6oRbo*)

H O W CHILDREN LEARN
WHEN
THEY LEARN MUSIC

<^*=r

EDWIN GORDON
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
MUSIC EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA

HOW CHILDREN LEARN WHEN THEY LEARN MUSIC

Edwin Gordon
Associate Professor
Music Education
University of Iowa

( c ) Edwin Gordon 1967

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FORWORD

INTRODUCTION

RHYTHM

The Concept Of The Tempo Beat

The Concept Of Meter
The Concept Of Melodic Rhythm
The Concept Of Rhythm Syllables And Rhythm Patterns
Rhythm Appreciation-Readiness
Rhythm Reading And Writing
The Theory Of Rhythm Notation

MELODY
The Concept Of Tonality
The Development Of Singing Voices
The Teaching Of A Rote Song
The Concept Of Tonal Syllables And Tonal Patterns
Tonal Appreciation-Readiness
Tonal Reading And Writing
The Theory Of Tonal Notation
HARMONY
The Development Of Part Singing
The Development Of Harmonic Concepts
BIBLIOGRAPHY

5
6
7
8
11
14
18
29

29
30
39
42
46
48
52
56
56
58
61

FOREWORD

This monograph offers an explanation of how chiIdren learn when they

develop music literacy abilltyj it is not designed to function as a general
"methods" text.

The primary purpose of the monograph is to provide supple-

mentary information to that which is typically found In music methods and

skills texts for prospective teachers, and to guide practicing general music
and instrumental music teachers in the practical use of teaching materials.
In an effort to achieve clarity in explanation, musical techniques are necessarily discussed but they should not be misconstrued as absolute "methods".
The reader should utilize concepts pertaining to learning which are found in
this monograph J_n conjunction with preferred teaching practices.
Experimental research concerning teaching and learning music is in a
stage of infancy.

As a result, studies listed in the bibliography have offered

only little to the formulation of concepts found in this monograph.

The pre-

sentation is particularly based on observation and teaching experience, over a

span of years, in the University Elementary School of the University of Iowa.
Because administrative and scheduling procedures in elementary music are so
diverse, the content is organized only according to the sequential manner in
which children learn music and not adapted to a graded plan.

It should be

emphasized that for most efficient learning and permanent results, music readiness should be initiated in preschool or by the time children are in first
grade.

In actual practice, however, instruction must begin in accordance with

students' demonstrated music abilities regardless of their age, but ancillary

materials, such as recordings and music books, should be appropriate to the
grade-level of students.

-i-

It is the author's hope that the concepts in this monograph will be

employed with the understanding that there are individual differences among
students in regard to musical aptitudes.

Through the use of Musical Aptitude

Profile test results and corresponding suggestions found in the test manual
for Adapting Music Instruction To Meet The Individual Musica I Needs And Abi1ities Of Students, the teaching-learning process in music will be greatly
facilitated and advanced.
Undoubtedly, if elementary school children develop music literacy ability,
persistent problems indigenous to junior high school and high school music such as the teaching of history, form, and style through "listening", the development of creative and performance practices, and the determination of
evaluation and grading procedures - w i l l be mitigated to at least some degree.

INTRODUCTION
Musical aptitude, like intelligence, is normally distributed among human
beings.

That is, there are not unmusical people nor unintelligent people.

Some people are less intelligent and others are relatively more intelligent.
Likewise, musical aptitude can only be defined in a relative manner.
only less musical than others who are more musical.

People are

All people have at least

some intelligence and likewise, all people have at least some musical aptitude.
Like intelligence, musical aptitude has more than one dimension, and they
are developed through the interaction of innate potential with environmental
influences at a comparatively early age.
the manifestation of more formal learning.

In contrast, musical achievement is

All things equal, people achieve in

music commensurate with their musical aptitudes.

That is, because all people

have at least some rhythm, tonal, and expressive musical aptitude, all people
can demonstrate at least some achievement in music.
Achievement in music and the appreciation of music are highly related
because musical achievement fosters the appreciation of music.

Appreciation

implies understanding and not necessarily "loving" or "liking".

However, we

do tend to like that which we understand more than that which we do not understand.

By developing appreciation through understanding, students learn con-

cepts basic for "liking" and "disliking"; as a result, they do not have to be
taught what is "good" or "bad".

Appreciation, like maturity, is an individual

developmental process.
Specifically, understanding is highly related to literacy achievement.
For example, students will truly become musically literate only if they first
develop concepts of basic music appreciation such as "feeling" or "hearing" a

2.
tonal center, major and minor mode, duple and triple meter, leaps and scalewise motion in melodic contour, and smooth and broken rhythm.

These kinesthetic

and aural musical reactions must then be associated with corresponding notational
symbols for the purpose of music literacy comprehension.
It is logical that a person who can speak but cannot read or write his
language can have only a limited understanding of history and literature.

How-

ever, the person who can read and write, as well as speak his language, may
enjoy the rich and boundless experiences of his ancestors and contemporaries,
whether near or far, living or dead.

When a person is literate in his language,

he can better learn to appreciate that language because he is able to take his
individual needs and abilities into account; he can emphasize and study what he
chooses, at his own pace, and at his leisure.
in music

Likewise, as a person progresses

beyond simple rote singing to the development of music literacy

ability, he can better learn to understand, and will probably better appreciate,
mus i c.
Thus it is important that individuals learn to become musically literate.
A person who can read music is more self-reliant in his musical development; he
does not have to depend upon the "other person" to apprise

him of new trends

and meanings in music, he is able to actively participate in the "making" of

music without depending upon the assistance of a "rote singing" governess, he
may more realistically take music as an avocation because he can become an active
participant rather than a passive listener, and he may listen to music with intelligent expectancy because he can "feel" and "hear" what he "sees" in musical
notation.

Further, If a person can write music, he will better learn music be-

cause he may notate and work with concepts as well as "recite" them; and he may

3.
create music and preserve it for the enjoyment and future enjoyment of himself
and others.

Lay people who create in the graphic and plastic arts learn to more

fully appreciate the work of fine artists.

Likewise, students who create and im-

provise music are able to better appreciate the more artistic work of fine
musicians.
The ability to read and write music may be compared to the ability to read
and write the spoken word.

In order to learn to read, a person must first know

how to speak, and then speak in a language with words which have meaning to him.
This oral vocabulary is then associated with the written word through the meaning
of the spoken word.

One would not really read if he only associated the written

word with alphabetic characters or "parts of speech"; these concepts are useful
only for explaining the theory of language once reading ability has been developed.

That is, it is wordsnot letters nor theory-- which have meaning for

reading comprehension.
A child is first taught to read only those words which are part of his
spoken vocabulary.

Through explanation, generalization, and abstraction, he con-

tinues to mature and increase this reading vocabulary, in association with the
spoken word through the developmental process of discovering new and unfamiliar
words.

During this process, reading becomes a sequentially independent acti-

vity which serves as a necessary tool for the development of the more comprehensive learning process.
As a logical parallel, the "speaking" of music is a necessary requisite for
learning to read music.

Definitively, singing and rhythmic movement represent

the "speaking" of music.

Meaning in music is developed through the sense of

tonality and through a kinesthetic feeling for tempo, meter, and melodic rhythm.
To read music is to "hear" and to "feel" what one "sees" in music notation.

In accordance with his basic musical aptitudes to develop tonal sense and
rhythmic feeling, a person acquires a rote vocabulary of tonal and rhythn
patterns.

The development of a rote vocabulary of significant tonal and rhythm

patterns constitutes the experience through which musical meaning is associated

with music notation; just as a rote vocabulary of the spoken word constitutes
the vehicle by which meaning is given to the written word.

Like the relation-

ship of the alphabet to language, letter names and fractional values of notes
are useful only as theoretical explanations of music notation for

oie who has

already acquired the functional ability of reading music through meaning.

Be-

cause it takes more than one note to make a meaningful tonal or rhythm pattern,
the knowledge of the letter name or the arithmetical value of one isolated note
does not constitute readiness to read music.
To read a language, one must
read music, one must

learn meaning before the written word.

learn sound and feeli ng before the written note.

To

To memo-

rize the letter names and the fractional values of music symbols before
understanding sound and feeling, is as illogical as teaching language reading
through the memorization of the parts of speech or the alphabetic composition
of isolated words to one who cannot understand, or even speak, that

language.

After an individual demonstrates music reading readiness through the

development of a sense of tonality and rhythmic feeling, in accordance with his
musical aptitudes, the sequential development of this basic appreciation to
that of music literacy is a relatively simple and logical consequence.

5.
RHYTHM
Rhythm may be functionally understood to consist of three distince elements
which interact with one another.

These elements are called "tempo", "meter",

and "melodic rhythm".

The Concept of the Tempo Beat

The "basic" beat or "big" beat of music and poetry is the tempo beat.

It

is the basic beat because it is the most easily recognized beat and because it
is the basic foundation upon which the more complex aspects of rhythm are
superimposed.

The tempo beat is usually felt as the marching, walking, or

dancing beat.

Examples of the tempo beat written with duple and triple meter

signatures are given below.

H-H-f

fir r

The consistency in time with which one performs or reacts to the tempo
beat is of the utmost importance.

This is true because the precision of higher

aspects of rhythm, namely meter and melodic rhytym, are totally dependent upon
a consistent tempo.

That is, unless tempo beats are equally spaced in time

(except when the deviation of tempo is purposefully adjusted for musically expressive reasons), meter and melodic rhythm are affected.

For example, the

appropriate duration of a whole note in four-quarter meter cannot be determined

6.
without a concept of consistent tempo; and, dotted-eighth note and sixteenth
note patterns in two-quarter meter, for example, take on the character of triplets

or six-eighth meter as the tempo becomes inconsistent and faster.

The

tempo beat necessarily gives fundamental meaning to rhythm.

The Concept of Meter

Meter, in both music and poetry, moves in "twos" and "threes".
meter is derived by dividing a tempo beat into two equal parts.

Duple

Triple meter

is derived by dividing a tempo beat into three equal parts. An example of duple
meter is given below.

mm

The following is an example of triple meter.

at as us i tuWi

7.
Meter is of primary importance to rhythm when compared to the tempo beat
because whereas tempo beats are always organized in "twos", meter beats may be
felt in either "twos" or in "threes".
ing characteristic of rhythm.

Meter, then, is the basic distinguish-

As consistency of the tempo beats is fundamental

to meter, meter, in turn, is fundamental to melodic rhythm.

Without the con-

cept of meter, it would be difficult, for example, to rhythmically place an

eighth or sixteenth note in two-quarter meter if these notes did not occur on a
tempo beat; a natural consequence of this limitation is that melodic rhythm
would be disorganized.

The Concept of Melodic Rhythm

Melodic rhythm is best understood as the rhythm of the text of a song or
the rhythm of the melody of a piece of music.

Examples of duple melodic rhythm

and triple melodic rhythm are given below.

i ff ttrt I f

rf

MH f f f ffrffc I r r t, II

As can be seen from the examples above, melodic rhythm can be coincidental
with meter and tempo beats, and it can include a fractionation or an elongation
of a meter beat or a tempo beat.

Melodic rhythm cannot be thought of as only

one isolated note; more correctly, it must be recognized as a cohesive rhythm

pattern comprising at least two, preferably three or four, and up to six notes.

8.
Aside from the ultra-analytical aspects of rhythm, melodic rhythm gives
most variety to rhythm.

Tempo and meter are both fundamental to melodic rhythm,

but melodic rhythm is fundamental to only the tonal aspects of music.

Without

the concept of melodic rhythm, melody would be difficult to organize.

The Concept of Rhythm Syllables and Rhythm Patterns

The three counterparts of rhythm-tempo, meter, and melodic rhythm-have
meaning only when the relationship among two or more notes is considered.

As

stated, one isolated note cannot have rhythmic meaning; rhythm exists only
because of the relationships among notes.

When fractional name values of notes

(whole, half, quarter, eighth, sixteenth, etcetera) are learned as isolated

facts, they have only negligible value, if any, for learning to musically read
rhythm notation.

Knowing the fractional value of a note does not help one

kinesthetically feel the overall rhythm of what is seen in notation.

Teaching

the fractional value of a note contributes to the theoretical explanation of the

grammar of the language of music only after one speaks, reads, and probably
writes the language.
Approaches for teaching rhythm reading have been sought with substantially
less vigor than systems for teaching tonal reading.

Systems have been suggested

in which relative lengths of lines are associated with specific note values;
another system correlates words with rhythm patterns.

A primary limitation of

particularly the latter more advanced system is that even if it were possible
to stabilize the pronunciation of words, the fact remains that there are not
enough corresponding words, used alone or collectively, for all the important
duple and triple melodic rhythm patterns.

The lack of a functional approach

9.
for teaching rhythm reading is undoubtedly responsible, to a large degree,
for the relatively unsophisticated understanding of rhythm concepts among people when compared to their more definitive understandings of the tonal aspects
of music.
An efficient and effective approach to rhythm reading is through the development of a rote rhythm syllable vocabulary of the relatively few significant (frequently used) rhythm patterns.

One of the most important properties

of rhythm syllables is they are not associated with note values.

In contrast,

and more musically, a rhythm syllable is only associated with a note by virtue
of the position of the note within a melodic rhythm pattern (as can be seen on
page 10, numbers are used on tempo beats, "Ne" on duple meter beats and "Na"
and "Ni" on triple meter beats, and "Ta" on fractionations of both duple and
triple meter beats).

A natural result is that young children can develop

rhythm reading readiness and rhythm reading ability before they are introduced
to fractions in the intermediate grades.
Rhythm syllables are easily articulated with the tongue and lips when
compared to vowels (such as " 1 " and "a") which require jaw and throat action.
As a result, rhythm syllables can be applied for performance on a wind instrument, and they will not be articulated with fortuitous syncopation.

Because

of the unique aspects of rhythm syllables, the practicality of their use is

not impaired by previous association with words or by the use of tonal
syllables.

10.
Examples of significant duple syllable patterns are given below:

1
12,

1'

WE.
*

Z
4^

1
or
Z
>

Z
H TA
,2, TA
i n Wl

I u > r r i^s
1

WE

1 WE WE

TA

WE TA

WETA
>

_% TA WE
'

WE

i TA WE

TA

y TA TA

g ipr i y f-U^A- 1

(The "Ne" Is pronounced like "na" in "nation" and "Ta" is pronounced like
"to" in "topic".)
Examples of significant triple syllable patterns are given below:

1
or
I WA NI

Wl

/Z

1
Y

HA Wl TA

g WA

iTA

\
TAWI

1
Wl

%TA

%TAWATAWITA TA WA Wl

i
TA TA / I

1 WATAW

i
WATAWtTA

ITTA WATA W<

w i .r. Tre r r i r r r / i r f r f f^^P

(The "Na" is pronounced like "no" in "notch" and "Ni" is pronounced like
"nea" in "neat".)

II.
When employing rhythm syllable patterns, the appropriate meter (either
"1 Ne 2 Ne" for duple, or "1 Na Ni

2 Na Ni" for triple) must be "felt" in

order to place each syllable correctly within a melodic rhythm pattern.

By

"thinking" the representative meter, one in fact achieves a feeling of rhythm

when reading rhythm notation.

Rests are silent, but are always necessarily

"felt" by associating them with rhythm syllables for corresponding notes.

Similarly, patterns which comprise longer notes and ties are performed in
traditional manner by associating tempo or meter beat rhythm syllables with
note duration.
Rhythm Appreciation-Readi ness
The ability to "speak" rhythm syllable patterns (that is, the ability to
pronounce syllables) and the ability to "feel" rhythm syllable patterns (that
is, the ability to associate physical response with syllables) constitute the
basic factors requisite for rhythm "appreciation" (more directly, understanding)
and these abilities also constitute readiness for rhythm reading.

Once the rote

abilities of "speaking" and "feeling" rhythm syllable patterns are achieved, the
reading of rhythm notation is easily accomplished through the process of associating rote rhythm syllable patterns with correlate notation.

Then after

reading is begun, writing is easily taught as a means of improving reading and

also as a logical outcome of reading.

As a result, one's level of appreciation

becomes commensurate with one's potential to appreciate.

That is, one is able

to utilize the musical aptitudes one possesses for the achievement of music
appreciation.
In developing rhythm appreciation-readiness, large-muscle creative and
interpretive activity represents the initial phase.

Once bodily freedom is

achieved, more organized types of bodily rhythmic responses are developed.

12.

Through typical

large-muscle activities which are not rigidor tense, (such as

marching, walking, and running on tempo beats and clapping or performing meter
beats), students develop the concept of the tempo beat concurrent with concepts
of duple and triple meter.
Although pre-school children appear to naturally react to triple meter
before duple meter (this may be due in part to the fact that triple meter is a
tense meter in contrast to the more relaxed feeling of duple meter), younger
students should learn both meters concurrently through physical reaction to
records and to songs they have learned by rote.

Rhythm activities for older

students include dancing, conducting, and performance on the autoharp, guitar,

and ukelele.

In addition, older students are capable of such eurhythmic

activities as simultaneously tapping the tempo beat, clapping the meter, and
chanting the melodic rhythm with syllables or with words of a sonq; of course,
students will also learn to interchange activities such as clapping the tempo
beat, tapping the meter, and so on.

Oraanized creative physical activity re-

presents the ultimate in the development of rhythm appreciation-readiness.

After students develop a kinesthetic physical reaction to tempo and meter
and sing a variety of duple and triple rote songs, significant duple and triple
melodic rhythm syllable patterns which include either meter or tempo beat
rhythm syllable patterns, and then patterns consisting of combinations of meter
and tempo beats, should be learned by rote.

These basic significant

patterns

of which two of the combination type are illustrated below, may be extracted

> ne x
0

^m
I NA HI

13from rote songs, familiar recorded music and from rhythm chants, echoes,
dialogues, and rounds.
After the basic melodic rhythm syllable patterns (which include only meter
or tempo beats and combinations of meter and tempo beats) have been well established, then students learn more complex significant duple and triple rhythm
syllable patterns by rote.

More complex patterns which include elongations

and fractionations of meter and tempo beats are illustrated along with basic
patterns under the heading The Concept of Rhythm Syllables and Rhythm Patterns.
When learning melodic rhythm syllable patterns which include elongations and
fractionations of the meter and tempo beats, meter beat syllables must be
"thought" and kinesthetleally "felt" so that melodic rhythm will not be misrepresented through the skipping or adding of meter or tempo beats.

As stated,

students learn rhythmic durations of notes and rests which constitute a

melodic rhythm pattern through organization characterized by a "feeling" of
tempo and meter.
The more complex significant melodic rhythm syllable patterns are also
learned by rote through familiar songs, recorded music, rhythm chants, echoes,
dialogues, and rounds.

As in the development of the concepts of tempo and

meter, rhythm instruments also play an important role in the establishment of

melodic rhythm concepts.
It should be emphasized that although examples of syncopation are included
with significant duple and triple melodic rhythm syllable patterns under the
heading The Concept of Rhythm Syllables and Rhythm Patterns, "pick-ups" and

14.

mixed meter are not. Below are examples of patterns of "pick ups" in duple
and triple meter, on the upper lines, and patterns of mixed meter, on the lower
line.

Students will not necessarily learn all patterns of these types by rote

for reading readiness purposes.

we

i ne a.

I E I Lf

TH

i HE x^

x Ne

IIE I U P C Li I L i

HI . / MAHI X

JA

I NA NI

0. HA NI

_XNNIINANI

tdtxrr ttgitxrcjc tisj\uW

i Ne ZJXL"'

NA NI

x Ne

pg=m^Ws^
Rhythm Reading and Writing

After students have established a rote vocabulary of the various combinations of meter and tempo beat melodic rhythm syllable patterns, the reading of
basic significant patterns written only with and g meter signatures is begun.
(Songs with meter signatures other than and g should be taught by rote but not
read at this period of literacy development.)

As students read these basic sig-

nificant meter and tempo beat patterns, they concurrently learn the more complex
significant melodic rhythm syllable patterns (those which comprise elongations
and fractionations of meter and tempo beats) by rote and then later learn to
2
also recognize these rote melodic syllable patterns in notational form (in K
and g ) .

15.
The vocabulary of melodic rhythm syllable patterns is expanded in the same
way that words and phrases become part of the spoken and the reading vocabulary.
Students learn to read those non-significant melodic rhythm patterns

which

might include rests, ties, relatively long and short notes, "pick-ups", mixed
meter, and unusual meter and which are not necessarily taught to them by rote;
this occurs by means of explanation, transference, and generalization in the
same way that students learn new words and phrases in their native language
without formal instruction.

Other than a beginning with just meter and tempo

beats, there is no learning hierarchy of melodic rhythm syllable patterns;

patterns are best learned in conjunction with literature students are currently
performing and for review purposes, literature with which they are familiar.
Students do not learn to read rhythm notation by chanting rhythm syllables
or by naming rhythm syllables from the beginning through the end of a song.
Rather, they learn to read a melodic rhythm pattern as a phrase, just as they
read in phrases in their spoken language.

Students learn to read rhythm nota-

tion by establishing an association between rhythm patterns in notational form

and correlate melodic rhythm syllable patterns learned by rote.
and sequences within and between songs become obvious.

Repetitions

Songs should be sung in

entirety using the text (not syllables) because students learn to hear and
feel melodic rhythm patterns and "rhythmically" connect them as phrases by
"feeling" the meter as they sing the words of the song.

After students have

learned, and relearned if necessary, to read a melodic rhythm pattern, rhythm

syllables should be systematically abandoned for that pattern.

Rhythm syl-

lables serve as a means for learning basic rhythm reading, and they do not
represent an end in themselves.

The ability to read rhythm provides the basic

16.

foundation for understanding the interpretation of rhythm which is indigenous

to specific styles of music.
As stated, when first introduced to reading and writing rhythm notation,
2
6
students should be taught to read only in the meter signatures of , and fl;
they learn that the upper number 2 means the rhythm will move in duple meter
and that the upper number 6 means

the rhythm will move in triple meter. The

2
6
reason for using only the meter signatures f and fl is that rhythm patterns
which sound the same wi11 1ook di fferent in notational form when different
meter signatures, as shown below on the same line, are employed.

I TANITAZ,

He

\ uss CJ
/ TA NI

NI

I TA NCTA X NE

I TA HE TA X Ne

mif u ii* LLD r r

I

TA NI

X NI

_ I

TA HI X

NI

*-gjT P \\ f gr iTitr r ^ f

To initially teach students to read the same rhythm pattern with any
note representing a tempo beat (as indicated by the lower number of a meter
signature) is just as illogical as teaching first grade students to read the
same passage simultaneously in five or more languages. Only after students can
2
6
read in , and meter should they learn the theory of rhythm notation; and

17.
then, consequently, they may more naturally learn how to read music which
.
2
6
n
utilizes numbers different than H and 8 in r and g respectively, and meter
signatures with other upper numbers.
The fact that there are various ways of writing the same rhythm pattern
may seem silly, but need not be disturbing.

Like all symbolic languages,

musical notation has developed over a period of time and as a result, inconsistencies have occurred.

(Consider for example, the inconsistency in English

spelling as suggested by George Bernard Shaw:

the word "fish" could be inter-

preted and read as the word "ghoti" since the "gh" has an "f" sound as in the
word "enough", "o" has the "i" sound as in the word "women", and "ti" has the
"sh" sound as in the word "nation".)

Obviously, students learn to compensate

for English language inconsistency because of the quality and quantity of their
training in speaking and reading that language.

Given an acceptable foundation

in rhythm readiness, they will compensate for inconsistencies in musical notation in the same way.
2
6
Once students begin to read music notation with f and meter signatures,
they can also learn to write rhythm patterns using these same signatures.

It

is important that students learn to notate rhythm not only for furthering their
appreciation of music, but also for the continued and expanded development of
their reading ability.

Generally speaking those who can write, read better

than those who cannot write.

Rhythm notation should not be learned In an Isolated way; that is, penmanship ability should be considered subordinate to the ability to write rhythm
syllable patterns.

The latter ability presupposes, and will develop the former.

Students may write chants dictated with rhythm syllables or with neutral syllables, or performed on rhythm instruments or on a tape recording.

Students

18.

may also write patterns from memory which are based on familiar songs, responses
to echo chants and dialogue rounds, and taken from rhythm instrument
accompaniments.
2
6
As stated, after students have learned to read and write in j, and g meter,
they may begin to read and write using other meter signatures.

The manner in

which students should be introduced to and taught other meter signatures is

discussed in the following section.

The Theory of Rhythm Notation

The meaning of a meter signature is generally taught in a "limiting" way.
The traditional "definition" of a meter signature (more commonly referred to as
2
a time signature) such as ^ is "two beats to a measure and a quarter note gets
one beat".

More fully and correctly, the interpretation should be "two beats

of duple meter in a measure and a quarter note represents one tempo beat".
From the latter, the musical function of kinesthetic rhythm imagery is activated
and from the former, an arithmetic problem is presented for solution.
When a student first reads rhythmic notation with rhythm syllables (and
necessarily without a formal understanding of note fraction values), all he
needs to understand is the meaning of the upper number of the meter signatures
2

. and .

The meaning of lower numbers does not have to be taught until the

theory of rhythm notation, specifically note values, is introduced.

This in

itself suggests that it is relatively unimportant to think of the meter signature as an arithmetic function.

The lower number of the meter signature is

only an explanation of the particular arbitrary manner in which the melodic

rhythm has been written.

19.
When a student begins to read and write music written with meter signatures
other than ?

an<

^ a < l should be understood that the upper numbers 2 and 4 of a

meter signature indicate that the rhythm of the music will move in duple meter.
The upper numbers 3, 6, 9, and 12 indicate the rhythm of the music will move in
triple meter.

Further, the upper number 2 indicates that the rhythm of the music

will be written with two beats of duple meter in a measure and the upper number
4 indicates that the rhythm of the music will be written with four beats of duple
meter in a measure.

Similarly, the upper numbers 3, 6, 9, and 12 indicate that

the rhythm of the music will be written with one, two, three and four beats of
triple meter in a measure, respectively.

However, because of natural physical

reaction, when reading music with a r meter signature, we do not think tempo
beats as "1, 2, 3, 4," but rather "1, 2, 1, 2" as if each measure was really
2

written like two measures of r or like one measure of . (j).

Likewise, when

reading music with a g^ meter signature, we do not think tempo beats as " 1 , 2,
3,4," but rather " 1 , 2, 1, 2" as if each measure was really written like two
measures of g.

For the same reason, we think "1 Na Ni 2 Na Ni" when reading

music with a j\ meter signature as if every two measures were really written
like one measure of .
The rhythm of music is not always wri tten in the way which it is felt.

As

stated before, we feel music in pairs of tempo beats (whether the meter be duple
or triple).

Therefore, to write rhythm with one or four beats to a measure, for

example, is an artifact because the listener ("reactor") still feels the organization of two tempo beats.

Just why music is written with a 3 or 4 as an

upper number of a meter signature is debatable.

It may be that composers think

different upper numbers result in different types of phrasing.

However, rhythm

which is based upon a 3 or 4 in the upper number of a meter signature could be

20.
based upon a 6 or 2 respectively; and, phrase lines and tempo, dynamic, and
rhythm markings could be employed for objective phrasing instructions.

Of

course, there is always the simple supposition that the upper number 4 is used
in order to reduce the number of measure lines required for writing music although the upper number 3 necessitates the use of more measure lines.

This

arbitrary use of rhythm notation, in regard to the upper number of a meter

signature, should be made clear to students.
As stated, students actually learn to read music with meter signatures
2
6
other than and g after they have been exposed to the theory of rhythm notation. To facilitate this ability, the meaning of r should be generalized
2
from . because rhythm patterns are written the same way in both meter signatures as a result of both lower numbers in the meter signatures being the
same.

Next, before the other most common meter signature, ?, is introduced,

the meaning of , should be generalized from _.

In this way, students do not

have to cope with two different numbers, as when the meaning of : is directly
generalized from g.

Once the meaning of , is understood, it is easily dis-

cernible that rhythm patterns in j, and (, are written the same way because the
lower numbers in both meter signatures are the same.

After this is accom-

plished, all other meter signatures may be more easily interpreted.

The lower number of a meter signature simply describes what kind of a
note is associated with a tempo beat or a meter beat.

Once the lower number

of a meter signature is related to a specific note (and rest) and its correlate
fractional value, the theory of melodic rhythm is easily comprehended.

That is,

if a quarter note represents the tempo beat, then two eighth notes will constitute a duple meter pattern; If a quarter note represents the tempo beat,
then the melodic rhythm of the tempo beat subdivided into four equal parts

21,
("I Ta Ne Ta") is written with four sixteenth notes.

Editors of some music

anthologies have developed a very practical notation scheme for meter signatures; instead of writing a lower number in a meter signature (fj), for
example, there appears the actual note that the number represents ( m ) .
Various numbers such as 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16 may be found in the lower

part of

the meter signature because each of these numbers refers to a note value;
1 means a whole note, 2 a half note, 4 a quarter note, etcetera.

Here again,

the arbitrary use of rhythm notation is also applicable to the lower number
of the meter signature.

That is, written rhythm which is based on a lower

number 1, 2, 8, 16, 32, for example, in the meter signature, could be written,
and would probably be more easily comprehended with a consistant lower number
4 or 8 for duple and triple meter, respectively.

One reason for arbitrarily

using a lower number other than 4 or 8 is probably that composers feel different numbers convey various psychological effects.

It is

not unusual for

performers to become more excited when they see four sixteenth notes in 2
2
than when they see four eighth notes in , even though both patterns represent
the same melodic rhythm of "1 Ta Ne Ta."

It should be emphasized that a meter

signature, in whole or part, does not indicate speed of the music. Music with
2
a . meter signature can be performed faster, slower, or at equal speed t o
music with a ^ meter signature.

The tempo (speed) of music is determined by

metronome markings or by tempo markings such as "allegro", "andante", etcetera,

or their English correlates.
From the foregoing discussion, it should be apparent that a meter signature
is not a fraction and should not be written as a fraction (that is, with a line
2
between the two numbers as JJ). Not only is this procedure confusing to the

22.

student but in addition, i f a student is taught that a meter signature is a

2
1
fraction, his natural Inclination Is to reduce r t O T

The only justification

for considering a meter signature as a fraction would be that, for example, a

2
measure of U would contain the equivalent of half of a whole note. However,
this emphasis on a whole note is not educationally sound because, for meter
k

signatures other than ,, a complete measure is not equal in fractional time to

a whole note.

In addition, the possession of this arithmetic knowledge in no

way presupposes a kinesthetic rhythmic feeling which is so necessary for the

musical interpretation of a meter signature.

It would be well to verbally

2
refer to the meter signature , for example, as two-quarter and not two-four.
7

Likewise g should be called two-eighth and not two-eight, , should be stated

two-half and not two-two, etcetera.

The correct verbal definition of a meter

signature refers to the lower number as a note value which in fact, it is;
the incorrect definition forces extra and unnecessary thought on the part of
the student because he has to transform, for example, a two to a half in order
to understand what kind of a note, in fact, represents a tempo beat.
A related problem specifically associated with defining the meter signature g -- as "six beats in a measure and an eighth-note gets one beat" -- is
that this statement is technically and educationally unsound.

As has been

pointed out, the meter signature g indicates that the rhythm of the song will
move in two beats of triple and that the song will be written with two beats
of triple in a measure.

Consistent with this idea is the fact that a dotted-

quarter note and not an eighth note will "get" a tempo beat.
in this meter will represent one meter beat.

An eighth note

The reason that the meaning of

the g meter signature is commonly misinterpreted is because it cannot be

23.
indicated, with traditional symbols, that a dotted-quarter note represents a
tempo beat.

That is, there is no number which can be used in the lower part of

a meter signature which would represent any dotted-note value.

Instead of indi-

eating two beats of triple as .for example, the meter signature has been traditionally employed.

Unfortunately, as a result, the method for interpreting

duple meter signatures (in which the upper and lower numbers refer to tempo
beats) has been incorrectly generalized for the interpretation of triple meter
signatures (in which the upper and lower numbers refer to meter beats).

The

following, then, must be understood for correctly interpreting the meaning of

meter signatures:

both numbers of a duple signature refer to the tempo beat

( means two tempo beats (2) in a measure and a quarter note (4) will represent
a tempo beat) and both numbers of a triple signature refer to the meter beats
( means six meter beats (6) in a measure and an eighth note (8) will represent a meter beat).

Since tempo beats, regardless of meter, are organized in

"twos", it is impossible to think of music as moving in tempo beats of "threes"

and "sixes".

The meter signature g indicates two beats of triple and not three

beats of duple.

It is possible that, if in fact a composer meant to imply six

beats of duple and not two beats of triple, he would have written the rhythm with
a unique combination of duple measures rather than one measure of :?, and thus
8
indicate that the rhythm of the song will move in a specific type of unusual
meter.

If in a rare case, the composer really intended a song to

move in

unusual meter and he still employed the meter signature , the experienced
performer would recognize this fact and perform the music in the correct
Unusual meter is similar to mixed meter except for the fact that in unusual
meter, the meter beats are consistent in time but the tempo beats are inconsistent

24.

(although the tempo beats are still organized in pairs).

Conversely, in mixed

meter, the tempo beats are consistent in time but the meter beats are inconsistent because duplets and triplets are expanded or contracted, respectively,
to coincide with the consistent tempo beats.
in this respect, in unusual meter.
unusual meter.

There are no duplets or triplets,

In music, there are three basic types of

The most common type of unusual meter includes pairs of tempo

beats with different meter and is written, for example, with the meter signature . .

Examples of this type of unusual meter are given below:

Ne

NA NI

NA

Ni

ne

14 r r l r r r 1 r r r 1 r r

Another type of unusual meter is found when tempo beats are organized in
pairs of "one" against "twos" or in pairs of "twos" against "one" but the
meter remains constant.

This type of unusual meter is written,

6

for example,
3

with the meter signature g and with other meter signatures, such as or .
Examples of this type of unusual meter are given on the following page.
The last type of unusual meter is a combination of both types of unusual
meter already described and it is written, for example, with meter signatures
of g or

g.

That is, it includes combinations of meters with tempo beats

25.

I NE
\h

I ME XNe
\

m 0

I M I ,

I NEXNe
\ 0 0

/ NA NI

NE

0 \ m 0

X NA NI

I N
113

I N XN

I N ZNE

0 0 \ 0 0 0 M \ 0 0 0 W

NA NI

X NA

I NA NI

a rrs i fff^rrr i err rr f ' Iff

jpp

organized i n p a i r s of "one" against "twos" or "twos" against " o n e " .

Examples

of t h i s type of unusual meter are given below:

!I

HE
i HAM
ITC I * ""

I Ne
X. NE
I NE
T
"
I '
I
I

I NA NI

I NA NI

X NA NI

i rj I rjj i ir i is i uricir <E ' c u t ^

-rm

Of course, it is understood that unusual meter may be written with different usual meter signatures for different measures of the same piece of music,
with more than one usual meter signature at the beginning, with a usual meter
signature and unusual grouping of notes, or with a fractionated (li) meter
signature.

IT

26.
As stated, students should learn the theory of rhythm notation (after
2
6
they have developed facility in non-arithmetic rhythm reading in K and fl)
because they will be expected to read music which Is written with any meter
signature; and particularly because they will undoubtedly discover some particularly uncommon non-significant melodic rhythm patterns for which they have
not been taught correlate rote rhythm syllables.

A formal knowledge of meter

signatures and note values is requisite for the interpretation of these uncommon patterns.

Typical uncommon rhythm patterns are given below:

Naturally, all non-significant and even uncommon rhythm patterns can, if

desired, be taught by rote with syllables.

For example, the first pattern

2
3
above in ^ could be called "1 Ta Na Ni", the first pattern above in ^ could be

called "1 Ta Ne Ta", and the pattern above in r could be called "1 Na Ni".
However, uncommon rote rhythm patterns should be attempted only with rhythmically
sophisticated students because identical syllables may be employed for both significant patterns and uncommon patterns just as they are for mixed
meter.

and unusual

27.
For the purpose of learning the value of notes, traditional charts which
emphasize isolated memoritor type teaching should not be used.

Students can

learn these facts in a more practical and interesting manner within a musical
context.

For example, students might read or write a familiar duple meter

pattern using a different duple signature, or"transpose"a duple meter pattern

to triple meter or vice versa.

Also, a rhythm pattern chanted or performed on

a rhythm instrument can be written with a meter signature not commonly used
2

such as i g , or |g, for example.

cellent for this purpose.

Rhythm echo and dialogue responses are ex-

It is much more interesting for students to learn

the theory cof rhythm notation by working with the feeling of rhythm rather than
being shown a chart from which is taught the isolated fact that "two half notes
equal a whole note" in arithmetic tradition.
Finally, three relatively minor points might be mentioned.

First, students

learn to read and write rhythm much easier when barred notes are used.

Typical

vocal notation, represented by separated (flagged) notes in contrast to instrumental barred notation (regardless of direction), makes visual rhythmic association among notes more difficult to comprehend.

Consider the ease in reading

the rhythm pattern of three barred eighth notes in g meter, for example, when
compared to reading this same pattern with three flagged notes, especially if
individual note stems go in opposite directions.

Second, when students learn

the value of a dotted-quarter note and eighth note pattern in . meter, for example, they should not be told that the dotted-quarter note "gets a beat and a
half" because they generally think of "1" as a beat and the half as "Ne".
(When counting rhythm, we say " 1 " as we begin the first beat but we do not
"have" one beat until we begin "2".)

In this connection, it is more correct

28.
to interpret the value of a dotted-quarter note as one tempo beat plus the
next meter beat or as three meter beats.

Third, students should learn that

rhythm notation is often written in "shorthand".

That is, syncopation in ?

meter, for example, is usually written in "shorthand"- with.art eighth note-quarter

noteeighth note, rather than the "longhand" notation of four eighth

notes with the second and third eight notes tied.

Students learn to read

rhythm patterns written in "shorthand" with greater ease once they understand
correlate "longhand" notation; ties are used to explain syncopation and the
value of dotted notes, half notes, and longer notes.

Examples of "shorthand"

notation on the upper line and corresponding "longhand" notation on the lower
line are given below.

f^ipiPP ^m
mws^m W^TOErtf

^m
^s ^ -

29.
MELODY

The Concept of Tonality

In order to read rhythm notation, one must "feel" what he sees "through"
rhythm imagery.

In order to read tonal notation, one must "hear" what he

sees because one hears, and remembers, the sound of a tonal pattern "through"
tonal imagery.

Tonal imagery is efficiently and practically developed through

the use of the singing voice.

A student may memorize the letter names of notes and then associate them
with keys or valves on a musical instrument but he will not truly read music
unless he can "hear" what he "sees" in notation.

Being taught to read music

on an instrument without learning to "hear" what is "seen", is like being taught

how to manipulate a typewriter which comprises only nonsense symbols.

We under-

stand what is seen in melodic notation by "hearing" tonal relationships among

notes in a manner similar to "thinking" syntax among words which constitute a
sentence.
Tones which comprise a melody are either relatively active or passive.

That

is, in a given key, some tones sound more "restful" and some tones sound more
"restless" than others.

Only one tone sounds most restful and that tone is

called the resting tone, the tonal center, or the tonic of the key.

A sense of

tonality is established when a tonal pattern is "heard" as a group of notes which

suggests one note (which may not be comprised in the pattern) as being most restful; and from that objective resting tone, It can be established whether the music
is In major, minor, or in unusual modal tonality.

If the resting tone is not

objective but rather, a matter of subjective opinion, the pattern is considered

"non-tonal".

30.
The ability to sing in tune constitutes readiness for melodic reading
because, generally speaking, one does not "hear" any better than he can sing.
Therefore, a discussion of the development of singing voices and of techniques
for teaching rote songs will be presented before the specific analysis of how
students learn tonal concepts.

The Development of Singing Voices

The term "monotone" which, in general usage, characterizes a poor singer
has two implications:

literally it means that one can produce only a single

pitch, and practically it means that one is innately a poor singer.

Neither

implication has any basis in fact because poor singers produce more than one
pitch; and more important, poor singing is learned behavior, barring physical
disability.

Further, the term "monotone" is a non-descriptive term in that it

implies only that a person is not a good singer.

Actually, there are various

types of poor singers and each type of poor singer requires unique help for
overcoming his particular limitation.

There are non-singers, out-of-tune

singers who lack a sense of melodic direction, out-of-tune singers who enjoy
a sense of melodic direction but lack a sense of pitch, a "combination" nonsinger and out-of-tune singer, a singer who actually "squeaks" in a very high
pitched voice with improper breath support, a singer who can sing with a group
but not individually, and a singer who can sing individually but not with a
group.

Each type of poor singer will be discussed and remedial suggestions

will be offered.

To begin, suggestions pertaining to posture and breathing

must be introduced as aids for helping all types of poor singers to sing better
in tune and with better voice quality.

31.
Children should sit on the edge of chairs which will necessitate both their
feet being flat on the floor and their back being out of contact with the back
of the chair.

Because both the back and chest expand when breathing, freedom

of the student's back from the back of the chair is most important.

With both

feet flat on the floor, a child will not slump over.

Shoulders, chest, and head must not be held stiff or high.

In contrast,

shoulders, chest, and head should be in a relaxed position or tone production

and breathing becomes constricted.

The head should be in a position so that

the scalp feels like the highest part of the body.

When this occurs, the jaws

rest in a natural and relaxed position, the back of the tongue is removed from
the throat, and the tip of the tongue falls behind the lower teeth.
these factors results in free tone production.

All of

Children should be told to look,

when necessary, at the teacher with their eyes rather than with their head.
This will help students maintain correct chest and head position.
Shoulders should be in a concave position, that is, just as they are In a
normally relaxed position.

The best way to achieve this position is to have

students fold their arms and put them on their lap while singing.

In this way,

students will develop proper breath support because they will have to breathe
from the diaphragm and their lungs will fill with air in conjunction with
diaphragmatic action.

(When students hold books as they read music, they

actually push their shoulders back and in turn, they breathe primarily with
their lungs.)

Of course, if an alternate course of tel1ing students to breathe

from their diaphragm is followed, the chances are that students will become
tense, raise their chest, and just push out their stomach muscles.

As a re-

sult, they will intensify any problems they have pertaining to correct

32.
Dreathing.

The above suggested procedures for establishing correct posture

and breathing should also be applied to good singers and to wind instrument
performers.
A non-singer can learn to sing in a singing voice.
can learn how to sing.

If one can yell, he

With children especially, a "singing voice" is, not

characterized by quality, but rather by voice placement on the continuum of

singing range.

Children of kindergarten age and older, speak in the range of

approximately A below middle C up to middle C.

A non-singer is classified as

a non-singer because he tries to sing in this speaking voice range.

A singer

is classified as a singer because he sings in a singing voice range (D above

middle C, and above).
To sing in a singing range, one must become familiar, through "feeling"
and "sound" with the throat muscles which must be used for singing.
realistic and efficient way to accomplish this is for one to yell.

The most
Through

this procedure, a familiarity with the "feeling" of the muscles needed for
singing becomes apparent.

The yell should be begun with an aspirate (H sound)

for proper production; "Yoo-hoo"--sung "hue-hoo" creates good breath support.

Yells, for teaching a non-singer to produce sound in a singing voice, should be
confined to the initial singing range of D above middle C, to A, a perfect
fifth above.

A yell higher than this goes through or above, the natural voice

break (from approximately third line B" to D , a minor third above) and thereby constricts the throat muscles; to yell lower than this, forces the singing
voice back into the speaking voice range.

Once a familiarity with the pro-

duction of a yell is developed, a student will finally learn to soften and

prolong the yell through the use of appropriate song material, and then sing

33.
in a singing voice.

After he has developed a singing voice, he will most

probably sing out-of-tune.

Students who sing out-of-tune have not developed a concept of tonality
and therefore, they lack a sense of melodic direction, pitch, or both.

An

out-of-tune singer who lacks a sense of melodic direction may be helped in

the following manner.

To begin with, good singers should be seated around

out-of-tune singers because students learn to sing in tune more quickly by

listening to their peers.

It should be freely admitted in class which students

need help because students usually know who are the good singers and the poor
singers among them.

Once this becomes expressed common knowledge, the better

students can be given responsibility for helping poor singers.

In order to learn to sing in tune, a student must sing individual Iy.
This can best be accomplished in a group situation through the use of tonal
echo songs.

If out-of-tune singers continually sing only with a group, they

will use the class as a "crutch" and they will not necessarily accept the
responsibility of concentrating (listening), which is so necessary for the
development of a sense of tonality.

Simple major and harmonic minor echoes,

consisting of three to five notes which do not move consecutively in the same
melodic direction but nevertheless comprise larger intervals, should be used
with out-of-tune singers in a group situation.

Interesting and enjoyable

tonal echo songs should be employed in an effort to de-emphasize the fact to

the student that he is singing alone.

In the beginning, tonal echoes should

be in the initial singing range from D above middle C, to A, a perfect fifth

above.

After the student can sing in tune in this relatively limited singing

range, the range of tonal echo songs should be increased down to middle C,

34.
to D, a major ninth above.

Initially, however, the student should not be

taught tonal echoes which ascend diatonically through the "voice break" but
rather, he should be taught echoes which only descend diatonically through
the "voice break".

That is, echoes should be used which Incorporate various

interval skips from second space A, or below, to D, a perfect fourth above

and in contrast, with descending diatonic movement through the voice break.
After students have learned how to "manipulate" the voice break in this way,
then they should be taught songs which ascend diatonically through the voice
break.
Only a short time should be devoted to the echo response of an out-oftune singer during a class period.

A little remedial work each period Is more

valuable for helping an out-of-tune singer than extensive work given periodically.
slowly.

Learning to sing in tune is a skill and, like most skills, it develops

The teacher should be aware that out-of-tune singers, like non-singers,

revert back to poor singing habits periodically before they stabilize their
singing voices.
As an out-of-tune singer is given remedial help, his concurrent singing
with the class will improve. During this period, the out-of-tune singer might
sing tonal echoes in a small ensemble consisting of good singers.

This will

enable him to better listen to, and concentrate on, his own singing as well as
to learn good intonation concepts more directly from better singers. The
teacher should provide the out-of-tune singer with simple harmonic (not melodic)
accompaniment on an autoharp, guitar, ukulele, or piano; it is much easier for
an out-of-tune singer to develop a sense of tonality by listening to a "chording"
instrument.

When the piano is used for this purpose, the teacher should never

35.
play the melody; to do so provides the student an opportunity not to concentrate on his intonation because he can just "follow" the piano as he might other
students who always sing with him.

Moreover, it is more difficult for an out-

of-tune singer to match tones played on a piano or xylophone than it is to match

the human voice.

The use of a full piano accompaniment should be reserved until

students have developed good singing habits.

As stated, larger intervals (such as perfect fourths and fifths, and to a
lesser extent major and minor thirds and sixths) should be used in tonal echo
patterns.

Major and minor seconds and sevenths should be avoided because they

are harder to hear and they contribute little to the establishment of tonality.

Consecutive repeated notes (unisons) should not be used in echo patterns

because a perfect unison is the most difficult interval to hear and perform.
Also, slurs and glissandos should not be used in echo patterns.

When a slide

is made to a new pitch, a student tends not to "think" the pitch of the new
note before he sings it, and as a result he sings out-of-tune because he only
has an approximate idea of where the pitch should be placed.

In short, the

out-of-tune singer in this case, will use his "throat" rather than his "ear"
for pitch placement and this will exaggerate his problem.

Echo patterns,

consisting of staccato notes (separated but not short) are superior to legato
passages for helping our-of-tune singers.
Probably one of the most effective methods for helping our-of-tune singers
establish a sense of tonality is to have them sing tonal echo patterns with
tonal syllables ("Do, Re, Mi", etcetera).

It is easier to convey the concept

of tonality to students by having them think "Do" for major and "La" for minor
than by trying to express the concept of tonality to them verbally.
tion, the use of tonal syllables provides tonal reading readiness.

In addi-

36.
Finally, ample attention and time should be given

to out-of-tune singers

for "finding" the beginning pitch of a song being taught to the class.

The

teacher should establish the tonality of the song by giving "Do, Mi, So" for
major tonality and "La, Do, Mi" for minor tonality before introducing the
beginning pitch.

Generally, if an out-of-tune singer does not hear and per-

form the beginning pitch of a song, he may sing the entire song out-of-tune
or he may not sing the song at all.

If a piano introduction is played or if

the teacher is not in close physical proximity to an out-of-tune singer, the

student will usually not hear nor sing the beginning pitch of a song.

The tempo

and the meter of the song should also be well established for the out-of-tune
singer.
All of the above remedial suggestions offered for improving the intonation
of an out-of-tune singer who lacks a sense of melodic direction should also be
employed for an out-of-tune singer who lacks a sense of pitch.

In addition,

tonal dialogue songs should also be used because a singer who lacks a sense
of pitch but not

direction, is more able to cope with dialogue songs.

dialogue song response may be "created" or pre-planned.

Because it is not an

exact tonal echo, a tonal dialogue is more complex but quite practical and
beneficial for establishing a sense of tonality.

This type of semi-independent

activity provides an excellent transition for independently "thinking" pitch

when singing with a group.
There are students who are non-singers in the higher singing range but yet
appear to sing in tune in the lower singing range.

The explanation of this

apparent phenomenon is that the student is really a non-singer; In the lower

range, the student maximizes differences in pitch In his speaking voice.

37.
(However, it is difficult to sing precise pitches in a speaking voice range
even though one may somewhat differentiate among pitches when trying to sing
in a speaking voice range.)

The student who behaves like a "combination"

non-singer and out-of-tune singer should receivf- the same remedial

which is given to a non-singer.

instruction

After he develops his singing voice range,

he will most probably lack a sense of pitch and sing like an out-of-tune singer.
Students who sing in tune individually but not with a group and students who
sing in tune with a group but not individually may not have developed the ability
to listen and concentrate, nor in the latter case, discovered the need to sing
alone.

Students who display either singing limitation should receive remedial

instruction similar to that given to out-of-tune singers who display a lack of

sense of pitch.

Particularly, students who can sing in tune individually but

not with the group will experience difficulty in matching pitches sung by the
teacher or produced on a melody instrument.

Therefore, these students should

sing sings which include introductory part singing techniques, sing in small
ensembles comprised of peers who are good singers, and they should be encouraged to engage in sophisticated rhythm activities.

Good singers who do

not sing well with a large group, generally have a high degree of overall
musical aptitude.

In addition to activities suggested above, instrumental

music lessons and other special music activities must be made available to these
talented students.
A student who "sings" with a very high pitched "squeaky" voice is really a
non-singer.

His voice may be lowered into a proper singing voice range if he is

taught to sing louder by developing

correct breathing and posture habits. Once

the concept of proper breath support is established, the student will most

38.
probably sing as an out-of-tune singer who lacks a sense of pitch but not a
sense of direction.

Echoes used with this type of poor singer should empha-

size the upper part of the initial singing range (0 above middle C, to A, a
perfect fifth above) to insure that the student will not "try" to sing an octave higher.

By and large, this type of poor singing develops as a result of

students being told to imitate a siren or "meow" like a cat in an attempt to

develop their singing voice.
At the beginning of the year, and at various intervals thereafter, the
teacher should use echo and dialogue songs for testing voices while at the
same time improving singing.

Through echo and dialogue songs, students will

sing individually but not really be aware of the fact that their voice is
being tested or evaluated.
Good singing habits should be developed early.
the more difficult it is to teach them to sing.
boys of fourth grade age and older.

The older non-singers are,

This is particularly true with

However, it is comparatively easy to teach

an older student to sing in tune, when he already sings in a singing voice.

It

is important that students who are poor singers maintain an interest in music
activities in the classroom as they are learning better singing habits.

Poor

singers should participate in rhythm activities, play rhytym instruments, provide sound effects, and they may chant simple ostinatos in accompaniment to
songs the class sings.
Songs which have adequate ranges and more important, adequate tessituras
(the range which comprises the majority of notes), help develop good singing
habits.

Song ranges and tessituras which are extreme contribute to the devel-

opment of non-singers; and tessituras which continually cross the "voice break"
encourage students to sing out-of-tune.

After the initial singing range of a

39.
student is developed and

sustained, his range may be extended from middle C to

D, a major ninth above, for younger students, and down to A below middle C to
E, a major twelfth above, for older students.

The most comfortable tessitura

for all students extends from E, a major third above middle C, to B, a perfect
fifth above.
Songs should be transposed to meet the individual needs and abilities of
students.

(The tonal syllables offer an excellent method for transposition.)

Because students develop an imagery for the beginning pitch of a song, the
necessity far transposing a song should be anticipated and accomplished before
students are taught the song for the first time.

The transposition process

should be explained to students only if they read music and if they understand
the theory of tonal notation.

The Teaching of a Rote Song

In order to sing a rote song correctly, students must hear the beginning
pitch as it relates to the tonality of the song, they must know what the tempo
of the song will be, and they must know when to start singing together.
When the teacher introduces a rote song, she should sing the song once or
more, _i_n enti rety

for the class.

As preparation for the class to sing the

song, the teacher should establish the tonality of the song for the students.
This is best done by singing "Do, Mi, So" for a song in major tonality, "La,
Do, Mi" for a song in minor tonality, ("Re, Fa, La" for a song in Dorian mode,
etcetera) or by playing the tonic arpeggio on a keyboard instrument.

Likewise,

tonality can be established by playing the tonic, dominant-seventh, and tonic

chord sequence on an autoharp, piano, guitar, or baritone ukulele in the major
or minor key of the song.
either sung or played.

Then the beginning pitch of the song should be

The teacher should establish the tempo of the song by

40.
thinking a measure or two of the song to herself.

Once the tempo is established,

the teacher should sing "Ready Sing" on the beginning pitch of the song at the
tempo in which the song will be sung.

If the song is in duple meter, "Ready

Sing" should be sung in the melodic rhythm of the "1 Ne 2" as illustrated
below.

If the song is in triple meter, "Ready Sing" should be sung in the

melodic rhythm of "1 Ni 2" as illustrated below.

SEA - 0* SlHG

wm

REA -py
0
0

SM&
0'

When the song is in unusual meter, the "Ready Sing" should be sung according to the rhythmic division of the first measure of the song and in addition,
the meter should be simultaneously clapped.
Of course, as students sing a song during the music period, they will become familiar with the tonality and tempo of the song and the above procedures
may be modified.

For example, a movement of the hand, head, or eyes may suffice.

Regardless if a song has a "pick-up" or not, "Ready Sing" is still apropos. Studnts will naturally sing the "pick-up" with Correct rhythm if they are aware (not
technically but aurally) of the fact that the song begins with a "pick up".
Other concepts can easily be established through the use of "Ready Sing" in
addition to tonality, beginning pitch, tempo, meter, and when to begin singing.

41.
For example, the dynamic level of the song can be given by singing "Ready Sing"
loud or soft; and the rhythmic style of the song can be given by singing
"Ready Sing" in a staccato or legato manner.
If, in the teacher's judgment, the text, the melody, or the rhythm of a
song is particularly difficult, each may be taught independently.

This may be

done in various ways by using words, tonal syllables, rhythm syllables, or

neutral syllables.

However, if the text or if the melody of a song is intro-

duced separately, it must be taught (or chanted) in the melodic rhythm of the
song or the students will experience difficulty with rhythm (they will generally
skip or add meter or tempo beats) when the song is taught in entirety.
Since students are prone to imitate the teacher to a great extent, it is
important that the teacher introduce the song as she wants it sung by students.
Tone quality and phrasing and to a lesser extent, pronunciation and enunciation, are important in this respect.

Further, the teacher should have the rote

song memorized so when presenting it to the class, she can make "eye contact"
with the students.

After students begin to sing the song, the teacher should

sing only when individuals or the class need help.

The teacher should walk

around the room, as the class sings, to identify and assist poor singers and to
aid students engaged in ancillary activities, such as playing rhythm instruments.
If a teacher feels that the range and tessitura of the song are too
extreme for her but not necessarily so for the class as a whole, she may transpose the song for her presentation and then Introduce the appropriate tonal+ty
and beginning pitch for the class when she gives "Ready Sing".

Generally, when

the teacher introduces a rote song, and when the class sings a rote song, the
tempo of a slower song generally slows and the tempo of a

faster song generally

42.

"rushes".

Precautions should be taken to guard against these problems.

As the class learns a rote song, errors will be made.

By and large, when

an error is made, the true difficulty occurs before the place where the actual
error was made.

The

teacher should not waste valuable time by stopping the

class and having the students start at the beginning of the song once again..
The class should sing the song again but first the song should be sung starting at the beginning of the phrase where the error was made though not sacrificing correct rhythm.

Once the phrase is sung correctly, then the whole song

may be sung again.

The Concept of Tonal Syllables and Tonal Patterns

Although there are only a few significant (frequently used) tonal syllable
patterns, they are more numerous than significant rhythm syllable patterns.
Often, a tonal pattern (in notational form) will comprise more than one rhythm
pattern.

Significant tonal syllable patterns are based on tonic, dominant, and

subdominant harmony in both major and minor. On the following page are significant tonal syllable patterns written in C major above and in A minor below.
Generally, tonal syllable patterns are from two to five notes in length;
it is practically impossible to establish tonality with only one pitch, and
difficult to remember and apply patterns with too many pitches. The more notes
a pattern contains, the fewer times that exact pattern can be found in another
piece of music.

For example, a complete scale should not be considered as a

rote tonal syllable pattern because an intact scale is rarely found in songs
children sing.
There are a variety of systems for teaching tonal reading readiness and
tonal reading.

However, tonal syllables appear to be superior for these

43.

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44.
purposes when compared to the most popular alternative which is the number
system.

In the number system, the numbers " 1 " through " 8 " are used Instead of

"Do, Re, Ml, Fa, So, La, Ti, and Do", respectively; the raised tonal syllable
accidentals are "Di, Ri, Fi, Si, and Li" and the corresponding enharmonic
lowered accidentals are "Ra, Me, Se, Le, and Te", respectively.
There are some major disadvantages to the number system.

First, there is

no provision for accidentals (sharps, flats, and naturals preceding pitches in

the score) as there is in the tonal syllable system; second, a minor scale must
be sung with the illogical number sequence of "6, 7, 8, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6" because " 2 " to "3" represents a major second In sound and the second and third
steps of a minor scale, of course, are separated by a minor second (a minor
scale is sung from "La" to "La" using tonal syllables); third, numbers end with
harsh vowel sounds or consonants in contrast to the tonal syllables which end
in soft vowels which are more conducive for producing good tone quality; fourth,
students (particularly young ones) encounter difficulty when they have to skip
numbers or sing numbers backwards, as dictated by melodic contour, because of
prior association with numbers (in contrast, students sing syllables with ease
because syllables are only associated with sound); fifth,

the number " 7 " is a

two-syllable word which creates rhythmic problems when it is sung and further,
other numbers include diphthongs which create problems when they are sung
(tonal syllables consist of monosyllables without diphthongs); and finally,
when melodies have a range greater than an octave, confusion arises because
students are not sure whether to sing " 2 " or "9", for example, but with the
tonal syllables, "Re", in this case, will be sung regardless.

In spite of

these limitations, numbers can and should be employed for explaining theoretical aspects of tonal notation.

45.
The major advantages of the tonal syllables are: first and foremost, once
a tonal pattern Is learned by rote, the relative pitch differences among notes
remain the same regardless of key or mode; second, easy transition can be made
to a relative major or minor key in a given song; third, key signatures for any
mode can be Interpreted through an understanding of the tonal syllables; fourth,
melodies written in modern melodic styles can be more easily read because C
will always be "Do"; and finally, the concept of transposition can be more
easily learned through the use of tonal syllables.
The letter name system (corresponding to the names of the lines and spaces
on the staff) and the solfeggio system (immovable "Do") are impractical because a given tonal pattern takes on different letters or syllables with a
change of key.

When a student learns the relative sound of the tonal pattern

"Do-Re-Mi", for example, he will recognize it and read it in any key or mode;
in comparison, the letter names or solfeggio syllables associated with a given
sound are different for

that same relative sound in every other key.

The pro-

cesses of transfer and generalization are even more.limited when the interval
system approach is used for tonal reading and reading readiness because, aside
from the fact that tonal patterns practica1ly consist of more than two pitches,
the ability to name an interval presupposes knowledge of note letter names and
scales.

In addition, singing the name of an interval introduces many complex

tonal and rhythm problems.

A major disadvantage which the tonal syllable system shares with some other
tonal reading approaches is that there are no syllables for a raised "Mi" or a
lowered "Do".

A common disadvantage shared by all systems is that a new rest-

ing tone must be sung if a song modulates.

Further, as a result of the

46.
historical development of tonal syllables, there is an inherent illogic in the
system.

That is, for the sake of consistency, "Re" should really be called

"Ra" (like "Fa" and "La")

and "Ra" should really be called "Re" (like "Te",

"Le", "Se", and " M e " ) .

The most frequently used accidentals, because of their function in modulations to nearly-related keys, are "Fi" and "Te".

The syllable "Si" will

also be frequently used because it is the raised seventh-step in a harmonic

minor scale.

It must be stressed that tonal syllables are named and sung as

accidentals according to sharps, flats, and naturals found in the musical score
and they do not correspond to sharps and flats given in the key signature.

Tonal Appreciation-Readiness
The ability to "speak" tonal syllable patterns (that is, the ability to
pronounce syllables) and the ability to sing in tune and "hear" tonal syllable
patterns (that is, the ability to associate relative sound among tones with
syllables) constitute the basic factors requisite for meaningful tonal "appreciation" (more directly, understanding); and these abilities also constitute
readiness for tonal reading.

As for rhythm appreciation-readiness, once the

rote abilities of "speaking", "hearing", and "singing" syllables are achieved,

the reading of tonal notation is easily accomplished through the process of
associating rote tonal syllable patterns with correlate notation.

Then after

reading is begun, writing Is easily taught as a means of improving reading and

also as a logical outcome of reading.

As a result, one's level of apprecia-

tion becomes commensurate with one's potential to appreciate.

able

That is, one Is

to utilize the musical aptitudes one possesses for the achievement of

music appreciation.

47.
Children of preschool age sing spontaneously in the natural minor mode and
in the Dorian mode.

However, when they enter school, students should

both major and minor rote songs concurrently.

learn

(Because song anthologies for

children have a paucity of minor music, it is not unusual to teach major songs
in parallel minor.)

Harmonic minor songs better establish the concept of minor

tonality; songs which are based on a half-step between the seventh and eighth
steps of a minor scale facilitate the development of the concept of tonality
because the distance between the seventh and eighth steps in a major scale is
also a half step.

Songs written in the nautral minor mode, in the less famil-

iar modes (Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, and Locrian), and songs
written in modern melodic styles are learned more easily after students have
developed a concept of the more traditional modes of major and minor.

The

development of an understanding of the "new" and "different" comes as a result

of comparison to

the "old" and "traditional".

After students establish a sense of major and minor tonality through singing a variety of major and minor rote songs, singificant tonal syllable patterns
which include all possible combinations only of "Do, Mi, So" and of "La, Do,Mi"
should be learned by rote.

Examples of these basic significant tonal aptterns,

derived from tonic major and minor harmony, have previously been given under
the heading The Concept of Tonal Syllables and Tonal Patterns along with the
more complex patterns.

(Students are familiar with tonal patterns at this

point if the tonal syllables were used as an aid in establishing tonality.)

Rote tonal syllable patterns should not be learned with melodic rhythm
even though they are extracted from specific songs.

If tonal syllable patterns

are learned with a specific melodic rhythm, application for reading purposes
becomes restricted because significant tonal patterns are not always found with

Sia^aVa^HHal

48.
the same melodic rhythm among different songs or In the same song, nor are
consecutively repeated pitches easily sung with syllables.

Tonal syllable pat-

terns might better be learned in the "rhythm" of the tempo beat.

In this way,

rote tonal syllable patterns can be applied for reading any song regardless of
the specific melodic rhythm found with the tonal pattern in a given song.

For

consecutively repeated pitches, only one syllable need be sung; generally, the
first of two or more consecutively repeated pitches will end a tonal pattern
and the next tonal pattern will be begun with the next different pitch.
In addition to rote songs and recorded music, tonal chants, echoes, dialogues, rounds, and part songs serve to establish a rote vocabulary of tonal
syllable patterns.

Also, rote tonal syllable patterns can be learned when the

teacher sings with a neutral syllable and students echo the tonal pattern with
correct tonal syllables.

Of course, a more complex task for students is one

in which the teacher only names (not sings) a tonal syllable pattern but students tonally reproduce the pattern with syllables.
After students have established a rote vocabulary of basic significant
tonal syllable patterns (combinations of "Do, Mi, So" and of "La, Do, M i " ) ,
they learn more complex significant tonal syllable patterns by rote which include all patterns, and parts and combinations of patterns, based upon major
and minor tonic, dominant, and subdominant harmony.

Examples of more complex

significant tonal syllable patterns, along with the more basic ones, have
previously been given under the heading The Concept of Tonal Syllables and
Tonal Patterns.

Tonal Reading and Writing

After students have established a rote vocabulary of the various combinations of tonic major and minor tonal syllable patterns, the reading of these

49.
basic significant patterns, J_n al 1 keys found in the books they are using, is
begun.

The concept that "Do" and "La" can be either on a line or on a space

of the staff, as directed by the key signature, is no more difficult for students to comprehend than the concept that music can have duple and triple rhythm patterns, as directed by either a 2 or a 6 in the upper part of the meter
si gnature.
As students read the basic significant tonal syllable patterns, they concurrently learn more complex significant tonal patterns (those which include all
patterns, and parts and combinations of patterns, based upon major and minor tonic,
dominant, and subdominant harmony) by rote and then later learn to also recognize
these patterns in notational

form.

The vocabulary of tonal syllable patterns is expanded in the same way that
words and phrases become part of the spoken and reading vocabulary.

Students

learn to recognize and read those non-significant tonal patterns which might
be based upon temporary modulations, uncommon modes, chromatic and whole-tone
scales, and non-tonal and polytonal music and which are not necessarily taught
to them by rote; this occurs by means of explanation, transference, and generalization in the same way that students learn new words and phrases in their
native language without formal instruction.

Other than a beginning with tonic

major and minor, there is no learning hierarchy of tonal patterns; patterns

are best learned in conjunction with literature students are currently performing and for review purposes, literature with which they are familiar.
Students do not learn to read tonal notation by singing the tonal syllables
or by naming the tonal syllables from the beginning through the end of a song.
Rather, they learn to read a tonal pattern as a phrase just as they read in
phrases in their spoken language.

Students learn to read tonal notation by

50.

establishing an association between tonal patterns in notational form and the

correlate tonal syllable patterns learned by rote.
within and between songs become obvious.

Repetitions and sequences

Songs should be sung in entirety

using the text, (not syllables) because students learn to hear tonal patterns
and connect them as phrases by "hearing" tonality (and "feeling" meter) as
they sing the words of the song.

Since both tonal syllables and rhythm syl-

lables cannot be used simultaneously, it is evident that students learn to

"think" both rhythm and tonal phrases through notation as they sing the words
of the song.
a tonal

After students have learned and relearned if necessary, to read

pattern, tonal syllables should be systematically abandoned for that

pattern.

Tonal syllables serve only as a basic means for learning to read

tonal patterns and they do not represent an end in themselves.

Before being introduced to the actual reading of significant tonal patterns,
students learn that if "Do" is on a line, then "Mi" will be on the first line
above "Oo", and "So" will be on the second line above "Do"; and if "Do" is on
a space, then "Mi" will be on the first space above "Do" and "So" will be on
the second space above "Do".

If "Do" is on a space, low "So" will be two lines

below "Do" and if "Do" is on a line, low "So" will be two spaces below "Do".
This visual representation also applies to other syllables in relationship to
"Do".

Of course, the same logic pertaining to visual resprsentation in major

also applies for minor.

That is, if "La" is on a line, then "Do" will be on

the first line above "La", and "Mi" will be on the second line above "La"}
and if "La" is on a space, then "Do" will be on the first space above "La", and
"Mi" will be two spaces above "La".

If "La" is on a line, low "Ml" will be two

spaces below "La", and if "La" Is on a space, low "Mi" will be two tines below
"La".

51.
Students solidify the "line-space" concept when the teacher uses her hand,
stretched out with fingers apart, and thumb bent to represent a staff.

The

fingers and the thumb represent the lines of the staff and the spaces between
the fingers and the thumb represent the spaces of the staff.

Then, any spe-

cific finger or space between the fingers can represent "Do" or "La".

Using

the other hand, the teacher can point to the various "lines and spaces" and
have the students sing tonal patterns with tonal syllables.

In this way,

students quickly learn the visual relationships among tonal syllables as found
in actual notation and more important, they learn the concept of the "Movable
Do' System".
As different key

signatures are encountered, students learn the name of

the key and where "Do" or "La" can be found on the staff.

Through repetition,

students wilt learn the names of most, if not all, lines and spaces associated
with the G clef, and later with the F clef; and, of course, they also learn
the names of many key signatures.

Given proper tonal reading readiness, stu-

dents can adequately read tonal patterns using syllables without formally being
taught the letter names of lines and spaces or key si gnatures, or the order of
sharps or flats as they appear in the key signature.
Once students begin to learn how to read tonal patterns, they also learn
to write corresponding tonal patterns.

It is important that students learn to

write a melody, not only for furthering their appreciation of music, but more
particularly, for the continued and expanded development of their reading
ability.

Generally speaking, those who can write, read better than those who

cannot write.
Tonal notation should not be learned in an isolated way: that Is, penmanship should be considered subordinate to the ability to correctly represent

52.
tonal syllable patterns.

The latter ability presupposes the former; and the

former will be developed by the latter.

Students may write tonal patterns

sung to them with tonal syllables or with neutral syllables, or performed for
them on a melody instrument or on a tape recording.

Students may also write

patterns in the C clef and the F clef, which are part of familiar songs or
specific responses to echo and dialogue chants.

The Theory of Tonal Notation

Key signatures are a function of scales upon which the tonality of a
melody is based.

That is, the purpose of a key signature is to raise or lower

specific pitches (except, of course, for the keys of C major and A minor) so
that a series of tones will combine into a specific sequence and therefore give
rise to a particular tonality because one of the pitches becomes a tonic or
resting note.

For example, a melody will be based on major tonality only if

there are half-steps between the third and fourth tones and the seventh and
eighth tones of the scale and if the remaining tones are separated by wholesteps.

Likewise, a melody will be based on natural minor tonality if there

are ha If-steps between the second and third tones and the fifth and sixth tones
of the scale and if the remaining tones are separated by whole-steps.

Melodies

based on harmonic minor, melodic minor, gypsy minor, pentatonic major or minor,
and the more uncommon modes have similar relevance to scales and key signatures.

Because both the chromatic scale and the whole-tone scale are theo-

retical scales, key signatures and the concept of tonality are not traditionally
learned in conjunction with patterns based on these scales.

Tonality is de-

veloped by a sequence of pitches which generally contains more than one type
of interval.

A chromatic scale consists only of half-steps and a whole-tone

scale consists only of whole-steps.

53.
A key signature does not, in and of itself, indicate either
tonality.

major or minor

Generally speaking, a song in major tonality ends on "Do" and a

song in minor tonality ends on "La".

For the Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixo-

lydian, and Locrian modes, the last note of the song will be "Re", "Mi", "Fa",
"So", and "Ti", respectively.

The Dorian and Phrygian modes have a minor

"flavor" and the Lydian and Mixolydian modes have a major "Flavor".
the rare Locrian mode suggests a rather ambiguous tonality.

At best,

Of course, in the

final analysis, melodic contour and harmonic accompaniment will influence the
recognition of a piece of music as being modal or either major or minor.
Students easily learn that for key signatures with sharps, "Do" is a
step above the last sharp in the signature, and for key signatures with flats,
the second-last flat is "Do" (regardless of major or minor tonality).

For the

key of one flat, F is "Do" and, of course, C is always "Do" when there are
neither sharps nor flats in the key signature.

"Do" will be on the same degree

of the staff and consequently, "La" will be on the same degree of the staff
regardless of major or minor tonality.
Students should learn theoretical concepts associated with tonal notation,
after they have developed facility in tonal reading because they will undoubtedly
discover some tonal patterns, particularly non-significant ones, for which they
may not have necessarily been taught correlate rote tonal syllables.
Key signature names and note letter names should not be memorized in isolation; these technical
manner.

facts should be learned in a practical and interesting

For example, students might write a tonal pattern without a key sig-

nature but insert accidentals in the score, read or write a familiar tonal
pattern using a familiar but different key signature, or notate a familiar

54.
major tonal pattern in minor, or vice versa.

Also a tonal pattern, sung or

performed on an instrument, can be written with an unfamiliar key signature.

Tonal echo and dialogue responses are excellent for these purposes.
students may write a melody suggested by house

Finally,

numbers, telephone numbers, or

license plate numbers in a variety of key signatures and modes.

The fact that there are some notes (pitches) and key signatures which
sound the same but are written differently may sound silly but need not be
disturbing.

Musical notation, like all symbolic language has developed over

a span of time and as a result, inconsistencies have occurred.

The archaic

system of enharmonics will be better understood when students learn that although there are only twelve notes (ascending or descending) in the chromatic
scale, there are fifteen possible key signatures.
Finally, four relatively minor points might be mentioned.

First, the stems

of notes go up, from the right side, if the note is on the second space of the
staff or below, and the stems of notes go down, from the left side, if the note
is on the third space of the staff or above.

The stem of a note on the third

line of the staff will generally go in the same direction as that of the note
which immediately follows.

Second, the decision to use, enharmonically, a

sharp or a flat (in notation and with syllables) will be determined by the note
immediately following the note with which the accidental is used.

When the

following note ascends or descends, a sharp or a flat should be used, respectively.

Third, although, we say "C'sharp", for example, that pitch is written

on the staff as "sharp C": (#C).

Fourth, the G clef (more commonly called the

treble clef) is called a G clef because the line on the staff is always G that
the curlicue of the clef circles.

Likewise, the line between the two dots of

55.
the F clef (more commonly called the bass clef) will always be F.

The arrow

of the C clef (more commonly called the alto or tenor clef) will always point
to a line that wi1 I be C.

56.
HARMONY
The Development of Part Singing
The ability to sing part songs is dependent upon the development of tonal
and rhythm concepts.

It should be emphasized that although an understanding of

rhythm is of the utmost importance for achievement in part singing, students

most certainly will not learn to sing part songs in tune if they cannot sing
unison songs in tune.
In order to read harmony, experience with part songs and "chording" instruments is requisite so that students may learn to associate what they hear
with what they see.

Harmonic reading constitutes the ability to "hear" the

interaction of the various parts seen and to "understand" the harmonic function of the printed

chord symbols.

When singing in parts, more than one starting pitch may be identified before the teacher gives "Ready Sing".

If part songs need to be taught by rote,

students should t e a m the subordinate parts before they are taught the upper
part.

For two-part songs, the bottom part should be learned first and for three-

part songs, the middle part should be learned first.

Students experience dif-

ficulty in learning subordinate parts after they have been taught the melody
but conversely, they learn subordinate parts comparatively easily when taught
first.

The majority of students should sing the subordinate part or parts

(with just a few singing the melody) when the class is learning to sing all parts
together.

Ideally, when teaching a part song by rote, students should initially

hear all parts sung simultaneously; this may be accomplished through the use of
a record, instruments, or by the teacher singing with more able students.

For

purposes of enhancing the sense of tonality, a "chording" instrument should be

used for the initial introduction of a part song, especially if parts must be
introduced individually.

57.
Students' voices should not be labeled as soprano, alto, tenor, or bass
for two reasons.

First, basically a soprano voice differs from an alto voice,

for example, in quality and to a lesser extent in singing range.

Because voice

quality is a result of physical maturity beyond that of elementary school students, all students of elementary school age possess similar voice quality and
most, if not all students in the intermediate grades possess a similar singing
voice range and tessitura.

Second, if a student is called a soprano, for

example, generally that student will always be asked to sing the same part.
When a student systematically sings the same part, the development of a sense
of harmony is limited because of a lack of experience with other parts.

If a

student continually sings the same part, the development of his singing range
becomes restricted to that range in which the particular part is generally
written.

A class should be divided

into a top section and a bottom section

if they are singing two-part songs, or a top, middle, and bottom section if
they are singing three-part songs.

Then each section should be given the

opportunity to sing each part of the song in turn.

Generally, two-part singing is introduced in late fourth grade and in the
fifth grade, and three-part singing is introduced in late fifth grade and in
the sixth grade.

However, appropriate introductory part singing techniques

may be used in any grade as a transition from unison singing to part singing.
Echo songs and dialogue songs serve as excellent introductory part singing
techniques and they may be introduced beginning in kindergarten and first
grade.

Singing in parts demands concentration and the ability to listen to

others sing; the use of echo songs and dialogue songs help develop this ability.
Rounds and chants may be used as an introduction to part singing in second

58.
grade and in third grade because they help condition students to sing while
they are simultaneously listening to a part which is comparably melodious;
descants and counter-melodies serve this same function and they may be introduced in third grade.

Younger children find rounds which comprise sections

with dissimilar melodic contour much easier to learn.

Tonal syllable rounds,

rhythm syllable rounds, and rhythm instrument rounds may also be introduced
in the lower grades.

Simultaneous-dialogue songs and "partner" songs may be

introduced in third grade and fourth grade to serve, among other things, as
an introduction to part singing.

The Development of Harmonic Concepts

The singing of triads and counterpoint with syllables, and "chording"
on an instrument provide an excellent introduction to part singing.
tion, these activities are helpful for developing a sense of harmony.

In addiTo sing

triads, the class should be divided into three sections and each section
should sing a specific pitch for a given triad.
various occasions, sing each part.)

(Each section should, on

The tonic, subdominant, and dominant-

seventh triads, illustrated below in major and minor, can be sung with tonal

I I '47 I
I ff T

59.
syllables (or words or neutral syllables) in accompaniment to the melody of a
song which might be sung by the teacher or a small ensemble of students.
(For purposes of stressing tonality, the tonic triad should always be performed in root position as Illustrated.)
The teacher or individual students can Indicate harmonic progressions to
the class by holding up one, four, or five fingers.
interpreted directly from the musical score.

Or chord symbols may be

In this case, the relationships

between Roman numerals (I, IV, V ) and correlate symbols (C, F, G ) for
example, should be explained to the class so that triads may be sung in any
key for both the major and minor modes.

As the class develops facility with

songs which are comprised of only two and three triads, songs which comprise
other common triads (such as secondary dominants) may be introduced.

Contra-

puntal singing with syllables is easily accomplished by dividing the class

into sections and then indicating to each section which syllable should be
sung.

(A convenient way to do this is to use the hand as a staff, as dis

cussed previously; special finger signs can be used for accidentals.)

As one

section is singing, the other sections sustain the last syllable of the last
contrapuntal tonal pattern they sang.
In addition to singing triads and counterpoint, students should learn to
play a "chording" instrument such as an autoharp, baritone ukulele, or a guitar for the development of harmonic concepts.

Through these activities,

harmonic reading readiness for interpreting actual written harmony and chord
symbols and numerals, is developed.
introduced.

Then, improvisational techniques can be

60.
It is important that students become familiar with harmony which goes
beyond "traditional" concepts.

This can be partially accomplished through the

use of music in which sixths, ninths, augmented elevenths, and added thirteenths,
for example, are utilized.

Concepts of "modern" harmony are best taught through

the use of part songs which are contrapuntal in nature.

Familiarity and fa-

cility with contrapuntal songs, in which implied harmony interacts with rhythm,
should be emphasized for the development of a functional understanding of music
which students hear, and will hear even more, in the future.

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