Music is for listening and the quality of that activity is determined by what the listener is able to bring to the process. The foundations of the habits and skills needed are best laid in the formative years of the primary school.
Although in recent years there has been enlargement of the dimensions of musical experience, the identification and relationship of pitch, rhythm and phrasing must always be in the forefront of musical education.
The great French teacher, Pierre Galin (1786-1821) drew attention to the importance of children’s songs in the early stages, linking words with rhythm concepts, phrasing and pitch. (Even in these days when tuned instruments are available for school classes) the vocal basis of early teaching is still unchallengeable.
It was the organising genius of John Curwen (1816-1882), which drew the threads of earlier practices into a cohesive whole, based, in the case of pitch identification on the inner hearing and musical memory. His employment of associative aids included Words (Tonic Sol-fa syllables), Gestures (Hand Signs) and Mental Effects (the recognisable character of each note of the scale). He also accepted and built into his course the Gail-Paris-Cheve use of formal syllables (taa, ta-tai, etc.) to introduce rhythmic patterns.
It was in order to restore the importance of inner hearing (or pre-hearing in the case of instrumentalists) that the New Curwen Method was devised. In it no use is made of the letter-notation designed to meet the needs of Victorian schools. The advantages of simplified notation in encouraging inner hearing are now provided by employing the Hand Signs as a preliminary notation instead. These are applied to the lines and spaces of a stave, which in turn thus become associative aids.
Music is a mental activity, the ear being involved only to the extent that it channels the soundless vibrations of the atmosphere into the seat of the brain where they are transformed into ‘sounds’. But in the true act of listening two distinctive experiences are involved. First, the external message is received; then, the mind compares it with what is already present — whether this is a single note, part of a phrase, or some wider context. As a musical experience, listening becomes rewarding when what is heard acquires meaning through this deliberate process of comparison.
Even in the most unfamiliar musical experience, some point
of contact must be found if what is heard is to have some ‘meaning’. The acquisition
of a rich store of concepts, accurate, controllable and flexible, is therefore
essential to produce a ‘good listener’ — whether he or she
be also a performer, composer, or otherwise musically adept.
The use of a notation as an associative aid in this process is of immense value.
For the eye, amore experienced member of the commonwealth of senses, is a particular
aid to the mental ear. It brings precision to the act of listening and adds
durability to the mental ear. Seen in this light, the ability to sing at sight
- whatever else may be claimed for it - vouches for the possession of
real listening skills and habits.
© 2006 John Curwen Society