Have you played this week?
I don't mean your instrument - I mean, have you engaged your brain and body in something make believe that maybe feels a little silly?
I sat down with a music educator who believes the play involved in teaching kids music is just as important for adults... and the more serious you are about learning music, maybe the more serious you need to be about your play.
Please welcome Danielle McNamara, a performer and music educator in Central Coast, California.
The Spark
When I graduated from college, I started teaching voice lessons. The majority of my students were in the afternoons, and I really wanted something to plug into my mornings. I connected with this woman at a vocal workshop, and we had lunch one day. She said, "I teach this program called Music Together. You need to look at it, come work for me. This is where you need to be." And it was just fate, I guess, because I went to the training and found my place.
As soon as I got comfortable with the material, the play started to come through. Watching kids play and learn and explore is just amazing. And a little light bulb went off for me about how much better I felt after teaching these classes.
Musical competence
The structure of the Music Together class is the same during each week, but the element of play is always different. It depends on the makeup of the class - in some classes, the kids really are into taking ownership of the song and having all the ideas. In other classes it's more physical play. So we have the class structure, and then within that there's room to be a little bit unstructured.
The base is the Gordon Music Learning Theory, which is about breaking down tonalities and meters into bite-sized chunks for the kids.
So we sing our song and then we'll do a tonal pattern, then have them repeat it back to us. Or, we'll do the song and then we'll break down a rhythm and have them repeat it back to us.
It creates a bite sized chunk for them to understand that the song we just did sounds like that.
We also dance - we have lightly choreographed dances, and then just total free dances. And by choreographed I mean like, we'll walk to the left, we'll walk to the right, we'll go into the circle and come back out.
We play with egg shakers, we've got rhythm sticks and scarves and all kinds of developmentally appropriate instruments. Movement is super important because it helps you feel the beat in your body.
Our musical goals are to help kids (and adults!) achieve basic music competence: to sing on pitch and keep a steady beat.
Adults can play too?
Turns out, a lot of these concepts can apply to adults as well! Play cements things into our brains better drastically better than non play practice.
They might take a little bit longer without some professional guidance, but, you know, we're in the world of YouTube too.
When you start, it does feel far away, but time's gonna pass whether you do it or not... So you might as well take the time and gain the skill that you're wanting to gain. Those skills are absolutely achievable.
And have fun with it! It takes significantly more repetitions to learn something without play than it does with play. And that's for adults and kids.
Find the joy
Try singing it with different characters - like Dolly Parton, or like you're an opera singer. It feels really silly, but it does help you explore your voice. You're going to find and unlock new colors that you wouldn't just by giving it a serious try.
There's a fancy word called Audiation, which is just being able to hear the music in your brain. Essentially, you have to be able to hear it accurately in your brain for it to be able to come out accurately in your voice. There's that connection between your brain and your instrument, so if that connection isn't there and isn't strong, you're probably not hearing it in your brain very clearly. So listening practice really helps too.
Literally give yourself stickers. I have to say, in our studio we use stickers and the adults get just as much of a rush from earning a sticker as the kids do.
Just anything to help you find the joy and find the fun in it. And it releases dopamine for you too! And all of the feel good hormones. There's so many important aspects of play.
My number one hope is that kids who take my program will be joyful humans. And they will be able to tap into that joy more easily because they know what it's like to play.
How are you playing right now?
I'm learning a new instrument! I picked up a banjo.
And then I'm developing my repertoire of songs that I would've never thought fit my voice, but like, who cares? Finding the joy in that is musically where I'm at right now.
A Zeitgeist moment for Danielle
My parents just had some medical stuff and I was very fortunate that I was able to drop everything and go be with them for like a month.
We had this moment where we were in the car and I was driving and Billy Joel's piano man came on. And love it or hate it, we all know it and we can all sing along. I started singing along under my breath. And then pretty soon my mom and my dad were both singing along too, and it was just three of us singing Piano Man at the top of our lungs in the car.
It was such a cool connective moment. My brothers and I all play instruments, but my parents are music lovers rather than music makers. So hearing them singing in the car and they're fun and slightly off key, and it felt very plugged in and like connected to something bigger.
Follow Danielle
Thank you to Danielle for a wonderful conversation! You can find here online at:
LyricsandMelodiesStudio.com
MiniMelodies.com
Instagram: @LyricsandMelodiesStudio
Facebook: @Mini Melodies and @Lyrics and Melodies Studio
Note: if you or someone you know struggles with rhythm or pitch, I really recommend two workbooks made for beginners: Ear Without Fear for pitch, and Rhythm Without the Blues for rhythm, both by Constance Preston and Charlotte Hale. They are fantastic!
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