Destination: Middle C. Letter Names and Clefs… part two
Alongside the work on introducing do re mi on the white keys, we can introduce the musical alphabet which takes us down a path of learning landmark notes, tonics, clefs, the grand staff and our destination… middle C
Introducing Letter Names and Clefs… part one!
Your students have been singing in solfa beautifully and know their steps and skips on the keys and the stave… now it’s time to learn about letter names and clefs! What do you do?!
Preparing Pitch: How to prepare pitch and practical ideas
This blog will explore what it means to prepare our students aurally, physically and visually with practical suggestions for activities
High and Low: The widespread metaphor for pitch
I previously discussed what we can do to prepare children to sing and how to help children sing confidently, but we also need to understand
Empowering children to sing: achieving success with the cornerstone of the Kodály approach
In the last blog post (catch-up here), we talked about the qualities of speaking and singing and what the differences are. To help our students learn the difference between their speaking and singing voices they need to feel free and able to experiment with their voices. So how do we give them confidence and encouragement to experience their voice types?
Whether you’re a classroom teacher, visiting music teacher or 1:1 instrumental teacher, this blog will give you tips and ideas for experiencing voice types in a Kodály inspired way.
Preparing to Sing: The Beginnings of Pitch
I wanted the blog after beat and rhythm I wanted to discuss pitch, but the beginnings of pitch aren’t anything to do with so and mi or high and low; it’s about experiencing the voice and children determining whether something is singing or speaking. They need opportunity to play games and do activities to prepare voice types and to make them feel comfortable with using their voice in different ways.
Preparing Rhythm
To prepare rhythm, we need to go through the same steps we went through with beat but with rhythm!
Steady Beat: Preparing the Foundations for the Building Blocks of Music
Developing Steady Beat is so important. It helps build strong foundations upon which to build the other important elements of music. If our students can’t keep a steady beat, it can be like trying building on sand when teaching other musical elements such as rhythm!
Musical Pictures: inspiring creativity from the first Kodály piano lesson
Musical Pictures is a great improvisation activity in the first Kodály piano lessons to allow the student the opportunity to explore the whole piano in an expressive and playful way.