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Re: Danny Boy

Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2019-04-26 22:01

Fuzzy wrote:

> However, I never could efficiently learn scales from notes
> written on paper. Don't know what my block was. As soon as I
> put the paper aside, it was much easier for me to understand
> the scales, and they didn't intimidate me anymore.
>

I actually agree with you. I don't generally teach scales from print to young or even intermediate students. First comes the concept that a scale includes one of every "letter name" (staff degree) then the key signature needs to be applied to tell the student which letter names need to be sharped or flatted. Then they practice the scale - by ear and by applying those two basic structural principles - until they're comfortable with the finger pattern.

One thing that results is, I think, that they learn the sound to expect much faster and therefore they're able to hear their own mistakes, which is essential to practicing and learning almost anything.

"Learning" scales from a printed page invites some learners to recite the scales mechanically with no thought given to what they're doing or to the sound that's coming out.

When the key signature is given followed by a series of ascending and descending notes, they're not seeing anything different from the aural approach - one of each staff degree to which they have to remember to apply the chromatic changes. They may as well ditch the print entirely, as you did.

When the chromatics are printed with the notes, as they are in the Klose circle of fifths exercise, the process can be even more mindless as some students just read note to note with no attention to the structure, which makes "memorizing" them even harder for many students.

Of course, as a teacher, my priority - most of my overall function - is to help the student find his or her best learning mode. Printed scale sheets can be a guide that helps some learners, but they can for many be distracting crutches that are never fully discarded.

Karl

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2019-04-26 01:54