"Next week in my pedagogy class, we are discussing sight reading and memorization, which I intend to approach by using The Introduction to Music and the examples in Artistry at the Piano Workbook 1, Lesson 3. Any words of wisdom on those two areas are greatly appreciated."
It is good that you are pairing the issues of sight reading and memorization in your pedagogy class, for they have a great deal in common and are too often not taught in a structured way.
Success in both areas, sight playing and memorization, is based on comprehension and interpretation. To comprehend the musical language, one must readily identify the following:
These issues provide a basis for interpretation, which is the personalization of what is comprehended. Perhaps the most exciting aspect of sight reading is that all this is accomplished instantaneously! The most reassuring aspect of memorization is that comprehension anchors the music in our very soul!
YES! The elementary student can accomplish this level of comprehension, and furthermore they will be thrilled in the process. Please, let us bring an end to the habit of "note pushing," that deadly dull process of recognizing a letter-name on the staff and eventually pushing the corresponding pitch on the piano without inflection or grace. It is within our reach to have a new generation of music readers (not note readers) by starting elementary students in effective ways! As I suspect you know, this is a corner stone of Artistry at the Piano.
At each lesson, involve the student in preparing to play any new piece by recognizing the patterns, form, and style. This will become a habit in study and sight playing when the teacher makes it a habit in lesson format. Obviously, the student must also be learning the basic syntax of the musical language and applying these concepts to pieces of musical merit.
Let me give you an example of how these concepts can be developed from the beginning of music study. Yesterday my class of kindergarten students (in their second week of study) had been introduced to rhythmic figures (outlining two, three, and four pulses of total duration) as well as to intervals (of repeated notes, seconds, and thirds). On my computer, I made each child a set of small flash cards containing the 11 rhythmic figures they had mastered (in The Introduction to Music, page 5). Handing each child a baggie of cards in mixed order, I first asked them to quickly divide them into groups of two pulses, three pulses, and four pulses: an exercise in pattern recognition. Then I asked them to arrange each group in an interesting way: an introduction to form. Then we decided how we wanted to perform these phrases with dynamics based on the patterns of activity and relaxation: an exercise in style and interpretation. The children took delight in their ease of recognition and the process of building and interpreting longer groupings of rhythmic figures into phrases.
We used a similar process with the interval flash cards I made for them, which showed the three intervals they had mastered (Introduction to Music, page 16) in many combinations on the staff. Again, with the cards in mixed order, the children first separated all the cards that had only notes on lines, then only notes on spaces, and finally those with notes on both lines and spaces. Obviously, this was instant pattern recognition that laid a foundation for rapid recognition of intervals. Then we sang what they had collected, discovering that notes only on lines or only in spaces were all repeated notes or thirds, and that notes on a line and the next space were seconds. We experimented with singing the first note louder or the second note louder, discussing the different effect of each, such as sighing or asking a question. Then we built chains of intervals and decided how we wanted to inflect our singing based on their own suggestions. One tiny child "composed" her first Scherzo by emphasizing all the pitches that "wanted" to be relaxed.
Taking the time to do projects such as this saves an enormous amount of time later in the student's study. Together we are forming the habits needed for successful sight playing, interpretation, and memorization. Without effective preparation, students practice errors, which must then be corrected at the lesson, wasting time and diminishing enthusiasm.
I also suggest that during your class you make the distinction between sight reading and sight playing, for this is a significant issue in music pedagogy. In reading verbal language, one has considerable freedom in terms of pace, "guessing," and retention. In reading musical language, one must not only recognize but DO what is read, and in addition, one must do it within a tempo and with appropriate expression (both of which require a considerable degree of retention). Obviously, that which is understood is more easily retained - hence students need a vocabulary of musical events to inform their reading and their memorization.
The study of the systems and syntax of music (usually called theory) is therefore essential for teaching students to read music at sight, to memorize securely, and to perform with confidence. By applying what the student is learning in theory to sight playing and to memorization, the student enters into a compelling and vitalizing circle -- the circle of learning and of applying what is learned to the performance of good music.
By showing your pedagogy students what can be accomplished with The Introduction to Music, you are giving them a comprehensive guide for teaching students to read music with comprehension and interpretation, complete with the technical ease to express themselves freely at the piano. Then, by using Analysis: An Aid to Memory (in Workbook 1, page 21), you show them how easily students can use their theory and keyboard skills to memorize a piece before playing it, which is the best way to develop a secure musical memory at any level of advancement.
Thank you for bringing your use of these materials to our attention. We wish you and your students a most interesting and productive class.
| previous question | next question | student questions | teacher forum | student forum | parents forum |