Disciplinary Literacy Journal #3 by Gideon Lundin

Understanding Music Notation

lundi087 — 2025-04-06 21:09:54 UTC

Students can have many different understandings of music notation when entering a band program. Some might view reading sheet music as the primary way of creating music, while other may create music without reading it. Both perspectives are important, so as the director I need to evaluate what students know and bridge the gap for students with different understandings so that they all get a comprehensive understanding.

Beginning Audiation

lundi087 — 2025-04-06 21:17:45 UTC

An important part of music is learning how to audiate, mentally hear music, so that students understand when they are playing a piece of music correctly or not. Most students listen to music, and know some pieces so well that they can already audiate them. It is important for students to start learning to perform music with pieces that they know very well, because students are able to mentally hear what they should be doing.

Musical Heritage

lundi087 — 2025-04-06 21:23:03 UTC

Similar to the previous post, students grow up with different music as part of their culture. Depending on how they created music they have different knowledge and perspectives, which are important for teachers to draw from in class. While this can be challenging in a multicultural classroom (which almost all are), the diversity of knowledge that all students gain is highly beneficial.

Formal Music Theory

lundi087 — 2025-04-06 21:28:44 UTC

The core of wind band ensemble repertoire is music theory. This includes scales, chords, forms, and more. Similar to learning to read English, it is important to teach this background knowledge to students when they start a music education program. Further, it is important to teach it in a way that is relevant and applicable to the music they are performing.