The previous blog post detailed a process for making creative music using cellphones for recording and playback. What happens when we experiment with pitch material and incorporate acoustic instruments into the mix?
The process: full class
- Ask students to make recordings of 3-5 long tones on concert Bb separated by silences. Playback using as many phones as possible, resulting in a concert Bb drone. So this:
Becomes something like this:
Example: Cellphone cue from Waxworks by Trina Davies, directed by Glenda Stirling, sound design by Louise Campbell (CUE production, 2017)
- Ask a few students to improvise using a concert Bb scale. Keep it simple – sometimes just walking up a few notes of the scale can be quite beautiful.
- Record 3-5 long tones on concerts A and Bb. Playback results in a shifting semi-tone drone.
- Ask few brave souls to improvise using concert Bb scale. How does it sound different against a semi-tone compared to unison?
- Ask students to choose 3-4 pitches to record, such as A-C-E-G or D-F#-Bb. Playback.
- Improvise using the same notes as the recordings, and then add one note to fill in the intervals until students come up with a scale that works with the recorded pitch choices.
Break out groups:
- Divide students into groups of 6-8 with the task of choosing their own pitches, recording, playback and improvising. How does a smaller group change the texture of playback and improvisation compared to larger group?
