English is my primary language. I was first taught to speak it. A few years later, I learned to read and write it.
How do people learn the language of music then? Well, most of the human population learns to "speak" it. It is very difficult to be raised in any culture without being introduced to music. Children as young as 2 years old can sing along with Justin Bieber or (perhaps a more appropriate example) know "Twinkle Twinkle."
A much smaller number of individuals learn to read music.
Speak, Read, Write. If you can do all three, I'd say you are fluent.
Here's the question that recently popped up in my brain: Why is it that we require our students to be able to read music well... and play music well (equivalent to speech), but...... rarely ever do we have students write it???
This is what an English Class would be like if it required the same amount of writing as music:
- You could have high school classes capable of reading Moby Dick - and carrying on detailed discussions about the book. However, the only writing those students could do is single letters. Perhaps even a few words and incomplete phrases if they are really advanced.
It is so odd to me that a student can be an advanced musician, understanding several of the basic "grammar" rules of music, without ever being required to write it. They learn how to draw treble clefs, eighth notes, quarter notes and rests (the ABCs of music). But can they combine those "characters" together to make their own musical "arguments?" Can they create phrasal (sentence) fluency in a composition?
I'm going a bit overboard with this thought... I know that it takes a lot of musical training to be a decent composer, but... Perhaps composing wouldn't seem so difficult if students were being taught to write music at the same time they were learning to read it - like with English.
-- Sarah Ruby Keene
Just to clarify: I don't actually consider music a language. I do think it is very easy to draw connections between it and actual spoken languages, though. (This blog is just toying around with the popular idea of music being viewed as a "foreign language.")
It is interesting the comparison you draw between music and language education. It is very true that the focus of music education is on reading and speaking. There is a lack of emphasis on writing and I would add one more category and say there is a lack of emphasis on listening. Yes, people listen to music, but do they know what they are listening to? Can students identify various elements of a piece rather than just saying the piece has a good melody or beat? Along with listening, do students in an ensemble setting have the ability to respond to what is occurring in the group. Is there give and take between the various instrumental sections or is there so much focus inward that they take not care as to what the other students have to say with their instruments?
ReplyDeleteI had never thought about musical literacy in this way, but what you said was very insightful. I liked your connections between music and language, as well as Thomas's comment that listening to music is also an important component of musical literacy.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I think when teachers value reading but not writing, then they are telling students that they do not value their voices and what they have to say, as much as they value what the authors of textbooks have to say. I think that teaching students how to compose music is a way of giving them a "voice" in your discipline.
I think many teachers don't teach composition because they think it's above students' level. But it doesn't seem like you have to give students an advanced composition to write; even just writing a few bars or simple harmonies or melodies would still teach students that you value their creativity and their musical "voice." Even just designing a fun beat would be a valuable experience.
I loved your comparison of music to a foreign music. It is very true that it should be just as important to learn to write it. Although I cannot say anything because I am guilty of that. I can read and speak music to a degree, but I can definitely not write it.
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