Music literacy refers to the ability to read and write musical notation
and to read notation at sight without the aid of an instrument.
It also refers to a person's knowledge of and
appreciation for a wide range of musical examples and styles.
~ Zoltan Kodaly
Hungarian composer, Zoltan Kodaly, gave us a very comprehensive definition for the term music literacy. Different classes experience music literacy in a slightly different way. Last week, Kindergarten and Grade 1 students ventured into creating their original musical notation. They tried to use a visual representation of the sound. By doing so, they had to be able to describe sounds as "conjunct" vs. "disjunct", "loud" vs. "soft", etc.
Grade 2 students composed new words for a chant that they had learned. Students brainstormed symbols that represent the city of Calgary, e.g. important structures, events, bodies of water, etc. Through this activity, they demonstrated their understanding of the relationship between syllables and rhythm. Grade 3 and 4 students explored what I called "musical legos", i.e. basic rhythmic building blocks that we can use to build longer musical pieces. They also learned about "intervals", that is, the distance between two notes. Grade 4 students begin to experiment with sounds that clash (dissonances) and sounds that blend (consonances).
