Graphic Notation for Teaching Music

Conventional music notation was largely invented for, and is most widely used by, professional musicians, composers and music theorists.

Why do we assume that this notation is suitable for teaching music to children?

Well I don't, so I made my own, with the help of illustrator Killian Redmonk:

DabbledooMusic is a music education project in collaboration with visual artist Killian Redmond. The aim is to create a multimedia creative music resource for kids, roughly between the ages of 6 and 12. the project combines graphic notation, animated notation, composition and performance through activity books and free online resources.

The project also include lesson plans for teachers to make it as accessible as possible for use in the classroom. Dabbledoomusic is based on the belief that creativity and collaboration need to be central in in modern education and that music as a subject, provides opportunities to promote these ideas in very practical ways.

Our first activity book for children will be released before christmas along with an updated version of the Dabbledoomusic website. We hope that 2013 will see teachers, parents and most importantly the children, using these resources to create, collaborate and enjoy music making.
http://www.dabbledoomusic.com/

Creative Music Making for Young Musicians

This coming Saturday the DabbledooMusic Project moves into its next gear. Although workshops are a great way to introduce young musicians to the idea of using graphic notation to explore music making, an hour is never enough to cover the range of possibilities available.

6 hours over 6 weeks is probably enough time to just scratch the surface, but starting this Saturday that is what 12 kids between the ages of 6 and 12 will attempt with myself and Killian Redmonk leading the group.

Each week a different area of music making will be explore using the free online resource, DabbledooMusic, and a number of worksheets for the participants to record their own creations and ideas.

More info here:

Dabbledoomusiccourses ay the Centre for Creative Practices

Next week will see DabbledooMusic at the Kinsale Arts Festival in Cork. The workshop will be an hour and a half with all of the resources taken from the DabbledooMusic.com.

There will a range of instruments for the young musicians to use from home made interments to a selection of Korg synthesizers!

                                                                Kinsale Arts Festival

                              http://kinsaleartsfestival.com/events/dabbledoo-music-workshop/

DIY Animated Graphic Scores

I have recently been looking for simple ways of allowing people to control certain parameters of animated graphic scores using projections and surfaces suitable for drawing on, like interactive whiteboards.
The idea is that the score is presented with empty spaces which can be filled in at the start up screen of the video before the play button is pressed. When the video is played an animated action line indicates when the static sections, which were filled in, are to be played.
These 'fill in' scores will feature in the last chapter of the DabbledooMusic book for young musicians (coming soon)

Fill in your own animated graphic score:
As another part of the DabbledooMusic project this piece is an empty graphic score which can be filled in at the start screen and then animated by pressing play.
It will mainly produce simple melodic and harmonic structure (try using different colours for different parts), but the dots can represent anything in the composer and performers interpretation.
You will need to project this on a surface on which you can draw like a white board or a large sheet of paper (must be on perfectly flat surface)

Good Luck

New Notation for Music Education

Presenting, in collaboration with visual artist Killian Redmonk, DabbledooMusic: a resource for music education using animated graphic notation. It's a step by step introduction to graphic notation and animated notation aimed at primary level students and teachers.
Its there to be used so get stuck in and spread the word. Any comments or contributions to the lesson plan section are especially welcome.
Enjoy!
dabbledoomusic.com