The+Definition(s)+of+Musical+Literacy


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 * How to Nurture Musical Intelligence **

It is of utmost importance that we as parents and teachers stimulate music intelligence appropriately form the earliest experiences because the neural pathways need to be built early to understand musical phenomena from a musical perspective. Dr. Feierabend states that, “…if the musical mind is engaged in early stimulation through such activities as hearing and responding to music through singing and movement and playing by ear, then we stimulate music intelligence.” Once the neuronal pathways for musical thinking are developed early in life, students can then begin learning “about” music and will more likely take on “real” musical meaning. Reading a piano score with few errors is not musical intelligence, rather, it logical/mathematical intelligence. Musical intelligence is to understanding musical phenomena for example the learning of an instrument by ear first and then later by reading notation is how musical literacy would best be developed in a progressive manner. By repeatedly administering his tests to students over their years of schooling, Edwin Gordon, has been able to discover the effect of music stimulation, and lack thereof, on the development on the musical mind and he has found that the most significant effect of music stimulation on musical development appears to be the critical years from age 3 to 5 and then increases at a slower rate until about 9 years of age. It appears, through my research, that musical influence through “doing music” in the early years will have the greatest impact on the development of music intelligence and future musical intelligence.

In Canada, I believe that many kindergarten teachers lack the personal knowledge of how to develop musical literacy in our youngest students or there is a lack of funding for this important subject area and intelligence. I have learned through my research on this subject that Europe does a good job of offering more thorough training to kindergarten teachers and, therefore, teachers are better able to provide students with the necessary skills that will have such a serious influence on their lives. In Europe, it is common for children to begin kindergarten at ages 3 to 5 as a three year program. I really appreciate the approach and the style of their curriculum which emphasizes learning through doing and interacting with peers and is one of exploration and encouragement without formal understanding.


 * Musical Literacy, Language and the Digital Age **

Feierabend’s paper began by describing the key components to his first music method, //First Steps in Music//. Feierabend expressed that there exists a musical meaning of tones which echoes Dr. John Medina’s connection of Emotional Intelligence to the sensitivity to musical tones and undertones.

Dr. Feierabend believes that there is a sequential development of skills which allows for true music literacy. He states that “…developing music literacy prior to instrumental instruction will enable instrumentalists to express music through their instrument rather than using their instrument to hear the music." During the 1st five years of life we are busy making aural sense of language and the development of ear comprehension precedes reading, writing or grammatical structure education. Sound awareness comes first and this is the key in language learning and in musical learning; the readiness skills are the same.  Here is a short video clip of my own son, Coen, enjoying music and becoming musically literate in an age appropriate fashion. He loves fast dance beats and he loves to move to the beat. As an infant he cooed and mimicked my voice and it was such a bonding experience for us both. I see obvious signs of emotional intelligence growing as he sees the looks on my face and responds to the tones in my voice or how he responds to the sounds of different genres of music that I play for him or sing to him. Here is a video clip of my own son, aged 2, appreciating music!

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These models of learning language can be applied to the development of music literacy. As with all literacy programs, readiness skills need to first be in place. A proper foundation for music literacy (like in language) must be in place prior to embarking on a music literacy program and Dr. Feierabend believe that these are those skills:
 * 1) Comfortable an accurate singing skills;
 * 2) Comfortable and accurate moving skills (with the beat in metric groupings of 2 and 3);
 * 3) Expressive sensitivity.

Expressive sensitivity is the most elusive nuance in musical literacy and one that has become a great conversation in the digital age that we live in today. It is important to understand, however, that the subtleties of expression cannot adequately be represented by notation and that the inherent expressiveness is the expressive part of music. How are our young people (and ourselves for that matter) going to understand the expressive nuances and tones within language in this digital age? If expressive sensitivity cannot be represented in notation how can it possible be picked up on or represented through a text message? Feierabend states that “notation is merely a skeleton- the interpretation of the notation breathes life into it.” He sees a connection between language and music and believes that the development of “expressive sensitivity” can be linked back to good musical models, as well as to quality literature that embodies expressiveness. One early musical model that comes to mind for me in infantsy is the lullaby and the rhymes that we sing and speak to our children. You previously listened to a lullaby and I'm sure you have many examples of your own but here is a rhyme that I would like to share that I tell my son regularly in an expressive voice:

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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">As a parent I see myself already using some of these techniques while reading or singing to my son as you probably do as well. Research shows that the more children hear this expression of voice whether it is in sing-song (or Dr. Medina's 'paranteze') or in reading a rhyme to an infant or child that he or she will integrate expression into his or her reading or imitating. Feierabend says, “Sing to a child with expression and they will develop sensitivity to the inherent expressive qualities in music.”


 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">How is Musical Literacy supported in the Classroom? **

In his second musical method, //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Conversational Solfege //, we begin to look at a music literacy method for use in general music classes. “It synthesizes the logical, practical, and philosophical views of earlier music literacy advocates, while integrating contemporary thinking and research (Feierabend, 1997).” This is the stage where Feierabend attempts to merge music literacy skills with the finest quality music where he appears to lean towards the classical genre. Conversational Solfege is greatly influenced by Whole Language Approach in that it is literature-driven curriculum. It wasn’t long ago that we taught kids to read through contrived stories:

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">The Whole Language Approach promotes “real literature” which is looking to promote not only a skill set but an actual love of reading. With this approach to reading and to music we are attempting to develop a wonder of books in our young people which is developed through the immersion of quality literature and music. Feierbend believes that classical and cultural music (examples provided at the beginning of the wiki page) are the quality pieces students will need to learn to appreciate on a deeper level. We don’t want to teach children to read to just decode the printed page! We want them to find the hidden messages below the pages surface. This is also true of music education- there is a deeper level to music as well. “The contrived “school music” “was developed for every imaginable reason-thematic, unit, rhythmic patterns, formal structure, scale passages, suitability to the beat, meter, tonality, harmonic function, or simply because “the kids liked it”.” By contrast, Conversational Solfege is built on the natural folk music of people and artists, rather than on artificially contrived “school music” (Feierabend 1997).”

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">Feierabend’s, Conversational Solfege, borrows from these language models and develops music literacy through a process that culminates in one’s ability to write original musical thoughts, in other words, to compose. With literacy in the traditional sense, an individual is considered literate when they are able to read new material with expression and can express their thoughts. According to Feierabend, :...an individual is considered musically literate when they are able to expressively read new musical material without the aid of an instrument and can write his or her own musical thoughts." One does not need to be specifically studying music to be musically literate- good news! One does not need to be a virtuoso or have an inclination towards music but could be a regular citizen, like you are I, that is able to appreciate music on a deeper level and, if they choose, they can hum a tune, possibly of their own composition, in the shower or to their infant. Here is a song that a wonderfully close friend of mine wrote that I would like to share with you to inspire you. She is a brilliant woman trained in many area but not formally musically trained yet she just released her first CD. Here is one of her songs: <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;">media type="file" key="you keep the sun.mp3" width="240" height="20" <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">“With these skills and musical influences, we may just develop a new generation of citizens who will not only be able to read and write music but will be able to understand and appreciate the subtle expressions of music that are embodied below its surface as art” (Feierabend, 1997).


 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">Musical Literacy and The Digital Age **

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;"> Musical literacy is not only a skill. there are dispositions that contribute to making a student better prepared to live and thrive in the world. How will a conscious effort by parents and teachers help our learners live and thrive in the 21st century? According to our course outline by Brenda Dyck, "Central to this time of inquiry will be an examination of the shifting face of traditional literacies and the implications those shifts will have for those who are preparing today’s students to be active, successful participants in this 21st century global society” (NCTE, 2013).

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">Dr. Medina states that it is a parent’s main goal, above all else, to create an environment and foundation from which their child will be able to live a happy and joyous life. Research shows that the one over-riding factors of happiness, at any age, is a strong network of close bonds with other people. The higher the emotional intelligence of a person the more able they are to read the feelings of others and respond appropriately in any given situation thereby creating and maintain a strong network of support. A deeper understanding of music and the ability to pick up on the nuances of felling within music amplifies one’s emotional intelligence which leads to the conclusion that by building stronger musically literate students, we will create a stronger community of emotionally literate people and an overall happier generation. We are predisposed at birth with natural desires to communicate with those we love, to be part of a community, and to surround ourselves with family and friends and we as parents and teachers can build on these dispositions through musical literacy to create a happier planet. What implications does this have in reference to the digital age with texting and Siri computers? Some of you may have seen the couples argument on YouTube involving Siri on the iPhone S4. It is not appropriate to share here but the main point of this is that with technologies like this it is becoming more challenging to decipher the emotional contexts of the communication with computers delivering the messages. Here is one clean example of computers doing the talking for us that is possible to day and you will have to either google "couples argument" on YouTube or infer the possibilities of this on your own.

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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12px;">Personally I feel that this hinders our development and creates weak spots for our students and children that could potentially impact their overall happiness factor. What are we to do? I have heard classmate offer the suggestion of limiting time on devices after a certain hour in the evening and this sounds very reasonable as it then allows for face to face communication. My family has always held the tradition of the family meal and I have been instilling the same in my son from an early age. Other than these techniques, we can focus on the other possibilities that technology provides like web searches and digital storytelling and mapping; opportunities that open the classroom beyond the four walls and the single subject are. We continue to personalize learning and continue sharing ideas. I encourage the use of on line communication like Skype and Elluminate where conversation is in real time and the nuances of voice and facial expression can be read more accurately. There is always hope and it is our job as educators to not only provide that hope but to intelligently lead the way. In one of our discussion forums one of our colleagues shared that it is not only our students that need to learn how and when to use technology appropriately(specifically hand held digital devices), but our work colleagues and adult learners as well. How many times have you seen or yourself been the one on Twitter in class or in a meeting? We need to lead the way by example and the world is the classroom.