Questions from a Parent – Intonation & Register
Found in: Coaches, Scale & Key Signature
Cheryl P., Texas
A parent who has been with me for over 2 years asked me the following question:
When and how do the students learn the basic building blocks of music? Symbols (letters & signs)? Intonations? Registers?
What is she talking about? These terms sound like musical terms for voice lessons. I thought scales and chords were the building blocks of music. Her children are finishing up both Reading Rhythm and Reading Notes now. She has recently become a “let’s hurry up and get there” parent because her husband is tired of paying for lessons and her son really wants to play and pick out his own classical music. I told her he should be able to pick out his own music after TFMM. Is that correct? He is a really fast learner and can recognize and process intervals very quickly.
Also, where can I find the chart that shows the traditional method timeline in comparison to SM? I remember seeing it during my initial training but haven’t been able to find it on the website.
Laurie Richards, Nebraska
Those questions can be challenging when you haven’t gotten through all the foundation levels. I have had several antsy parents over the years who push the reading question regularly. I have found consistent conversations and reminders of where we are heading to be key.
The basic building blocks of music might be defined differently depending on who you ask, but I don’t think anyone would argue that scale/key signature is one of the most basic. Using scale we build the intervals and chords which make up our music. Neil has called scale the “DNA of music”.
Our students learn chords first (Acc. 1), then intervals (Reading Notes), and scale as a separate stream in Acc. level 2 (around level 7 or 8). The beauty of how we teach all of this is that it’s integrated into all of the songs we teach. Understanding the ‘mechanics’ of theory come later when it has total relevance to their playing. Each of these building blocks is introduced in a playing-based fashion before technical terms are introduced.
I like draw an analogy similar to Neil’s language analogy with the antsy parents. Starting out with the mechanics of theory and scale is like teaching a kid to apply grammar and understand all the parts of speech as they begin learning to read. It has absolutely no relevance at that stage. By the time my students get to the nitty-gritty of scale/key signature in SM, they are fascinated by it – no exaggeration. Even teenagers love it. Things just start clicking into place as it all has immediate relevance to what they’ve already played, AND immediate application as they improvise in every key.
Regarding intonation and register, not sure what the parent is getting at – sounds like perhaps reading pitch? Register simply refers to the range of notes (high, middle, low). Intonation simply means the accuracy of pitch – e.g. two instruments being in tune to one another, or a piano being in tune with itself.
I suppose a short answer for the parent is that theory is integrated throughout the curriculum to give students a basic understanding of the building blocks, usually without even realizing it. You can reference where that takes place (the programs mentioned above). Beginning around Level 7 and continuing forward, they will learn direct application, and it will actually make sense to them because of the integrated theory they’ve been exposed to all along. When you eventually see it all come together you will have powerful examples to share.
The assessment graph is a pdf attachment in Coaching Conversations on the teacher intranet.
Unmani, Australia
Here’s an answer I learnt to say recently – and I’ve found it brilliant in so many ways in so many conversations –it comes from being a listener more than an explainer.
Here it is:
‘You obviously have a reason for asking this (interesting) question – do you mind if I ask what it is? And then be very quiet.
The answer you get might allow you to cut to the chase a little more efficiently in the subsequent conversation – and not spend forever explaining yourself and the program. There might be feelings that need reassuring – whatever. Laurie’s last paragraph may be all that’s required.
Sharyn B., Florida
I think it is really important for students and parents to understand that written music is just a tool. It is just a tool that musicians use to communicate with one another – nothing more, nothing less. Human beings were playing and sharing music together long before anyone wrote any of it down, much less developed a complete written language around it. One could even argue that the only reason anyone ever wrote anything down at all is that recording equipment wasn’t available at the time.
While we can and should acknowledge and embrace that our musicianship is further increased and developed by learning to read music, we should also be aware that the music itself does not exist on the page, it exists within us. If we allow ourselves to obsess over the tools, then we are not using the tools, the tools are using us.
And Laurie is right, intonation is the concern of the piano tuner, not the piano player. Register is the concern of the singer, not the piano player.