EAR TRAINING + CHILDREN’S CHOIR (AGES 8 -13)
My mission is to demystify how music works. Besides being a beautiful artform, music is very much a language—and a mathematical language at that. It is only by identifying the primary functions of the various components of music that we can have a deeper relationship with music and speak the language with fluency and authority.
Music fluency is not simply learning to read music well and then regurgitating a piece any more than phonetically reading German words is equal to being able to express oneself in German. “Speaking music” is also a mark of being able to create music spontaneously, to communicate it to others, to improvise and to interpret existing music with emotion and expression, and to be able to create music with other people using this shared language.
Many people have the misconception that being able to play music by ear or to improvise is a special ability reserved for the born-gifted. It is not. It is a system. This is the system used at my alma mater, Boston’s Berklee College of Music.
We initially divide ear-training into the study of rhythm and pitch—rhythmic ear-training, and melodic ear-training. With rhythmic ear-training, we start with understanding note values and learn the function of particular beats within groupings—we learn to organize and hear rhythmic patterns. We learn that there is order to rhythm and that it isn’t simply an innate talent or gift. It starts with counting and feeling rhythmic centers.
With melodic ear-training, we learn the palette by which we create scales and by extension, melodies. Giving names to the notes of our palette allows us have a relationship with these notes based on function. You may remember the syllables used in the film The Sound of Music: Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti. These are called solfege syllables. This is the primary language we will use to relate to pitch and tone.
We also learn to hear, label, and sing intervals—the distance between notes. These are essential skills for anyone wanting to learn to sing or to play an instrument with true expertise.
The goal by the end of the first semester is to be able to sight-sing basic melodies in standard notation—which is to say students will have developed some working knowledge of reading music, with accuracy and confidence. We also learn to sing in tune and in time, and to stay in the right key. We do this through exercises, listening examples, and performing and singing as a group—as a chorus. We will learn to perform two or three songs and a demonstration will be presented by the students at the end of the semester.
Music is a divine language that can be learned and it is a gift to others when we learn to speak it and communicate it. To register for the class and choir, please email abernathy@mark-abernathy.com or call 781-850-2280.
COST: $90 per member per month. Limit 10 participants per group. Choir lasts through the school year. Session schedule TBD.
Located in the Lake Pointe neighorhood off of Bee Cave Road, near the intersection of 71/2244. Near Galleria Mall.
Morning session available for home schoolers.
Afternoon/after-school session available.