Question and Answer

Question and Answer
Under Construction

Question and Answer About: Music is about communication. One basic form of communication is that someone asks a question and someone else answers it. Sometimes too open a structure leaves students lost. This is a way to invite someone to play and prompting them with a musical phrase. Some questions are more close ended Some questions are more open ended. Purpose of this lesson: Take the drumming to a level of personal response between people. Support the answerer in having their ‘own voice’. They play what comes from them, not just echoing and they begin to differentiate from the group Prerequisites: For this to work, players show be comfortable enough with making basic sounds on the drum, and the are emotionally safe enough to risk some exposure. Call and Echo Boom Boom - Play What You Want. Directions: Model what is expected by showing a well related question and answer. To assistant or mature group member: “I’m going to play you a short musical question, then you play a musical answer.”

About:

Here is a hierarchy of levels of interaction that we can experience through drumming or music making:
Shadowing
Boom Boom Play What you Want. Help the Speaker define what they want to say. Then all repeat is together several times.
Call and Echo: With 'Call and Echo', the other mirrors the expression of the caller.
Call and Response:
Rhythm Layer Cake:
Two at a Time:
Question and Answer: the speaker makes his/her statement; the other has their own free response to the speaker.
Conversation: there is a back forth exchange that can incorporate 'call and echo', 'question and answer' and can allow for a fluid change of roles.

[revise - How to have a conversation is a very important human skill. You must know what you want to say, find a way of expressing that in choice of vocabulary, pace, volume, that the other will understand, and receiving what they want to say and responding to that ]

Purpose of this Lesson:

Embody the real exchange of a conversation.
At a very basic level, students learn to take their turn. At the next level students learn to more deeply listen to the other and to respond with increasing nuance. As this progresses to a higher level, students learn to received the energy of the other and respond to it so the conversation goes somewhere.
Ultimately students learn to work together to have a conversation be a format to create something together that is larger than themselves.

Prerequisite:

Meeting, Beating, Dead Fish demo

Shadowing

Call And Echo

Boom, Boom - Play what you want

Directions:

[Add interrupting, not responding, - ] I find that it is best to start this game when students are fairly well regulated. They need to be attentive enough, Not too impulsive, and not too anxious or withdrawn.
I find that game works well after doing something strongly physical so students are warmed up in their bodies. This also helps active "deal system' energy and quiets the "me system"
Ask the group-"What is a conversation?". Younger student refer more the mechanics of a conversation. One person says something, then the other persons says something. Older student may get more into the intent. - People share ideas and work to understand each other.
"Two people talk to each other" Assistant and I talk at the same time about two different things. "No! They take turns, one person talks then the other person talks" My assistant and I take turns talks, waiting for the other to speak, but speak about completely different unrelated things. "No, you listen to what they say and then respond to them with what you want to say!" Now we are going to have conversations on the drum. I like to put 1 bucket drum on the stand so the players need to share the drum.

Level 1- Teacher asks each studnet a question. Student responds

Level 2- Each student asks the teacher a question. Teacher responds

One way to start this game is do one round. Have each student Call 'Ready', play a very simple pattern- Four bass notes or booms and the group echos those back. This gets everyone tuned in to the form and the order of the game. I find it useful to correct anyone who doesn't play the four notes as assigned.

I give students the option to pass and still challenge them to play. By doing the first round as just play four notes, they have a part that they

Glitches:

Show a question with a non responsive answer, answerer is distracted
Show and answer that goes on and on and on
Show and answer that is energetically unrelated- moderate energy question, answer is in the orange red
Student's Answer goes on and on.

Take Over the Problem Have Dragon puppet keep playing after a stop signal. Play devil advocate, "So what if he keeps playing. Its a free country."

Needs Met:

Connection - Having an I Thou experience with an other person.

Significance

Neuroscience and Psycho-physiology Basis:

Buber- I Thou
Ivan Boszormenyi-Nagy - Barry Litt- Subject Object

Metaphor to Explore:

Are there places you get to 'say what you want to say'? Are there places you don't get to say what you want to say? How come? When do you say what you want to?
Who listens to you?
Who do you listen to?
Are there times when you really don't listen to someone? Why?

Extensions:

Learn 'You Gotta Walk The Dog' call and response.
Call and Echo over a Groove
Call and Echo with a Poison Beat
Have a heated argument
Conversation Over a Groove
* Performance - This game can be used part of a performance.