2. A tool for basic Music comprehension By Ms. Jennifer Marie Vanella

3.  My intention is not to recreate the Universal language of music, but to open another door way to comprehension. Music has an incredible power to heal and to change lives. Thus the journey of experiencing this incredible form of communication and art form should be open to everyone offering the opportunity for a new tool in the breakthrough of disabilities for special education, young children and the deaf.

4.  Colors!  When we teach a child about the world, from the very first breath we introduce them to colors. From the toys that hang over their cribs, to the colors we paint their very first bedrooms the use of the rainbow is everywhere. Why do we do this? There are many reasons, but the main one is many small children are stimulated by bright objects, they react to the difference between red and yellow. This is because from the very beginning to a Childs development they are taught this by four steps:

5.  Repeating- after an adult  Recognizing- pointing to two objects of color and seeing the differences between them.  Naming- Children are capable of naming the color of an object  Matching- Having the ability to see two objects of the same color and match them together.

6.  Music education is the exact same way, beginning with interpretive dances and clapping rhythms with cheery red sticks and bright blue drums; and then when they enter the band room or choir they expected to understand black notes on white paper. Some children learn to adapt. They figure out how to follow these new guidelines and comprehend them, but many children get left in the background, and eventually disappear out of the band rooms and choirs and into a dark, world where all they hear is silence.

7.  Music is an experience like every other aspect of the education system every child has a right to partake in. Why not offer the opportunity to not only partake but to understand? If colors and rainbows work in learning our ABC’s 123’s, discerning the boy’s bathroom from the girls why is it that this basic concept could not work in teaching basic music comprehension?

8. The following slides show you a very basic idea of the new form of teaching Music in special education classrooms I am proposing.

9. A tool in basic music Comprehension Invented by Jennifer Marie Vanella

10.  One of the first things we learn when we are learning the basics of theory is that there are 7 notes in a scale. The first scale we usually learn is C major because it has no accidentals.  C D E F G A B and then back to the octave C.

11.  However, sometimes abstract concepts like notes and letters can be to complicated for someone with a learning disability or even someone who is deaf and cannot hear the difference between the notes. Another way of looking at the C major Scale concept with the Acronyms of the Rainbow or R O Y G B I V.

12. THE C MAJOR SCALE R O Y G B I V  Taking the C major Scale C D E F G A B C  We use the letters in the acronym ROYGBIV and the colors to create the scale instead. So C D E F G A BC becomes -  R O Y G B I V  C D E F G A B  C = R = Red  D = O = Orange  E = Y = Yellow  F = G = Green  G = B = Blue  A = I = Indigo  B = V = Violet  And C returns to Red. = the octave.

13.  Though I have shown you a very simple example this concept and the ability to apply it to basic scales and simple melodies without any accidentals, you may wonder, how do you add accidentals to the concept? The answer ironically enough is very simple. After we learn our colors, in childhood the next step is to the tell difference between “Light purple” and Dark Purple. So, to add accidentals we simple use the Light concept for Sharps, and Dark for Flats. I will show you an example of this with the D major Scale.