Christina Fackler MUSE 258 Sound Connections: A Comprehensive Approach to Teaching Music Literacy 2010 Chapter 8: Developing Melodic

Literacy Don P. Ester Rhythm and tonal are processed in separate regions of the brain Students must master foundational vocabulary to put the two together

Melodic Reading Vocab is prerequisite knowledge Lessons begin with targeted review Melodic reading lesson o Read selected prerequisite tonal and rhythm exercises o Guided preview of the focus exercise o Audiated practice reading of the focus exercise o Vocalized reading of the focus exercise o Follow-up discussion regarding level of success o Reading of the focus exercise at one or more different pitch levels o Introductory Melodic Reading lesson Progressing Through the Master Instructional Sequence o Encourage independence for audiation by themselves o Provide tonal center o Use buffering to read in chunks o Students should be synthesizing the rhythm and tonal patterns o Only on neutral syllable Introducing Additional Notation Symbols o Best introduced when seen in literature o Can be helpful to add to reading exercises o Transparencies makes adding easy Applying Reading Skills to Performance Literature o Encourage sight-singing their literature o Always select one piece that is readable o Sing parts alone and then combine Melodic Notating Requires synthesizing rhythm and tonal Use echo-translating to connect sound to symbol Dual echo translation o Ability to echo-translate a melodic pattern Introductory Melodic Notating Lesson (melodic notation worksheet) Allow time to grasp this concept Instructional sequence for Melodic Notating Lessons o Prepare/provide Melodic Notation Worksheet o Read familiar melodic patterns using the targeted rhythm and tonal vocal

o Establish meter and tonality: on neutral syllable o Students complete the dual echo-translation o Students notate the melody based on their translation Open note head then adding rhythmic notation o Repeat the presentation as needed o Students read from their notation Discuss questions o Present the proper notation Students read again Discuss o Begin with examples that start and end on tonic o Success dependent on length and number of presentations o Once there is one success, the students will begin to improve rapidly o Guide the students to notate melodies without the benefit of a preestablished metric and tonal context Improvising and Composing Melodic Patterns Anchor tones are matched with common rhythm patterns What pitches occur and important metrical points? Matching appropriate chords to these pitches Melodic Improvisation Trading twos: alternate improvising two-measure patterns More extensive vocab because aura is ahead of notation Melodic Composition Direct outgrowth of improvisation Can include almost all of the standards This chapter was very helpful. I had no idea how to approach melodic reading but this chapter really cleared that up for me. The emphasis on improvising and composing is really great. Notation gets pushed to the back burner a lot of the time but it is so helpful for reinforcing the content.