Sound Before Sight Is About More Than Teaching Songs

"Sound before sight" is a popular way of saying that music is most effectively taught first aurally, and then by associating what has been learned aurally with visual representations, such as standard music notation. Music Learning Theory and the numerous resources that follow it guide teachers in developing musical literacy according to these principles. Generally, … Continue reading Sound Before Sight Is About More Than Teaching Songs

Is There Madness in the Method?

Music teachers are often concerned with method. If you go to most music education conferences, you’ll find sessions on the Kodaly Method, the Dalcroze Method, Gordon Music Learning Theory, the Orff Method, Feierabend’s Conversational Solfege, the Suzuki Method, to name a few. Music teaching methods are like Protestant denominations: there are many of them, they … Continue reading Is There Madness in the Method?

Overcoming Confusion When Teaching Music Reading

Teaching children to read music can be challenging, particularly if formal instruction in it is not started until the children are 9 or 10 years old. Elsewhere, I have written about the importance of teaching "sound before sight" when teaching students to read music. Like language, musical patterns must be learned aurally and orally before … Continue reading Overcoming Confusion When Teaching Music Reading

A Review of Rhythm Counting Systems

Previously, I wrote about rhythm syllable systems. Like solfege, rhythm syllables provide a singable word to verbally associate with the audited sound. I reviewed rhythm syllable systems for Kodaly and Orff oriented classes, as well as French, Gordon, and tamarin I systems. Today I will discuss rhythm counting systems. These differ from syllable systems in that … Continue reading A Review of Rhythm Counting Systems