Music LiteracyNotions about Notation

Notation in the Ensemble Classroom

How do students typically interact with notation in the large ensemble classroom?

Read and sing, or read and play

Students rarely produce their own music in this setting.

What is Music Literacy?

The ability to communicate and comprehend the language of music by reading, writing, speaking, hearing, listening, and performing,

Aural Literacy – There is an ability to communicate and comprehend purely “by ear.”

Comparison to English Literacy

Writing lags behind reading the English Language

Writing is a strong indication of comprehension of the English language because it is creative. To create a coherent English sentence requires strong comprehension.

Musical composition lags behind music reading.

Reading Music: Key to Ensemble

Success• Reading music is key to producing a performance, particularly in instrumental music. A flute does not produce an accurate pitch with an inaccurate fingering. Band and Orchestra students indicate some degree of musical literacy just by performing a passage with proper pitches and rhythms.

• Singers, however, don’t have to “push the right buttons” to produce accurate pitches. Singers can usually follow someone near them, or memorize their part from the director’s examples, or hear it in the accompaniment.

Composition is essential to Music Literacy

Student creation is a better indicator of student music literacy than their ability to recreate what others wrote by playing or singing. It forces them to generate the concepts from within.

Why Notation software at all?

It creates a permanent copy of student work.

Editing is “WAY” easier!

It can be shared with others quickly.

It is aesthetically pleasing to the creator.

Software produced music notation is the standard for musicians all over the world.

It can be easily shared on the web.

New Notational Notions

Large ensemble classroom is ill-equipped to allow student composition, in particular composition with computer notation programs.

Large Ensemble Teachers often do not promote composition

Belief produces Actions:

If we believe that writing is part of music literacy, then students should be encouraged to write.

Students develop and demonstrate true mastery of music concepts, not skills, through creations.

Music Concepts in the Ensemble Classroom

What concepts are learned in the Ensemble setting?

For which of those concepts would notation be an appropriate avenue for student creation?

Problems!

Concert demandsFestivals, Concerts, Marching Band, Cedar Point, Memorial Day, etc.

Time!

Real World vs. Belief in Music Literacy and Composition

Classroom solutionsPencil and paper in the folder

Computers available for before school, after school, and lunch times

Computers can be used by brass player when focus of rehearsal is on woodwinds.

Many Lesson plans on TI:ME don’t address the problems we spoke about. They simply throw in notation as a step in the lesson plan process.

Example Lesson Plan: Notating an Improvised Bass Line by Laura Cipriano, from the Taipei American School

Computer Lab solutions

Computer Lab solutions

Are computer labs big enough to accommodate all the students in a large ensemble class?

Are teachers willing to take classroom time to use the computer lab?

Should teachers be willing to take classroom time to use the computer lab?

How expensive is the software and electronic musical instruments for an entire lab? Is there a room available in the school to install a music lab.

A computer lab is an excellent solution in some cases.

Offsite Non-classroom Solutions

Inexpensive notational software programshttp://music-notation-software-review.toptenreviews.com/

Web-based Music notationhttp://musicnotation.org/software/strategy.html

http://www.noteflight.com/login

Noteflight is collaborative as well!