Expected prior achievements of students

Students should have acquired a good sense of rhythm, able to feel naturally the beginning of a bar and to be able to improvise and copy simple rhythms. Instrumental skills are not a pre-requisite. This makes the project  excellent for introducing motor skills to beginners and it can lead to quite complex expression for intermediate and advanced students.

Goals and aims of project

In the MINIDORO Project 1 the aims are to: (a) develop basic instrumental motor skills, such that a simple rhythmic improvisation can be transferred into a melodic shape on an instrument; (b) develop skill in improvising on “white” notes; (c) improvise within a defined rhythmic and metric context; (d) gain practical insight into composing in the Dorian mode.

Project materials in text form

Teacher preparatory notes

Minidoro 1 lesson notes

As this project is largely improvisational there are no worksheets for students, only background information sheets on Minimalism (html format or  pdf format: MINIMALISM) and Modes (html format with sound or pdf format: MEDIEVAL MODES).  WhileMinidoro 1 is  intended for class use, students working this project by themselves should follow the lesson notes, too.

Project materials in Music (performance) form

The MINIMODE (simple)  MIDI-file provides the basis of the whole project. As you or your students improvise new ideas you can add them as extra or substitute tracks to this file to achieve more variety if you wish. Technical Information will help you if you are not sure how to do this. The  MINIMODE (repeats) MIDI-file  illustrates how the simple file would sound when you apply cycles and loops. See Technical Information for further information.

Project materials in music (notation) form

In the unlikely event of you needing a notated version of the music of this project, print out the parts or score from the MIDI-file MINIMODE (simple) once it you have imported it to your sequencer. Technical Information  explains how to do this.

Suggestions for working with the materials (including essential preparation)

See Preparatory notes and the lesson notes for the teacher.

Further materials

Information sheets on:

1. Minimalism (editable html format: non-editable pdf format: MINIMALISM)
2. Modes (editable html format with sound: non-editable pdf format: MEDIEVAL MODES)

Suggestions for following up the project including links to related music, books, sites etc.

Recordings of useful follow-up music:

T. Riley – In C – CBS/Sony MK7178
T.Riley – A Rainbow in Curved Air – CBS/Sony MK7315
M. Nyman – The Essential Michael Nyman Band – ARGO 436 820-2
M. Nyman – The Piano – Virgin CDVE 919

Books useful for follow up:

K. Robert Schwarz, Minimalists, Phaidon: London, 1996 ISBN-0714833819
E. Sharma, Music Worldwide (pp47-56), CUP, Cambridge, 1998 ISBN-052137622 (CD also available)
Further follow-up material is presented in the MINIDORO II project

Author

Project author and MIDI file compiler: John Mason
Source and composer: Valentin Schmitt, Minimal Model, Gustav Bosse Verlag, Regensburg, 1984

© John Mason