Week 5

"Muting duandi" ("A Shepard's Flute") - He Luting
Performed by Yuja Wang
China
Piano

"Notes & Neurons: In Search of the Common Chorus" - The Power of the Pentatonic Scale
Bobby McFerrin
Voice

I have included two videos this week in my post. The first is of "Muting duandi" ("A Shepard's Flute") composed byHe Luting and performed by Yuja Wang. This video shows a young performer performing an authentic Chinese piano composition that uses the pentatonic scale. This is very common in Chinese music.
The second video is of Bobby McFerrin demonstrating the pentatonic scale, and having the audience participate in performing an improvised melody using this scale. As Campbell (2004) says, "students can compose from a very early age and with even limited training" (p. 197). This video show that, while adults, anyone can create a melody with a very basic introduction to it. I think that an excellent extension to a lesson on the pentatonic scale would be for students to create their own composition. This would give their ears practice in hearing the scale (to be used when listening to other pieces of music from the Chinese culture), as well as demonstrating understanding of this musical element. This could be done by having students lead the class in a similar fashion as McFerrin does in the video, compose a complete piece on their instrument of choice or using technology, or even have students improvise a piece on the piano.

References

Campbell, P. S. (2004). Teaching music globally: Experiencing music, expressing culture. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.