My students need electronic roll out keyboards to test their ability to feel frequency in low to high sounds and intervallic pitch relationships in their body.
I service the budding, little Mozartians from preschool age to 6th grade at two schools. As their music teacher, I'm always figuring out ways to lead them through "the mystery of music class” with joy full of surprises. Our students become fluent in Singlish as they enter the wondrous land of Sing-a-Lore each day. They come away dancing, singing, and moving to music comprehending the phrasing, structure, and timing behind it. They explore the textures of sound while learning the symbols, style, and art behind it. Their beat work causes their minds to expand, and their focus to increase while feeling its elements. They learn to incorporate all kinds of subjects from literature, spelling, math, history, and science while enjoying the beauty of the arts surrounding them.
My Project
The body is like a big ear... It's as simple as that! Hearing is a form of touch. You feel it through your body, and sometimes it almost hits your face!" This quote, by world renowned Evelyn Glennie, is profound considering she also happens to be deaf. I would like to set up an opportunity for my students to learn their chords and intervals by tapping into Evelyn's concept of "listening" (TED talk). This is patterned after the award-winning "Science of Music" DonorsChoose.org project where amplitude of sound waves were tested and visually rendered. Through feeling the vibration and sound waves of octaves within the singing range of the requested keyboards, students will evaluate if the pitches affect specific parts of their body. They will test the velocity created by low and high pitched frequencies and experience the way sound waves harmonize or clash between intervals. They will chart their findings and see if there are ways of recognizing intervals on their keyboards faster through sensitivity to sound wave properties.
"I would teach children music, physics, and philosophy; but most importantly music, for the patterns in music and all the arts are the key to learning." Plato
We would turn this into a training lab for those interested in becoming better musicians and therapists. Students will close their eyes as they experience feeling certain frequencies on a keyboard, then trace on paper the way those pitches look to them. They would then compare/contrast, discovering relationships in the way sound frequencies collide with their body, or make them react. We would see if certain intervals or octave ranges reach the body in specific locations. Lastly, we would look at the possible healing properties associated with each tone to see if pitch range and intervals help various parts of the body.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Coleman and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.