Dr. Hopkins Guest Response

The concept that music is learned very similarly to language is fascinating to say the least. It really opened my eyes, and made question my learning experience. Specifically, it made me question why we teach music first by reading and then by making sound if we learn language in the opposite order (generally speaking).


I never did end up joining band in high school or public school, and I think it had something to do with the fact that I knew music was much more than just playing the same note for 4 counts and then resting, or scales. By the time I picked up an instrument I had been taking private vocal lessons for years, and music at school was a very different, almost negative, experience for me. 


There comes some frustration in being asked to understand written language without knowing how to speak it, and I think that is related to some of the struggle that adolescent students come to find in the seventh grade when they pick up an instrument for the first time. They usually can read the sheet music fairly fluently, and they understand the symbols such as the time signature, key signature, volume markings, etc; but they still don’t have any clue as to how to make a sound.


Conceptually, Dr. Hopkins ideals on call and response exercises without the sheet music seems very logical. Theoretically it would increase the ear and understanding of the relationships between what the student hears and how to produce that sound on their own instrument, however I feel like for some students it may be a completely overwhelming experience.