This chapter is a good review of literature on musical literacy. The chapter focuses on staff notation, as the authors claim that the other variables related to musical literacy are covered elsewhere.
In various permutations, the authors argue that too early of an exposure to staff notation in one’s music education can be harmful by distracting one from attending to other areas such as listening to the sounds one produces. The authors argue in favor of an ‘eye-audiation-play’ process instead of a ‘eye-play’ process, meaning that one needs to be able to hear in his or her head the music before they press the keys of their instrument. Developing aural memory is emphasized in such a method, and creativity is not stifled. Allowing learners to produce their own notation before introducing staff notation can be helpful for allowing the learner to understand why staff notation is used. The authors consider it best if early pieces emphasize reading staff notation of pieces that the learn already knows by rote, giving them the ability to focus on eye-hand coordination while retaining the inner hearing of the already familiar music.
Different ways in which people read staff notation are discussed, including reading note-by-note or reading by phrase, etc.
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It is interesting how the authors' arguments for aural and rote learning prior to exposure to staff notation related to Orff and related approach to music education which reach the same conclusion though perhaps more intuitive methods of investigation.
ReplyDeleteSome additional thoughts:
ReplyDelete- No single unitary literacy, hence the use of the term literacies. Not mentioned in the text is the validity of this approach to accommodate different learning styles as well.
-'Button pushers' (Schleuter, 1997) are those who associate notation with fingerings as opposed to linking the sound with the notation (I can't remember a year of teaching where I haven't experienced a student like this). Linking auditory perception with visual perception is SO important early in music training
- Kirby's Hierarchy of operational levels of how children process staff notation
- Meaningful examples should always accompany theoretical teaching e.g. mnemonic aids
Something the writer did not address was the role of imitation in reading notation.