[Menvi-discuss] Young Braille music student/keep those suggestions coming/question

[Stephanie Pieck]

Hi again,

 

Another thought is to go counter to just about every print music book out
there and start with eighth notes instead of quarter notes. This way, you
are teaching your student the basic pitches (which will never change) that
only use the upper four dots of the cell: 1, 2, 4, and 5. Once they've
gotten these pitches really solidly and can read/sing/play them on solfege
syllables, scale-step numbers, and (don't shoot me, anybody!) pitch letter
names, introducing quarter notes and longer values is quite easy.

 

I have very successfully taught many students using this approach and find
that they learn faster this way because they are taught how braille music is
built. Remembering the dot formations for seven pitches and then just adding
dots 3 or 6 or both for other note values is a lot easier than trying to
memorize 21 different signs (for pitches A through G in quarter, half, and
whole notes).

 

Another advantage to learning this way is that, since there are only so many
dot combinations we can use, we'll eventually have to "recycle" notes-for
instance, whole notes can look like sixteenth notes. By teaching the
sequence eighth notes, quarter notes, half notes, whole notes, and only then
moving on to smaller-value notes, you are also reinforcing the importance of
contextual reading in braille music. If a student knows that in four-four
time, a whole note will be the only note that will fill the entire measure
by itself, and they encounter a measure in four-four time with more than one
note that "feels like a whole note," they'll be able to recognize, "Oh, that
can't be a whole note!" Kids think it's pretty funny when I say to them,
"That can't be a whole note; if it was, along with all those other notes in
there, you'd bust out of that measure because all those whole notes can't
fit in there."

 

Most important thing for teaching braille music? Have fun, experiment, and
if one way doesn't work for a student, try something else, and keep trying
something elses until you find the thing that makes them go, "Oh! I get it
now!" Plastic Easter eggs; coins; wooden blocks with pegs you can stick in
them to form the braille cells; cookies; braille Scrabble tiles . you name
it, I've probably done it!

 

Stephanie Pieck

 

 

From: Menvi-discuss [mailto:menvi-discuss-bounces at menvi.org] On Behalf Of
Kimberly Morrow via Menvi-discuss
Sent: Monday, February 20, 2023 12:21 AM
To: menvi-discuss at menvi.org
Cc: drkimctvi at gmail.com
Subject: [Menvi-discuss] Young Braille music student/keep those suggestions
coming/question

 

First, I want to thank all of the wonderful people on this list who have
offered suggestions for teaching an 11-year-old Braille reader to read
Braille music. Now, yet another question. I'm confident he hasn't covered
fractions yet in school. So. . .what is the easiest way to explain note
values to an 11-year-old? How can I simplify the process of rhythm to make
it more comprehensible? 

 

Many thanks again!

 

Kimberly in KC

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://menvi.org/pipermail/menvi-discuss_menvi.org/attachments/20230220/32f6edd7/attachment-0001.htm>