learning the fundamentals of music theory at a young age

M U S I C T H E O R Yfor young children

Monday, October 8, 12

Ted TurnerM U S I C T H E O R Yfor young children


Music has a great power for bringing people together. With so many forces in this world acting to drive wedges between people, it's important to preserve those things that help us experience our common humanity.

TED TURNER, TURNER BROADCASTING SYSTEM

LAUREN


LAURENAge: 5

Formal Education


lauren attends music class on tuesdays and thursdays. Her class consists of a variety of percussion instruments. She runs through a series of music explorations along side her classmates as they “follow the leader” mimicking what the teacher does. For a small portion of the class she is allowed to explore on her own and play with the instruments she pleases.


Age: 6Digital Native

BEAU


in addition to Beau’s music class at school, He comes home to play on his dads ipad. His parents enrolled him in a summer music class that introduced children his age to technology pertaining to music. He learns about music by exploring, discovering, and creating inside programs such as garage band and beatlab.

KIP


Age: 6 3/4Acoustic Explorer

KIP


kip, like beau, makes music after school, except he doesn’t have an ipad. we can just say hes more of an analogue kind of dood. He finds each surface of his house an interesting producer of sound. Really though, he likes to bang on the tupperware while mom cooks dinner.

WHERE DO WE LEARN?Monday, October 8, 12

CLASSROOM



ONLINE



PULSE, an online educational community

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SOFTWARE



Things like apps and editing software have allowed children to explore music making in new ways in the classroom. These are things like scratch, garage band, incredibox, and beatlab


L I N E A R + C O L L A B O R AT I O N = N O N L I N E A R P H E N O M E N O N

I N S P I R E D B Y E A C H O T H E R


When collaborative efforts are applied to a linear learning system, non linear learning begins to occur in various knooks and crannies. It allows children to problem solve, teach each other, and inspire each other


BRIANAge: 43

Music Educator


this is brian. He's been teaching music for fifteen years now. He has been teaching kindergarten music classes for the past 7 years. He believes that his students have huge leaps in learning when participating in the making of sound. He boils it down to play now learn later. meaning Enjoy the experience and immerse yourself in it and then analyze and reflect post “play.” He has a class discussion after the music session to recap on what was covered and learned that class period

FUNDAMENTALSOF MUSIC THEORY



while going through these courses, children are exposed to the basis of music. Referred to as the fundamentals, these topics are learned over time through repetition of simple exercises and through experiencing “play.” These core subjects are crucial to music education because they allow students to progress into more complex theory when learning instruments, composing music, and site reading

PITCH



The frequency of a note determining how high or low it sounds



The frequency of a note determining how high or low it sounds


SCALE


Successive notes of a key or mode either ascending or descending



Successive notes of a key or mode either ascending or descending



The element of music pertaining to time, played as a grouping of notes into accented and unaccented beat


RHYTHM





Three or four notes played simultaneously in harmony


CHORD





A sequence of single notes that is musically satisfying


MELODY





Pleasing combination of two or three tones played together in the background while a melody is being played. Harmony also refers to the study of chord progressions


HARMONY





Tone color, quality of sound that distinguishes one verse or instrument to another. It is determined by the harmonies of sound


T IMBRE





Style used as a means of evoking heightened emotions and states of mind


EXPRESSION



VISUALIZING SOUNDM U S I C T H E O R Y

for young children


visualizing abstraction in a comprehensive way

BY-PRODUCTSOF MUSIC THEORY

MOTOR

MOTIVATION

LOGICAL

SOCIAL &EMOTIONAL

BASIC EMOTIONS

SENSORY

MOVEMENT

VISION

LANGUAGE

COORDINATION

MEMORY

When playing music multiple parts of the brain are activated simultaneously which allows children to

*M U S I C T H E O R Y

for young children

CREATIVITY

PHYSICAL COORDINATION

MATHEMATICAL SKILLS

LISTENING ABILITIES

MEMORY & RECALL SKILLS

SPATIAL & ABSTRACT RECOGNITION

TEMPORAL REASONING


In addition to learning about music, music education enhances a number of cognitive skills that allow children to excel in other areas of study. Some of the ones we have pulled out are ...

wants & needsmusical comprehension

guidance

collaborationtools

interactivity/movement

hearing

exposure

attention spansize [instrument to person]

vocal development

boundaries



TOOLS &EQUIPMENT




preschool and kindergarten music classes focuses a lot on the tangibility of an object



when instruments are used, they tend to be simple, percussion instruments



such things as a simple xylophone. they often repeat after the teacher and then explore on their own



in large groups the children collectively make simple grooves with the teacher



these objects aren’t always instruments, and do not make sound for that matter


“...its about the process not the end product”LORI GALLOWAY


aside from music, a lot of creative learning processes for this age range lean towards tactility and movement

musical discovery objects


3

2

C H O R D T E T R A H E D R O N

note panel 1

4


3 2

note panel 1

6S C A L E C U B E

5

4

hi

lo variable


high high

low

lowP I T C H T O R U S


touch surface

R Y T H Y M S H P E R E


montessori

+



3

+ =2

compound learning


learning the fundamentals of music theory at a young age

Documents

evoking heightened

notes played

ted turner

young childrenmonday

successive

tone color

garage band

musically