The sound of music

Introducing music notation to beginners.

The research and documentation of music reading acquisition is very sparse.

today there is still no consensus about models elementary music reading.
in fact there are many voices that advocate not to teach traditional notation, at all.
An understandable viewpoint considering the relatively low success rate for exposing many
generations to immediate reading of the whole staff.(ref)

But we should be aware not to throw out the baby with the water. The advantages of being
literate are so many and it is in very big demand.

However, It is true that there are issues that need to be addressed . Traditionally the
approach is rather abstract. It is not uncommon to explain or replace music symbols with
alphabetic letters and fractions. These are of course just other symbols that symbol other
things except not music.
another problem is that it is not unusual to refer to vision to understand pitch.

Music notation symbolizes obviously music. A general definition of music is that Music
basically is melody and rhythm. (granted, it is a narrow definition but for the beginner it
suffices).
Now, I find it fascinating that the music notational system is defined by exactly these two
basic and musical concepts. The concept of pitch (melody) is symbolized in the ladder with
the five lines and spaces in between. The concept of rhythm is symbolized in notes with
different attributes. in the musical notation the two are integrated.

Symbols are not facts. they represent something. Music symbols represent sound and they
represent certain characteristics of sound.
It is necessary to understand the idea that is represented by a symbol, before you deal with
the symbol. One must go from concrete to abstract, not the opposite.
To make sense of a symbol without making sense of what it represents is probably not
possible. Knowing of and making sense of is not the same.

to understand what the music symbol represents means understanding what the sound is,
where the sound is, how the sound is, and when the sound is. But one has to be aware and
able recognize these characteristics before being exposed to printed notation.
It has two identities , pitch and rhythm. Each identity is a dual, pitch may be high or low,
rhythm short og long.

If these identities are not perceived the student will experience serious difficulties i the
reading and playing of notation

It is sometimes forgotten that the ladder IS a symbol for pitch. It is not a place to put
something , only it is an indication of pitch.

The fact that the sound of music has a “double” identity makes it difficult to teach. It is not
unusual to teach single note values only. And it is taught as a fraction, which again is a
symbol that does not necessarily represent sound.

Pitch is maybe even more difficult to both to teach and to learn. Traditionally, though, the
ladder is used for letters. But unfortunately letters are symbols for phonetics or
“geographical” locations, not pitch. If the teacher assiigns pitch to a letter,she will later have
to withdraw that. If something is only true sometimes it is very confusing for the student

The two most significant features of music are Melody

(pitch and direction) and rhythm.

Melody and rhythm constitute a frame for the

notational system.

The melody (pitch) is symbolized

in a ladder with five lines and the spaces between the lines

The rhythm is
symbolized with notes that may have different attributes
Traditionally pitch is being taught as letters, that again are symbols for locations on an
instrument. Many keys share the same letter
In this tradition it is easy to miss awareness of sound in general and awareness and
recognition of pitch and direction in specific.’

t
It is important to be aware of what is high and what is low. because melody can only be
understood as high and low that can only be conceived and recognized aurally.
Melody as a row of alphabetic letters has no musical meaning. it can only be recognized
cognitively. this issue is most likely causing a lot of confusion
.

in order to understand and transform music symbols to

music on an instrument, one needs different skills:

familiarity with sounds

recognition of their symbols,
knowledge of the instrument
feeling of your fingers and hands

Listen - Build - Play

1. Pitch

a)

pitch may be high or low. to determine whether a pitch i s high or low is very basic for
understanding of the notational system

listne to my examples and move the girl* arm up or down , accordingly.

b)

as I play more examples I want you to build what you hear, with one brick as the
lowest 5 bricks as the hhighest.

c)

You may also imitate the order of pitch on the keyboard on the page or on you own
instrument

2. Rhythm

a)

We start out with learning the four basic rhythmic patterns.(Photo)

You may tap or clap the patterns. In the beginning away from your instrument and
one at time, Later you may tap two, three and then all four, mix them.
Say out loud short and long.

b)

This exercise is fun to do with a friend, but it is possible to do it by yourself.’

Record your own tapping of patterns . Only one at a time in the beginning.
try to build the matching pattern with the LEGO bricks

c)

symbols
 the ladder’
the patterns with note values

FIngers

play in the air

find a key

Instrumetn

INTEGRATION OF SKILLS