Music as a Language - Reading Together - General Hints on Taking a Lesson in Ear-Training

In this chapter, Home simply lists thoughts and ideas on how to get the most out of teaching ear-training.

• Keep a record (notebook or otherwise) of both your lesson plan and what actually transpired during the lesson.
• Make sure that the current lesson serves as a link between what has already been learned and what will be taught in the future.
• As a teacher, learn how to lecture in an interesting manner.
• Have your students work as a group first, before they work split off for individual work.
• Have the students evaluate the tune before they sing it.
• Teach your students how to quickly notate music.
• Make sure to review keys previously covered, so that your students are able to keep their music knowledge fresh.

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Music as a Language - Reading Together - The Teaching of Transposition

When teaching students how to transpose pieces, make sure you explain step-by-step how to do it.

Home gives us three benefits for knowing how to transpose:

1. For the purpose of song accompaniment.
2. As an aid to committing music to memory.
3. As an infalliable test of a sound 'general' musical education. (loc 508)

Home recommends that students begin with simple transpositions, say transposing an easy melody from C major to G major.

"Altogether it will be seen that the study of transposition is opening a new window for them into the fairyland of music." (loc 528)

note: I'm reading this book from through my Kindle app, so quotations are shown by the location in the Kindle document.

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Music as a Language - Reading Together - The Teaching of Elementary Composition

from Jon Bragg (flickr)

"We must so organize the musical education of children that a time comes when they will be ready to 'express themselves' in music in the same way in which they can express themselves in their native tongue." (loc 463)

Since this week's reading focused on teaching composition, I've rounded up some resources for your studio.

Baby Steps to Teaching Music Composition

Music Composition with Found Objects

A Selection of Composition Lesson Plans

New Music Alive - Composition Resources

Noteflight - Free Online Music Notation Software


note: I'm reading this book from through my Kindle app, so quotations are shown by the location in the Kindle document.

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Music as a Language - Reading Together - The Teaching of Extemporization and Harmony

Students need to learn how to sing a melody before they can learn how to sing harmony. Many students actually enjoy coming up with their own melodies, so teaching them to extemporize or improvise both melodies and harmonies is a great way to help them expand their musical abilities.

Learning to improvise in singing can then be carried over to the piano. Students can easily be taught to use the basic major chords (I, VI, and V) to accompany their melodies.

This will also help students to hear the natural chord progressions, without having to piece them together from looking at written music.

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Music as a Language - Reading Together - The Teaching of Dictation

Learning how to write music from dictation follows these steps:

1. Begin with just two or three notes at a time.
2. Progress to short musical phrases.
3. Continue with simple melodies.
4. Advance to two-part work, and focus first on intervals (and nail down those intervals).
5. Proceed to the dictation of three-part chords.

One benefit of teaching music dictation is that "the memory is being trained as well as the ear." (loc: 359)

"All the notes of the scale are contained in one or other" of the tonic, dominant, and subdominant chords. The points then to "the first principles of harmonizing melodies." (loc: 373)

note: I'm reading this book from through my Kindle app, so quotations are shown by the location in the Kindle document.

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