The Importance Of Reading And Writing In The Context Of Music

Music is not music without reading and writing. I am not speaking of reading and writing English, rather I am speaking of reading and writing musical notation. The real importance of reading and writing in the context of music has to do with actually learning the language that is music. This might mean learning how notes relate to a staff, or possibly how an audio clip fits best in your garageband composition, or maybe even how a 7th chord can put a whole new twist on a Sara Bareilles song (if you do not recognize the name, do yourself a favor and youtube her...I will take this opportunity to apologize for your lost night. It’s worth it.) Reading and writing are integral to the creative process in music. If you can read music, you can be inspired …show more content…
He recognizes the fact that students can learn things by ear, make up small tunes, and even begin to harmonize all without reading music, but they cannot translate those ideas and communicate them properly if they cannot read and write the language they are speaking. Recognizing musical patterns is also an essential part of music education. Recognizing two eighth notes followed by three quarter notes is like learning to read a word in english. You do not learn by building it one letter at a time, you learn by seeing the word and recognizing what how the letter sounds behave in various contexts. Music uses the pattern recognition as well. Gordon says it best when he notes that “Emphasis on tonal patterns and rhythm patterns rather than individual pitch letter-names and time-value names is significant in music learnign theory” (Gordon, …show more content…
These technologies are allowing for greater exploration to the degree that students can become composers at younger and younger ages. This plays into the idea of not encouraging societal replication, but instead encouraging societal reconstruction. Technology gives young students a venue through which they can explore the different facets of music. For instance, the New York Philharmonic Kidzone website is an interactive tool that allows students to explore everything from different instruments, to well known composers. Other tools include the Tonalenergy Tuner app. It is an app that allows students to tune themselves, record themselves, and analyze the sound patterns of their voices or external instruments. How does this technology help with reading and writing music? These technological tools allow students to front load prior to learning new vocal techniques, learnign the different sections of the orchestra,learning the concept of a steady tone, or any number of things. Literacy is based not just on one’s ability to read and write, but to