Preserving Musicality Through Pictures

Abstract

The natural musicality so often present in children’s singing can begin to fade as the focus of a lesson shifts to the process of reading and writing conventional notation symbols. Approaching the study of music from a linguistic perspective preserves the pace and flow that is inherent in spoken language and song. SongWorks teaching practices offer a pedagogical sequence based on the natural groupings of sounds within spoken language. A series of lessons on the American folk song “Rocky Mountain” illustrates examples of linguistic pathways to preserving musicality in conventional notation.

Using English Language Arts to Teach a Song

“…If the song warrants, continue with immersion by inviting students to sing along in portions or the whole song when ready. Other devices for teaching the song, such as song-maps or picture scores (Nordquist, 2016), singing games and movement (Kenney, 2009, 2010), antiphoning (Nordquist, 2016), and phrase-by-phrase techniques may all be employed to engage children in singing the song after the opening immersion steps. Closure to the rote-teaching lesson is achieved when children sing the song alone without teacher assistance.…”