The Joy of Music Theory by Ann leffard

About the Author: Ann Leffard (PKI Program Director) is currently the Music Specialist at Holley-Navarre Primary School in Navarre, Florida, is the Coordinator of Elementary and Choral Music for Santa Rosa County District Schools, and is District VI Chair for the Florida Elementary Music Educators Association.

Music Theory 101. This college course has struck fear and loathing into the hearts of many of the most devoted musicians and music educators. Why? Could it be that we learned music theory in much the same way many of us were taught to read music from the very start?

“Lesson 1: This is a whole note. It gets four beats. It is called C; it sits in the third space of the treble clef on the music staff. A sharp makes it higher; a flat makes it lower. There are five lines and four spaces in the music staff. In the treble clef, the space notes are named FACE and the lines are EGBDF.”

What if we taught language reading to children in the same manner?

“Lesson 1: This is a letter. It is called C, and we write it so it sits on the line. We write letters from left to right; when we put letters together they make words. If you write an H after C, it sounds different. The letters of the alphabet in order are ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ.”

When you read the second example, it’s clear that this pedagogical approach would not be very effective with beginning readers. Why, then, do we often teach music literacy this way to learners of all ages? The explanation for that is not as clear, but we can look to the joy of music itself for an answer to this question - How do we teach the seemingly dry and dull elements of music in a joyful way?

Let’s backtrack and look at what literacy is, and how literacy develops. True music literacy develops similarly to language literacy. Language literacy begins with experiences. Babies learn receptively from the moment they begin to hear, while still in utero. Sounds eventually acquire meaning as babies gain life experiences. Eventually the child imitates language sounds she hears in her environment. Young children learn to communicate through example and play, adding vocabulary throughout their lives. Literacy happens when the mental lexicon of familiar vocabulary connects to written text. Reading and writing are interlaced with aural experiences as the final steps of a multi-year process of developing language literacy.

Ideally, beginning music literacy skills are layered and intertwined with early music experiences. Read this sentence again, now thinking of music literacy: Literacy happens when the mental lexicon of familiar vocabulary connects to written text. Children must 1) have a variety of high-quality, developmentally-appropriate music experiences stored in their memory prior to learning to read music, and then, 2) these mental sounds must connect to the written learning.

Just as important as the experience of hearing musical sounds is the emotion that these experiences inspire. Many children enter school musically behind; they may even come from a family that discourages normal musical exploration because “Mom and Dad can’t sing”, so the child is not expected to “have talent”! This myth must be dispelled: Music skills are learned skills! Could we imagine ever telling a young child that since their parents were not good at math or reading, therefore they won’t be? It becomes to duty of the school music program to help the child become a music maker; to provide essential music experiences and skills that they may not have acquired previously.

Back to language - imagine if we were to deprive a child of read-aloud stories. Research has shown (and Grandma has always known) that reading aloud to children strengthens language comprehension, vocabulary, expression, and provides a fluency model for children to emulate. Consider how effective it would be to teach a child to read a story about a cat if they had never had experiences with “catness”. You might as well try to teach them about “antidisestablishmentarianism”! This brings to mind Annie Sullivan’s experience with Helen Keller – the light bulb went on for little Helen when the word “water” was spelled in her hand under the running pump water. The experience finally connected with the text. Eureka! Comprehension!

With this in mind, we must then recognize how important it is to sing to and move musically with young people. Parents and teachers have the opportunity to lay the groundwork of rich, developmentally-appropriate experiences that will strengthen our children physically, emotionally and cognitively. Many students enter school at all levels without an adequate musical background; music educators must then be prepared to model and participate in joyful music-making in classes with their students. This is how children learn that people make music.

When students have acquired background music experiences and are ready to learn the written elements of music, how could we then justify the dry, music-less pedagogy of talking about elements of music notation without connecting it to the sounds of the music itself? Is it possible to teach the elements of music so that they are always connected to the sound of the music they represent? The answer is a resounding yes, and this pedagogy can be implemented at every age – at the primary and secondary levels, and on through maturity.

We are fortunate to be music educators because our subject matter is naturally infused with emotion. Research is showing that emotion has a huge influence on the efficacy of learning. The sound of music has always been the inspiration for the study of music, and will be the factor that ultimately saves music from humanity’s final curricular chopping block. Humans crave music and recognize the value of music for music’s sake.

Therefore, we will do well to be reminded that there is grave danger in teaching music by separating the elements of music apart from the sound of music, for it is then that the theory of music actually does become that dry and boring subject that many musicians dreaded during their formative years. Music educators in every specialty should always utilize the INTERESTING and joyful sound of music in teaching the elements of music. The music educator then becomes a facilitator in the music lesson; the students discover the joy of musical understanding for themselves. The teacher asks guiding questions; students listen, sing or play to identify the critical attributes of the new learning as they compare new sounds to known sounds in their own experience. Music learning is then active and student-centered instead of merely talking about dry ink spots on the page. When made personally relevant in this manner, music lessons are anything BUT dry and boring. Instead, the emotion of the sound enhances understanding and excites the intellect!

Music literacy is fluency in the sound-to-symbol connection. Most of us decided to become musician-educators because of the goose bumps created by “that sound”. When music educators commit to lifelong development of their own personal music literacy and seek to refine their pedagogical skills, teaching the elements of music becomes exciting. The joy of the music itself is the joy of music “theory” - It is the magic that cements the connection between the emotional and cognitive aspects of the sound. The “secret” to keeping all music learning joyful for ourselves and our students is to make sure we 1) make music with students in every class, and 2) keep the symbols connecting to the joyful sound of music – always.

Ann Leffard is Program Director for the Pensacola Kodály Institute at the University of West Florida. Kodály Concept Level One will be offered at UWF July 19-30, 2010. For more information, go to musicmind.homestead.com