SOLO: Part-whole analysis when performing/encountering new music

“SOLO: Part-whole analysis when performing/encountering new music”

To find out more about Bigg’s SOLO taxonomy go to Pam Hook’s site: http://hooked-on-thinking.com/

There are also some excellent blogs by @DKMead @LearningSpy @Totallywired77 and @lisajaneashes

This is a process I use to help students uncover the functions of the constituent parts of music by asking them to make predictions, take something away and comment on how close the result is to their prediction. It works particularly well when looking at a number of pieces of music from a particular genre or tradition where stylistic conventions can be drawn out from a number of examples.

The ideal is for the students to perform the music but it can be done with recordings, though you will need to use some software to recreate the music so that parts can be muted i.e. Sibelius or Cubase. In this instance I often look for MIDI files of the pieces of music and import them into Sibelius.

I think this process serves to show how the taxonomy is not necessarily linear or a hierarchy, but that we can look at it and use it help students understand a particular piece of content in a way that uses the taxonomy in a bespoke fashion. The end in this instance is that I want students to understand the relationshipsbetween parts of a piece of music yet the means i.e. the process leads them through the extended abstract.

The purpose for this method is that in doing so students will be able to internalise the sounds through performance and focused listening. Also listening to their predictions gives me an insight into their existing technical language and their knowledge of both the new music encountered and their awareness of the more fundamental relationships that can be applied to particular musical patterns or devices. The predictions will be particularly difficult for your students to make at first, but they will get better with practice.

Dependent on the ability of your students you choose your involvement in instructing them at each stage of the process.

Step 1:Listen to the music and describe what you hear. Make a list (Factual description only, no critical judgements)

Uni/Multi-structural understanding

Step 2:Break the piece of music down into parts that “belong” together, these may be based instrumental sections in a concerto for example or based on constituent elements i.e. riffs vs melodies in a pop song

Multi-structural understanding

Step 3:Choose a part to leave out of the music. Predict what the music will sound like without that part. For example leave the second violin out of a string quartet.

Extended Abstract

Step 4:Perform or play the music without that part, listening critically.

Step 5:Critically comment on what the music sounded like: how did it change? How close was our prediction?

Relational understanding

Step 6:Compare the whole music (all parts) with the part taken out. Now describe the function of the part, analogies work well here.

Relational understanding

A worked example might look something like this (I would draw the table on the board).

I use this particular song with my Year 7s before they go into bands to learn the song. We perform it first as a class and these are typical answers (We do this is Sept so I can’t find any photos sorry, will put some up when I do it again next year). I try to use their language during the lesson and use this as an opportunity for them to learn the proper terms by crossing out words and adding new vocabulary.

The Ting Tings – That’s not my name

Parts	Describe	Predict if removed	Comment when removed	Function	New words
Chords – Guitar & Synth	Two chords, using simpler version of the bass rhythm.	It will just sound pretty much the same but quieter	It sounds hollow in the middle	The chords are filling in between the lines like colours on a painting
Bass	Same notes played low then high.	Music won’t sound as low pitched.	It doesn’t sound as “beefy” as before.	The bass is like a plate that the rest of the music sits upon.
Vocal melody	Very repetitive and short notes.	More boring.	You can hardly tell what song it is anymore.	This is the catchiest bit.	Hook
Vocal counter melody	More flowing and more like a tune.	It will just sound like the first chorus where it’s not there.	It doesn’t feel like it is going anywhere now	It gives the song a lift by adding more in.	Thicken texture
Percussion parts	Mostly follows rhythm of bass.	All the other bits won’t sound like they’re in time	It does sound in time but you wouldn’t want to dance to it any more	The beats are like the engine driving the music on	Rhythms