terrific article and beautifully expressed. So some pithy observations after 50 plus years as a music educator:
1. Too many music educators are not trained to teach literacy. Far too many!
2. Time to teach the Guido hand?
3. The ear informs the eye before the eye informs the inner hearing. A child starts learning to read by being read to. They follow the word symbols with no understanding until the sounds of the phonemes connect with the eye. In the current American culture, our children do not have melodies in their experience to reference. Many cultures, notably Africa, the children know hundreds of tunes and rhythms by age 5. In America, a few dozen.
4. Knowing the folk music or the melodies of a culture is the most efficient way of teaching language skills. This preparatory to reading the words.
And 5. I had a chance meeting in the 80s with Joe Williams, the great Jazz Singer. We were in the waiting area for a flight to LAX in the Las Vegas airport. I saw him sit down and went over to him to tell him how much I admired his singing. He asked what I did for a living and I told him I was a communist college music educator. He remarked about how special it was that I taught music and he wished he could read music. He learned everything by ear and had had an extensive experience in his youth of hearing up close and personal some of the greatest jazz performers of his day. He was on the way to the Tonight Show to perform for Johnny Carson. He was remarkable that night. Nuanced, sensitive, gorgeous tone, and thoroughly musical. Literate? In his way, yes! I went back to the college and sang more tunes with my sight-reading class before showing them the score. Our reading abilities soared.
Thank you for this Odell! Your response is phenomenal and thorough. I love your approach to teaching and cultivating music literacy in your classroom. Thank you!
terrific article and beautifully expressed. So some pithy observations after 50 plus years as a music educator:
1. Too many music educators are not trained to teach literacy. Far too many!
2. Time to teach the Guido hand?
3. The ear informs the eye before the eye informs the inner hearing. A child starts learning to read by being read to. They follow the word symbols with no understanding until the sounds of the phonemes connect with the eye. In the current American culture, our children do not have melodies in their experience to reference. Many cultures, notably Africa, the children know hundreds of tunes and rhythms by age 5. In America, a few dozen.
4. Knowing the folk music or the melodies of a culture is the most efficient way of teaching language skills. This preparatory to reading the words.
And 5. I had a chance meeting in the 80s with Joe Williams, the great Jazz Singer. We were in the waiting area for a flight to LAX in the Las Vegas airport. I saw him sit down and went over to him to tell him how much I admired his singing. He asked what I did for a living and I told him I was a communist college music educator. He remarked about how special it was that I taught music and he wished he could read music. He learned everything by ear and had had an extensive experience in his youth of hearing up close and personal some of the greatest jazz performers of his day. He was on the way to the Tonight Show to perform for Johnny Carson. He was remarkable that night. Nuanced, sensitive, gorgeous tone, and thoroughly musical. Literate? In his way, yes! I went back to the college and sang more tunes with my sight-reading class before showing them the score. Our reading abilities soared.
Again, thank you Odell! I’m now a follower.
Thank you for your thoughts!
Thanks for taking the time to read through the article! I appreciate your wise thoughts and points from years of experience.
Thank you for this Odell! Your response is phenomenal and thorough. I love your approach to teaching and cultivating music literacy in your classroom. Thank you!