by David E. Knauss
Ph.D. in Music Education
Doc. Humane Letters, Honoris Causa
PROPER PARADIGM. Music Education is about teaching musicianship skills and artistic expression. In my opinion, it is more about developing well-skilled musicians, not well-informed appreciators. Therefore, a music teacher should instead be a musicianship teacher, and music education should be musicianship education. And the universal paradigm is, EVERY CHILD CAN, meaning there is no person totally devoid of talent or absolutely monotone.
TWO GATEWAY SKILLS. Music's two gateway skills are learned first, how to match pitches (which leads to singing in tune and maintaining a tonal center), and how to match beats (which leads to perceiving and performing a steady beat and maintaining a consistent meter). Once these two basic gateway skills are learned, they can NEVER be unlearned or forgotten, and the person forever becomes a music participator instead of a limited spectator! From these two gateway skills, the person can go anywhere with music that (s)he pleases.
MATCHING PITCHES. I think matching pitches for many people is more difficult than matching beats and requires more exact steps to accomplish. Matching pitches is more of a problem of muscular inflexibility than inability to hear. (Matching pitches is a micro-muscular skill.) In 40 years of teaching, I've never met someone with the inability to discern pitch differences except for physical impairment (and they can discern differences by the feel of vibrations). Once a person "finds" his/her head voice, matching becomes almost automatic. Here are some basic steps (there are finer details in between each). I've had this work no-fail with all ages, even with very reluctant adults. (1) Overcome inflexibility by performing horse neighs that start as high as possible for the person, descending first is easier because it relaxes the muscle; then perform fire sirens because they ascend and descend (tension and relaxation). When a large range is accomplished, (2) sing and elongate the top pitch of the fire siren. That's the person's head voice. (3) Then have the person pop into that top note without ascending to it. (4) From that top note, have the person sing a minor third (S-M) with that top note as Sol. (5) Inform the person and have him/her practice the difference between chest and head voices. (6) Expand the person's head voice range with short melodic motifs, and you have them singing in tune.
MATCHING BEATS. Hearing a beat is simply perceiving the strong pulse in the music. Maintaining a steady beat is perceiving a consistent distance of time in between the pulses. Performing a steady beat is a macro-muscular skill. (1) In a classroom setting, perform all kinds of steady beat music first by clapping (easiest first), and then transfer to other body movements. (2) With permission from the person, take the person's hands and perform the steady clapping for them. Let go for them to continue moving on his/her own. (3) In one-to-one settings, have the non-matcher create his/her own steady beat and you the teacher improvise music matching it. Have the individual do this with different speeds (tempi). (4) A constant repetition of steady beat activities successfully builds the pulse and time perceptions.
THREE DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES. For me, I have chosen three developmental benchmarks for these two gateway skills, (a) the non-matching beginner, (b) the dependent one who can do it when surrounded by others who are highly skilled, and (c) the independent one who needs no assistance or support of any kind. In my music classroom, I alternately seat dependents between independents, and I work one-on-one with non-matchers and seat them between the strongest independents.
Dr. Knauss mentors student teachers and regular teachers into teaching excellence. He taught for 3 decades in inner-city public schools, winning over street kids into being like family, became one of the principle curriculum writers for an award-winning, internationally-recognized music department. He retired from public schools, completed a Ph.D. in Music Education, and presently is an adjunct music education professor at Baptist Bible College.
Check out the nearly one hundred self-help music education teaching instructions at: www.classroom-music.info. Each "How To" is found under the tab of Music Education / Basic Music Teaching Skills / Advanced Music Teaching Skills / "How to Teach..."
www.classroom-music.info
Ph.D. in Music Education
Doc. Humane Letters, Honoris Causa
PROPER PARADIGM. Music Education is about teaching musicianship skills and artistic expression. In my opinion, it is more about developing well-skilled musicians, not well-informed appreciators. Therefore, a music teacher should instead be a musicianship teacher, and music education should be musicianship education. And the universal paradigm is, EVERY CHILD CAN, meaning there is no person totally devoid of talent or absolutely monotone.
TWO GATEWAY SKILLS. Music's two gateway skills are learned first, how to match pitches (which leads to singing in tune and maintaining a tonal center), and how to match beats (which leads to perceiving and performing a steady beat and maintaining a consistent meter). Once these two basic gateway skills are learned, they can NEVER be unlearned or forgotten, and the person forever becomes a music participator instead of a limited spectator! From these two gateway skills, the person can go anywhere with music that (s)he pleases.
MATCHING PITCHES. I think matching pitches for many people is more difficult than matching beats and requires more exact steps to accomplish. Matching pitches is more of a problem of muscular inflexibility than inability to hear. (Matching pitches is a micro-muscular skill.) In 40 years of teaching, I've never met someone with the inability to discern pitch differences except for physical impairment (and they can discern differences by the feel of vibrations). Once a person "finds" his/her head voice, matching becomes almost automatic. Here are some basic steps (there are finer details in between each). I've had this work no-fail with all ages, even with very reluctant adults. (1) Overcome inflexibility by performing horse neighs that start as high as possible for the person, descending first is easier because it relaxes the muscle; then perform fire sirens because they ascend and descend (tension and relaxation). When a large range is accomplished, (2) sing and elongate the top pitch of the fire siren. That's the person's head voice. (3) Then have the person pop into that top note without ascending to it. (4) From that top note, have the person sing a minor third (S-M) with that top note as Sol. (5) Inform the person and have him/her practice the difference between chest and head voices. (6) Expand the person's head voice range with short melodic motifs, and you have them singing in tune.
MATCHING BEATS. Hearing a beat is simply perceiving the strong pulse in the music. Maintaining a steady beat is perceiving a consistent distance of time in between the pulses. Performing a steady beat is a macro-muscular skill. (1) In a classroom setting, perform all kinds of steady beat music first by clapping (easiest first), and then transfer to other body movements. (2) With permission from the person, take the person's hands and perform the steady clapping for them. Let go for them to continue moving on his/her own. (3) In one-to-one settings, have the non-matcher create his/her own steady beat and you the teacher improvise music matching it. Have the individual do this with different speeds (tempi). (4) A constant repetition of steady beat activities successfully builds the pulse and time perceptions.
THREE DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES. For me, I have chosen three developmental benchmarks for these two gateway skills, (a) the non-matching beginner, (b) the dependent one who can do it when surrounded by others who are highly skilled, and (c) the independent one who needs no assistance or support of any kind. In my music classroom, I alternately seat dependents between independents, and I work one-on-one with non-matchers and seat them between the strongest independents.
Dr. Knauss mentors student teachers and regular teachers into teaching excellence. He taught for 3 decades in inner-city public schools, winning over street kids into being like family, became one of the principle curriculum writers for an award-winning, internationally-recognized music department. He retired from public schools, completed a Ph.D. in Music Education, and presently is an adjunct music education professor at Baptist Bible College.
Check out the nearly one hundred self-help music education teaching instructions at: www.classroom-music.info. Each "How To" is found under the tab of Music Education / Basic Music Teaching Skills / Advanced Music Teaching Skills / "How to Teach..."
www.classroom-music.info
