Part of my interest in the VH1 show is that I, too, have used rap and hip-hop as an entry point for students, when I was teaching a class that helped high schoolers to acquire fundamental music literacy skills (i.e., reading & writing music notation, sight singing, composing, and improvising). The students I was working with were vocalists at Boston Arts Academy. I taught two sections of 8-10 students each, twice a week.

I suppose it depends what particular similarities one chooses to show between ‘old’ art forms (i.e., Bach) and ‘new’ (i.e., hip-hop beats) ones, and at what point those similarities are introduced. In my experiences, I chose to start with the older forms first, to get students grounded in the material. I remember having the most success when I chose a specific correlation I wanted to make, and focused on that correlation only. Then, after learning a few sessions, I would bring in an example from a ‘new’ art, and without explaning my rationale for choosing something out of the norm, examine it just like we had worked with the older specimens. Eventually, students in class would start to remark about how they never envisioned those connections. I used this as my basic formula.

For example, one set of lessons focused on showing how basic rules of counterpoint from Bach’s era still apply to writing vocal harmonies (i.e., background vocals) for hip-hop tunes. In this case, I’d bring them a few Bach chorale first; we’d sing through them, learn each part, and find out what the harmonies were doing. We would experiment with changing the voicings, and hearing how they would sound - and also make things easier or more awkward for the singers. Once we became familiar with how the chorales work, I brought in an excerpt from a Boyz II Men song - but I formatted it the same way that the chorales had been, and temporarily removed the lyrics. Of course, they could tell immediately that ’something’ about this ‘chorale’ was different (i.e., harmonies more jazzy), but we plowed through it, learning the parts and harmonies like before. Afterwards, I asked the class if anyone knew where our newest assignment had come from (no hints). One student remarked, “Well when we analyzed it, it was like definitely Bach, but when we sing it, it sounds like Boyz II Men or something.” I agreed. The student then said, “So does that mean, if we know Bach, we can know Boyz II Men?”

One time, when I came to class, a student was sitting at the piano and plunking out some chords and trying to vocalize them. When I asked him what he was doing, he said he was trying to figure out what notes he could sing with what chord — he went to a concert and heard a singer improvising, and wanted to know how he could do the same. I used this as an opportunity to tie in what we’d been learning in class with what my students’ interests were. For this case, I brought in some Monteverdi madrigals with figured bass, and melismatic sections. We learned what the figured bass notation meant and how the melismas related to the harmonies. Subsequently, we imagined what the figured bass parts might look like if they were written out, and I brought in some guest performers to read and improvise continuo as if they were in a Baroque ensemble. We practiced singing the madrigal with our live continuo players, and each student got a chance to improvise some melismas. In another session, I asked the student who had initially expressed interest in improvising to bring in a pop song he was learning. I transcribed the harmonies and basic beat, and wrote them out as like the madrigals had been: three part vocal harmonies with bass line and figured bass. Except, in this case, the ‘figured bass’ were chord changes ala jazz lead sheets. In class, we first explored the connections between figured bass and lead sheet chord changes. Then we took the step of singing the chords - and finding what passing tones can create tension, and how to resolve tension back to chord tones. We also used the chord changes to imagine chord voicings, ala Bach chorales, and finally, looked at how different chord voicings could influence the ways that singers improvise over them. For this unit, I brought in a jazz combo with singer (piano, bass, drums, voice) to sing through various jazz progressions and improvise over them.

Anyways, I chose those two anecodotes to share, but I have a few more that maybe I’ll write about another time. Thanks for commenting!