Music is an enjoyable part of being a human being. Even if it is "auditory cheesecake", as Steven Pinker suggests, there are many undeniable benefits of music listening and participation. These benefits may start as early as conception. In utero, the fetus responds to music. The heart rate goes up and down according to the tempo of a piece of music, and there is evidence that babies can recognize the pieces they heard while in utero. Babies respond to the specific piece of music heard in utero by turning the head more often than chance can account for. I say all of this because I think that musicality, like language acquisition, is influenced by the child's environment. Exposure to lots of music at a young age can help a child develop his or her musicality. Musicality may occur naturally, but musical literacy, like language literacy, is not an innate skill.
In order to develop the skills necessary for music literacy, young children must be exposed to the elements of music, including rhythm and melody. These skills can be developed through the established practices of Music Learning Theory, Kodaly, and Suzuki. These approaches introduce musical elements aurally, then follow with the sign or symbol the elements represent. This is a process that makes sense to me. It is very similar to breaking down a word which has meaning (musically: a rhythm, for instance) into its constituent elements to decode and discover the sounds that the letters make (the musical equivalent to discovering how a rhythm is notated). This is a meaningful way of going about both language and musical acquisition.
I think that there are a few problems with how most method books teach musical literacy. If there is no context to the sound outside of the written notation, notes and rhythms may become meaningless symbols on a page. When this happens outside of the context of what is happening outside of the band or orchestra room, written musical notation runs a high risk of becoming too abstract for a student to grasp. The student becomes preoccupied with symbols and "nuts and bolts" elements of instrument playing and forgets about or doesn't realize larger musical goals. The musical goals in a complex piece of music are so outside of the zone of proximal development that students may give up and quit playing an instrument without help outside of school.
In light of these issues, it is important to recognize that band and orchestra directors must choose appropriate pieces that match the skill level of most of his or her students. If he or she chooses appropriate, skill matched pieces, the larger musical goals may be realized. To make a language analogy, a typically developing fifth grade student cannot be expected to understand and appreciate a Shakespearian masterpiece, much as a fifth grade student cannot be expected to play a Beethoven symphony with appreciation for its musical intricacies. The insight into what a student can and cannot do is an essential part of being an effective music teacher regardless of the grade level. Knowing when to "go back" to re-visit the essential components of musical literacy using sound to symbol strategies can help bring a student into his or her zone of proximal development in regards to musical literacy.
Becky-
ReplyDeleteSinging to and with young children may also help them when they are asked to sing at school. The basic melodies and rhythms of nursery rhymes and childhood songs are ones that show up in the first method books. The recognition of these tunes aurally might make it easier for students to learn the notes.
tk