How to explain the musical staff to a child. Music notation for beginners

TEACHING CHILDREN TO MUSIC

(MDOU d / s No. 107 "Iskorka", Volzhsky, Volgograd Region)

Lately, special attention has been paid to playing children's musical instruments in kindergarten, since children's music-making expands the scope of the preschooler's musical activity, increases interest in music lessons, promotes the development of musical memory, attention, helps to overcome excessive shyness, stiffness, expands the child's musical education.

The color system, common abroad, is convenient for children to quickly master playing instruments. A certain color designation (color keys, metallophone plates) is assigned to each sound. The child has a record of the melody in color designation: colored circles or a color image of notes are used, with and without rhythmic designation. It is very easy to play according to this system, but with this method of playing (I see a green note designation - I press the green key), the ear does not participate in the reproduction of the melody, the child plays mechanically.

In a similar way, children are taught to play by the numbers pasted next to each metallophone plate, and to record the melody in digital notation. The designation of duration can also be modeled (long and short sticks, etc.)

The digital system proposed in the 30s. N. A. Metlov, at that time, perhaps, was justified, but later it began to be used less frequently, since it leads to mechanical reproduction of the melody.

Both methods of teaching children (using color and numerical designations) make it easy and quick to obtain the desired result, but do not have a developmental effect: the share of mechanical reproduction of the melody is too high in these methods.

The greatest developmental effect of learning is achieved when playing by ear. But this method also requires constant development of hearing, serious auditory training. Difficulties in teaching children to play musical instruments contributed to the search for a new way of teaching children - playing notes.

The study of methodological literature (“Musical ABC” by N. Perunova and other developments) on the use of musical notation is necessary for the teacher to find ways and methods of teaching playing musical instruments.

Children of the preparatory group already have the skills to play noise instruments, percussion, metallophone.

Teaching musical notation can be carried out both in music lessons and in circle work. At the initial stage, work planning is necessary:

Development of a long-term plan,

Selection of musical material accessible, interesting and feasible for children;

Search for non-traditional teaching methods and techniques.

It is important to keep children interested and active in these tasks. Only by playing, the child devotes himself to learning and masters musical literacy. It is very important to educate children in emotional responsiveness and love for music.

The sequence of teaching children of senior preschool age musical notation

The first stage of education is the development of rhythmic pulsation in children

At first, children are offered game exercises:

call the name with claps

call the word clap

name the proposal with claps

determine the number of syllables in words (chair - hole - car - TV)

Then the children pick up words from the pictures and independently play the rhythmic pattern on musical instruments.

Then the task becomes more difficult. Children get acquainted with the stressed syllable and highlight it with an accent.

Introduction to duration. Short syllables are written with a stick (with a flag or tail) and are called eighth and quarter.

So gradually the guys get acquainted with the duration. Interesting poems, nursery rhymes, benefits. cards, didactic games help children clearly learn different rhythms and model them in rhythmic patterns.

Games.

1. Hide the word in a rhythmic pattern (pictures)

2. Define the word according to the rhythmic pattern (Bunny - bunny - bunny)

3. "Live notes"

Description of the game: in the hands of children, 1 duration. They line up. The leading child slams the established rhythmic pattern.

Children with notes in their hands change places. The game is repeated.

4. “Stomp - clap” - at the beginning of line 1, palms are drawn, and boots are on the bottom line. The rhythm is laid out

notes - magnets. The child reproduces the rhythmic pattern with clapping and stomping. Here the children are introduced to the pause (a sign of silence).

The second stage of training - acquaintance with notes

The use of the "musical clock" helps in getting to know the name of the notes (where which one lives). Interesting verses about the musical staff, treble clef, notes contribute to the development of musical notation. Children easily and firmly remember the location of each note on the rulers.

GAMES WITH NOTES:

1. "The notes got lost"

2. "The notes are hidden in the words"

3. "Name the neighbors"

4. "Musical Tales"

5. Music Domino

The third stage of learning - playing by notes

The illustrated method of recording notes and the designation of steps with conventional signs allows you to quickly and efficiently teach children how to play children's musical instruments and the basics of musical notation.

On musical instruments (metallophones and xylophones), pictures denoting notes are pasted;

DO - house (rain). RE - turnip, MI-bear (head), FA - apron, SALT - sun. LA - frog, SI - lilac

(see Appendix 3 "Didactic Games").

Children first play on 1, then on 2 sounds. Songs can be easily transposed, as children quickly navigate and find the right sound. At the beginning of training, the recording of notes is given in pictures (without rulers), later - on rulers.

Children learn a song with words, then naming notes and sounding gestures, they move on to playing an instrument (“Note alphabet”).

Thus, the unity of the visual, auditory and motor spheres, meaningful awareness of the musical text makes it possible for children to successfully develop musical ear, memory, imagination and creative abilities, to develop their independence when working on learning a piece of music.

Bibliography:

1. Bim! Bam! bom! One hundred secrets of music for children. Games with sounds. - St. Petersburg: Musical palette, 2003

2. T.E. Tyutyunnikova “I am learning to create. Elementary music making: music, speech, movement” Moscow 2005

3. Elementary music making - "a familiar stranger" // Preschool education. -1997, No. 8, p116-125

4. E.K. Koroleva "Music in fairy tales, poems and pictures", Moscow "Enlightenment" 1994

5. V.A. Shein "Gamma" Scenarios of educational games for teaching children 3-5 years old to musical literacy Moscow Publishing house Gnom i D 2002.

Music is a synthesis of the rational and the emotional. Like any other science, it has basic concepts that every musician should be familiar with. If you are just starting to comprehend the wonderful world of sounds and melodies, then this page is for you. After reading it, you will be able to understand the basics of musical notation. Music notation will become clear, and you will be able to play simple, and maybe complex pieces.

What is musical notation made of?

From what, what is our musical notation made of. From:

• musical staff;
• Note;
• Durations;
• accidental signs;
• Keys;
• size.

Let's take a closer look at each of these points in order to better understand musical notation.

stave

The musical staff is the main element of the musical language. It contains five lines and four spaces between them. It should be borne in mind that each of these gaps and lines corresponds to a specific key of the piano (or other musical instrument).

If we consider the recording of notes for the piano, then usually it consists of two staves, it is called a large stave. The top staff is used to record music played with the right hand. The lower staff displays musical notation for the left hand. Usually they are combined with a special curly brace.

An example of a large stave

A stave has several basic components, namely clefs, time signatures, measures, and barlines.

Keys

The key is a musical sign at the beginning of the staff, and thus opens the record. There are several varieties, the most common are violin and bass, so they need to be considered in more detail.

The treble clef is usually placed at the beginning of the top staff. The central part of the sign wraps around the second line, so it is commonly called the Sol key. If you still don’t know what names the notes have and where they are located, we suggest you read the article “Learning notes together. You will find a lot of useful information in it.

Treble clef example

The bass clef is a musical sign that opens the lower staff; the starting point of the symbol covers the fourth line, on which the note "F" is located, therefore this key is called the "F" clef.

Bass clef example

Duration and size

Sounds in musical works must be maintained in a certain rhythmic pattern, otherwise the work will not be similar to itself. A system of durations is used to indicate the amount of time. The most common durations are:

• Whole;
• Half;
• Quarter;
• eighth;
• sixteenth;
• Thirty second.

whole note is a white, unfilled circle. Usually the duration is maintained during the count: one, two, three, four.

half represents an unpainted head with a calm. It is counted on the account: one, two.

Quarter represents a painted over head with a calm. It counts once.

eighth It is a painted head with a stem and a single tail. The bill is half less than a quarter.

sixteenth is a painted head with a double tail. The score is half under eight.

thirty second is a painted head with a triple tail. The score is half a sixteenth.

It is worth noting that a note with a longer duration can be quantitatively equal to another. That is, a whole is equal to two half, four quarters and eight eighths, etc. It turns out a kind of arithmetic progression. Let's look at an example.

Size

Music notation for beginners also includes the concept of size.

The size is always indicated by a fraction: the numerator is the amount of duration in a measure (more on this concept below), the denominator is an indication of the duration. Usually, the size is set once for the entire work and is located after the key and key signs (more on key signs below).

There are some of the most common sizes:

To better understand this material, explanations in a specific size are needed. Let's take one of the most popular sizes, namely 4/4.

In this size, a quarter is chosen as the unit, which is indicated in the denominator of the fraction. In total, the measure should contain the number of notes, which in total will give four quarters.

Note: many at the beginning of training think that if the size is 4/4, then only quarters can be used and there should be four. No, durations can be very diverse, the main thing is that their sum in a measure does not exceed 4/4.

Bars and barlines

The measure directly interacts with the time signature. Many are interested in what the measures are for, because one could simply write the durations in the required order. But everything is more difficult. The fact is that rhythm in music is achieved by alternating strong and weak beats, which is called a meter. If there is no constant pulsation, then the whole melodic structure will fall apart.

As for the specific measures and barlines, everything is much simpler here. One measure includes the total number of durations assigned in the time signature. Barlines separate one measure from another. There are several types of barlines, the two most common are:

• The bar line is used between bars.
• The double barline is used at the end of the work and closes it.

Accidentals and tonality (key signs)

If you imagine a piano keyboard, you can see that in addition to white keys, there are also black ones. Black keys represent chromatic sounds, namely, they are either a decrease or an increase in the fundamental tone. You can achieve this effect with the help of accidentals.

At this point in time, the most common accidental signs are sharp, flat and bekar.

The first character raises the note by a semitone, and the second character lowers the note by a semitone, the third one cancels the alteration. A note with signs is read. This symbol is valid only within one measure.

For example:

Explanation: Sol-sharp, salt-becar, salt | G-flat, G-becar ||.

If the accidentals are valid only for one measure, then there are key signs that maintain an increase or decrease throughout the entire work.

Key signs are assigned on the musical rulers immediately after the key. Depending on the key signs, you can determine the tone of the work. It must be remembered that they go in a certain unchanging sequence, which must not be violated when recording notes in a key. There are sharp and flat tones. Consider the position first in sharp, and then in flat keys.

IN sharp the following sounds increase (one sound, one key):

1. Salt

IN flat the following sounds are lowered (one sound, one key):

1. Salt

Now that the order of indicating the key signs is remembered, you can proceed to the study of the main keys. But what is tone?

Material Description: One of the key techniques that can interest, capture, make any audience, both adults and children, penetrate the topic of conversation is a story, a fairy tale, a parable. It is easiest to capture the attention of children, to arouse interest in the topic of conversation with the help of a fairy tale. Then the children, having penetrated into the "fairytale land", sit with bated breath and listen.

Our fairy tale, written together with our daughter Ksenia, will help children aged 6-8 to learn musical notation, and just make friends with music and its magical sounds.

Target: Updating children's knowledge on the topic "Notes"

Tasks: Get the kids interested in the topic. Help me learn musical notation.

Help to understand that the melody consists of individual notes. Learn to isolate individual sounds from a melody. Introduce the concepts of "high and low voices", learn to identify high and low sounds by ear.

To teach children to emotionally perceive the figurative content of a fairy tale.

To learn to "feel" music, to define and convey the nature of music in motor improvisations or with the help of pictures-images of animals and birds.

Consolidate previous knowledge.

Preliminary work: Listening to musical works, musical and motor improvisations, acquaintance with the musical staff and writing notes on rulers.

So……

In one fabulous musical country, there lived, there were notes. Each note had its own name. Notes, like children, were notes of boys who were very fond of climbing ladders, like all boys in the whole wide world, and there were notes of a girl. They, like all laughter girls, were very fond of dressing up. There were many outfits, and therefore their father King Treble Clef built a magnificent palace for them. A separate room was arranged for each girl, but ... more on that later.

The boys' names were: DO, MI, SOL and SI. Once they gathered for a walk in the park, and there was a high ladder. DO was the youngest of all the brothers, and could only climb the lowest step on the ground (extra). He stood there and rejoiced: "That's how clever I am!" And the older boys, MI, SOL and SI, decided to arrange a competition: who will climb the highest. SI turned out to be the most dexterous, he climbed onto the third step. SALT a little lower, to the second, and MI only to the first. “Hurrah, I won,” shouted SI, “I am above all.” DO was not offended by his brother, but said that he, standing on his extra step, sees worms on the ground. MI was not upset either, because from his first step he saw how his mother was returning from work. SALT from his second step saw the most beautiful bird in the world.

What do you see there, SI?

I can see the clouds and the sky from the third step!

At the same time, the girls chose their rooms.

I will live downstairs on the first floor! - said PE, - I don’t like ladders, and settled under the first ruler.

Then I will occupy the second floor, between the first and second lines, - said the FA, - I really like to look out the window at our wonderful apple orchard, but I can’t see it from above and below.

Well then, the third floor is mine, - said LA, - I really like to climb the ladders. And settled between the second and third rulers.

This is how cheerful notes lived and lived together and still live, if you want to check, then go to the fabulous musical line. And funny guys-notes will be waiting for you in their houses.

TO - on an additional ruler.

PE - under the first ruler.

MI - on the first ruler.

FA - between the first and second lines.

SALT - on the second ruler.

LA - between the second and third rulers.

SI - on the third ruler.

See you soon in fairy land!

A fairy tale can be told at any time of the day, even at night. But in the morning you can draw notes and their houses, or you can play.

Didactic game "High - low"

Needed to play a sheet of paper with a drawn stave (five lines) and small ovals of black colored paper.

An adult either plays high or low notes on the piano, or simply sings any notes, high or low. The child guesses the boys have climbed the notes high or low and puts the ovals on the stave, respectively high or low.

And also pictures depicting animals can “walk” along the musical staff: bears, bunnies, wolves, birds. Each animal has “its own” song.

Five lines of musical line

We named the stave

And on it all notes-points

Placed in place.

And now you guys, remember where the notes live and place them in your houses.

At the first lesson, the teacher needs to teach the children to distinguish between noise and musical sounds. Visually show the image of noise sounds on illustrations or cards, gradually bring students to an independent understanding of what musical sound is. Students are offered to learn the verses of V.D. Queen:

All children in the world know
Sounds are different:
Cranes farewell scream,
Airplane loud roar

The rumble of cars in the yard,
Barking dog in a kennel
The sound of wheels and the noise of the machine,
Quiet breeze.

These are noise sounds.
Only there are others;
Not rustling, not knocking -
There are musical sounds.

Three registers in music

Preschool children think figuratively, so they have a well-developed imagination. The knowledge of the world around them, which they enter, is inextricably linked with a deep immersion in the world of fairy tales and toys, which they love with all their hearts. You can not interrupt this connection completely when the child crosses the threshold of the class. Favorite toy is able to enliven the lesson, help in learning new material, for example, when studying registers. The difference between high, medium and low sounds is absorbed faster if it is illustrated with a typewriter, doll, bunny, parrot.

When studying the topic, the teacher shows how the piano works, focuses on the difference between high, medium and low registers. At the same time, the child involuntarily associates the voice of a low “thick” sound with a thick string, and a high “thin” sound with a thin string. Consequently, the child not only hears, but also sees why the voices of the key become progressively higher and "thinner" when the teacher's hand, performing individual sounds, moves along the keyboard to the right. Conversely, sounds become lower "thicker" when the teacher plays the same sounds backwards.

Melody moving up and down

The teacher performs the scale with his right hand alternately up and down (you can use the scale, short motives, individual sounds). The left hand, in which he holds the toy, moves over the keyboard in the same direction as the right, but according to the sounds, either rising or falling. The teacher can play a scale, and the student at this time, with the help of a toy, shows the direction of movement of sounds. When repeating this theme, the teacher plays a scale without a toy. The student, standing with his back to the keyboard, guesses: a car is coming down the hill or up the hill, from the lower branch up, or vice versa, a parrot is flying.

Long and short sounds

The explanation of this topic takes place in the form of a game, so it is easily and quickly absorbed by children. If you clap your hands so that they bounce off each other, you will get a short sound like a hot stove. What is this sound like? It is similar to the sound of falling raindrops, the sound of hooves - other examples the children will think of for themselves. When studying long sounds, we spread our hands slowly to the sides, as if we were “stretching an elastic band” and at the same time pulling the sound. As soon as the breath is over, the sound stops - it means that “the rubber band has broken”, the hands clap sharply. They returned to the short sound.

Note and staff

Concepts: staff, notes and treble clef are interconnected. Therefore, the teacher can explain them to the child in stages. Notes are represented as signs with the help of which musical sounds are designated. The teacher aims to show the students what the notes-notes look like and where they are written: on the rulers, between the rulers, above and below them. The concept of "staff" should be supplemented with another name - "stave", i.e. rulers where notes “become”. Note rulers are counted from bottom to top, as we count the floors of a house.

Treble clef

The teacher should explain to the children that the clef is called the violin key because it seems to know those notes that sound as high as the violin. The treble clef is written at the beginning of each musical line. Students at the blackboard learn how to write a treble clef. At the same time, the teacher tells the fairy tale “About the good magician Treble clef”: At the treble clef in the musical town, all the notes knew their places. Only one note was inattentive. Because of her mistakes, she cried a lot, she became salty from tears. She was given the name "salt", and so that she would not forget her place on the stave, the treble clef caught on the second ruler with its tail. Subsequently, students learn one note at each lesson, reinforcing this knowledge by laying out notes on individual cards with the image of a musical staff, on a flannelgraph. Learn a poem about the scale and notes:

There are seven steps in the world
DO, RE, MI, FA, SOL, LA, SI.
Do you remember their name?
And put it in your notebook.
If the notes are sung in a row
It will be sv u k o r i d ..

Strokes, nuances (dynamic shades)

Each song can be performed with a different sonority or, as the musicians say, with different dynamic shades: quiet, loud, not very loud, etc. Dynamic shades help to better reveal the content of the work. The teacher shows the children two illustrations: one is black and white, the other is brightly colored and invites the children to name the most beautiful. Children name a bright picture. The teacher says that music also has its own colors. These include: register, key, tempo and dynamics. Dynamic shades are indicated by Italian words. The word "piano" consists of two parts: forte - loud, piano - quiet. Thanks to the shades, any music sounds expressive. There are signs for jerky sounds (staccato) and signs for lingering sounds (legato). Accents are ways to emphasize individual notes in the sound of music.

Major and minor scale

This topic is difficult to explain to preschoolers. The fairy tale "Two brothers" ("Music in fairy tales" by E.A. Koroleva) facilitates its perception. The Russian people have many proverbs and sayings associated with the word "lad". For example: let's sit side by side, let's talk okay, with whom the world is okay, so that's my brother. It is often said about the singers of a good choir: how well they sing. The word "lad" means harmony, order, peace. In music, this word means the coherence of musical sounds, the sounds are in agreement with each other. Every piece of music has a specific tone. Frets in music are different, but the most common are major and minor. The character of the major scale is bright, confident, firm. The character of the minor scale is soft, with a touch of sadness.

Major and Goryushka do not know.
Minor is depressed all the time.

Duration

In explaining this complex topic, musical and didactic games, flannelgraph, cards, desktop musical lotto, etc. can provide invaluable assistance. Colorfully designed musical and didactic games evoke an emotional response in children, which helps them remember the topic better. The use of cards and a flannelgraph helps to consolidate theoretical knowledge visually with the help of pictures. At the same time, children can learn poetry (no more than two quatrains). Children love fairy tales, so it is possible to use musical fairy tales in all topics of the theoretical section.

For example: One girl loved to listen to sounds, a family lived in a neighboring apartment and the girl recognized who was walking by the steps:

slowly - old grandfather:
If the note is white, it is a whole note.
(Card with a pattern of felt boots);

measured - tired father from work:
Divide a whole note into white halves
Marking with a stick, so as not to confuse these
(Card with dad's boots);

Clearly - mom with purchases:
In every note there are halves
Two black quarters
(Card with shoes with heels);

Quickly - a boy from school:
In every quarter
Two eighths
sticks and dots,
Hooks on sticks.
(Card with shoes.)

Any musician, whether a beginner or a professional, must clearly understand for himself what musical notation is. This is the basis, without which, as they say, nowhere.

The concept of musical notation

Unfortunately, not all people who are trying to join the musical world pay due attention to this subject. Agree, the usual strumming on the guitar in the alley or by the fire in nature has nothing to do with professionalism, although it implies at least a minimal knowledge of chords and their fingering location on the fretboard. But for a broader understanding of music, this is clearly not enough.

Music notation is a basic subject, from which, in fact, training in music schools begins when playing absolutely any instrument or when practicing vocals. It is closely related to specific subjects such as solfeggio and harmony, which give a broader understanding of music. The very same musical notation for beginners includes several main aspects. This is an understanding of the musical staff, the scale, the duration of notes and pauses, the principles of building scales, triads and chords, the use of key signs and performance features.

Staff and note positions

The first concept that every novice musician should learn is the staff, sometimes also called the staff. These are 5 horizontal rulers, on or between which notes and accidentals are located.

It should be noted here that the notation system for some instruments may differ. So, for example, musical notation for the piano in the arrangement of notes on the rulers of the stave differs from a similar process, say, for the guitar, where there is a shift by one octave.

Notes are located on the main rulers or between them, as well as on the lower and upper additional rulers. If we talk about the main stave, you can place notes on it from “re” of the first octave to “sol” of the second octave. For notes with tones above and below, additional rulers are used.

Music clefs

To indicate the range in which the musical part is performed, musical notation uses special clefs: treble and bass. Despite the same location on the stave, different notes are played.

As for the scale, musical notation for beginners interprets such a concept as a sequence of sounds following one after another. The simplest scale can be called the sequence “do, re, mi, fa, salt, la, si” (Latin designation C, D, E, F, G, A, H and separately “si-flat” B). These seven notes are the "bricks" from which the entire piece of music is built.

With all this, you need to know the positions of the notes not only on the rulers of the stave, but also on the instrument itself. For example, musical notation for the piano implies a keyboard, for a guitar, frets and strings.

Note durations

You also need to know the duration of the notes. In fact, the duration of a note is, so to speak, the time of its sounding. Notes are whole, half, quadruple, eighth, sixteenth, etc.

As can be seen from this example, there is a multiplicity of two at least. In other words, a whole note is equal in duration to two half notes, four quarter notes, eight eighth notes, etc., just as one quarter note is equal to two eighth notes or four sixteenth notes.

Dimensions

Still musical notation implies the use of sizes, which indicate the maximum possible content of notes in one measure. In standard dimensions, the following can be distinguished: 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 6/8, etc. There are also more complex dimensions such as 12/4, 12/8, 5/4, 5/8, 7 /8, 9/8 and others. Teaching musical notation involves learning these concepts only after understanding the basics.

Pace

In this concept, the speed of execution is regulated. There are slow, moderate and fast paces. Slow: Andante, Sostenuto, Grave, Adagio, Lento, Largo. Moderate: Moderato, Andante. Fast: Allegro, Allegretto, Vivo, Vivace, Presto.

The main steps in building a gamma

Scales are one of the foundations of musical notation. When constructing them, it is necessary to take into account not only the musical series, the key signs of raising or lowering the tone of certain notes (sharps and flats) or the sign of the cancellation of such actions (bekar), but also the steps of the scale (stable, unstable, basic). Unstable steps are called steps that tend to resolve up or down. For example, in the C major scale, stable steps include “do”, “mi”, “sol” (1st, 3rd, 5th steps), and unstable ones - “re”, “fa” , "la" and "si" (2nd, 4th, 6th and 7th steps). This sequence is typical for absolutely all scales.

Intervals

At each step, intervals are built. The main ones in ascending order are such intervals and their designations (standard): prima (only pure - h1), second (small and large - b2 and m2), third (small and large - m3 and b3) quart (only pure - h4), fifth (only pure - h5), sixth (small and large - m6 and b6), seventh (small and large - m7 and b7) and octave (only pure - h8).

There are also increased and decreased intervals, characteristic intervals, etc. Triads and chords are built on the basis of intervals. As already understood, a triad contains three notes, and a chord contains four.

Signs

The study of musical notation involves memorizing accidental signs. The following are considered the main ones: “sharp” - increasing the sound by half a tone, “flat” - a half tone lower, “becar” - canceling the increase or increase by a semitone, “double sharp” / “double flat” - respectively, increasing and decreasing by one tone.

Performance volume

As for the loudness of the performance of notes, sequences, triads and chords, musical notation uses special means. Among them, shades are also distinguished. The signs include such concepts as “forte” (loud), “mezzo-forte” (moderately loud), “fortissimo” (very loud), “sforzando” (a sharp increase in volume, accent). By analogy: "piano" (quietly), "mezzo-piano", "pianissimo", etc.

The main shades include “legato” (smooth performance, continuous performance, when one sound seems to flow into another), “staccato” (sharp jerky performance), “syncope” (delay before sounding), “mordent” (a sequence of notes around one main), etc.

Conclusion

The above describes only the minimum basics of musical notation. To understand the construction of a piece of music in a broader sense, of course, you need to study specialized subjects such as solfeggio or harmony. And they are taught in music schools, music colleges and conservatories.