number of variables – type and thickness of wood, weight and material of the knocker, size of door, dimensions of chamber within etc. I would even venture that the variety was broader in its extent than any number of digitally stored chimes. I mean we're hardly talking high fidelity sound reproduction unless you are a real enthusiast (and I've yet to meet one). So if anyone fancies sponsoring the sampling, photographing and cataloguing of the world's door knockers I would be very interested to know. I think it would generate all sorts of fascinating insights and social commentary. Does anyone else share this interest? Does this qualify as disappearing sound or will door knockers stage a come-back? Do you have a sound interest of your own?

Conducting Tick Tock

This exercise is especially well suited to children aged between five and eight years and can be played with a large class. Ideally you will need plenty of instruments but there are perfectly good work-arounds that I'll detail at the end. I have found chime bars (I'm a bit of a fan of chime bars) to be useful in this context. I'll assume you have one for every child in the class but bear with me if you haven't; as I said, there are plenty of alternatives.

1. Arrange your group in a circle that includes you and any adult helpers you may have. It is important that your circle is 'true'. Everyone in it needs to be able to see everyone else. And they all need sufficient elbow room to play their instruments.
2. If you like, play a round or two of Quick Tick Tock. This will make sure everyone is as attentive and engaged as they are able.
3. Split the group down the middle, one side of the circle being 'ticks' and the other side 'tocks'. Don't include yourself if you are the only adult present. If you have a helper then include yourself in one group and the helper in the other. Explain which side is 'tick' and which 'tock', count 'One, Two Three and' (or One, Two, Three, Four) to begin. It may take a couple of starts to get this right but one side should tick and then be silent while the other side tocks.
4. Almost certainly some children will be ticking and tocking. This may be because they are looking across the circle at the other group. Ask all the 'ticks' to put raise their hands so they can see each other. Suggest they look at the others in their group while playing the game. Do the same with the 'tocks'.
5. When you feel the clock is running as smoothly as can be expected, hand out the chime bars. To avoid unwanted noise, place the bars on the floor 2ft (60cm) in front of each child with instructions not to pick them up or try to play them with their feet. If you are really well supplied you can give bars you can give the 'ticks' the notes of one chord and the 'tocks' the notes of another but this will need some forethought if you are not to lose the attention of the class.

6. Demonstrate the wonders of the chime bar. How to hit it so it rings, how to dampen it and the sound it makes when you strike its sound box with the beater. Now stand in the middle of the circle and demonstrate your signal for stop and instruct the children to look out for it. Ask them to pick up their chime bars and experiment. This will be noisy but hopefully enough of them will be notice when you signal an end that the rest will look up or be nudged by their neighbours.



7. If need be tell everyone to put down their instruments while you speak. Now tell the 'ticks' you will want them to play their chime bars so they ring and tell the tocks you'll want them to hit the sound box with the beater. Set the 'game' in motion again and let people voice the ticks and tocks if that helps. Once this is running smoothly you are ready for the next stage.
8. Demonstrate signals for loud (raised arms) and soft (arms down). Get everyone ticking and tocking loudly and quietly in response to your signal. Stop them tell the two groups to respond only to the arm nearest their side of the circle. Now demonstrate the art of making one side play soft, the other loud. Now swap them round. Both loud then both soft. And finally, ask for volunteers to conduct the 'clock'.
   

I have seen children with various shades of SEN (special educational needs) positively beaming when given a chance to conduct. And after seeing this, 'dancing' orchestral conductors need no explanation.

And the work-arounds? Basically, as long as the players on each side can make a sound similar to each other but different from the other group then that is good enough. Chime bars on one side, untuned percussion on the other, for example. If you can only improvise enough instruments for half the group, the other half can clap.

The wind changes

Spring is about here in Norfolk and the soundscape in which I live is about to change. Already my neighbour, who thoughtfully placed a water feature outside by bedroom window two years ago or more, has activated his fountain. Maybe it's a matter of taste, or perhaps I'm just a Philistine, but one man's bucolic fantasy is another man's plumbing nightmare. To be fair, it doesn't really bother me in the day but at night it's like staying in a cheap hotel and getting the room next to the toilet.


And last weekend I heard my first electric lawnmower of the year. In case you have ever wondered, 'Flymo' has nothing to do with hovering, or flight of any kind, unless you include those nasty winged insects with the annoying buzz. Peaceful Sunday afternoons in the garden? Don't get your hopes up.

Seriously though, and human noise aside, the sound of the wind is about to change here in England. It is made by the action of air on solid matter and for some months now this matter has mostly consisted of denuded trees and man-made structures. In a week or two, depending on the weather, millions of new leaves will be added to the mix. Softer, warmer, richer? Less lonesome? I'm not even going to try to describe it. Much better just to keep my ears attuned and enjoy the transition.

Quick Tick Tock

This a good exercise for quickly assessing the ability and attention levels in a group. It can work for any age and is good for groups small and large, including classes of about thirty. It can also be a starting point for a number of related exercises.

For very young children it may help to take along a ticking clock as a prop in case the only ones they've come across are of the silent digital type. A pendulum clock would be wonderful but is obviously impractical. However, the pendulum image is very useful and I have portable clockwork metronome (pictured below) that I take along for this purpose. Its tick is suitably audible and regular. It's a great talking point but I stop short of passing it around.

Before you begin, arrange your group in a circle so that everyone can see every one else. If this means moving chairs and tables then so be it.

• Explain to the group that you will imitate the ticking of the clock by taking it in turns to tick and tock around the circle. If you, yourself, are a 'tick' then Albert, immediately to your left, is a 'tock'. Beatrice, sitting next to Albert, will be a 'tick' and Cuthbert on her left, a 'tock'. Continue demonstrating this by allocating ticks and tocks to Dorothy, Edmond, Felicity, Gawain and Henrietta. By now everyone should have got the idea and will probably carry on ticking and tocking around the circle when you stop.
• Stop them if they have carried on and check that everyone else understands what they are supposed to be doing. Now say you will count yourself in. Don’t explain why. Either count "One Two Three Four" or "One Two Three And". This is just an attempt to establish some kind of pulse and is very likely doomed to failure.
• Count yourself in and say 'tick' and look expectantly at Albert, helping him with his 'tock' if necessary. Follow the sound around the circle, giving eye contact to each child and continuing to mouth the words silently. Stop when it gets back to you. Don't be tempted to go round twice. If you didn't know already you have learned whether you have an odd or even number in the group. You also know if anyone needs further explanation of the exercise.
• Say how well it went but tell group you want to see if it can be as regular as the clock you showed them. By now everyone knows the rules of the game and the next attempt at tick-tocking around the circle will tell you something about the levels of attention and ability within the group.

Remember that it is important that everyone can see everyone else. Otherwise children will find it hard to tell when their turn is coming and this will distort your findings.