"Musical Literacy" (i.e. - reading notes as in Western notation)

[Susan Haugland]

I've been thinking a LOT about this lately. I'm 2/3 of the way through the first year of my pilot project, which is called "Fiddles for All." This program is the result of a grant I received through a local organization which allowed me to purchase 25 quarter and half size violins for my general music classroom. All second graders in my district learn to play the violin as part of their general music class. They do not take the instruments home and I see them twenty-five minutes a week, twice a week.

I've learned so much through this process and have kept a detailed journal, but the most striking revelation to me is that they have learned to play music together - MUSIC - not notes on a page. Had I put traditional method books in front of them, they might be playing Lightly Row by now, but it wouldn't sound like music. It would sound like: A F#, F#, G, E, E... and so on.

These kids play together - and they come up with their own ideas to expand on what we learn in class. The songs we learn as a class come from the ideas they give me. I ask them - "What songs do ALL kids know how to sing?" and we learn those, along with other songs I teach them in order to have a sequence of technical skills. But even those are songs with words and melodies. The students improvise and harmonize. They add other classroom instruments. They sing. They dance. Basically, we are "Orffing" violin. Violin is the new recorder in my classroom.

Coming to the realization that learning to read the music is not necessarily beneficial to playing the music made me wonder how many kids quit because they cannot decode traditional Western notation. Me, 10 years ago:
"You can't write the names of the notes on the music because you won't learn to read the music." Result? The student eventually quits because they can't decode the music on the staff. Why did it take me so long to figure this out?

Do students in conservatories need to read music. Yes. Do 99.9% of all other students need to learn to read music? Maybe not in a traditional form. What about tablature? Maybe they can figure out a system that works for them if they need to notate something.

I never want another student of mine to quit because traditional notation doesn't make sense for them. EVER. Most of them never told me that was why they quit. They might not have known, themselves. They might have just been frustrated and it wasn't a satisfying experience. (Notice I didn't say happy - music isn't always happy.)

Students with dyslexia and other disabilities might be fabulous musicians. We might never know that though, if we don't give up on the idea that everyone needs to read music.

[Laura Collins]

Hi Susan,

What a great question. It is always the question, no? I think sometimes singers and instrumentalists approach the reading differently. I was taught to read by note names years and years ago at piano and in band. But in chorus and singing(and with a few piano methods years later) we looked at intervals. I think this is key, no pun intended. Looking at the melodic or harmonic movement is an important part of reading.

I have just completed my second level of Kodaly music methodology. I am convinced IT has an answer to your question...i.e., can students make music their own and read? Will they burn out on reading as opposed to enjoying music-making? I feel I am obliged to give my students as much information as they want and can handle. Too much will defeat the purpose. But, kids are very intelligent.
I think it would be wonderful if more of our public school music programs were using Kodaly music methodology because the method allows students to live the concepts and internalize pitch and intervals through singing solfege syllables. It is a sequential, progressive curriculum and just what we could use in the US to unify our teaching...particularly at the elementary level where we lay the foundation for future musicians and performers. Most of us who teach music learned the rudimentary focus of most methods in our college methods classes. I just think if there were A METHOD that worked for most everyone and we all were incorporating it...that our music programs would soon bear the fruits of our labors.
Learners could go from school to school, teacher to teacher and comprehend a common language/vocabulary in learning. The point of teaching I believe is to give students the tools they need to do with music as they wish and to become independent of the teacher. To discriminate and have musical preferences and be able to verbalize these feelings and emotions through their performance, critiques, opinions, compositions and on and on. It seems to me that many teachers through my years as a young music student did not have the knowledge or insight to convey the intricacies of musicianship to me. I had a great ear and could play anything I heard unless to technically challenging. (and perfect pitch as well) As a young person, you do not understand that we do not all hear, learn and percieve in the same way. It was quite a surprise when I learned that most people did not hear what I heard.
Most of my teachers were concerned about technique. Granted, technique is valuable and required(!) -- but the expression of the 'rules' of music -- if you will-- were not shared with me until I worked with one exceptional teacher (a Julliard graduate--duh). She taught me more in one year (including technique) than all my other teachers in total. Now, if students can value the need to read and keep at it....sightreading on a regular basis keeps the challenge going and increases their reading abilities...then maybe we are on our way to something.
Of course, we do not all value reading. There are excellent artists who did/do not read, little if not at all.
As a teacher, however, I feel my students need to be as versatile as they can because it is a very competitive world out there. There is something important about history and learning from the masters.
Music must be a fun experience for the younger students. Kodaly uses dances, games, and hands on reading and writing activities to reinforce the performance aspects of the concept and curriculum taught. Of course, no doubt I do not need to tell you about it.
Orff has it's place as well, however, I believe from what I have seen so far, since 'Kodalyzing' my classroom, my students can now better feel their own progress and have grown in their confidence in comprehending this wonderful, mysterious thing called music. They are excited and working harder than ever on their singing and the more visual aids I use-- I find the more engaged they become. They are listening better, as if Ms. Collins has some important information they must get! It is rather exciting to see more success with more students and engagement of the kids who used to not care that much about what went on in Music class.
It isn't just about performance. It is also about creating and using the concepts to make your own music and experience it as your own. But at the same time, they are more verbal about others' performances and talents, more appreciative of those who shine and complimentary overall to hard work resulting in better performances in the classroom with learning and in front of audiences. I'm excited about this!
We are all after the same thing as teachers, to inspire, share, coach, guide and learn right along with our students.
There are all kinds of people, and all kinds of music. And so, I guess then, we have all kinds of musicians....some stronger readers than others. Some more technically proficient, some more musical, more
intuitive, some more global and some more into the details. That is what makes our music-making together such a joy! And for those who are not able to read, that's fine. They can still internalize the music and participate in most if not all of the learning activities Kodaly approach offers without feeling unsuccessful.
They can still become more music smart despite the challenge to read.
I just saying it takes many different attempts to convey and coach learners. We do not have to worry if we cannot reach them all. I think in the end, they will remember how music learning made them feel, not all the things we said to them as their teachers. :) God Bless.

[Susan Haugland]

Bravo Eric and Chris! I agree - rhythmic notation is the most accessible road into traditional notation and Eric, I'm so glad that you're starting with what they ALREADY know!! Hurray! Speech based rhythm, I have found, is key.
The old way I learned: 1 & 2 & 3 & 4e&a - is ambiguous. Mathematically it makes sense, so with a logistical learner it might work, but it's math - not music. I'm not saying notation shouldn't be learned - I'm saying it shouldn't keep someone from making music.

:)

[Eric Brummitt]

Thank you for having the courage to talk about this. I have been doing something totally new this year in my classroom. I think of it as "rhythmic melody notation." I write out melodies that my middle school students know - everything from Mary Had a Little Lamb to Somos de Calle by Daddy Yankee - using single line, percussion style rhythm notation that has note names written underneath. It even works for writing out keyboard ensemble parts: melody, harmony, bass. The kids I work with are often very low skilled readers and very disinterested in school in general. My goal is this: get them to play a song as soon as possible. If they play a song they know, they want to play another one, and when they play together, I have such fun watching them get excited about playing Mary Had a Little Lamb in two and three parts. Sometimes its hard to explain to them when to play higher or lower, but I have found that arrows and walking through the music with them both help a lot. By the way, I teach general music, too, and have also chosen to emphasize performance skills, rather than musicological ones. Keep on doing what you do!

[Chris Brown]

Thanks for your interesting and bravely stated post Susan. I learned to read in my late twenties, I'd already played all over Europe and made dozens of recordings. When it came to resolving my illiteracy it came down to eighteen months of very hard work and another 3 years of regular practice since then to achieve a reasonable, relaxed fluency. Eighteen months of people putting music in front of me that I could not read and expecting me to perform it. I don't use the term illiterate lightly and it was a very testing time on many levels.

In addition to agreeing that it's not necessarily for everyone at the start I will say a couple of things. There are easy to ways to learn and hard, there are good method books and terrible ones and there are innumerable resistances within each student for them to overcome - with regards to practicing, aptitude and learning. Many teachers present it (reading) as something hard, something to be practiced, as 'homework' (what a horrible word!). I look at it as... well, just reading, as I would a book or magazine. I think it needs to be balanced with developing musical interpretation and performance, writing, group playing and instrumental study as part of a broad musical foundation, common to most instruments and traditions.

I do my best to introduce all students to simple rhythms and reading as early as possible because of my own experience coming to it later. In my experience 90% of young students take to it very naturally and I hope that in laying some foundation at an early age they can either continue with it, or if they put the instrument down they should be able to pick one up later in life and start again with a broad foundation.

Just some thoughts, admittedly our place is a little different than most.