Memorising music
Helping pupils learn pieces aurally and recall them
Helping pupils learn pieces aurally and recall them
All the children in the films have memorised the music that we hear them play or sing. It is quite simply a natural part of the way they engage with music, whether it is Aizah, just setting out on her musical journey, playing Twinkle, Twinkle Aizah's Story @ 02:59 or Ashleigh, with a panoply of advanced musical skills, giving her rendition of Rachmaninoff’s C sharp minor prelude Ashleigh's Story @ 07:18.
In Eleanor’s story, we see her teacher, Alice, helping her to memorise a piece Eleanor's Story @ 03:30. Alice sings and plays one short phrase at a time, and then asks Eleanor to repeat it. This technique relies on Alice’s ability to break a melody up into manageable chunks, and on Eleanor’s capacity to listen and memorise what she hears. Note that this way of learning is in any case well established among singers from many different cultures, since most vocal soloists perform without reference to sheet music.
In common with other methods of helping pupils remember rhythms in different cultures, from the Suzuki approach for beginners in Western classical music to Konnakol (the art of performing percussion syllables vocally in the south-Indian Carnatic music), Dave assists his students, including Nafis, by introducing them to the ‘drinks cabinet’, which contains (occasionally humorous) items such as ‘apple juice’ and ‘Coca-Cola’ – each creating a distinct rhythm as it is enunciated. This approach is particularly helpful for a blind student such as Nafis, who does not use music notation, and for whom, therefore, aids to learning and remembering are all the more important. Nafis's Story @ 01:30.
In Lucy’s story, we see how Daniel ensures that she knows how a new piece of music sounds by playing it to her all the way through before she attempts to memorise it. Lucy's Story @ 02:06.This is important as Lucy learns entirely by ear, and to remember pieces accurately, it will help her to know how all the parts that she will subsequently hear and practise separately fit into a whole. Making sure that a child has a piece of music in their head (either through performing it to them or listening to a recording of it with them) before they attempt to play it on an instrument can be a supportive strategy in the early stages of instrumental learning.
In Ashleigh’s story Ashleigh's Story, we see how she is still acquiring new repertoire largely by ear, although she has started to learn how to read and write music in Braille. Adam helps her learn new pieces by playing a bar or two at a time (depending on its complexity) and having Ashleigh play it back. Because Ashleigh has highly refined aural abilities, it is not necessary for Adam to play with hands separately (unless there is some ambiguity as to which note is taken in which hand). With other pupils, a more piecemeal approach may be required, whereby chords are broken down and played note by note, for example. Similarly, Adam slows down fast music to facilitate learning, and uses recordings where appropriate. He makes practice recordings for Ashleigh that include a verbal commentary to supplement the purely musical information that his playing provides. This commentary includes precise descriptions of expression and articulation marks that are in the score and fingering. He deconstructs large chords or complex textures for the sake of clarity. He sings fingering at the same time as notes are played. Difficult passages are repeated. For other pupils who do not have perfect pitch, teachers can sing the names of the notes. Working in this way demands two things on a teacher’s part: the ability to play precisely what is written in the score (which may require careful preparation), and good aural skills to ensure that pupils reproduce exactly what is played to them. Working on two keyboards makes it easier to build up momentum in the teaching and learning process, without the need for teacher and pupil to be constantly changing places.