John Feierabend

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John Feierabend
Website http://www.feierabendmusic.org

John Martin Feierabend (born November 29, 1952) is an American music education researcher, pedagogue and author. He is known for his First Steps in Music and Conversational Solfege music education curricula, as well as his contributions to the music intelligence education for young children. [1] His methodologies combine the teachings of Edwin Gordon and Zoltán Kodály. He is currently the Director of Music Education at the Hartt School of the University of Hartford. [2] As an author, he is widely held in libraries worldwide. [3]

Contents

Research

Feierabend's original research, conducted in his time at Temple University, is entitled The Effects of Specific Tonal Pattern Training On Singing and Aural Discrimination Abilities of First Grade Children. [4] In this study, Feierabend investigated the outcomes of singing and aural discrimination. Four groups of children were taught pre-determined amalgamations of tonal patterns that were either easy to sing and easy to aurally discriminate, or patterns that were more difficult to sing and aurally discrimination. [4] This test lasted for five minutes over the series of seven weeks. After analysis, evidence showed that singing and aural discrimination abilities become more similar in students who echo patterns which are easy to sing. This research suggests better singing skills are fostered in children who echo patterns varied in singing difficulty, and aural discrimination abilities are improved if echoed patterns are easy to sing. [4]

Despite criticism on the level of detail and methodology used in the study, [5] this study has been frequently cited in supporting claims regarding pitch matching and singing by important researchers. Kenneth Phillips included Feierabend's work in his study, "The Relationship of Singing Accuracy to Pitch Discrimination and Tonal Aptitude Among Third-Grade Students". [6]

Another study, Song Recognition among Preschool-Age Children: An Investigation of Words and Music investigated relationships between words and pitch and melody recognition. The study found that preschool children more accurately recognized songs performed without texts when they had heard them performed previously with texts. Another conclusion from this study is that district melodies were more easily recognized than similar melodies, regardless if the melodies had text. [7] [8] [9]

Lomax, the Hound of Music

Inspired by the First Steps in Music curriculum, Christopher Cerf and PBS TV created a television show entitled Lomax, the Hound of Music . The show, approximately 22 minutes in length, presented a dog puppet, named Lomax (for Alan Lomax), who travels the country searching for folk songs. [10] The show features minimally produced music, using only guitar and voice - an outgrowth of the emphasis on the acoustic nature of Feierabend's First Steps in Music approach.

Honors and awards

Related Research Articles

Absolute pitch (AP), often called perfect pitch, is the ability to identify or re-create a given musical note without the benefit of a reference tone. AP may be demonstrated using linguistic labelling, associating mental imagery with the note, or sensorimotor responses. For example, an AP possessor can accurately reproduce a heard tone on a musical instrument without "hunting" for the correct pitch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zoltán Kodály</span> Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, pedagogue (1882–1967)

Zoltán Kodály was a Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, music pedagogue, linguist, and philosopher. He is well known internationally as the creator of the Kodály method of music education.

Relative pitch is the ability of a person to identify or re-create a given musical note by comparing it to a reference note and identifying the interval between those two notes. For example, if the notes Do and Fa are played on a piano, a person with relative pitch would be able to identify the second note from the first note given that they know that the first note is Do without looking.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shape note</span> Musical notation for group singing

Shape notes are a musical notation designed to facilitate congregational and social singing. The notation, introduced in late 18th century England, became a popular teaching device in American singing schools. Shapes were added to the noteheads in written music to help singers find pitches within major and minor scales without the use of more complex information found in key signatures on the staff.

Ear training is a music theory study in which musicians learn aural skills to identify pitches, intervals, melody, chords, rhythms, solfeges, and other basic elements of music, solely by hearing. Someone who can identify pitch accurately without context is said to have "perfect pitch". The application of this skill is somewhat analogous to taking dictation in written/spoken language. As a process, ear training is in essence the inverse of sight-reading, the latter being analogous to reading a written text aloud without prior opportunity to review the material. Ear training is typically a component of formal musical training and is a fundamental, essential skill required in music schools.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cantometrics</span>

Cantometrics is a method developed by Alan Lomax and a team of researchers for relating elements of the world's traditional vocal music to features of social organization as defined via George Murdock's Human Relations Area Files, resulting in a taxonomy of expressive human communications style. Lomax defined Cantometrics as the study of singing as normative expressive behavior and maintained that Cantometrics reveals folk performance style to be a "systems-maintaining framework" which models key patterns of co-action in everyday life. His work on Cantometrics gave rise to further comparative studies of aspects of human communication in relation to culture, including: Choreometrics, Parlametrics, Phonotactics, and Minutage.

In music, tessitura is the most acceptable and comfortable vocal range for a given singer. It's the range in which a given type of voice presents its best-sounding timbre. This broad definition is often interpreted to refer specifically to the pitch range that most frequently occurs within a given part of a musical piece. Hence, in musical notation, tessitura is the ambitus, or a narrower part of it, in which that particular vocal part lies—whether high or low, etc.

Amusia is a musical disorder that appears mainly as a defect in processing pitch but also encompasses musical memory and recognition. Two main classifications of amusia exist: acquired amusia, which occurs as a result of brain damage, and congenital amusia, which results from a music-processing anomaly present since birth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Music education</span> Field of study associated with the teaching and learning of music

Music education is a field of practice in which educators are trained for careers as elementary or secondary music teachers, school or music conservatory ensemble directors. Music education is also a research area in which scholars do original research on ways of teaching and learning music. Music education scholars publish their findings in peer-reviewed journals, and teach undergraduate and graduate education students at university education or music schools, who are training to become music teachers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Music education for young children</span> Subarea of music education

Music education for young children is an educational program introducing children in a playful manner to singing, speech, music, motion and organology. It is a subarea of music education.

The Kodály method, also referred to as the Kodály concept, is an approach to music education developed in Hungary during the mid-twentieth century by Zoltán Kodály. His philosophy of education served as inspiration for the method, which was then developed over a number of years by his associates. In 2016, the method was inscribed as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carl Seashore</span> American psychologist and educator (1866–1949)

Carl Emil Seashore, born Sjöstrand was a prominent American psychologist and educator. He was the author of numerous books and articles principally regarding the fields of speech–language pathology, music education, and the psychology of music and art. He served as Dean of the Graduate College of University of Iowa from 1908–1937. He is most commonly associated with the development of the Seashore Tests of Musical Ability.

Justine Bayard Ward was a musical educator who developed a system for teaching music to children known as the Ward Method.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Music education and programs within the United States</span>

Music education in the United States is implemented in many schools as a form of modern-day teaching. Music education is a field of study that focuses on the teaching and application of music in the classroom. As this addition to the curriculum progresses, the effects and implications to this course of study are being widely debated, especially the factors pertaining to. Researchers are able to follow its progression from its earliest known application within the field of academics.

<i>Lomax, the Hound of Music</i> Television series

Lomax, the Hound of Music is a 2008 American children's television series using puppets, humans, live music and animation. Its intentions were to promote musical education for children ages 3–7, inspired by John Feierabend's "First Steps in Music" curriculum for music educators. It was created by Christopher Cerf, Norman Stiles and Louise Gikow, and produced by Sirius Thinking, Ltd., Eyevox, Inc., and Connecticut Public Television. Lomax first aired on October 6, 2008 to positive reception from parents and critics. It was initially announced that the series would premiere in 2007, but was instead released in 2008. The series faced cancellation on December 29, 2008, concluding after just 13 episodes. Following the cancellation, PBS relinquished the rights to the show, with Sirius Thinking assuming the primary ownership. In 2010, certain PBS stations revealed plans to rerun the series for a brief period.

Melodic Learning is a multimodal learning method that uses the defining elements of singing to facilitate the capture, storage and retrieval of information. Widely recognized examples of Melodic Learning include using the alphabet song to learn the alphabet and This Old Man to learn counting.

Takadimi is a system devised by Richard Hoffman, William Pelto, and John W. White in 1996 in order to teach rhythm skills. Takadimi, while utilizing rhythmic symbols borrowed from classical South Indian carnatic music, differentiates itself from this method by focusing the syllables on meter and western tonal rhythm. Takadimi is based on the use of specific syllables at certain places within a beat. Takadimi is used in classrooms from elementary level up through the collegiate level. It meets National Content Standard 5 by teaching both reading and notating music.

The field of music education contains a number of learning theories that specify how students learn music based on behavioral and cognitive psychology.

Gordon music-learning theory is a model for music education based on Edwin Gordon's research on musical aptitude and achievement in the greater field of music learning theory. The theory is an explanation of music learning, based on audiation and students' individual musical differences. The theory takes into account the concepts of discrimination and inference learning in terms of tonal, rhythmic, and harmonic patterns.

Musical literacy is the reading, writing, and playing of music, as well an understanding of cultural practice and historical and social contexts.

References

  1. ↑ Dodds, Celia; Brydon, Deb (Spring 2009). "Isn't Music Just for Fun? - Exploring the Importance of Music Education in Early Childhood". Educating Young Children. 15 (2): 35–36.
  2. ↑ "ENDANGERED MUSICAL MINDS: for parents and early childhood educators". Bluebird Foundation Inc. Retrieved December 25, 2016.
  3. ↑ "Feierabend, John Martin". worldcat.org. Retrieved August 26, 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 Colwell, R.; Webster, P.R. (2011). MENC Handbook of Research on Music Learning: Volume 1: Strategies. Oxford University Press, USA. p. 208. ISBN   978-0-19-538667-7 . Retrieved December 25, 2016.
  5. ↑ Apfelstadt, Hilary (Summer 1986). "Reviewed Work: The Effects of Specific Tonal Pattern Training on Singing and Aural Discrimination Abilities of First Grade Children by John Martin Feierabend". Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education (88): 64–70.
  6. ↑ Phillips, Kenneth; Aitchison, Randall (1997). "The Relationship of Singing Accuracy to Pitch Discrimination and Tonal Aptitude Among Third-Grade Students". Contributions to Music Education. 24 (1): 7–22.
  7. ↑ Porter-Reamer, S.V.; California, University of Southern (2006). Song Picture Books and Narrative Comprehension. University of Southern California. p. 146. ISBN   978-0-542-87563-2 . Retrieved December 25, 2016.
  8. ↑ Lindeman, C. (2015). Musical Children: Engaging Children in Musical Experiences. Taylor & Francis. p. 30. ISBN   978-1-317-34637-1 . Retrieved December 25, 2016.
  9. ↑ "THE INFLUENCE OF PHRASE CUES ON CHILDREN'S MELODIC RECONSTRUCTION". ESCOM European Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music. Retrieved December 25, 2016.
  10. ↑ "Parents and Teachers - Lomax - The Hound of Music". PBS KIDS. Retrieved December 25, 2016.
  11. ↑ "Lowell Mason Fellows". Lowell Mason Fellows. National Association for Music Education. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Anderson, Sharon (August 21, 2016). "Victorian Orff Schulwerk Association - ECCPA (Early Childhood Conference of the Performing Arts)". VOSA. Retrieved December 25, 2016.
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