The music education
of mentally disabled children with the help of the colored score system
"There is some region of the soul which only music can lighten."
/ from the Selected Writings In Retrospect by Zoltán Kodály /
Studying music is difficult. Is it? The score is too complicated even for
the healthy children. Is it too complicated? If it really causes problems
do we have to resign to it? Or shall we find other ways to study and
enjoy music? These questions didn't let the German teacher of music
and handicapped children Heinrich Ullrich alone. He didn't think only
about the music education of healthy schoolchildren but had a faith in
that the mentally handicapped children and young people can also
study music, only the method should be found.
The five-line score is incomprehensible for most of the handicapped
children. That's why the note value and the pitch need not be
memorized but the score and the instrument are coordinated note by
note. The colors of the tones, which appear in the score, are also
indicated beside the strings, pipes and keys of the instruments.
So it's
enough if the children can match them without even knowing the
names of the colors.
As it can be seen on the attached chart, in the colored score system
there is no need for the five lines because the pitches of the tones
are
indicated by colors. As the tone is rising, the colors are getting
lighter.
The colors of the octaves one above and one below are the same, but
in the lower octave every note has a black circle in the middle.
In the
higher octave a white circle indicates the pitch of the note.
The semitone is simply denoted by the two colors, which the tone
is
between. E.g.: F# is half- red and half- green.
The marking of the rhythm is also simple:
The quarter note is a full circle, a half note is two circles interlinked,
the
whole note consists of four circles and an eighth note is a semicircle.
The musical rest is marked by a blank hexagon. Further rhythm values
denoted according to the above rules.
Bar-lines substitute with stresses above the accented note.
For the time being we are working within the association called "Music
Belongs to Everyone". We give individual and group music lessons,
hold
orchestral rehearsals and give concerts by our Parafónia orchestra.
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