Recorder
The following is reprinted from our
First Grade Syllabus:
Recorder or Pentatonic Flute?
In most Waldorf schools these days,
children do not learn recorder on a regular descant/soprano recorder.
Instead, they play on a beautiful instrument called the pentatonic flute.
There are several reasons for this.
-
It is harder to make an awful sound on
the pentatonic flute
-
The pentatonic scale is felt to be
developmentally appropriate for young children
-
The holes are more closely spaced and
thus the instrument is easier to play
On the down side:
-
Pentatonic flutes are expensive
-
There is a narrower range of familiar
tunes which can be played as one can only play music which is in the
pentatonic scale
-
Some people (myself included) do not
like the breathy, windy sound produced by the instrument.
And the recorder? Well, for children
with very small hands it might prove tricky to play. Other than that,
though, I feel the recorder is a more versatile instrument and some
parents might like the fact that one can buy an instrument for less than
$15! On that note, I am told that unless one wants to spend a lot of money
on a really good wooden recorder, it is better to buy a fairly cheap
Suzuki plastic recorder than a cheap wooden recorder. Oak Meadow and most
music stores sell them.
So... you need to decide what you want
to do. I certainly feel that one of the great things about playing the
recorder at home is that everyone can learn and that eventually, if one
family member plays the alto or tenor recorder, together you can play some
very beautiful music, even if there are only two or three of you at home!
As group music experiences can be hard to come by for homeschoolers, this
is something important to consider.
Whatever you decide, to play a simple
wind instrument such as a recorder or pentatonic flute is an extremely
important experience for a child. It strengthens and develops the
breathing and rhythmic elements of the child’s body and, especially if
there is a weakness there with allergies or asthma, can enhance the
health. With such instruments the child also experiences being the
beautiful music that pours out of him and, lastly, your child develops his
capacity to listen, something crucial to future success both in terms of
education and of being a peaceful and centered person!
I recommend that parents decide
whether to go with the pentatonic flute or the recorder and then, with the
former, purchase David
Darcy’s little book and CD or, with the latter, purchase
Oak
Meadow’s Beginning Recorder booklet or whatever your local music store
recommends.
Lyre
While the lyre
resembles a harp, it is played in a different way and produces a different
tone. The harp is played by plucking the strings with the tips of curled
fingers and produces a brilliant tone. The lyre is played by stroking the
strings inward toward the heart with the pads of relatively straight
fingers held vertically. Each finger stroke of a string comes to rest on
the inner neighboring string, thereby producing a lighter and more mellow
tone.
The tone quality of
the lyre in its newly created form is essentially different from that of
other instruments of recent centuries. These other instruments seem to
say, "Listen to me!" From the lyre we hear, "Listen, not to me, but beyond
my sound." It does not impose itself upon us but invites us to participate
in the supersensible aspect of its sounding. When the lyre creates or
"frees" a tone, we may ignore it or listen to it in a passive way,
allowing it to wash over us, soothing us. We can also take up the tone's
call to become free with it, actively listening with the ear of our heart,
going with and beyond what we have heard with our physical ears.
Mary Lynn Channer, The Lyre Reborn
(Renewal, Vol. 4, No. 2, Spring/Summer 1994)
In creating our Second Grade
Curriculum (publication Summer 2008) we are
partnering with Raphael Weisman of Harps of Lorien to provide a
reliable, high quality and affordable source of pentatonic lyres. Raphael
has kindly written the following article for us:
Kinder Harp/Kinder Lyre - Choosing the Right
Instrument
I have been making the Kinder Lyre now for over 20 years. This kind of
lyre was, and is still, called a Kinder Harp quite widely in Waldorf
circles. I trained in building early fretted instruments, such as the lute
and Baroque guitar before moving to the lyre and then the harp. In that
world of rediscovering Early Music and its instruments, it was important
to be precise in one's terminology of instruments. So I renamed the Kinder
Harp the Kinder Lyre. Which begs the question, what is the difference
between a lyre and a harp?
A lyre's strings run parallel to the sounding board with a
transference or contact point between them, which is usually called the
bridge of the instrument. Often there is another place where the string
vibration is transferred to the instrument, like a nut on a guitar or
violin or the bridges on the piano soundboard over which the strings
stretch. The image that comes to mind is the depiction of Apollo, the
Greek God of Music, playing his tortoise body instrument with the two
curved arms coming out of it and the strings attached to a crossbar
between them.
On the harp, the strings protrude out of the soundbox at an angle of 90
degrees along the center line, and stretch towards an arm on which the
tuning pegs are attached for tightening the strings. Structurally, this is
the main difference between a lyre and a harp. The harp is also usually much
larger than the lyre and has a greater volume because of its larger
resonating chamber.
 A
different kind of sound is produced by each of the above. The harp is
strung with metal strings and nylon or gut strings, or some combination,
whereas a lyre is almost always strung with metal strings, because the
size and string length is smaller and metal strings are usually required
to produce an adequate volume of sound.
The lyre is often tuned to a five-note or pentatonic scale, whereas the
harp is tuned to the diatonic (seven note, do – re – me…) scale we are
familiar with as represented by the white notes of the piano. The harp
also usually has levers or pedals that allow you to play the additional
sharps or flats found on the piano keyboard, the black notes as well as
the white. The pentatonic lyre is configured with the same relationship of
notes as the black keys on the piano.
If you are a homeschooling parent and are looking for an instrument to
play with your child, the pentatonic lyre would be the most likely
candidate because it is simpler, quieter and cheaper and ideally suited to
the tender sensibilities of a child. It can be played enjoyably without
needing lessons and practice. If you are drawn to play the harp, whether
for your child or you (or both), you are engaging in a more serious
commitment to lessons and practice and a different level of music making.
Small non-pedal or lever harps are available quite widely today. Today
harp teachers can be found widely all around the world who can get you
started and there are many self-learning resources available to help you
on the world wide web.
Whatever instrument you are drawn to, it is better to get a good quality
instrument that carries a higher vibration so that the resonance you are
working with enhances your life. There are many instruments mass
produced abroad with inferior materials and no resonant quality that are
very inexpensive. I would say that buying your instrument from a local
maker would be the most satisfying.
Harps of Lorien produces both Kinder Lyres and Folk Harps of
different sizes and levels. The instruments are of the highest quality,
produced in the USA of indigenous woods like cherry and walnut and the
prices are affordable.
Instruments from Europe are often of high quality but are more expensive
because of the transportation costs and the higher cost of living in
Europe. Returning an instrument you are not satisfied with also becomes an
issue when ordering from abroad.
I always recommend having a case for the instrument and make sure the pins
that tighten the strings are tightly fitted so the instrument stays in
tune. If you have any questions or want information on further resources,
email me at
Raphael@harpsoflorien.com. Enjoy your music making!
Other Musical Instruments
We feature this article by my friend
Sarah Baldwin because I think she raises a lot of interesting points for
parents to consider when thinking about music lessons for their children.
I want to add a few things, though. One is that while I certainly see why
Sarah feels that "slightly younger is better" in terms of music
instruction for children, I do think that since most Waldorf homeschooled
children will be learning the recorder from first grade, that 8 1/2 or 9
remains the optimal age for taking up the first "serious" instrument
complete with formal (ie not Mom) instruction. Again, if you work with our
Christopherus recommendations, your child will also play the lyre in
second grade and will have ample opportunity to develop sensitivity to
tone, harmony, rhythm and a general "feel" for music. I think that Sarah's
concern about a window of opportunity for music instruction is valid - but
in our case, it has not been lost because the child is immersed in music
and has been for several years. Another issue here is that at 9, a child
is ready for more interaction with the world, no longer learns primarily
via imitation and is generally better able to cope with the necessary
demands of serious music instruction.
I also want to add a gentle warning to her praise of Suzuki teachers. My
research confirms what Sarah says in terms of how Suzuki teachers approach
music instruction and I too feel that this is critical. However, I also
know that far too many Suzuki music teachers have a strong competitive
streak in their form of teaching which can be overpowering and can make
outrageous demands in terms of how much the child should practice every
day. Some also want the child to listen to recorded music for hours at a
time. So... look for Suzuki, but in the end it is the teacher himself or
herself, as a human being, who needs to be considered, not just their
method of instruction. I recommend that if you find the right person who
clicks with your child, then that is who you should go with regardless of
what method s/he uses. By waiting until third grade to seek an outside
teacher, one also can feel okay about overlooking the fact that the chosen
teacher teaches notation straight away as well (though perhaps you could
persuade her to work without notation for the first few months!).
-- Donna
When Should My Child Begin Music Lessons?
A Comparison of Waldorf and Suzuki Philosophies
I have frequently been asked by
parents for advice on when to begin formal music lessons with their
children. I have done a lot of research on this very question, and have
also observed the musical development of my own children (currently ages
10 and 13) who have both been studying instrumental music for a number of
years. My 13-year-old has been playing piano since he was eight, and my
10-year-old started cello at the age of seven.
I am a trained Waldorf teacher and a strong proponent of Suzuki music
education. I have also a trained Music Together teacher (a music and
movement program for preschoolers and their parents). I have wanted to
do formal research comparing Suzuki and Waldorf pedagogy ever since
discovering the many similarities in approach.
In spite of the many similarities in approach, there is one fundamental
difference between Waldorf and Suzuki philosophy regarding the age at
which a child should begin formal music lessons. Suzuki students are
encouraged to begin instrumental lessons as early as age two or three.
My personal conclusion has been that seven seems to be a more appropriate
age for most children to begin private music lessons, for all the
reasons that, according to Waldorf philosophy, makes seven the ideal age
for a child to begin formal, academic learning at school.
In Waldorf thought, after a period of intense growth during the first
seven years of life, the age of seven is typically when the child's
etheric forces are newly freed up for more academic learning. The child
of this age would thus be better able to focus on music lessons, and to
sit still long enough to for a lesson and to practice. I have questioned
many, many music teachers – Suzuki teachers, traditional music
teachers and Waldorf music teachers -- on whether there is a great
advantage to starting children on an instrument as early as 3-5
years old and, by and large, most teachers I’ve talked to seem to agree
that children who start when they are older are not at a disadvantage;
they are usually able to catch up quickly with the children who have
been taking lessons since they were much younger.
Within a few months of starting cello, I observed that my
seven-year-old caught up to the same place as another seven-year-old boy
in his class who'd been playing for a full two years. My child, I
would say, has average musical ability. He is musical, but certainly not
precocious musically.
I think it is very unnatural for a child under seven to be asked to sit
down and practice an instrument daily, no matter how short or playful the
practice session. Children under seven should be moving and playing,
without any pressure or the stress of practicing, or worse, performing.
They are learning an enormous amount, taking in the world through their
senses, developing their imaginations through play, and experiencing
life.
On the other hand, most Waldorf schools don't start teaching strings until
3rd or 4th grade. I think this may be a little late. Recent brain research
indicates that there is a musical learning “window” of opportunity
that closes around the age of nine (similar to the “window” for language
acquisition). Based upon my personal research and
observation, I believe that it is more difficult, though certainly not
impossible, for most children to learn an instrument if they start after
the age of nine. Waldorf students are, of course, learning to play
the pentatonic flute, and often the soprano recorder, before the age of
nine, which is undoubtedly beneficial and helps to develop their musical
ear. There are many anthroposophists and Waldorf teachers who would
argue that learning to play a stringed instruments or the piano would be
inappropriate for children under nine. However, my personal experience
with my own children has been entirely rewarding and positive,
having started them with music lessons at ages 7 and 8.
I would also recommend waiting until a child begins to show an interest in
learning to play an instrument before offering private music instruction.
They are much more likely to be self-motivated when there is a
genuine interest. I have observed very few children express an
enthusiastic interest in learning to play an instrument before the age of
5-7. Of course, there are some children who really are musically
precocious and may, in fact, prove to be prodigious musical students. If
your child is relentless in demanding to learn a particular
instrument, I would advise listening to them and taking advantage of
his interest. If your child is under seven, though, I would highly
recommend (in fact I would BEG you) to look for a Suzuki teacher. A
good Suzuki teacher, like a good Waldorf, teacher, teaches out of
imitation and in a playful, imaginative way. The emphasis should be on the
process, not on the product.
Another similarity between Suzuki method and Waldorf education is that
children are taught to play beautiful music by memory and ear before they
are able to read music -- just the way Waldorf students are able
to recite beautiful poetry by heart before they are able to read or
write. Learning to play music precedes learning to read music, just as in
human development learning to speak always precedes learning to read
and write. Learning to read music should not be attempted before the
child is able to read language.
Furthermore, readers of Dr. Suzuki's book Nurtured by Love,
will come across a lot of philosophy that is very similar to Rudolf
Steiner's. (It is interesting to note that they both lived in
Germany at the same
time.) Dr. Suzuki emphasizes that it is far more important for a child
to strive to become a beautiful person, than the most technically
proficient musician. By nurturing beautiful feelings in the child,
beautiful music will be produced.
I believe the most important thing one can do musically for a child under
seven is to expose them to lots and lots music, especially the human
voice. Sing to them and with them all the time! Sing even if you
think you can't -- your child will not be critical, and will appreciate
your effort more than you can imagine. I think it's also of great benefit
to let children hear live music being played so that they learn that
music is something that human beings make, and are not just mechanical
sounds that come out of an electronic box. Research indicates that
that listening to music (and lots of different kinds of music) early in
life is what develops a child's musical ear. So that even if a child
doesn’t begin formal music instruction until age nine or later, by
having been exposed to many types of music and different qualities of
tone, that child will still have developed musically during her
early childhood.
© Sarah Baldwin, M.S.Ed., 2005
Waldorf Early Childhood Education
Sarah Baldwin, former homeschooler
and mother of two, is now a kindergarten teacher at the Ashwood Waldorf
School in Maine.
References:
Lili M. Levinowitz, “The Importance of Music in Early Childhood.”
http://www.musictogether.com/HTML%20Pages/aboutus.html
Sera Jane Smolen, “Teaching Music as a Living Art: One Pedagogue Draws
the Best from Waldorf and Suzuki.”
http://www.geocities.com/serajsmolen/publications.html
For more information on Suzuki music instruction, visit
http://www.suzukiassociation.org/
|
