Thank you to all my Facebook friends who answered the question, “How would you define the word “musical” to someone who is not a professional musician?”
I appreciate you for helping me brainstorm definitions of “musical.” In my upcoming lecture, “Growing a More Musical Studio,” I’m going to ask the teachers to do the same. The reason is that I want everyone to see how abstract (though wonderful) these definitions are. When teaching elementary children who have difficulty with abstraction and live in the concrete world according to Piaget, it’s important to utilize concrete terms and things they can picture or even handle when asking them to play musically. That’s why I like Wendy Oui’s “don’t sound like a ‘robot’.” That visual image is something very concrete that a young student can connect with. Â You could take that comment a step further to describe the desirable sound: “Don’t sound like a robot, sound like a beautiful, graceful ice skater.”
Here’s another example. Â I require my students to play their scales, chords, and arpeggios in a musical way. However, I have two students who approach their scales as a railroad worker might approach railroad spikes! Â I tell them, “You know, it sounds a little like you are taking a sledgehammer to my piano. Â Well, maybe I’m exaggerating just a bit, but could you make it sound like a piece of silk is just gliding up and down the keys?” And then I hand them a silk scarf so that they can feel it, glide it across the piano keys and experience something “concrete.”
Teaching elementary students is much more effective when using an object that the students can see and feel or even visual imagery so that that students can see something concrete in their mind’s eye. Â Of course, this just scratches the surface of what is possible. Â Do any of you have any thoughts about this?
To see the comments of my Facebook friends, visit www.facebook.com/composecreate. Â “Like” the page and you too can see similar discussions in your newsfeed.
To a young child nothing is more concrete than the notation that’s on the page. One can easily use the notation to concretely help the student. Two examples — THE STACCATO DOT I tell students that the music is telling us that we only want A DOT of sound. THE SLUR — I show the students the long line connecting several notes then say they must “connect” those sounds just like the notation tells us and play the notes as one group or one thought of music (one slur = one thought).
That’s fabulous, Dan! I’ve never thought of asking for “a dot of a sound.” Thanks for sharing that!
On some students, I go one step further than the visual image and (with their permission of course), use their forearm as the piano keys. These are generally the students who will stare off into space if you are describing a technique, but for some reason really ‘get’ this approach. It may be something so simple as the ‘down – up’ action or a particular fingering pattern. I usually follow it up with “Now go and tap that out on Mum’s arm”.
When learning to play with a ‘heavy arm weight’, I will often ask students if they have woken one morning having slept on their arm all night, and it doesn’t feel like theirs – it is heavy, then starts to get pins and needles. Most of then laugh and remember the feeling. We then relax their entire arms, and with closed fists bash away with heavy relaxed arms on the piano. My piano hasn’t minded yet but the exercise seems to have been a successful way of describing something that would otherwise might be difficult.
That’s another great example of using something concrete, Dianna! Nothing is more concrete than feeling a staccato ON your body, not just hearing it. Thanks for describing how you do this. I also like your heavy arm weight technique. Kids love to do things that seem like they are not supposed to! Banging on the piano lid sure seems to taboo to them!
😀 Oh, we bang on the keys (sounds like a sfz cluster chord), not the piano lid. I can’t imagine my piano lid would hold up to too much bashing. The added advantage to this ‘exercise’ is that any parents sitting in the lesson who may have fallen asleep by this point wake up quick smart ;D
Oh I see. I thought that at first, but then thought the lid was what you were talking about. I always like the surprised faces of the parents when a student starts bashing on the piano with my permission! Thanks for clarifying, Dianna!
For soft sounds, I ask the children to play as if the keys are marshmallows or sponges; or to pretend to be little mice. For loud sounds, I ask them to feel like giant dinosaurs.