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Praise for Giving Voice to Children’s
Artistry
This uniquely refreshing book offers meaningful perspectives into not just music teaching but something much more significant— cultivating children’s artistry. Mary Ellen Pinzino’s thoughtful insights and approaches, particularly to repertoire and teaching strategies, are certainly a major contribution to our profession! Wish this book had been available before I retired—it would have been a required text in both my undergraduate and graduate courses! In particular, Pinzino’s “Song Architecture” is a unique and thoughtful approach to repertoire.
Joanne Rutkowski, Professor Emeritus of Music Education, The Pennsylvania State University
I highly recommend this book for use in the music classroom, children’s chorus, and training future music educators. The text is well laid out to enable sequential teaching and learning, and is compatible with the approaches of Orff, Kodaly, Dalcroze, and Gordon. There are many creative examples of teaching unusual rhythms and modal melodies that enhance musicianship of all ages, challenging students and teachers alike. The thoughtful texts and lovely melodies offer rich music learning resources and opportunities for all!
Patricia Wurst Cichy, Assistant Professor of Music Education (retired), Providence College
Perhaps the most salient aspect of this beautifully written book is the unwavering respect Mary Ellen Pinzino shows for the musical artistry of every child. The music educator who takes to heart the principles of learning embedded within this book will be joyfully rewarded.They will discover that the adult impulse to “think in words” can be safely set aside as the musical artistry of each child is allowed to emerge. In so doing, the teacher may uncover aspects of their own inherent musicality.To me, this book was reminiscent of the profound respect for the child-as-musician evident in the work of Shinichi Suzuki and Émile Jaques-Dalcroze. The joy and wonder of music learning resonates on every page. The essential need to nurture the child’s capacity to “think in music” resonates in every chapter. An exquisite gem.
Roseanne Rosenthal, President,VanderCook College of Music
Approaching music teaching and learning through the portal of artistry is a desperately needed approach in teaching children. Using proven
principles of Music Learning developed by Edwin Gordon that truly integrates music skill and long-term musical growth makes this a landmark publication. The realization that artistry begins and is fostered within the spirit of a child is, perhaps, the only place from which music can have a voice of honesty. In this book artistic spirit and the psychology of music learning become true partners.
James Jordan, Professor, Westminster Choir College; Co-Director, The Choral Institute at Oxford
Mary Ellen Pinzino has captured the essence of children’s inherent musical artistry, celebrating its wonder and splendor. She guides and empowers readers to trust, nurture, and revel in the exquisite beauty of children’s musicality as they inspire children’s artistic spirits to flourish.
Suzanne L. Burton, Associate Dean for the Arts, University of Delaware
Packed with common sense suggestions for developing musical artistry, Mary Ellen Pinzino effectively engages the reader’s thinking and musical minds. Readers will be inspired to reflect on their instructional practices and engage personally with the musical exercises carefully sequenced throughout this book.
Alden H. Snell II, Associate Professor of Music Teaching and Learning, Eastman School of Music
My journey through Mary Ellen Pinzino’s book has been invaluable and inspiring! Guided by her knowledgeable and encouraging voice, I have discovered the joy of unleashing children’s artistry in both my general music classrooms and my choral rehearsals. Her songs are unique and delightful gems that evoke artistry and enthusiasm from teacher and students alike. Her compiled revelations gained through decades of teaching and conducting are absolute gold!
Renee Vande Wege, Music Teacher and Choral Director, Rockford Michigan Public Schools
Mary Ellen Pinzino offers a proven and pragmatic approach for all music teachers to help surface and deepen children’s musical minds. At its core, this is a book about an essential but often ignored pre-requisite for the artistry of leadership.
Harry L. Davis, Distinguished Service Professor, Harry L. Davis Center for Leadership, University of Chicago
Mary Ellen Pinzino has authored an excellent guide for the development of “children’s artistry.”This book is a welcome resource for music teachers and those aspiring to engage students in artistry through experience.
G. David Peters, Professor (retired), Music and Arts Technology, Indiana University—IUPUI
Special Collections Library of Wellesley College: Song texts: Figure 3.29 “May Night,” 6.2 “Night,” 7.9 “Autumn Dusk,” 7.17 “The Falling Star.”Words by Sara Teasdale reprinted with permission of Macmillan Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division, from STARS TO-NIGHT by Sara Teasdale. Copyright 1930 by Sara Teasdale Filsinger, renewed 1958 by Morgan Guaranty Trust Co. Now in public domain.
Mary Ellen Pinzino: Figure 1.1, Figure 1.2, Figure 1.3, Figure 1.4, Figure 1.5 “The Modest Violet,” Figure 2.2 “What Does Little Birdie Say?,” Figure 3.2, Figure 3.6, Figure 3.8, Figure 3.9, Figure 3.11, Figure 3.14, Figure 3.16, Figure 3.17 “A Pair of Butterflies,” Figure 3.19 “Dance to Your Daddie,” Figure 3.20 “Where Are My Roses?,” Figure 3.21 “Penguin,” Figure 3.22 “Autumn Thought,” Figure 3.23 “Ant,” Figure 3.24 “Weasel,” Figure 3.25 “In Spring the Birds Do Sing,” Figure 3.26 “Oh Star,” Figure 3.27 “Starfish,” Figure 3.28 “African Dance,” Figure 3.29 “May Night,” Figure 3.30 “The Bird’s Carol,” Figure 3.31 “What Does Little Birdie Say?,” Figure 5.1, Figure 5.2, Figure 5.3, Figure 5.4, Figure 5.5, Figure 5.6, Figure 5.7, Figure 5.8, Figure 5.9, Figure 5.10, Figure 5.11, Figure 5.12 “The Frog and the Cherry Petal,” Figure 5.13, Figure 5.14 “Fish in the River,” Figure 5.15, Figure 5.16 “The Little Fly,” Figure 5.17, Figure 5.18 “Never in a Hurry,” Figure 5.19, Figure 5.20 “Fluttering Butterflies,” Figure 5.21, Figure 5.22 “The New Year’s Here Again,” Figure 5.23, Figure 5.24 “The
My deepest desire is for children everywhere to experience the wonder of their own artistry.
I invite you to join me in unveiling children’s artistry and enabling its brilliance. Giving voice to children’s artistry can transform every music class and children’s chorus into a community of artists making exciting music.
Children’s artistry can be elusive. We might know it when we see it, but do we know it when we don’t see it? Do we notice when it is not present in our music classes or rehearsals? Children’s artistry is inherent in every child. It is up to us as music teachers to give it voice and bring it to the forefront of every music class and children’s chorus, where it belongs.
This book makes the intangibles of children’s artistry more tangible. Part 1 presents characteristic behaviors of children’s artistry, its progression of development, and necessary components for growth, identifying four dimensions of the process of giving voice to children’s artistry. “Awakening Artistry” opens the gateway to artistry in every child. “Moving Artistry” addresses the power of movement in the embodiment of children’s artistry. “Inspiring Artistry” examines song and its role in the development of children’s artistry. “Eliciting Artistry” offers techniques that facilitate children’s artistry. Musical examples and songs are included to demonstrate principles presented. Part 2 presents Etudes designed to support the teacher in the practice of giving voice to children’s artistry, and to provide materials for implementation in the music classroom and children’s chorus. “Etude 1-For Starters,” grounds the teacher and the children in getting started. “Etude 2-For Movement,” guides the use of movement to improve performance at every level. “Etude 3-For Songs,” offers songs that give voice to children’s artistry and guides the process of selecting songs for children at various levels of development. Content is intended for application with children from kindergarten through seventh grade, though it is also appropriate with older singers in the process of developing artistry.
Every age and stage offers unique insights into the development of artistry. I have been fortunate in this field to have taught all ages from birth through graduate students. Teaching high school choral music, elementary classroom music, early childhood music, children’s choruses, and college methods courses primed me for starting the Come Children Sing Institute as a center for research and development in music learning. Creating a comprehensive early childhood music program and children’s choral program in that context provided the unique experience of working with many of the same
children for ten or eleven years. Nurturing the development of children’s artistry from early childhood through advanced choral performance necessitated ongoing inquiry into its developmental progression and the composition of many songs and materials to meet the musical needs of children of all ages and stages.
Studying extensively with Edwin Gordon for over ten years impacted my teaching and classroom research at the Come Children Sing Institute. Throughout many years as student, friend, and colleague, I wrote copious letters to him about what I was witnessing at the Institute with all ages and stages in relation to his research on music learning, and I enjoyed many long weekends of discussion with him on music learning as a guest in his home. I was also influenced by singing for a year in a church choir under the inspiring direction of Doreen Rao. I was delighted as friend and colleague to also be able to observe her work in rehearsals and performances with her then Glen Ellyn Children’s Chorus and with children’s choral festivals that included my own ensembles. I engaged for many years in the children’s choral movement she spearheaded.
Viewing teaching and learning through many years in the music classroom and choral rehearsal from the perspective of both the process of music learning and choral artistry, with each informing the other, became most significant in my teaching and composing. Children’s artistry revealed itself in children of all ages and stages in both classroom and choral contexts. Children clearly demonstrated that we can draw artistry out of every child and draw every child into the choral art.
Presenting at numerous music education and choral conferences and training music teachers and choral conductors both live and online through many years helped me to analyze and better understand the process of developing children’s artistry in relation to both music learning and the choral art. Serving as choral conductor at one of the Chicago City Colleges and at the University of Illinois at Chicago, after so many years with children, supported my views on the development of artistry. A three-year collaboration with the adept Michael Anderson at UIC expanded my perspective and broadened my view of the power of movement in the choral rehearsal.
The icing on the cake of a long career, especially after having had my own sons in my music classes and children’s choruses throughout their childhood, has been teaching two young grandsons weekly in the privacy of my own home. This intimate, ongoing view of the process of giving voice to children’s artistry from early childhood to teen years has kept the principles presented here alive during the writing of this book, with the joy of developing artistry in these young boys second only to being the grandmother of four.
Children’s artistry is a stunningly beautiful dimension of children of all ages. We can uncover it in every music class and children’s chorus, whatever the methodology or conducting style, as it resides in children rather than in methodology or rehearsal technique. It is up to us as music teachers to make it come alive and to bring together the wonder of children and the wonder of the art itself in making exciting music.
Giving voice to children’s artistry is one of the greatest joys of teaching music. May this book serve to give voice to children’s artistry in your music classroom and chorus— and in the field of music education.
PART 1
Awakening Artistry
Children’s artistry is a wonder to behold! It is the heart and soul of the child intertwined with the heart and soul of the music. It is the beauty of the child interacting with the beauty of the line. It is the life force of the child engaged with the life force of the music.
Children’s artistry is a powerful wellspring in every child. It makes exciting music. It builds lines, creates phrases, expresses musical nuance, and revels in the intertwining of text, rhythm, and melody. Children’s artistry resonates with the art itself—the art that drew each of us into this field.
Children’s artistry is joyful. It is shy. It is vulnerable. Children are very protective of their artistry. They will often engage in music activities without risking its exposure. Children’s artistry knows when a music activity does not merit its presence, and will show its face only in a context that excites musical sensitivity.
It is up to us as music teachers and choral conductors to provide the environment that awakens children’s artistry and compels it to reveal itself, yet children’s artistry is a topic that is not often addressed in music methods courses. An understanding of children’s artistry and how to nurture it can serve every age, context, and methodology. Giving voice to children’s artistry leads to greater musicality in every classroom and chorus. Giving voice to the development of children’s artistry leads to expanding horizons in music education.
Two major advances in our field in the past fifty years shed light on children’s artistry. Extensive research, spearheaded by Edwin Gordon, has led to greater understanding of the process of music learning, while the ever-expanding children’s choral movement, spearheaded by Doreen Rao, has successfully translated the choral art and vocal technique to young voices.
The influence of these forces at the Come Children Sing Institute, in both early childhood music classes and children’s choruses, was profound. Children from tots to teens grew by leaps and bounds. Every age and stage of development led to new insights that could be applied to others. Children who began as little children and returned every year for ten or eleven years offered the unique challenge of meeting children’s ongoing musical needs from early childhood through advanced children’s chorus. Extensive searching and “re-searching” in the classroom revealed how the process of music learning grows into artistry. Applying insights learned to all ages and stages as well as to college choruses unveiled the process of growing into choral artistry independent of age.
You may recognize the influence of Edwin Gordon, Doreen Rao, and others, filtered through years of classroom research. Ideas presented here have evolved through many years with hundreds of children of all ages and stages in both classroom and choral contexts, and with college choruses. Developing children’s artistry is an ongoing process that spans context, age, and methodology. It blurs the line between classroom music and children’s chorus, as well as the line between early childhood music and classroom music. Giving voice to children’s artistry is the goal that unites us as music teachers.
Getting Started
The four chapters in Part 1 of this book work in tandem with each other. “Awakening Artistry,” “Moving Artistry,” “Inspiring Artistry,” and “Eliciting Artistry” go hand-inhand, with each dimension enhancing the other. Trying an occasional idea presented here is not going to turn your children into artists. Uncovering children’s artistry takes time. It takes ongoing effort. It takes the determination to search and re-search in your own classroom or children’s chorus to bring to life the untapped artistry in your own children, which can only make your children more musical and your teaching more fulfilling.
Some of the ideas presented here may align with your current practices or methodology, while others may seem foreign to you.You may find it necessary to stretch beyond your comfort zone to explore children’s artistry. Perhaps you are not yet comfortable with movement in the classroom or choral rehearsal. Perhaps you are not yet comfortable with art songs with inexperienced singers, or you have worked primarily with developed singers. Perhaps you have taught only instrumental or early childhood music and are not yet comfortable engaging in the choral art. The Etudes in Part 2 of this book will help you to develop both competence and confidence in giving voice to children’s artistry, and they provide materials for implementation in your music classroom or children’s chorus.
Children will also help you to find your way, as children revel in their own artistry. Every age and stage offers insights that can guide you with others. Every class you teach offers a new perspective from which to witness the unfolding of children’s artistry. Your unique journey in this field, with all your strengths and weaknesses, provides a platform of solid gold from which to view the development of children’s artistry. Any perceived lack you might feel in skill, training, or experience will lead you to insights that you may not otherwise have been able to discover. The area in which you might feel least competent provides an opening from which you can view emerging artistry in a way that colleagues you might feel to be more accomplished cannot.You just have to be willing to fully explore each of the various dimensions of developing artistry and how they work together, and give yourself the needed time to grow—to become an artist in giving voice to children’s artistry.
Speaking the Language
Awakening artistry in the music classroom or children’s chorus requires that we learn to speak the language of the musical mind. We most often speak the language of the
thinking mind, assuming that our well-meaning words are reaching and teaching the musical mind. Words do not speak to the musical mind. Language actually gets in the way of the musical mind and interrupts its focus. The thinking mind processes words. The musical mind processes rhythm and melody. Words capture the imagination of the thinking mind. Rhythm, melody, and accompanying movement capture the imagination of the musical mind.
We have become so accustomed to speaking to the thinking mind in our music classrooms and rehearsals that we inadvertently shut out the musical mind. Our inviting instructions, thoughtful explanations, questions, charming stories, and imagery speak to the thinking mind. The more we address the thinking mind, the more the musical mind lies dormant.
It is the musical mind we must learn to address if we want to engage children’s artistry. It is the musical mind that generates in-tune singing, rhythmic delivery, and the energy of the line in all its nuance. It is the musical mind that gives rise to children’s artistry. We have to let go of our wordiness in the music classroom and choral rehearsal so that children’s artistry can literally have its say.
Pure rhythm and pure melody are the mother tongue of the musical mind. They speak the language the musical mind understands. Unadorned rhythm and melody compel the musical mind without words, props, or imagery—accompanied only by movement.
We all know that we can capture the imagination of a group of children and hold it in the palm of our hand with a good story.Yet we fail to believe that we can do the same with the musical imagination. We seem to think that we have to prop up pure rhythm or melody with word narratives, games, or explanations. The “narrative” that holds the musical mind captive is not a story tied together with musical segments or a story wrapped in music, but rather, pure rhythm or melody.
Interrupting the musical narrative to instruct, explain, or talk to children is the aural equivalent of walking in front of a TV screen, interrupting viewing. Words break the spell created by the power of rhythm and melody. The musical narrative, without the interruption of words, transports the musical mind to the wonder of its own artistry.
Speaking the language of the thinking mind places the thinking mind at the forefront of our music classes and choral rehearsals and silences the musical mind. Speaking the language of the musical mind brings the musical mind to the forefront, moving the thinking mind to the background. Like the vase and face optical illusion, both the thinking mind and the musical mind are accessible, but the foreground and the background are entirely different depending on our focus.We have to be deliberate to keep our sights on the musical mind if we want to reach children’s artistry.
The thinking mind is reticent to engage in musicality when it is at the forefront. It is self-conscious and judgmental, perhaps declaring this song or that music activity to be boring. It views music from the outside. The musical mind when dominant in the classroom or rehearsal views music from the inside, embracing songs and activities worthy of its artistry. It becomes so compelled by musicality that it loses all sense of self.
The child whose thinking mind is at the forefront in the music class is like the daydreaming child in an academic class. Both have to be brought back to “reality,” with
musicality being the reality in the music classroom. The more we engage the musical mind, the more present children become in our classes and rehearsals and the more musical our classrooms and ensembles become.
We, as a field of music education, have so relied on words to teach music—to address style, vocal technique, text, note values, instructions, expectations, and questions—that we have neglected children’s artistry. We must bring the musical mind to the forefront, become fluent in its language, and unleash the power of the musical mind. Only then can we give voice to children’s artistry.
Making Sense
The musical mind has much to teach us about children’s artistry. It becomes increasingly transparent as we learn to speak its mother tongue and bring it to the forefront of our teaching. It then communicates freely, revealing its capabilities, needs, and its differences from the thinking mind, informing our teaching at every level.
Children are wired for rhythm and melody, needing immersion and interaction in the language of the musical mind to develop that innate capacity, just as children are wired for language and require immersion and interaction in language to develop that innate capacity. The musical mind needs a “sound environment” within which it can “make sense” of rhythm and melody—a sense of rhythm and a sense of pitch. Understanding how the musical mind “makes sense” guides us in creating a “sound environment” in which we can awaken artistry in all children.
Individual beats or individual pitches do not “make sense” to the musical mind, as it attends to beats in relation to each other and pitches in relation to each other. The organization of beats gives rise to meter, with different meters defined by unique beat groupings. The organization of pitches gives rise to tonality, with different tonalities defined by the particular arrangement of pitches in relation to a resting tone. It is meter and tonality that stir the musical mind.
The thought of various meters and tonalities may conjure up long-forgotten theoretical definitions of meters and modes, and insecurities about having command of these “sound structures.” Be assured that a willingness to explore will help to conquer selfdoubts while leading you to discover something mighty powerful in the music classroom. Meter and tonality enchant the musical imagination. They provide the gateway to children’s artistry. They offer the language with which we can awaken the musical mind. They provide the raw material for the musical narratives that bring the musical mind to the forefront of our classrooms, without words, without props, without explanations, accompanied only by movement.
Meter and tonality have power over the musical mind that is hard to imagine with our thinking minds, and each radiates a different kind of power. Meter incites energy and focused attention, holding the musical mind captive. Tonality mesmerizes the musical mind, casting a kind of “magic spell” that enthralls the musical mind. Children’s riveted attention to meter and to tonality often includes “deer-in-the-headlights” stares. Children’s response to meter and to tonality leads one to believe that each resonates with something deep within that the children are fully wired for. Their spellbound attention to meter and to tonality appears as reverence for the art itself.
Meter and tonality activate wordless “contemplation” in the musical mind. Each stimulates the musical mind to “make sense,” to create an “aural framework” for the understanding of rhythm and of melody—a sense of meter and a sense of tonality, which align respectively with the sound structures of meter and tonality.
The aural framework for rhythm is a kind of internal sound grid, within which rhythm falls into place. Ongoing immersion and interaction in a variety of meters leads the musical mind to discover differences in organizational schemes of beats, creating a non-verbal understanding of beat, the relationship between the large beats (macro beats) and the smaller beats (micro beats) in sound, and the differences across meters. This rich rhythm environment is without tonal (discreet pitches in relation to a tonal center), without words, and with movement.
The aural framework for tonal, independent of rhythm, is a kind of spatial soundscape, in which pitches are received in relation to each other. Ongoing immersion and interaction in a variety of tonalities leads the musical mind to discover resting tone, pitches in relation to resting tone, and differences across tonalities. This rich tonal environment is without words, with movement, and with rhythm. Tonal, though independent of rhythm, is best learned with simple rhythm in the context of tonality. The musical mind attends to tonal more when it is presented in an easy meter with the simplest of rhythms than it does with tonal patterns without rhythmic definition.1 More complex rhythms presenting tonality distract the musical mind from tonality, drawing attention to rhythm more than to tonality.2
The process of developing a sense of meter and a sense of tonality awakens and empowers children’s artistry. The art itself draws children into sheer musicality. The developing sense of meter blooms into rhythmic precision in any meter, steady tempo, momentum in performance, and articulation, aligning the body with the musical mind’s growing sense of meter. A sense of tonality blooms into tunefulness, singing in tune in any tonality, tone quality, and expression of line, aligning the voice with the musical mind’s growing sense of tonality, and laying the groundwork for harmony. The process of developing a sense of meter and a sense of tonality provides the foundation for choral artistry.
Uncommon Sense
Many common activities in our field thought to lead children to rhythmicity and tunefulness speak to the thinking mind. Some that attempt to address the musical mind do not offer sufficient “sound material” for the musical mind to grow on. Some teach beat and pitch as something external—that beat is something to watch or pitch something to match. A sense of beat and a sense of pitch have to come from within, and it is up to us as music teachers to teach the musical mind in its native language—meter and tonality, without words and with movement, so that children can generate rhythmicity and tunefulness by their own power.
Children who are already tuneful and rhythmic are not beyond the need for the “sound environment” of meters and tonalities. Being tuneful and rhythmic does not necessarily mean that the children have developed a sense of meter and a sense of tonality. All ages and stages benefit from experience with a variety of meters and tonalities,
Figure 1.1
Triple Figure 1.2
Unusual Paired
as it seats the sense of meter and sense of tonality, wherever they might be in process, producing more precise rhythmic performance and more in-tune tonal performance at all levels of development.
Our own thinking minds may lead us to believe that children would not attend to a musical narrative without words, props, or some kind of gimmick that draws them. Meter and tonality are the gimmicks. Meter and tonality provide the rhythm and tonal narratives, each of which takes the musical imagination on a new, exciting adventure with its own twists and turns that create line, movement, and expression. Each musical narrative compels the musical mind like a good story compels the thinking mind, focusing children’s attention. The greater the immersion in the various meters and tonalities, the more artistry awakens, the more focused children’s attention becomes, and the longer children attend to meter and to tonality.
The musical mind attends most to the uncommon meters and tonalities. Duple meter and Major tonality are so constant in our society that they do not awaken the musical mind. Ongoing engagement with the less common meters—Triple, Unusual Paired, and Unusual Unpaired meters, and the less common tonalities—Dorian, Mixolydian, Phrygian, Lydian, Aeolian, and Minor tonalities, lead the musical mind to perceive the unique relationships that define meter and tonality.3 The broad experience with meter and tonality then leads the musical mind to receive Duple as a meter and Major as a tonality, rather than as the backdrop of society. (See Appendix A for the various meters and tonalities used in this book.)
Regular immersion in the variety of meters, accompanied by flowing movement, with opportunity for macro and micro beat movement, however imprecise it might be in the children, engages the body in making sense of meter—a sense of meter. Chants in the various meters, delivered on a neutral syllable through multiple successive repetitions, provide for immersion in meter. Figure 1.1 offers a chant in Triple meter, while Figure 1.2 presents one in Unusual Paired meter.
Regular immersion in the variety of tonalities, through singing and flowing movement, with opportunity for singing the resting tone, however imprecise it might be sung by the children, engages the body in making sense of tonality—a sense of tonality. Songs in the various tonalities, sung on a neutral syllable through multiple successive repetitions, provide for immersion in tonality. Figure 1.3 presents a song for immersion in Dorian tonality and Duple meter. Figure 1.4 presents one in Mixolydian tonality and Triple meter.
Engaging with the full variety of meters and tonalities develops a sense of meter and a sense of tonality far more than experience with just two contrasting meters or two contrasting tonalities. The greater diversity in meters and tonalities leads the musical mind to explore relationships in sound, much as toddlers explore stacking cups, eventually discovering relative size, color, and how they fit together. The musical mind’s wordless exploration across meters leads children to discover in sound what a beat is, how macro and micro beats relate to each other, and how groupings of macro and micro beats in one meter are different from those of another, yet similar in function. The musical mind’s wordless exploration across tonalities leads children to discover in sound the properties of resting tone, how pitches relate to that resting tone, and how they relate differently, yet similarly, in each tonality.
The musical mind’s wordless exploration, discovery, and understanding of sound relationships is all part of the musical mind’s way of knowing. Our attempts to get the thinking mind to articulate the knowing of the musical mind are no more “sound” than the thinking mind’s recitation of note names or time values as an indicator of the musical mind’s wordless knowing. The musical mind and the thinking mind will work together at a later point in time, but children’s artistry is rooted in the non-verbal musical mind. It is imperative that we as music teachers and choral conductors reach and teach the musical mind, implementing wordless meters, tonalities, and movement to awaken and empower children’s artistry.
Budding Choral Artists
The musical mind under the spell of tonality is enthralled by art song that arises out of the tonal narrative. Going from pure tonality to art song in the same tonality evokes a kind of spiritual awe from children, as the musical mind meets the choral art.
Children engage in art song in the various tonalities with the reverence of choral artists. The power of tonality is so strong that art song arising out of tonal narrative is irresistible to children of all ages and stages who are engaged in its tonality, with the most uncommon tonalities initially being the most compelling. The “sound environment” of the overpowering tonality becomes an aural play space, within which children’s artistry can explore the choral art through singing and movement, building and shaping lines, playing with momentum, the energy of the line, and the interaction between rhythm, melody, and text, without the interruption of the thinking mind.
The words of art song arising out of tonal narrative speak to the musical mind as sound, as a musical element in the combination of rhythm, melody, and text, rather than
Figure 1.3
Dorian, Duple
Figure 1.4
Mixolydian, Triple
as words that interrupt the musical mind and bring the thinking mind to the forefront. Children of all ages, like poets, savor the sound of the words, their rhythm and melody, and their interplay between rhythm and melody.
Art songs that most effectively serve to propel the children from tonality into the choral art are very short songs in the various tonalities, with texts that have their own artistic integrity, with rhythm that expresses the text very naturally in the meter or meters appropriate to the text, and with pure tonality and melodic line that serve the expression of text. These little art songs, through multiple repetitions, give children the opportunity to “practice” being choral artists, as they explore musical nuance in singing and movement.
The Modest Violet (Figure 1.5), offers an example of a very short art song that draws children of all ages from tonal narrative directly into the choral art, accompanied only by movement. The text, translated from Japanese haiku, is set in Aeolian tonality, with meter changes that accommodate the text. The melody climbs with the expression of text, pausing to reflect on the beauty of the shy little violet, before resolving.
Children’s artistry demonstrates that the experience of the short little art song growing out of tonal narrative is most effective, most compelling, and most musical when sung repeatedly through eight to twelve repetitions, with movement, without talking. Successive repetitions invite children to explore musical dimensions repeatedly through singing and movement, discovering the artistry in the song and in themselves. The experience is so highly musical that children don’t want to “break the spell” when they have to let go of the exciting journey of the musical imagination, just as they don’t want to let go of an exciting adventure of the imagination of the thinking mind.
Art songs that reach the musical mind allure artistry, whatever the age, just as lovely children’s poems entice adults as well as children. This type of art song serves children of all ages. Transposed up a third, it makes a fine warm-up for any chorus, as it engages the musical mind, body, and voice with the materials of the choral art in miniature, awakening artistry in all dimensions. (Additional little art songs in the various tonalities
Figure 1.5 Aeolian, Multimetric— Duple/Triple
and meters are included in the Etudes, as are songs and chants for tonal and rhythm narratives.)
Songs for children are often chosen for their words rather than their musicality— words that appeal to the thinking mind. Focusing on words to teach the songs puts the thinking mind at the forefront. Tonal narrative puts the musical mind in charge.
A developing sense of meter and sense of tonality provide the readiness for children’s artistry. Art songs in the various tonalities and meters can then transport children directly into the choral art, offering intimate experience with the musical materials of the choral art and laying the foundation for choral artistry.
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Moving Artistry
Movement embodies artistry. It enhances music learning. It propels artistry physically, developmentally, and spiritually. Movement offers a window into children’s artistry, unveiling its wonder. Movement mirrors the art itself, making all dimensions of the choral art more tangible.
Movement speaks directly to the musical mind engrossed in meter or tonality. It is our most effective and most musical means of communicating with the musical mind in the context of music. Much of what we have tried to teach through words in our classrooms can be communicated non-verbally, more efficiently, and far more musically through movement.
Children’s artistry urges us to expand our common notions about movement in the music classroom and children’s chorus. Prescribed movement to song words, body percussion, dance, choreography, or choralography are only the tip of the iceberg. Children’s artistry teaches us that movement that speaks to the musical mind in the context of meter or tonality most develops children’s artistry, revealing artistry even before tunefulness and rhythmicity take hold.
We often assume that movement is essential to rhythm development, but it also plays a major role in tonal development. Movement mobilizes both rhythm and tonal knowing. It stimulates breath, momentum, physical support and energy for singing as well as for rhythmic delivery. The interplay between muscles and breath in movement are akin to the interplay between muscles and breath in both singing and rhythmic performance.1 Movement is the vehicle that transports rhythm and tonal knowing from the musical mind to the body. It is the process through which rhythm knowing learns to align with the body to produce rhythmic performance, and the process through which tonal knowing learns to align with the body to produce tuneful singing.
We might assume that movement is most appropriate for very young children, yet movement does wonders to advance artistry with all ages and stages, including college choral ensembles. Perhaps we hesitate to use movement with older children because the judgmental thinking mind might balk at movement, which it may do when the musical mind is not engaged. Perhaps we have talked to the thinking mind about movement, directing the body to engage in Laban effort elements or stylistic movement, without ever having engaged the musical mind. Movement, without words, speaks directly to the musical mind compelled by meter or tonality, literally setting the musical mind in motion.
We may be concerned that giving older students or choruses the freedom to move will lessen discipline, yet the musical mind focused by meter or tonality is highly disciplined, and its expression in movement heightens that focus. We might be concerned that movement will diminish vocal technique, yet appropriate movement can enhance vocal technique, often producing a sound and musicality not achieved by traditional means. The more we use movement in our teaching, whatever the age or context, the more musical our classrooms and choruses become, the more musical our teaching becomes, and the more transparent children’s artistry becomes.
Going with the Flow
We often assume that movement on the beat is prime, but flowing movement is even more basic. It is the movement between the beats. It is the blank canvas upon which we place weight and organize time, giving rise to beat and to meter. Flowing movement, in the context of the “sound environment” of meter and tonality, activates children’s artistry. Meter and tonality stir the musical mind, while sustained, flowing movement engages the body, providing a vehicle for mobilization and expression of the musical mind.
Flowing movement is one of the most basic, yet most developed musical responses, exposing musicality in both the novice and the professional musician. It is highly musical and embodies momentum. Flowing movement becomes one with the flow of music like raindrops in a river, twisting, turning, and moving with the current.
The most effective and most musical flowing movement engages the whole body— extending arms in space, activating hips, shoulders, and knees, with feet planted firmly on the floor and the rest of the body in motion throughout the entire musical experience. Engaging in sustained, flowing movement with meters and tonalities may require breaking out of old practices and habitual conducting patterns. It may be a challenge not to succumb to pulse. Flowing movement is momentum between and through the beats without the imposition of weight or measurement of time.
Flowing movement may feel much the same across rhythm and melody and across different styles and tempos. Music flows, whether rhythm or melody, whatever the style or tempo. Sustained, flowing movement reflects the flow of music while giving body to the musical mind’s processing of rhythm and tonal.
A teacher engaged in flowing movement—freely activating arms, hips, knees, and shoulders—becomes an invitation for children to do the same, communicating nonverbally the freedom to express and explore the wonder of the music. It conveys the important message that there is no right or wrong way to move, and demonstrates sheer musicality. Children’s flowing movement in response communicates the depth of children’s artistry.
Weighty Issues
Flowing movement in the context of meter prepares the musical mind to take notice of the placement of weight within flow, giving rise to beat. The musical mind, attending to beats in relation to each other, discovers that beats are generally grouped by weight in twos or threes, that macro beats carry more weight than micro beats, and that
