Written version of RIME paper (GCID) for MER, Exeter 2007
19
-Ian: Yeah, but you could have Bob come in, and then we could come in on
the guitars.
-Tyler: What do you mean, like walking in on the guitar?
-Ian: Yeah.
-Tyler: I could just be going (plays a rhythm).
-Ian: Yeah, Tyler will start doing that and then Bob can-
-Bob: No!
-Tyler: No, I’m not on about that. When we start the performance-
-Ian: Yeah, that’s what I mean. You can start, and then Bob can come in and
then I’ll walk in.
-Tyler: I could go (starts playing drum rhythm, Bob starts playing piano part).
And then I’ll press play, and we can all go (plays drums).
A keyboard and guitar are also being played. All come to a stop.
-Tyler: Did you hear that? No, shush, listen.
He plays loud and fast on the drums. Inaudible comments from others.
Tyler finishes with a cymbal crash.
-Chris: That’s wicked!
-Tyler: Bloody ‘ell that kills your arms, like (plays loud again).
Instruments being played; some vocalisations.
-Tyler: Stop a minute. I’ve had a phat idea, yeah. I could be going like that,
(plays again) and then Jack just walks in, sits down onto his piano or whatever
he’s playing, and I could go, and when Jack sits down I could go, I could go
(plays again at some length), and then you come in, skid on your knees and go
BOOOOWWWE!
Notice the role of imaginative play here concerning the music’s extra-musical,
cultural connotations, or what I elsewhere call delineations: the planned dramatic
entry into the room; the skidding on the knees, and so on. A similar attention to
delineations as part of stage presentation occurred in a group of girls, who were
incidentally designated as the ‘lowest ability in the class’. They were doing the song
‘It’s Raining Men’, and spent time cutting out little paper men and searching for some
umbrellas to use in the performance. Pupils in some other groups were keen to dance
as a part of their music-making. All these approaches invoke cultural practices,
meanings and values which lie beyond the music’s sonic properties and their