You may have heard the expression that music is the universal language. I agree.
There is an article on Psychologytoday.com that goes into greater detail about what comprises language. I’ll link it in the show notes for you.
Listen to the full episode here
I often equate music reading to reading a book; young students learning to read music is similar to learning to read words. Music is called a language, rightly so. It uses all the elements of language
We first become acquainted with the alphabet and what the letters look like. We start to associate a sound with the symbol we see. Early childhood books use simple words in short sentences to help students learn to connect letters into words. Over time, children add more words and sounds to their vocabulary so they can become more fluent readers with more expressive stories to enjoy.
Rhythmic Note Reading Begins with Math
One of the first things young students learn about reading music notation is note values.
The symbols themselves are named for mathematical terms. Whole, half, quarter, eighth. Symbols for sound and symbols for silence. Students learn what each symbol is called and what it means. A quarter note has a solid note head with a stem. A half note has a hallow note head with a stem.
My theory is students are trained to follow the dot (note head) that they forget to look at the whole picture. They miss the flag of an eighth note or sixteenth note or even a rest that might be out of their line of vision.
Music Needs a Sense of Direction
If you don’t get past the math of music, you will never get into the fluency and expression of music. At some point, you need to broaden your focus to the rhythmic group or measure.
As you listen to people talk, you can hear words grouped into phrases. Some words fall off the tongue faster than others.
If you get stuck thinking about each individual note’s numeric value, you will not connect the notes into a forward-moving direction. Young readers start with the sounds of each letter but eventually learn to combine letters into words and words into sentences.
Use Inflection Just as You Do in Speech
You can tell by the tone of your child’s raised voice if they are irritated with a sibling or if they are really hurt. One of the drawbacks of written communication – emails, text, blogs, etc – is that you don’t know exactly how the writer intended the text to be read.
Music attempts to notate the inflection or intonation with longer and shorter notes, accent marks, staccato dots, phrase marks, and many other articulation symbols but it is still limited. We have a responsibility and the opportunity to breathe life into our music.
Just like actors can take the printed word and make it incredibly impactful, musicians can take a series of dots on basic lines and spaces and create an emotional experience for the listener.
You have to start somewhere but don’t stay there, make your music move forward.
Resources mentioned in today's show
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