This is my little sister CJ playing piano. She is 9 years old. Literacy in this photo is evident in the fact that she is indeed reading music while playing. However, literacy is also evident in the fact that she is listening to herself. She told me she can remember that she forgot to put the pedal on in the last two measures and she is able to point out her hardest measure and tell me how she is going to practice it. Music, to me, is the ultimate multi-tasking activity. They need to read the conductor (if there is one), read music (in the staff and the details that are around the staff, for instance, CJ forgot to read below the staff that the pedal should be put on in the last two measures) and it also includes listening to what you have played or evening listening to something that is in your head before you play so that when you do play it it is exactly how you imagined it. Music requires students to be literate in a completely different language, and practicing, just like CJ, makes a more literate person.
Super interesting!
ReplyDeleteI had never really thought about the fact that music is a language with so many different aspects to it. Listening, playing, reading and watching a conductor is a ton of multitasking- this makes me be even more amazed that people are able to be so gifted musically.
It also draws parallels to French, for me. Phonetics are as big a part of the language as reading or writing. The French language is very musical and tones, pitches and inflections matter as much as regular old pronunciation.
I'm really glad you're in our class because I'm very interested in all that you will bring to the table music-wise in relation to literacy!