{"id":435,"date":"2014-03-11T14:06:57","date_gmt":"2014-03-11T18:06:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/?p=435"},"modified":"2026-04-01T19:48:31","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T23:48:31","slug":"drawing-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/drawing-music\/","title":{"rendered":"Drawing Music"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/strong>For the past few weeks, you may have noticed your children leaving the classes clutching drawings. In the spring of the year, I usually begin to focus the children\u2019s attention on ways that musical events and phenomenon can be visually represented. However, the longer I teach, the more I find myself delaying the introduction of standard notation symbols for younger children.<\/p>\n

This is not because young children are not able to hear rhythmic relationships in music. Studies have shown that babies are able to perceive complex musical features that we consider quite sophisticated. (For more on this, see the work of University of Toronto researcher Sandra Trehub<\/a>.) As\u00a0they become accustomed to the music of their particular culture, these perceptual abilities are pruned away. And while 4 year olds may have lost some of this natural perceptual ability, I am very wary of reducing their experience to symbols too soon.<\/p>\n

One of the main goals of a Dalcroze class is learning initially through discovery and experience, rather than conceptual explanation and visual representation. I can tell a four-year old that eighth notes are twice as fast as quarter notes, but what will those words mean to a young child who has had only limited experience using numbers to add, subtract , multiply and divide? And if the conceptual ground is not solid, emphasizing the symbols seems for these young musicians seems to be the wrong way to go. By this point in the year, I know that they can already perceive the difference \u2013 they easily change from running to walking as the music changes.<\/p>\n

If I show them a quarter note and tell them that this is for walking music, a great deal of their experience will have been disregarded (not to mention the many ways quarters are used as symbols in music, not always for \u2018walking music\u2019 by any means). I would rather ask them questions: How could you draw walking music? Then: How could you draw soft music? Fast music? Heavy music? The fact that something that you see could possibly represent something that you hear is not necessarily obvious, or even logical, to a four-year old mind, and so as I ask these questions I let them draw what they like. I invite them to tell us about their drawings, and, the accompanying sounds that go with them with using percussion instruments or their voices.<\/p>\n

And so, while I do now and then show them quarter notes, eighth notes and the like while we play and sing, I don\u2019t make a big fuss over them. The tools of notation, with all of their inherent freedoms and limitations, will be available to them as needed. \u00a0But until then, I hope as much as possible to preserve their direct connection with their essential experience of music as we begin the process of mapping sound to visual representation.<\/p>\n

Michael Joviala<\/p>\n

March, 2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the past few weeks, you may have noticed your children leaving the classes clutching drawings. In the spring of the year, I usually begin to focus the children\u2019s attention on ways that musical events and phenomenon can be visually represented. However, the longer I teach, the more I find myself delaying the introduction of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[128],"tags":[113,94,130,132],"class_list":["post-435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dalcroze-reference","tag-children","tag-early-childhood","tag-for-parents-families","tag-parents"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9ohMj-71","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":423,"url":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/is-my-child-gifted\/","url_meta":{"origin":435,"position":0},"title":"Is my child gifted?","author":"Michael Joviala","date":"October 15, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 There is one comment that I often hear from parents that still catches me off guard: \u201cHe really responds to music!\u201d The sentiment is usually expressed with a mix of surprise and awe, but seeing children respond to music with delight, enthusiasm, passion, abandon, inventiveness and curiosity would likely\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Dalcroze Reference"","block_context":{"text":"Dalcroze Reference","link":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/category\/dalcroze-reference\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"DSC_0769","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/DSC_0769-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":447,"url":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/infrequently-asked-questions-about-early-childhood-dalcroze-classes\/","url_meta":{"origin":435,"position":1},"title":"Infrequently Asked Questions About Early Childhood Dalcroze Classes","author":"Michael Joviala","date":"July 25, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Aside from one or two perennials, I don't get asked too many questions during my Dalcroze classes for young children. With busy toddlers demanding attention, there just isn't a lot of time for chatting. (There are one or two questions I am commonly asked. See if you can guess what\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Dalcroze Reference"","block_context":{"text":"Dalcroze Reference","link":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/category\/dalcroze-reference\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":362,"url":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/what-were-working-on\/","url_meta":{"origin":435,"position":2},"title":"For Parents: Classes for 4-5 year-olds","author":"Michael Joviala","date":"October 8, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Parent: \"What did you do in class today?\"Child: \"I was a cat.\"Parent: \"Oh.\" It is difficult for young children to express exactly what they are 'learning' in a Dalcroze classroom. What happens in the room after we take off our socks and shoes and close the door? Of course, in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Dalcroze Reference"","block_context":{"text":"Dalcroze Reference","link":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/category\/dalcroze-reference\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":418,"url":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/a-basic-structure-for-4-5-year-old-dalcroze-classes\/","url_meta":{"origin":435,"position":3},"title":"A Basic Structure for 4-5 year-old Dalcroze Classes","author":"Michael Joviala","date":"August 12, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Hello Lucy Moses Summer Intensive 2013 participants, and anyone else interested teaching music to young children! As requested, here is an outline of the structure I use for my classes for young children. Though I do follow this basic plan for most of my classes, this represents only what works\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Dalcroze Reference"","block_context":{"text":"Dalcroze Reference","link":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/category\/dalcroze-reference\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":161,"url":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/reinforcing-the-classwork-at-home\/","url_meta":{"origin":435,"position":4},"title":"Reinforcing the Classwork at Home","author":"Michael Joviala","date":"November 14, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The Dalcroze classes are now in full swing (ok, pun intended), and the kids have heard and experienced music with a variety of tempos, rhythms, and dynamics. They\u00a0 have been encouraged to express those changes in movement. Children naturally learn in many different ways. Some like to watch in class\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Dalcroze Reference"","block_context":{"text":"Dalcroze Reference","link":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/category\/dalcroze-reference\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/swan1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":455,"url":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/7-9-year-olds-september\/","url_meta":{"origin":435,"position":5},"title":"7-9 Year-Olds: September","author":"Michael Joviala","date":"September 21, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Welcome parents and family members of the new Dalcroze class for 7 to 9-year-olds at the Lucy Moses School. I am pleased we were able to expand our program to include older children this year! Because it is sometimes difficult \u2013 even for adult Dalcroze students \u2013 to be able\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Dalcroze Reference"","block_context":{"text":"Dalcroze Reference","link":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/category\/dalcroze-reference\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=435"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":436,"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435\/revisions\/436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}