ODDS BODKIN teaches 5th grade students to score a reading.
Where were these toys when we were kids? The Woolwich Central School fifth grade classes are learning to score a reading, as told by Odds Bodkin, master storyteller, musician and educator from Bradford, New Hampshire.
They’re doing it digitally, using a program called “Garage Band”, adding music and sound effects to the story. Each class is scoring a story set in medieval Japan.
The program is astounding, and lets kids, even those without a musical background, create music. The goal is to find the theme and emotion of the story through music.
STUDENTS work with Garage Band.
“Expand the small tool,” Odds Bodkin said, pointing it out on the screen. “It’s called an ‘arpeggiator’.” He showed them how to create arpeggios using a keyboard voice and the arpeggiator, and told them to play with it for a while.
“If you like it, you can record it and save it,” he said. “But don’t overwrite the tape of me reading the story.”
Some of the kids did like it and did record it.
Bodkin played his version. “That doesn’t work for me,” he mused. “Does anyone have a different voice they think works better?”
A student raised his hand. “How about Samuri Strings?” he suggested.
“Let’s try it,” Bodkin said.
They worked for a few minutes using Samuri Strings, which was a string voice in a pentameter scale. “Yeah, that works better for me,” Bodkin said. “But you might have one you like better. It’s up to you.”
He recorded some of the Samuri String notes, and accidentally tripped over one of the keys. “Oh, that’s a mistake,” he said. “Let’s learn how to edit that out.”
He led the students through the editing process, and showed them how to cut out the mistake without starting over completely. He told them to give it a try.
Beyond the obvious computer instruction, using Ipads, the kids are getting some basic, hands-on music instruction, and a feel for parts of literature — theme, plot, characterization, setting. The books, carefully chosen for their unambigious settings and characters, provided the first-time composers with a canvas that already had some shading, pointing them in a particular direction.
Even so, when completed, every composition will be unique, a true work of art that speaks to the student’s personality and understanding of the literature, but also to a very special collaborative artistic process.
ghamilton@timesrecord.com
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