Tuesday 24 October 2017

Towards Music Literacy

In the book The Child as Musician, Gary McPherson describes music literacy as a result of children "having developed their capacity of make music; reflect on the music in which they are engaged; express their views on music which they play, hear or create, speak about, and listen to in order to form judgments; and read, write comprehend, and interpret staff notation."

During the past few lessons, Grade 1 and 2 students were introduced to a new language called "solfège."  They also develop the competency to listen attentively to the melodic contour and to compare like/unlike/similar phrases.  Over the past week, I was impressed with how Grade 1 students identified songs that sound similar and how Grade 2 students made a connection between music and music, i.e. identifying patterns in songs.

Grade 3 students took on the challenge to perform three-voiced texture.  Through this task, they worked on developing a sense of "inner hearing."  Grade 4 students focused on reading "ticka-ticka's" (i.e. 16th notes.)  All of these skills and competencies form an integral part of what constitutes "music literacy."

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