Posts Tagged ‘music mind games’

Music for the Mind

Saturday, March 6th, 2010

Shameless self-promotion commencing in 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . .

If you or someone you love might be interested in learning to read music, ever, there is no better place to start than with Music Mind Games.  They’re a series of interactive, cooperative teaching tools that enables anyone to teach or learn the basics of music theory in a completely painless and fun way.

I’m currently writing a series of posts at the Music Mind Games website about how to use the materials in the Puppy Packet, which I require that all of my students purchase as part of the program.  The materials are versatile, well-designed and gorgeous, but there are so many that it can be overwhelming trying to figure out where to begin.  I haven’t been cross-publishing each entry here because they are awfully specialized, but if you know any musicians or music teachers, feel free to pass it on!  And, of course, there are little glimpses into my teaching philosophy along the way:

Yesterday I told one of my students, “You’re a much better reader than I was at your age.”  It was the understatement of the year: at his age, I was hiding my books and wailing about how much I hated reading music.  He’d just played a round of Slap the C’s, D’s and B’s (yes, simultaneously!) and gotten 17 out of 18 right, all the while cracking jokes and carrying on a conversation with his father.

Every teacher should have the gift of a student who reaches higher than she ever could.  It gives you the feeling that somehow, the world really is getting to be a better place.

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A Year of MMG: Getting Started

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010

The first time I saw Music Mind Games being taught was in one of Michiko’s group classes.  I marveled at the way the children interacted with each other, sharing materials, teaching each other and generally having a great time playing together.

For many reasons, however, such a scenario is not possible for all of us.  I teach out of my living room, where the rug seats only 3 or 4 people.  My students come from all different directions and distances, and most have so many other commitments that I’ve never been able to successfully “sell” the group lesson concept.

So, how do I use Music Mind Games?  As part of my private lessons.  At the end of each 30- or 45-minute lesson, I take a few minutes to play a game with my students.  If they’ve brought friends or siblings, they’re invited to play too (I’ve gotten lots of new students this way!)  The focus, of course, is on the student, making sure he gets a good balance of review, new material and plain old fun.

For years, I simply grabbed something from my stack and went to town, not worrying about how long it had been since my students had seen it.  This is a great way to start, but over time I found there were certain things I gravitated toward, resulting in an unbalanced repertoire of games and a learning plateau for my brightest students.

Several years ago, I hit on the idea of focusing on one set of materials per month.  This corresponds roughly to the Puppy Packet of materials, though there are a couple of sets from previous incarnations of Music Mind Games.  There are nine months in the school year (my lessons are more relaxed during the summer,) so here’s how I divided them:

  1. Alphabet Cards
  2. Blue Jello Cards
  3. Staff Slates & Grand Staff Cards
  4. Tempo Cards
  5. Music Symbol Cards
  6. Notes & Rests Cards
  7. Rhythm Playing Cards
  8. Staff Slates & Do-Re-Mi Cards
  9. Real Rhythm Cards

The order isn’t necessarily important, though I do feel pretty strongly about the first three — they’re very accessible for new students and loads of fun to review.

Last spring, Michiko was asking me about how I used her materials in my studio.  When I explained, she suggested spending two weeks on each set rather than one month.  This would ensure that each student saw each set of materials several times over the course of a year.  I’ve tried that this year, and it’s worked even better!

In the next few posts, I’ll write about what I do with each set of materials.  One more very important thing first, though: I strongly recommend each student have his or her own Puppy Packet.  Here’s why:

  • People value something more highly if it belongs to them.  For a student, that means “it’s mine!”  For a parent, it means, “I paid for it!” This accomplishes both; the student will enjoy showing it off, while the parent will want to see it used often.
  • There is an incredible sense of wonder and excitement that’s created when someone opens a package for the first time.  They want to take their time unwrapping it and examine every little piece.  The Puppy Packet is wonderfully designed for maximum enjoyment in that respect — colorful Magic Notes, Plastic bands, cards and a see-through box are enticing and mesmerizing to children.  And, in my experience, to teenagers and adults too!
  • As a teacher, you’ll get more bang for your buck: by assigning “homework” (which should really be renamed “homefun” in this case) you can ensure the students are getting more exposure and practice than the few minutes you’re spending with them each week.  Think of your lesson as the teaser trailer for the feature film — the fun they’ll have exploring the games at home.

How you do it is up to you: you can include the cost in the tuition of lessons or ask parents to purchase on their own.  Just be sure each student can claim ownership of her own little box of magic.  You will be so glad you did!

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La Terroir

Saturday, October 31st, 2009

Last week I found myself struggling to teach the first bars of “Unchained Melody” to a father who wanted to learn to play.  His daughter continued her own lesson on the floor, playing a memory game by herself; we heard her trying out the pronunciation of “fortissimo” as she turned the card over in her hand, tracing the italic f’s softly, an introduction to a new world of sound.

Meanwhile, her father was cautious, bashful, but eager to work.  As we finished, his hands trembling from the effort, he breathed a sigh of relief.  “This is so hard!” he exclaimed. “It’s like learning another language!”

I told him he was right, explained the similarity: when you read something out loud, you don’t read each word individually; your eyes scan the page and give your brain a few moments’ warning before your mouth actually needs to form the words.  Reading music is the same, but there are numerous systems of denotation: tone, rhythm, pitch and expression all intersect in one glorious symphony of Unchained bliss.

He shook his head.  “It’s like taking a Spanish class or something.”

I laughed.  “I can’t help you with Spanish,” I said ruefully.  “I took French instead.  I probably should have taken Spanish.”  It was a lie of which I am ashamed: in truth, I am proud to know a language and culture as lovely as French, even at the expense of something far more practical.  The language itself can move me to tears, as it did once in a Solemn Mass at Sacre-Coeur or in the husky outpourings of Carla Bruni — so much so that reading it during Agape Vespers is difficult.  Even the word emouvant, moving, is far richer a concept in French than in English.

Rod Dreher wrote very beautifully yesterday about terroir, another French word that can’t easily be translated.  As I read his words (tres emouvant) I thought about my own terroir.  Here are the basic elements:

Books. I’m sitting next to a huge shelf of them.  This is a laptop, so I could be anywhere, such as in my bed upstairs, where Rob and my comforter are nestled in a warm, fluffy pile.  But if I leave this room, I won’t be able to grab something I need from one of my color-coordinated shelves, and that’s too much of a risk when I’m

Writing. It is the focus and bane of my existence.  I love it.  I hate it.  I’m good at it.  I suck at it.  These thoughts follow me throughout the day.  I cannot lose them, but I cannot stop, either.  For now, I’m here.

Maia. About five minutes ago  she moved from her perch beside my head, wedging herself into my lap in front of the keyboard.  I have to type haltingly, a few precious letters at a time, to avoid disturbing her.  But I do it, because a warm, fluffy kitty is even better than the warm, fluffy comforter upstairs.  Few people ever see this side of my snobby Siamese diva, but that makes it all the more precious to me.

Pain. She is digging her claws into my lap in ecstasy, and I am protected by only a single layer.  The pain is worth it.  It is my experience that this is true more often than not.

Pajamas. Covered with cat hair.  And my own hair is a mess, half-damp from my shower and uncombed.  But it’s my terroir.  And six days a week I get up early to put on a Catholic schoolteacher’s uniform, so today I get to languish a little in comfort with

Mexican Cocoa. Raw milk, heated just enough.  Sucanat.  Cocoa, cinnamon and a pinch of cayenne to stop my cough (the remnants of what I think is probably a developing mold allergy.)  It goes very well with

Mexican Gangsta Rap. Didn’t expect that, did you?  But it’s pouring out of the car across the street, and in spite of myself, I’m enjoying the beat.  It’s my terroir, but it’s not my world.

Music. Currently from Rob, who is now awake and drifting from David Bowie to Colin Hay and the Cars.  Snatches of his guitar drift downward, as does his strong, gorgeous voice.  Few people see this side of him; he doesn’t like to perform, unlike his fearless and choleric wife.  But hearing him strum away upstairs is one of the great joys of my life.

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Resurrecting the Fallen

Thursday, July 30th, 2009

Writing is a tough business.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had someone approach me about writing for them and still not gotten the thing published.  Sometimes they’re too busy to edit it.  Sometimes the managerial staff changes.  Sometimes there’s no explanation; they just drop off the face of the earth, or at least the face of e-mails and phone calls.

And sometimes the publication goes out of business, which is what happened when Topic Magazine asked for a submission about Music Mind Games.  You’ve heard me plug MMG here before, and I know I will again: it’s the best way to teach kids to read music, period.

Anyway, it occurred to me the other day that I now have my own forum to publish whatever I want, and I won’t blow myself off or refuse to answer my e-mails.  So, enjoy!

Playing Right Into Their Hands:

How Games Help Kids Become Better Musicians

Think back, for a moment, to the way you learned to read.  In all likelihood, it began the moment you were born, when you were surrounded by cooing voices that issued from adoring, blurry faces.  Other humans spoke to you constantly until you learned to speak yourself, bungling your first pronunciations to the delight of everyone around you.  Your friends and family read you books, and sometimes they’d point at key words on each page: “ball,” “cat,” “mommy.”  You learned to speak in short words and phrases, each memorized for the effect they had on others (Remember what fun “no” could be?)  You began school, and your teachers made signs for everyday objects: “door,” “desk,” “goldfish.”  Gradually, slowly, you began to understand the way these sounds and symbols worked collectively, and you pieced together a language of communication.

It would have been absurd, on your first day of life, if your parents had placed a book in front of you and expected you to learn how to communicate.  As the black print swam on a white page before your eyes, you probably would have burst into tears (and not just because you were hungry.)  Yet for most music students, their introduction to reading is just that harsh.  Up goes the theory book; intimidating black notes stare out at them, and they try to make some sense of the signs, symbols and words that must all translate into artful, passionate sound.

My students are lucky.  By the time they see their first theory book, they have the tools to break down a line of music into something more easily digestible.  They have traced the treble and bass clefs with tiny fingers and placed them on the staff, paying careful attention to the way the dots of the bass clef sit on either side of the F line.  They have dropped colorful plastic dots onto a staff, calling out gleefully, “Space!  Line!” as the notes land in their places, and collected them with a “magic” magnetic wand.  They have curled up into tiny balls on the floor, whispering “pianissimo” amid stifled giggles, and gradually stood as their voices swelled: “mezzo forte . . . forte . . . FORTISSIMO!”  On this last one, they leap wildly into the air, acting out the dynamics with their whole bodies.  They have practiced rhythms with fun, silly words like “pineapple” and “gooseberry,” forming abstracted shapes with their fingers as they learn to keep a steady pulse while they repeat the words. So, when they see a piece of “real music” for the first time, they’re ready, and even eager, to put this knowledge to good use.
Students of Music Mind Games don’t just read music; they absorb it.  They act it out, sign it, speak it, and play it – and this last verb most accurately describes their state of mind as they learn some of the most difficult and complex musical concepts in existence.  For them, it’s all a game.

(Read the rest below.)

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Suzuki Sunday: Music Mind Games

Sunday, February 22nd, 2009

Whenever I tell someone I’m a Suzuki teacher, the inevitable question follows: “But don’t you think it’s important for musicians to learn to read?”

I try not to roll my eyes when I hear this.  Of course it’s important!  I wouldn’t advise any aspiring musician to learn only by ear.  The fact is, though, that many of my students begin very early, aged 2-5.  At these ages, they are often not reading their first language yet, so to try to teach them to read music would be foolish.  In the case of older students, I like to give them a period of six months to a year to get established in my studio before I give them a separate music book besides the one for their repertoire.

I have a secret, though: I trick my students into learning to read music from their very first lessons.  My secret is a wonderful set of materials called Music Mind Games, developed by my good friend and colleague Michiko Yurko.  They focus on just one area of music reading, like interval recognition or rhythm accuracy, and they teach through interactive, cooperative games that are just loads of fun.  I often say [half-] jokingly that if it weren’t for the games we play at lessons, I wouldn’t have any students at all.  And I confide in the parents that I occasionally feel guilty for “tricking” them into learning; they are having so much fun that they don’t realize they’ve been taught, analyzed and assessed in the same ten-minute span.

Below: A guide to the Music Mind Games website, plus a warning about an extremely addictive game for online musicians!

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