Another Mother’s Music Show: Recent Episodes
Guy Palumbo
Another Mother (Freddy Dathe & Guy Palumbo) talk music, lessons for kids, interview artists & educators and have a good bit of fun:)
17 April 2020 - In today's lesson Another Mother dug into one of David Brubeck's classics, "Unsquare Dance". This tune takes place in 7/8 meter, so the fellas painted a pretty picture to aid in understanding how it is counted and played. Freddy talks a bit about David Brubeck's background and goes into a bit more depth about "odd" meters.
15 April 2020 - The fellas did an Argentinian song called "Un Pquito Cantas" today as a way to highlight rhythmic orchestration. They explained how the deconstructed the tune to help the audience get a feel for some of the various percussive possibilities with the tune. They discuss why the lesson felt so good on both their side as well as why they think it resonated so well with the audience.
14 April 2020 - Freddy had some bad food so Guy had to fly solo. Today he attempted to do a lesson about how to write a song starting with a melody. He talks about his attempt to execute, what went well, what went badly and how he'd like to revisit the idea in the future.
12.4.2020 Today Another Mother explored how sound can make a person feel, and how chords can be charged with emotion. They explained the difference between major and minor chords, and also gave some examples of how the music can have a different feeling than the lyrics of a song. They discussed how it was a challenging episode to execute, as they are explaining a relatively complicated idea to a young idea.
11 April 2020 - The fellas welcome their first guest to the show, Mr. Dominik Back! Dominik is a very well respected drummer in the Nürnberg area, playing with the Hannes Stegmeier Trio, several other projects all while pursuing his degree for the Hochschule für Musik in NBG. He was kind enough to record a groove and the fellas deconstructed what Dominik did and broke down into pieces that the audience could follow along with at home.
10 April 2020 - Another Mother built kazoos from old toilet paper rolls and other household items, and a fun and LOUD time ensued:) The talk about how the education impact of building something by yourself and Freddy wrote a "Kazoo" song so the folks back home could play along with their newly built instruments. The also discussed the plans to bring more guests on the show.
9 April 2020 Freddy talks about the sunrise he saw, and the fellas talked a bit about how creativity is applied in similar ways across visual art and music. They get into the lesson of the day which revolved around springtime, the changes that come with it, how they impact our senses and of course, how beautiful flowers are:)
8/4/2020 The fellas talk about how they went about introducing this cool little instrument and talk about it's Hawaiian and Portuguese roots. They discuss the importance of explaining the cultural context and history of the instruments and music they present on the show to kids as well as their desire to spread and increase their own cultural literacy.
7/4/2020 Freddy led and excellent lesson introducing the Mixolydian scale using a looper during the live kids show. They discuss the value in embracing tough feedback, especially from children. They reflect on what they've been doing with the show and how they hope to continue in the future.
5/4/2020 The fellas reviewed some of their favorite segments that they believe are important review, talk about how to adapt from the face to face world they are used to to an increasingly digital experience.
4/4/2020 Guy's 3 year old son learned how to ride a bike which motivated today's lesson about INSPIRATION. It was great timing because the fellas had received some criticism from Guy's 7 year old that the show was moving to slowly. So this episode was fast paced and moved through several variations of musical Simon Says and ended with an original tune Guy started writing months ago about his son (and was now inspired to finish). The overall message of the day is that people should act on their inspiration, and not worry about executing perfectly when they start.
The fellas discuss the dynamic of lesson planing between the two of them, and how they play off one another's strengths, how they are learning from creating this experience together and what they are looking forward to doing in the future.
3/4/2020 Freddy and Guy sang an Italian song (in German) inspired by the owner of our local Italian restaurant, Pastarello:) The selected a series of "action words" in the song and replaced them with specific sounds and gestures. Guy was skeptical that it would work for the English audience, but at the end of the day the learning objective was about transcending language, and it worked. They discussed the importance of balancing context and letting the art/performance speak.
2/4/2020 Freddy and Guy told a Zulu children's story called Siyahamba. They showed how the addition of simple sounds and instruments can have a dramatic effect on how a story is told. They get into the the importance of introducing a concept in a way that makes an impact. Guy and Freddy also discuss how much we can learn by simply being aware of the sounds and sights around us by paying closer attention. Finally,
1/4/2020 podcast the talked about how they broke down the formula of the 12 Bar blues with color coded graphic notation so the mechanics of the genre could make sense to the younger generation. They also got into the nuances of various techniques when it come to holding mallets for xylophones and how much of a difference subtle changes in position can make.
In part 2 Freddy and Guy talked a bit about what motivated them to do the show and what they hope comes out of it for others and themselves. The also got into the importance of making mistakes, how they developed thick skin through performance and the incredible value that come from failing.
31/3/2020 Today Guy and Freddy explored and exercise to help train the ear that they heard about from their friend, and incredible songwriter, Cynthia Nickschas. Her mother would play a game where she would hit a note on the piano and Cynthia would have to find it and play the same note. They discussed how they are connecting with their regular viewer as well as the challenges of getting the technical aspects of doing a show like this "right". Freddy also went into more depth about how he used Solmization "translate" the melody Guy challenged him with on the air.
29/3/2020 On the live stream Another Mother explored a Trinidadian Children's song called "A Let A Gogo" with some of the new gear donated by Thomann. Freddy explains why this piece is a particularly good tune to start out with new groups because there are so many interactive pieces to it. They discuss the importance of not teaching down to children, the fact that many have different ways of learning, teaching technique and respect for instruments and how some cultures integrate music so much more deeply into their lives.
28/3/2020 Today the fellas got to start doing new and interesting thing on the show thanks to a generous care package from Musikhaus, Thomann in Germany! With their new xylophone they explored a wonderful Ghanaian children’s song called Che Che Kule 🇬🇭, explored call & response as well as how movement helps reinforce musical memory. They are incredibly excited about their expanded capabilities to cover more kinds of music and execute on a wider range of lessons.
27/3/2020 Today the fellas introduced the banjo to the audience, which led to a fun explanation about how stringed instruments make sound. In the podcast they discuss more of the history of the banjo, it’s west African roots and the how it was morphed for the dark purpose of minstrel show while also finding its place in genres that became traditional American music (as well as traditional Irish music. The fellas also discussed how they hope to see the show evolve as they piece together new tech that expands their capabilities.
26.3.2020 Freddy and Guy broke down solmization in today‘s livestream. It’s a method of associating syllables to the notes of a scale and in this case they also associated hand gestures with each of the notes. This helps those unable to read shapes notes to understand and learn a melody. They also discuss one of their favorite aspects of the show which is the live interaction and how much fun it is to see people from different parts of the world start to pop up in the stream.
25/3/2020 Freddy and Guy did a fun interactive steam on simple harmonies today using a picture of an 8 floor hotel (for the major scale) as graphical notation for the viewer. In the podcast they discuss the hows and whys they did what they did and how they learning to find a groove as the episodes of the livestream go on.
24/3/2020 In today’s Facebook live stream we introduced the song “Row, Row, Your Boat” to the audience, asking them to sing along. Freddy and Guy alternated singing parts of the song, building the experience into a lesson in singing in canon. In the podcast they discuss developing their lesson plans, their desire to make the experience more interactive for the viewers and how they hope to build an audience from the ground up.
4 22/3/2020 Freddy is back! Today we introduced short and long notes on the kids show to help get them thinking about the kinds of sounds they play and listen to. We talk about how and why we’re presenting these concepts and the importance of planting these seeds of awareness in the music we make and consume. We also discussed the persisting technical problems we’re facing and overcoming as we hunt for the most reliable solution to do an uninterrupted live video stream.
21.3.2020 Guy flew solo on the livestream today again, and talked about loud and quiet in music and gave the kids the homework to find loud and quiet songs from with their parents. He discussed how much fun the increased interaction is on both shows as more people tune into the stream. He also talks his frustration with his Gopro as it gave out again on the German stream.
Guy had to fly solo today because Freddy was under the weather. Today we talked about the different types of tones are made by different instruments. Also, Guy talks how he handled tech failure mid-stream.
An introduction to who we are, why we we’re here and breakdown what we did on the first Facebook Live Stream of our kids show:)