May 31st, 2009 Brian
In January 2009 I commenced ‘Master of Music Practitioner ‘ post graduate studies at the University of Western Australia. At present I am doing human musical development studies. These take you back thousands of years to the discovery of a bone which could have been made into a musical instrument. The study also includes musical development of a fetus in the last few months of pregnancy; also musical development after birth right into adulthood. The question of music being genetically inherited is difficult to prove to date; however it is still recognized.
In one of my text books there is a chapter on music literacy, and it has given me an idea I can try, because I find that many students have difficulty reading music notation. It is getting the beginner student to learn aurally the sound of notes before reading them. I may commence by playing E on the 1st line of the treble staff, B on the middle line of the treble staff and F on the top line of the treble staff. After the student has heard these notes I will then play them one at a time and get the student to write them down as a crotchet on the treble staff. I will write about the next step next week.
Also re clapping rhythms. The text book states that no matter what duration the note has, each clap is short in sound. This had me thinking also, and I will see if I can get the student to sing ‘La’ as they clap each note and make certain the student holds on to the ‘La’ sound for the correct duration. I will let you know how I get on here.
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