early childhood music


For example, when students are learning to clap the rhythm of familiar songs while singing them, gifted students could be asked to identify a song by listening to the clapped rhythm. When students are walking to the beat, gifted students might be asked to clap the rhythm while walking to the beat. Gifted students might also be able to understand the concept of short-long and fast-slow, and can demonstrate this behav- iorally, by leading the group’s movements.


When students are using iconic represen- tations of song’s rhythmic values, gifted students could be asked to combine the given values in different order, and figure out the impact that this new order would have on the way the lyrics are sung.


Music Notation


When learning music notation, gifted stu- dents tend to memorize the names of lines and spaces on the staff significantly faster (Teaching Music to Students Who Are Intellectually Gifted, 211). In a Kodály music classroom, we use two yarn lines to introduce the concept of staff. It is possible to ask gifted students to transpose a melody from, let’s say line-line-space (mi-so-la), to a position starting on space instead. They can also learn the concept of clef earlier than their classmates, and be asked to ex- plore the new name of notes when using a different clef.


Improvisation and Composition


The construct of creativity is often linked to giftedness. While the correlation is still being explored, gifted students usually enjoy discovering and creating new prod- ucts making use of their new knowledge. Treffinger (Treffinger, 2004) suggested that teachers should provide creativity-rich en- vironments that give students higher-level experiences. When students are learning to read ta’s and ti-ti’s from icons, gifted students could be asked to compose or improvise a two- to four-measure rhythmic pattern, or a rhythmic accompaniment, using those values. Another idea could be to read a story, for example Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, (Willems, 2003) and ask the gifted student to figure out a musical way for the reader to respond “no” every time the pigeon asks to drive the bus. The group can then respond in the given musical way to the pigeon.


It is important to keep in mind that what some students might consider a challenge and almost a punishment, is not necessarily so for gifted students. If the work has high quality and matches the student interest, it will highly benefit gifted students. The key for this approach is to explore accelera- tion, course and concept compacting, and a vertical approach to learning concepts, that is, allowing gifted students to delve deeper into concepts. When these general


approaches are present, all the students in the classroom might benefit and be more engaged in the learning environment.


References:


Marzano, R. (2008). Designing and Assessing Educational Objectives: Applying the New Taxonomy (1st. ed.). (J. S. Kendall, Ed.) Corwin: Thousand Oaks, CA.


Teaching Music to Students Who Are Intellectually Gifted. (211). In A. M. Hammel, Teaching Music to Students with Special Needs: A Label-Free Approach (pp. 164-180). New York: Oxford University Press.


Treffinger, D. J. (2004). Creativity and Giftedness. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.


“What is Giftedness?” (2022, November 16). Retrieved from National Association for Gifted Children: https://www.nagc. org/resources-publications/resources/ what-giftedness


Willems, M. (2003). Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus. New York: Hyperion Books.


Beatriz E. Aguilar, Ph.D., is professor and the Division of the Arts Music Department chair at Edgewood College, Madison.


Email: baguilar@edgewood.edu


President:


Wisconsin Foundation for School Music Board of Trustees:


Rich Appel, Superintendent, School District of Horicon


President-Elect: Steve Plank, Superintendent, Burlington Area School District


Past President:


Richard Parks, Superintendent, School District of Marathon


Treasurer: Bernie Fiedler, CFP, Whitewater Wisconsin School Musician


Gregg Butler, Administrator, Eau Claire, County Off Campus High School


Mark Hoernke, Principal, Poynette High School


Steve Michaels, Superintendent, Westby Area School District


Peggy Ryan, Principal, St. Croix Falls High School


Bob Meicher, Superintendent, School District of Westfield


Jim Boebel, Superintendent, Platteville


Angie Houston, Principal, Howards Grove Middle School


Members at Large: Stephanie Elkins, Program Director, Wisconsin Public Radio


Sarah Jerome, Retired, Arlington Heights School District


Staff:


Laurie Fellenz, Executive Director, lfellenz@wsmamusic.org


Kerrie Brey, Finance Manager, breykl@wsmamusic.org


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