Be Moved! A collaborative Project

Dear 7a7 students working on the Be Moved project,

Thank you for cooperating today. Take a look at some of the posts on this site to get used to how it will work. Make sure you read Mr. Sacawa’s answers to your questions. If you have any follow up questions write them down so I can post them to Mr. Sacawa.

After you are finished reading the site, use the information on the sheets I gave to you to extend your motifs by creating additional music using repetition and contrast. You should also try to create some sequences based on your original motif. Do this with at least one of your group’s motifs and if you have time, try experimenting with the other motifs.

Good luck!

Brian,

I am attempting to post a MIDI file of one group’s original motifs. The next step is for you to record yourself performing each motif as a separate file and then please convert the files into mp3 format and post back on the blog with any questions and comments you have for the students. Here is the file: “Jazz” Original Motifs
My students will soon be typing and posting their paragraphs of the situations they are trying to express. Hopefully this will help you with expressive decisions you make in playing the motifs.
Please also let me know a couple of things before you record the motifs:

• Can you open the MIDI file on your computer using your software of preference?
• Can you view the file as standard notation?
• Can you view the file as a piano roll?
• Can you listen to the file?
• If you open File:Info can you read the information I typed in it?

The information I included in the file info includes the breakdown of where each motif starts and stops. If you can’t read the file info I will post that information in another post.

Other concerns: By posting the MIDI file on this project blog, anyone taking a look can also download the file, listen to it etc. I am going to be discussing this with my students to find out how they feel about this and what they would like me to do about it.

You can reply to this post by posting a comment. Thanks!

How many saxophones do you have?

I have four saxophones–a soprano, an alto, a tenor, and a baritone. And I also have another soprano saxophone that my father made into a lamp!

What type of saxophone do you play?

[If they mean brand] Selmer [If they mean voice] alto, mostly

How old is your saxophone?

My saxophone is 9 years old.

Is the saxophone your favorite instrument?

Of course!

When did you learn to play?

I began playing when I was 8 years old.

How long have you been playing?

21 years.

How long have you been performing with any instruments? If not only the saxophone what other instruments?

The earliest I can remember was when I was three years old. My grandfather had an electric organ that I used to play all the time when I would go over to his house. I even wrote some of my own compositions back then. I remember that my first composition for my grandfather’s electric organ was called “The Detective Song.”

What college did you go to?

University of Massachusetts - Amhest; Bachelor of Music (1999)
University of Michigan; Master of Music (2003)
Peabody Conservatory of Music; Graduate Performance Diploma (2004)
University of Michigan; Doctor of Musical Arts (2006)

Is it fun to be a saxophonist?

It is very fun to be a saxophonist. I can’t imagine doing anything else. Ever since I started playing in 4th grade I knew that I wanted to play the saxophone. I love the possibilities to make so many different sounds of the saxophone. It is capable of such a wide range of sounds and can be used in many different kinds of music.

How long have you been teaching?

This is my first year teaching at the college level.

Do you enjoy your job?

I love my job. It’s very exciting to pass on my knowledge and love of the saxophone to my students and to inspire them to become the next great performers and teachers.

If you didn’t do this what would you do?

That’s a good question. I might be a writer or a bike racer.

Are you scared when you perform on stage?

Never. I love being on stage because it’s a chance for me to be able to communicate the music I love to the audience. There is no feeling like being able to reach people on a deeper level through sound. Performing a piece of music is like telling a story–and what’s so great about that is that each of us will have a different story to tell, even if we’re playing the same piece! That way, even if you know the composition that someone is playing, you get to hear their unique version of it, their own personality, and their own sound. If everybody sounded the same and did the same things, the world would be an extremely boring place.

How old are you?

Add when I began playing to how many years I’ve been playing!

Are you coming to New York anytime soon?

I hope so!

Will you ever meet us?

Hopefully I’ll get to meet you all in person very soon. We’ll be able to meet each other over the internet in the meantime. I’m really looking forward to it!

1) would you rather get the motifs in graphic notation (basically piano roll notation printed out) or would you rather get them as audio files on a CD or mp3 format or would you want both?

I guess I would prefer graphic (you mean like regular music notation?). If not then the mp3s would probably be best.

2) I am planning on setting up a blog specifically for the project on the musiced.net server - I am also going to have my students create podcasts occasionally

This sounds great.

Related to this point are you willing to:

a) communicate with my students in any of the following ways — via the project blog, via podcasting, via emails,

Yes, I think that’s an awesome idea. Like they’re getting instant feedback from me as the collaborating artist.

b) have the corespondence be public online?

Yes, of course. Why not share what we’re doing. It’s really cool.

c) Have the recordings of whatever you are playing be public online on the project blog? If you are willing this will make sending us the files really easy cause all you will have to do is log into our project blog and upload the files as mp3 files - when my students eventually get to the point where they are ready to work with the files we’ll need the .wav files to work with which you can ftp to the server ( I’ll give you a password etc)

Yes sure. That would probably be easiest for us.
d) Have your recorded files included on the podcasts? - this could be very very cool with having the kids actually commenting on your playing and the sound of the collaborative music on the podcast

That would be sweet.

3) Since this whole thing is collaborative how do you want to handle copyright of whatever the product is - I’m thinking since it is educational and all my students are minors we give it a creative commons license that both you, the students and me agree on?

Creative commons would be great. Sounds good to me.

Be Moved! is a collaborative project between one of Evan Tobias’s general music classes at Willow Grove Middle School and professional saxophonist and university professor Brian Sacawa.

In this project students use music to express the various ways they have been moved or challenged physically, emotionally, and intellectually and work collaboratively with Mr. Sacawa who will be performing their music.

This project blog will be the medium through which the students and Mr. Sacawa will communicate, exchange music files and feedback and exhibit the creative process online. The way in which the project moves forward will be decided in discussions including Mr. Tobias, the students and Mr. Sacawa.