Exploring Music Literacy

When I was a student going through my RCM theory exams, my favourite subject was the history component because I was able to learn more about the composers and what types of influences during that period in their lives that lead them to create a particularly beautiful piece of music. Unfortunately, back then utilizing online resources and other materials were not popular, and the notion of incorporating history lessons within the practical piano sessions was limited.

When I was going through my History exams, I was taught out of the “Enjoyment of Music” textbook by Joseph Machlis and Kristine Forney which I often still refer to when I refresh my memory of composers’ backgrounds before I teach a piece of music. This book is extremely useful for my more advanced and older students as it’s quite text-heavy. I often recommend this book to my students ages 13 and above. An extremely relevant example from this week’s material is the explanation of the Sonata form. I would reference the page numbers that explain the different sections, which often would include a listening guide (audio file link), including excerpts of the score or sheet music to provide context. This is a great resource because this book goes extremely in-depth and my students are free to explore further at their own pleasure. This resource is also helpful as they advance through the RCM curriculum as it would prepare them for future History exams.

Now that there are such great online resources, in particular for young children, I’m very excited to introduce this component into my lesson plans much earlier on. One website I newly discovered is www.classicsforkids.com, which is catered towards children between the ages of 5 and 10. This site provides interactive quizzes and games for note recognition and rhythm matching plus more. As my students advance, the website also has a section about composers, which provides a short biography, portrait of the composer, and audio files for their most popular pieces. I’m excited to incorporate this into my future lessons.

I find hard copies to be more useful since I travel to my students’ houses and don’t always have access to a computer, hence why I really enjoy “Lives of the Musicians” by Kathleen Krull. This book has over a dozen composers from different eras that are catered towards my pre-teen students. This book is illustrated so it’s engaging yet educating. Often when I introduce a new piece, my students would ask me to tell them more about the composer. Rather than telling them the life story, I encourage my students to read this book to learn more about them on their own. I really hope to find other similar books that include more composers, as with the new website I discovered, www.classicsforkids.com, there is a “quizzing” section that is multiple-choice and asks composer-specific questions. I would certainly like to incorporate these quizzes as part of my lessons since I think this would be a great way to leave a long-lasting impression.