Embedded Files
Hello and welcome to Music at St. Andrew's!
Hello and welcome to Music at St. Andrew's!
Ms. Elizabeth Nicol - enicol@standrewsepiscopalschool.org
Ms. Elizabeth Nicol - enicol@standrewsepiscopalschool.org
Preschool - 2nd Grade: If you want to order your own set of desk bells (~ $50) - it is entirely optional! It is very important to purchase the ChromaNote bells, NOT the KidsPlay bells, because the colors correspond to the worksheets, sheet music, and song videos we use in class. It will be confusing if the student has the wrong colors. Click the link for more information or to sign up for the free 30-day trial of Prodigies Music at home: https://prodigies.com
Preschool - 2nd Grade: If you want to order your own set of desk bells (~ $50) - it is entirely optional! It is very important to purchase the ChromaNote bells, NOT the KidsPlay bells, because the colors correspond to the worksheets, sheet music, and song videos we use in class. It will be confusing if the student has the wrong colors. Click the link for more information or to sign up for the free 30-day trial of Prodigies Music at home: https://prodigies.com
How does music make us feel what we feel? Click to read on...
How does music make us feel what we feel? Click to read on...
From Dr. Dale McGowan, who wrote a blog called "A Music Theory Blog. Seriously.": This is a blog about the astonishing fact that someone can make you feel intense and specific emotions just by arranging sounds in a certain way. I know how music does that. It's the most interesting thing I know. The way into that knowledge is through music theory, something I used to teach. I want to talk about music again in the unique way music theory makes possible. So I’ll teach you some theory, then we can talk about the music you love and how it does what it does.
From Dr. Dale McGowan, who wrote a blog called "A Music Theory Blog. Seriously.": This is a blog about the astonishing fact that someone can make you feel intense and specific emotions just by arranging sounds in a certain way. I know how music does that. It's the most interesting thing I know. The way into that knowledge is through music theory, something I used to teach. I want to talk about music again in the unique way music theory makes possible. So I’ll teach you some theory, then we can talk about the music you love and how it does what it does.
You don’t have to be a music major to do that. You just have to be a JET. When I was 14, Carl Sagan taught me to love science. He did this by explaining just enough theoretical physics and astronomy so I could understand enough to be blown away without getting swamped and shutting down. The balance was perfect.
You don’t have to be a music major to do that. You just have to be a JET. When I was 14, Carl Sagan taught me to love science. He did this by explaining just enough theoretical physics and astronomy so I could understand enough to be blown away without getting swamped and shutting down. The balance was perfect.
I’d like to do the same thing with music. Over time I’ll write a series of posts explaining the basics — not a whole music theory course, but Just Enough Theory (JET) so you can see what’s under the hood. Once you have Just Enough Theory, you are then also called a JET for some reason, and you must renounce all other names. In exchange, you’ll be able to talk about music in a whole new way with other JETs. And once you have that ability, you’ll have it forever.
I’d like to do the same thing with music. Over time I’ll write a series of posts explaining the basics — not a whole music theory course, but Just Enough Theory (JET) so you can see what’s under the hood. Once you have Just Enough Theory, you are then also called a JET for some reason, and you must renounce all other names. In exchange, you’ll be able to talk about music in a whole new way with other JETs. And once you have that ability, you’ll have it forever.
When you’re a JET, you stay a JET.
When you’re a JET, you stay a JET.
Don’t buy into the wrongheaded idea that knowledge makes something less wonderful. The idea that wonder and beauty depend on not knowing how something works is among the most wrongheaded of human tropes. Reality consistently outstrips even our shiniest fictions, and seeing it clearly tends to augment wonder, not diminish it. I used to think a rainbow was lovely. But once I learned that it was a spectrum liberated from white light by diffraction, it got lovelier. I started seeing light itself as a tightly-wound rainbow, which it essentially is. Knowledge made both light and the rainbow much more astonishing to me.
Don’t buy into the wrongheaded idea that knowledge makes something less wonderful. The idea that wonder and beauty depend on not knowing how something works is among the most wrongheaded of human tropes. Reality consistently outstrips even our shiniest fictions, and seeing it clearly tends to augment wonder, not diminish it. I used to think a rainbow was lovely. But once I learned that it was a spectrum liberated from white light by diffraction, it got lovelier. I started seeing light itself as a tightly-wound rainbow, which it essentially is. Knowledge made both light and the rainbow much more astonishing to me.
Years later, I had the same experience with music.
Years later, I had the same experience with music.
---
---
I hope my music students have a similar experience and that they learn to become tuneful, beatful, and artful citizens whose lives are enriched by making and appreciating music.
I hope my music students have a similar experience and that they learn to become tuneful, beatful, and artful citizens whose lives are enriched by making and appreciating music.
Page updated
Report abuse