For the stout-hearted, a long in-depth article exploring recent theories studying why music is such an integral part of humanity:
http://www.economist.com/printedition/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=12795510
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Music - What's the Point?
One of my Music Together parents sent me this link to a welcome address to the parents of the freshman class at Boston Conservatory given by Karl Paulnack, pianist and director of music division at Boston Conservatory. It is well worth the read, both for musicians and "music consumers" (that means everybody!). Thanks so much to Gail for passing this along to me!
http://www.symphonymusicians.com/WelcomeAddressbyKarlPaulnack/tabid/87/Default.aspx
http://www.symphonymusicians.com/WelcomeAddressbyKarlPaulnack/tabid/87/Default.aspx
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Infants Can Rock Out Too!
Here's a short, fun article about a study finding a sense of rhythm in newborns:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28862536/wid/11915773?GT1=31037
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28862536/wid/11915773?GT1=31037
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Audiation, Musical Contrasts
Hello everyone,
I hope everyone is staying warm! It's winter for sure!
I hope you're all enjoying your Bells CDs. Does your child have a favorite song or two yet? Get ready to hear it a million times! This can be tiring for adults but is great fun and very educationally valuable for your child. Save your stories about your child's musical moments this week to share with us in class next week. There are some blank pages in the back of your songbook where you can note the meaningful musical moments you share (a beautiful quiet lullaby experience), as well as the silly and ridiculously cute things your child does with music. One parent just wrote to share with me that her daughter got extremely excited when "Trot, Old Joe" started playing. Apparently, the little girl shouted, "It's 'Taco Joe!'" and sang it that way for the whole song.
AUDIATION IS SWEEPIN' THE NATION
A subject that I will be bringing up more and more in the next few weeks is "audiation." Very simply put, audiation is the process of hearing music in your head. To expand a bit, thinking is to speech as audiation is to singing. Right before you sing a note, chances are you are hearing the note "in your head." Accurate audiation (hearing the correct tone/rhythm) in one's head is absolutely necessary to being able to make music accurately.
Audiation is a learned process that is easiest to learn when the brain is in its most malleable state: early childhood. Children tend to learn audiation through exploration and experimentation when they are placed in a consistently rich musical environment. Children often start with audiating the last notes of songs rather than the first. And it takes their inexperienced brains time to take in, process, and then manifest that final tone (also usually called the resting tone) in some way--often 5 seconds or longer after the external sound stops! That is why we do lots of resting tone play at the ends of songs and another reason why (you guessed it) I ask parents not to use their speaking voices in class, particularly in the fragile spaces at the ends of songs. Instead of cheering or talking, please participate in the resting tone play with me, sing goodbye to the instruments, or sometimes...we'll just be silent. And listen. Listen to the sounds your child makes--I heard many little voices singing and speaking and cooing on tones near or right on the resting tones on Monday. If you're talking, you might miss these precious first attempts at singing the resting tone!
Support your child's audiation at home by listening to the tones he/she is cooing or singing, and sing them back to him/her. Make a game of it! After singing a song or listening to one on your CD, give your child the gift of a few seconds of silence so that his/her brain can process what it has heard.
MUSICAL CONTRASTS
To review a couple of things that we did and talked about this past week...most of our "work/play" can be characterized as a study in contrasts. From extremely high to extremely low pitches (in the vocal warm-up) to short vs. long sounds (Hopping and Sliding) to sound vs. silence (Foolin' Around), children ADORE contrasts! They're fascinated by abrupt changes, and they will learn to anticipate them quickly, though the thrill doesn't seem to lessen--rather it increases as they start to figure out how it works!
At the age of 2.5, my son shocked the socks off of me by singing through the entire Alphabet Song alternating loud and soft singing on each phrase. He'd always giggled when I sang it that way for him, cackling when I surprised him on the loud parts. I never guessed he would do it on his own at such a young age! He's not a genius (well, maybe he is...ha!)--just about any child can learn to do this before age 3 or 4. My son has simply had enough live music-making in his life that he is not musically delayed!
Up and Down Pitches
Remember the vocal warm-up? Voices are high when hands are high, voices are low when hands go down, etc.? Try moving your voice up and down to accompany your child's activities, whether it be climbing the stairs, riding the escalator, zipping a zipper, sliding down the slide, or just singing and moving. For those of you with very small children, it's very effective to raise and lower the pitch of your voice while lifting them high and swinging them down. The perception and understanding of pitch direction must occur before children are able to follow a melody line accurately with their voices.
Short and Long Sounds
Putting physical movement to these concepts makes the learning come very naturally and joyfully to our visual and kinesthetic learners. They don't need to know the musical terms "staccato" (short and separated) or "legato" (smoothly connected) to get the idea. Hopping and Sliding was a perfect way to play with these concepts.
Sound and Silence
What is more fascinating that listening to a groovin' little track on a CD and suddenly having it drop away for 7 or 8 beats? I would argue that watching the face of a little one who has never experienced this phenomenon is possibly more fascinating! One little boy in class said "Uh oh!" every time the music stopped during Foolin' Around. It won't be long before he and all the children are rejoicing in those stops and then starting to anticipate when they happen--and even more amazing--knowing when to start playing again!
I hope everyone is staying warm! It's winter for sure!
I hope you're all enjoying your Bells CDs. Does your child have a favorite song or two yet? Get ready to hear it a million times! This can be tiring for adults but is great fun and very educationally valuable for your child. Save your stories about your child's musical moments this week to share with us in class next week. There are some blank pages in the back of your songbook where you can note the meaningful musical moments you share (a beautiful quiet lullaby experience), as well as the silly and ridiculously cute things your child does with music. One parent just wrote to share with me that her daughter got extremely excited when "Trot, Old Joe" started playing. Apparently, the little girl shouted, "It's 'Taco Joe!'" and sang it that way for the whole song.
AUDIATION IS SWEEPIN' THE NATION
A subject that I will be bringing up more and more in the next few weeks is "audiation." Very simply put, audiation is the process of hearing music in your head. To expand a bit, thinking is to speech as audiation is to singing. Right before you sing a note, chances are you are hearing the note "in your head." Accurate audiation (hearing the correct tone/rhythm) in one's head is absolutely necessary to being able to make music accurately.
Audiation is a learned process that is easiest to learn when the brain is in its most malleable state: early childhood. Children tend to learn audiation through exploration and experimentation when they are placed in a consistently rich musical environment. Children often start with audiating the last notes of songs rather than the first. And it takes their inexperienced brains time to take in, process, and then manifest that final tone (also usually called the resting tone) in some way--often 5 seconds or longer after the external sound stops! That is why we do lots of resting tone play at the ends of songs and another reason why (you guessed it) I ask parents not to use their speaking voices in class, particularly in the fragile spaces at the ends of songs. Instead of cheering or talking, please participate in the resting tone play with me, sing goodbye to the instruments, or sometimes...we'll just be silent. And listen. Listen to the sounds your child makes--I heard many little voices singing and speaking and cooing on tones near or right on the resting tones on Monday. If you're talking, you might miss these precious first attempts at singing the resting tone!
Support your child's audiation at home by listening to the tones he/she is cooing or singing, and sing them back to him/her. Make a game of it! After singing a song or listening to one on your CD, give your child the gift of a few seconds of silence so that his/her brain can process what it has heard.
MUSICAL CONTRASTS
To review a couple of things that we did and talked about this past week...most of our "work/play" can be characterized as a study in contrasts. From extremely high to extremely low pitches (in the vocal warm-up) to short vs. long sounds (Hopping and Sliding) to sound vs. silence (Foolin' Around), children ADORE contrasts! They're fascinated by abrupt changes, and they will learn to anticipate them quickly, though the thrill doesn't seem to lessen--rather it increases as they start to figure out how it works!
At the age of 2.5, my son shocked the socks off of me by singing through the entire Alphabet Song alternating loud and soft singing on each phrase. He'd always giggled when I sang it that way for him, cackling when I surprised him on the loud parts. I never guessed he would do it on his own at such a young age! He's not a genius (well, maybe he is...ha!)--just about any child can learn to do this before age 3 or 4. My son has simply had enough live music-making in his life that he is not musically delayed!
Up and Down Pitches
Remember the vocal warm-up? Voices are high when hands are high, voices are low when hands go down, etc.? Try moving your voice up and down to accompany your child's activities, whether it be climbing the stairs, riding the escalator, zipping a zipper, sliding down the slide, or just singing and moving. For those of you with very small children, it's very effective to raise and lower the pitch of your voice while lifting them high and swinging them down. The perception and understanding of pitch direction must occur before children are able to follow a melody line accurately with their voices.
Short and Long Sounds
Putting physical movement to these concepts makes the learning come very naturally and joyfully to our visual and kinesthetic learners. They don't need to know the musical terms "staccato" (short and separated) or "legato" (smoothly connected) to get the idea. Hopping and Sliding was a perfect way to play with these concepts.
Sound and Silence
What is more fascinating that listening to a groovin' little track on a CD and suddenly having it drop away for 7 or 8 beats? I would argue that watching the face of a little one who has never experienced this phenomenon is possibly more fascinating! One little boy in class said "Uh oh!" every time the music stopped during Foolin' Around. It won't be long before he and all the children are rejoicing in those stops and then starting to anticipate when they happen--and even more amazing--knowing when to start playing again!
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Holiday Sing-Along was so fun!
Thank you to everyone who came to the party! So many beautiful things happened the night of December 6! The music was great, the food was yummy, and most importantly from my perspective: families sang and danced together! For the children who were old enough that the experience will stay in their conscious minds...what a beautiful memory they will have to cherish! For the children who won't consciously remember the event, the precious experience of listening to live music and participating in music-making with their loved ones will certainly contribute to their overall consciousness of the part that music can play in their family and community and celebration rituals. I was left with such a warm fuzzy feeling after the whole thing was over! While I'm absolutely thrilled that we raised over $160 for the scholarship fund, I think the most valuable outcome of the experience is the fun that we all had!
I must give a huge thank you to Music Together Mamas Pamela Yeater and Molly Coffey, who volunteered their time to coordinate food, decorations, and RSVPs. And of course, thank you to all the wonderful folks who contributed food, decorations, time, or some combination of those!
If you were there, I have a couple of requests:
1) Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to take any photos during the party, and I didn't arrange for a committed photographer. Please share photos with me if you can! Even if the photos were just of your own family members. I won't use them for publicity without permission--I'd just love to have the photos for my own personal enjoyment and reflection.
I am taking notes about this year's event to refer to when planning next year's party, and I'd love to get your feedback! If you have any suggestions for aspects that should remain the same or ideas about how to make the event better, please let me know.
Lastly, as a way of thanking the musicians and of giving you more information about the folks who worked hard to make the party a musical success, I've included some information and web links for the musicians.
Jordan Arnold, percussionist, member of Eroteme and funk band Jazz the Ripper (which has a couple of Orange Peel gigs coming up!)
Jazz the Ripper myspace: http://www.myspace.com/jazztheripper
Brad Hebert, percussionist, guitarist, bass player, accordionist, and lots of other "ists." Works at B-clip Productions.
Brad's myspace page: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=35607115
Matthew Richmond, percussionist, UNCA Percussion Instructor, teaches private lessons at the Asheville Music School, member of percussion ensemble Eroteme and piano/percussion duo Spies Among Us. Often plays with local pop band Stephanie's Id. Kari's husband!
Matthew's myspace: http://www.myspace.com/matthewrichmondmusic
Matthew's website: http://www.matthewrichmond.net/
Karl Ruch, Music Together dad, singer/songwriter, percussionist, guitarist. Karl has two CDs out!
Karl's website: http://www.karlruch.com/
Karl's myspace: http://www.myspace.com/karlruch
Aimee Sullivan, Music Together mom, saxophone player, sax and woodwinds teacher at Asheville Music School. Regularly performs with Bill Gerhardt and Mike Holstein of the Jazz Composers Forum.
http://www.callthatjazz.com/sullivan.html
Eroteme: Four of the musicians (Matthew, Brad, Jordan, Kari) are members of percussion ensemble Eroteme.
myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/erotememusic
I must give a huge thank you to Music Together Mamas Pamela Yeater and Molly Coffey, who volunteered their time to coordinate food, decorations, and RSVPs. And of course, thank you to all the wonderful folks who contributed food, decorations, time, or some combination of those!
If you were there, I have a couple of requests:
1) Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to take any photos during the party, and I didn't arrange for a committed photographer. Please share photos with me if you can! Even if the photos were just of your own family members. I won't use them for publicity without permission--I'd just love to have the photos for my own personal enjoyment and reflection.
I am taking notes about this year's event to refer to when planning next year's party, and I'd love to get your feedback! If you have any suggestions for aspects that should remain the same or ideas about how to make the event better, please let me know.
Lastly, as a way of thanking the musicians and of giving you more information about the folks who worked hard to make the party a musical success, I've included some information and web links for the musicians.
Jordan Arnold, percussionist, member of Eroteme and funk band Jazz the Ripper (which has a couple of Orange Peel gigs coming up!)
Jazz the Ripper myspace: http://www.myspace.com/jazztheripper
Brad Hebert, percussionist, guitarist, bass player, accordionist, and lots of other "ists." Works at B-clip Productions.
Brad's myspace page: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=35607115
Matthew Richmond, percussionist, UNCA Percussion Instructor, teaches private lessons at the Asheville Music School, member of percussion ensemble Eroteme and piano/percussion duo Spies Among Us. Often plays with local pop band Stephanie's Id. Kari's husband!
Matthew's myspace: http://www.myspace.com/matthewrichmondmusic
Matthew's website: http://www.matthewrichmond.net/
Karl Ruch, Music Together dad, singer/songwriter, percussionist, guitarist. Karl has two CDs out!
Karl's website: http://www.karlruch.com/
Karl's myspace: http://www.myspace.com/karlruch
Aimee Sullivan, Music Together mom, saxophone player, sax and woodwinds teacher at Asheville Music School. Regularly performs with Bill Gerhardt and Mike Holstein of the Jazz Composers Forum.
http://www.callthatjazz.com/sullivan.html
Eroteme: Four of the musicians (Matthew, Brad, Jordan, Kari) are members of percussion ensemble Eroteme.
myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/erotememusic
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Private Lessons for Preschoolers?
A parent wrote to me asking about whether it was appropriate to get her preschooler involved in private lessons and whether I knew anything about the Suzuki method. Here's my response, which I thought would interest many parents of preschoolers...
Unfortunately, I don't know a ton about Suzuki. My first reaction to it when I heard about it in college was distrust. I learned to read music at the same time that I learned to play piano when I was 7 years old, and I do think there's a bit of limitation in allowing a child to learn solely by rote. However, I have been told that children DO learn to read music through the Suzuki method...just not right at the beginning. And after my Music Together training and a couple of years of teaching experience, I do see the wisdom in having children be able to make music right from the beginning and not have to depend on being able to interpret odd marks on a piece of paper at first. That's too much pressure for lots of kids! Developmentally, it's really not appropriate to expect a child to do something as intellectual abstract as *reading music* until they're ready to read words. My own experience was also limited in that I was dependent on written music for a very long time, because I was not given the opportunity or encouragement to create my own music or improvise with accompaniment until college.
I think the most important issue is that parents not get so worried about giving their children a head start on their musical learning that they push kids into a formal lesson environment too early. As long as music is FUN for the child, they will learn. Going into a formal sit-down-and-pay-attention-this-is-work-not-fun kind of a situation can really squelch a child's desire to take lessons ever again. The fear, the pressure...those are things we DON'T wanted associated with music-making!
Making music a part of your daily routine, singing at home, attending live music concerts, doing some community singing (fun music classes or church or community events), and giving your child the opportunity to explore various instruments, is going to provide all the stimulation and experimentation opportunities your child needs until he is school-aged and gets used to sitting still and listening. OR, until you find a private music teacher who is able to "keep the fun" in the lesson setting. Look for someone with early childhood musical training and experience.
Unfortunately, I don't know a ton about Suzuki. My first reaction to it when I heard about it in college was distrust. I learned to read music at the same time that I learned to play piano when I was 7 years old, and I do think there's a bit of limitation in allowing a child to learn solely by rote. However, I have been told that children DO learn to read music through the Suzuki method...just not right at the beginning. And after my Music Together training and a couple of years of teaching experience, I do see the wisdom in having children be able to make music right from the beginning and not have to depend on being able to interpret odd marks on a piece of paper at first. That's too much pressure for lots of kids! Developmentally, it's really not appropriate to expect a child to do something as intellectual abstract as *reading music* until they're ready to read words. My own experience was also limited in that I was dependent on written music for a very long time, because I was not given the opportunity or encouragement to create my own music or improvise with accompaniment until college.
I think the most important issue is that parents not get so worried about giving their children a head start on their musical learning that they push kids into a formal lesson environment too early. As long as music is FUN for the child, they will learn. Going into a formal sit-down-and-pay-attention-this-is-work-not-fun kind of a situation can really squelch a child's desire to take lessons ever again. The fear, the pressure...those are things we DON'T wanted associated with music-making!
Making music a part of your daily routine, singing at home, attending live music concerts, doing some community singing (fun music classes or church or community events), and giving your child the opportunity to explore various instruments, is going to provide all the stimulation and experimentation opportunities your child needs until he is school-aged and gets used to sitting still and listening. OR, until you find a private music teacher who is able to "keep the fun" in the lesson setting. Look for someone with early childhood musical training and experience.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
As is often the case, I was just sent a link to a beautiful, short article about music and the brain. Please take a moment to read renowned neurologist Oliver Sacks' article about how a man with Alzheimer's Disease retains his dignity and joy through music:
http://www.oprah.com/article/omagazine/200812_omag_sound/1
http://www.oprah.com/article/omagazine/200812_omag_sound/1
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