Christina Fackler MUSE 258 Sound Connections: A Comprehensive Approach to Teaching Music Literacy 2010 Chapter 1: Teaching Music

Literacy Don P. Ester Defining Music Literacy Singing and the ear are linked Audiate: hearing music internally Music literacy: translation of notation into sound and sound into notation Music Literacy Instruction: Past to Present 18th century o Singing schools for development of church singers o Fasola system: movable do with four syllables Lowell Mason o Taught in Boston for a year for free o Emphasized sound before sight o Moved from Fasola system to a system that is a lot like todays Seven syllables o Goal was to prove that music enhanced the quality of education 1920s o A cappella choir o Performance based o Learning by rote Education Reform 1960s o Restoration of prior goals: Performance and literacy o Comprehensive Musicianship through Performance Education through performance, literacy and historical knowledge Enforcement by the National Standards for Arts Education in 1994 Music Literacy Achievement Connections between motor and literacy skills help to strengthen knowledge and improve understanding Sight-singing skills have little to do with instrumental skills Students need a variety of experiences to be successful The Challenge of Teaching Music Literacy Music literacy and reading literacy go hand in hand and take years to develop There are several different programs for teaching music literacy o Causes difficult transitions o Better to use one tonal and one syllable system THE SOUND CONNECTIONS APPROACH Slow pace and more repetition required for younger children

Four Step System o Sequence to move from sound to sight o Rhythm and tonal systems that are good for all ages o Sequence that moves with melodic and rhythmic structure o Combination of new and old strategies Learning Sequence Ideas of Pestalozzi, Gagne, and Gordon Connects sound and sight Syllable System Must be able to translate between sound and sight Moveable do, la minor Takadimi allows for ease of rhythm translating and allows coordinates easily with counting Content Sequences Tonal Content Sequence o Begins with tonic triads and builds up o All other tones are neighbors to the tonic triads Rhythm Content Sequence o Meter is main principle Master Instructional Sequence o Covers most topics Instructional Strategies Lessons are only a few minutes long Teaches to read and notate at the same time I am definitely all for having a standard tonal and rhythmic system. Thinking back to my school system, there wasnt much agreement between schools. Even when I switched from band to choir my sophomore year of high school, I had to learn a new rhythm system and I had to learn solfege for the first time (other than what I learned from the Sound of Music). Im a pretty quick learner when it comes to that, but I remember always wondering why the band and choir directors couldnt just agree on one way to do things. I truly understand the importance of knowing the history of what syllable systems have been used and which ones have been successfulhow else would I be able to make an educated decision?