The results can be very revealing, providing the opportunity to talk about mental subdivision as a tool. Then they resume clapping at the seventh measure. ![]() ![]() At a signal, they stop for six measures but continue to count silently with no physical movement. I have used the following exercise in class and find it challenging but useful: students begin clapping a steady beat-let's say, four beats to a measure. A student who has a solid grasp of rhythm and pulse is much more likely to correctly notate the pitches of a melody. All performers should have an ongoing "mental metronome," which establishes a sense of continuity. The student who is not internalizing rhythm and pulse will invariably lose track of the beat. ![]() There are no quick and easy answers to the challenge, although making friends with a jazz musician might be a good start. The most effective presentation of basic musical skills should be action-oriented.Ībility to Internalize Basic Rhythms and Pulse Besides examples of excellent teaching, I have witnessed a few truly deadening presentations in which the teacher spends half the class with his or her back to the students, writing on the board, and not a note of music is heard during the entire class period. Skill allows a musician to perform with facility, while knowledge makes it possible to perform with insight.ĭuring my long involvement with college teaching, I have observed theory classes in various institutions. Music literacy requires both skill and knowledge. She received the Lifetime Achievment in Music Theory Teaching and Scholarship Prize from the Gail Boyd de Stwolinski Center at the University of Oklahoma. The late Dorothy Payne taught at the University of South Carolina, specializing in undergraduate musicianship. We already have started applying her suggestions in our own studios. We were impressed with the breadth of her thinking and her ability to simultaneously clarify complex topics and offer practical advice. ![]() That is the purpose of this series-to give teachers needed information, resources and time-effective strategies to help students build basic skills at all levels.įor this, the first article in a series of four, we invited one of the top theory teachers in the U.S. "It's more fun for my students," one said, ignoring the preponderance of evidence that a lifetime of music making depends on well-developed proficiency in listening, sight reading and technique. Why, then, these articles? With today's busy schedules and packed lesson times, teachers sometimes fall into the trap of concentrating on repertoire only. A whopping 96 percent consider music part of a well-rounded education. In the latest Gallup poll, American Attitudes Toward Music (March 2003, conducted for the National Association of Music Merchants), an overwhelming majority of Americans polled-73 percent-believe children should be exposed to music before age 5. This is reflected in results from studies that show music teachers are viewed by most U.S. Minimal professionalism? Never! Today's MTNA members are educated, experienced and expert. who think all music teachers are kindly ladies with negligible training and no professionalism, handing out candy for good performances and slaps on the wrist for bad.
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