| A Musical Journey with Coloured Note-Heads
As a composer I’m very much aware of the 'symphony' of idioms that now surround us. As a piano teacher it's my job to work out which of the available idioms means most to an individual student and guide her/him gently in the direction which will have most meaning.
So much for the norm…. But there are always exceptions. My first experience was with a pupil who was severely dyslexic whose parents were keen for him to learn music as a way of helping value himself that wasn’t dependent on constant comparison with the abilities of others. Progress was slow at first as I adapted my methods to his needs. And then, after a year, early in 2002, Logic, the music programme I use, announced that its forthcoming upgrade would include coloured note-heads.
When I finally got my copy it was just before the autumn term so I didn’t have time to 'colourise' all my teaching music, but I did just enough for this lad - and the effect was instantaneous. His progress immediately accelerated. After a couple more years he gave up piano in favour of a melody instrument because he found anything beyond very simple two-handed music quite challenging.
However, having seen his musical transformation under the effect of ‘colour,’ it convinced me that here was a really valuable tool. Then, nearly two years ago, Charlotte came along. I had no experience of teaching a pupil with Down syndrome - but fortunately her mother had already bought her a Casio keyboard with key-lighting - a system with a song-bank of 100 popular tunes and a three-step guided learning process. (Unfortunately, the tunes are chosen more for their popularity than for their playability!). We adapted my coloured key chart and stuck it behind the keys and later on the individual notes, which were then illuminated from behind. Charlotte became quite confident with that - as you can see from the video. Click here to view the video. Over the last term and a half we have begun to read from music and play on an acoustic piano, with excellent results. I don’t know how much progress Charlotte will make, but the exciting thing is that the use of coloured note-heads (within an otherwise conventional musical presentation) looks as if it will enable a wider range of people to make a personal journey into music than would have been the case before. My system, which I am now preparing to publish on the web as ColourMuse, could therefore have a valuable function in enabling people with learning disabilities to communicate with, and participate more fully in, that sense of belonging which live music-making offers.
Wiltshire
March 2006
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