Literacy is a word that is easily associated with reading and writing. It is a form of the words literature and literary. But not all literature is written down. Many cultures preserve their literature through oral traditions. In these cultures, a literate person is one who knows the literature from memory and can recall it, … Continue reading Music Literacy is More Than Reading and Writing Music
General Music
Invisible Tonality
When we think of something being invisible, surely things that cannot be seen come to mind. The air we breathe, for example, is invisible because we cannot see it (though we can see the effects of it moving an object on which it blows). We know air is all around us because we breathe it … Continue reading Invisible Tonality
From Where Does the Pleasure Music Brings Come?
There used to be a slogan going around about music--maybe it came from MENC (now NAfME)--that was "music makes me smile." Arts organizations, including symphony orchestras, have marketed themselves with various claims and slogans over the years. "Music for Life, " "Do It To Music" "Life Is Better With Music," "Priceless Music Absolutely Free," "Got Music?" … Continue reading From Where Does the Pleasure Music Brings Come?
Repeat, Vary, and Extend: Three Skills for Creating Artistic Work, Part 2
Note: This post is a continuation of another post from October 19, 2015. In part 1, I laid out a lesson for teaching students to extend rhythmic ideas, starting with language and then translating the sentence examples to rhythms. If you missed that post, you can click on the link above and get caught up. … Continue reading Repeat, Vary, and Extend: Three Skills for Creating Artistic Work, Part 2
Be Positive: Teaching Kids What they Need To Know Before They Will Learn What You Want To Teach
Perhaps more than teachers of other disciplines, we music teachers tend to be highly critical of ourselves and others. Our main focus in rehearsals is often error detection and correction. We fix mistakes, shape musical phrases, and pretty much spend most of our time turning sonic chaos at the first rehearsal into a splendid musical … Continue reading Be Positive: Teaching Kids What they Need To Know Before They Will Learn What You Want To Teach
Repeat, Vary, and Extend: Three Skills for Creating Artistic Work
I once had a music theory professor in college who wondered aloud why it was that so many composers wrote variations before writing in other forms. To him, writing variations was more difficult than developing themes in sonata form. I remember taking my cue from this comment and, though I wasn't at all experienced at … Continue reading Repeat, Vary, and Extend: Three Skills for Creating Artistic Work
How Music Education Helps Students with Social and Psychological Development
In the high stakes testing environment prevalent in today’s American schools, two areas in education that are too frequently overlooked are the psychological and social development of students. To be sure, school districts have provided social workers, psychologists, and teachers trained in educational psychology and child development, but apart from planning developmentally appropriate instruction and … Continue reading How Music Education Helps Students with Social and Psychological Development
More on Poetry and Music
In my last post, I discussed some ways in which poetry and music are alike. In the course of my discussion, I referenced Leonard Bernstein's Norton Lectures. Today I merely wish to follow up on that reference, by providing you with a video of one of those lectures. It is in all nearly 3 hours … Continue reading More on Poetry and Music
How Is Music Like Poetry?
We all know that music is comprised of sound; however, many have argued that all sound is not music. Stravinsky advanced this view convincingly when he explained that when we simply hear the rustle of leaves or the sound of a brook, we are not hearing music nor are we utilizing musical ability to hear … Continue reading How Is Music Like Poetry?
Arranging and Expressive Intent
When musicians prepare for a performance, there are countless decisions that are made and problems that are solved. Most often, a composer and an arranger have made many artistic decisions, and indicated them in the score. Dynamics, articulation, tempo and who sings or plays what are all mapped out. Though printed music certainly doesn't play … Continue reading Arranging and Expressive Intent
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