The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    The nr.1 motivation is that they need to have a grade.
    Nr.2 would be that they'd be tossed out of the music school if failing it too much.
    Both are valid but that's not enough for too many cases.

    I've tried my best to advertise it but I hated solf too.
    Any ideas?

    edit: this thread has gone through some tough times.
    I made the mistake of not putting it here earlier:
    A solfege class (or solfeggio) - it's a name of a class in music schools in Eastern Europe that includes theory, ear training, sight-singing etc.
    It started with using "do re mi" system but has mostly abandoned this and moved to "C D E".. But the name of the class remained as "solfeggio".
    It is very confusing. And heated up some feelings here. I'm sorry for that. Now it's Friday. It is time to let go and start fresh!
    Last edited by emanresu; 02-10-2023 at 04:00 PM.

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

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    I’ve got nothing. I had to take it and have found it useless

  4. #3

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    Why do you have to promote solfege class? Shouldn't adults be in charge of motivating themselves?

  5. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Jimmy Smith
    Why do you have to promote solfege class? Shouldn't adults be in charge of motivating themselves?
    Um.. heh

  6. #5

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    A lot of people seem to hate solfege. I have a friend who is a music professor who hates it.

    I don’t really use it much. I think functional ear training is an excellent idea; I don’t think it has to be solfege in the trad sense though. Some people map it visually to their instruments.

  7. #6

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    Show them how it helps you in your playing. Show them Oscar Peterson, Barney Kessel, Herb Ellis who used solfège when they played.

  8. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Christian Miller
    A lot of people seem to hate solfege. I have a friend who is a music professor who hates it.

    I don’t really use it much. I think functional ear training is an excellent idea; I don’t think it has to be solfege in the trad sense though. Some people map it visually to their instruments.
    In music school(1-7 grade), there is no way around it. At least here.

  9. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by emanresu
    In music school(1-7 grade), there is no way around it. At least here.
    very much depends over here

    One organisation I work for is really into Kodaly which I must say is a lot of fun to do with a class. Certainly a lot more fun than trying to teach the class the guitar which is actually my job. How many time have you got to tell them what way the guitar goes round?

  10. #9

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    I see. Kid music school. I thought you meant college kid music school.

  11. #10

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    Never done it.

  12. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Jimmy Smith
    I see. Kid music school. I thought you meant college kid music school.
    No. Just plain old kids.

    edit: just kids. standard kids.

  13. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Christian Miller
    How many time have you got to tell them what way the guitar goes round?
    Oh, what do you mean?
    I'm not native English-speaker.

  14. #13

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    Quote Originally Posted by emanresu
    Oh, what do you mean?
    I'm not native English-speaker.
    which way it goes

  15. #14

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    Number 3 - people should be able to sing.

  16. #15

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    Quote Originally Posted by emanresu
    No. Just plain old kids.

    edit: just kids. standard kids.
    Last edited by Jimmy Smith; 02-04-2023 at 12:18 AM.

  17. #16

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    Quote Originally Posted by Christian Miller
    How many time have you got to tell them what way the guitar goes round?
    I'm there too. It's the pub gig of teaching

    Btw I'm big on ear training with my students. At the school and with my private students we play find the note, notes or chords depending on their skill level.

    Privately I also try to get the kids to play a notes or notes and singing them.

    Many of them hate singing even a single note even those with lovely voices.

  18. #17

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    Quote Originally Posted by Liarspoker
    I'm there too. It's the pub gig of teaching

    Btw I'm big on ear training with my students. At the school and with my private students we play find the note, notes or chords depending on their skill level.

    Privately I also try to get the kids to play a notes or notes and singing them.

    Many of them hate singing even a single note even those with lovely voices.
    I really enjoy it actually, despite what I said. I feel the limit is my imagination to some extent, but I really need to get them to play some notes at some point.

  19. #18

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    Sing them some written music, it's pretty impressive. Show them how easily you can play rhythm in rock songs if you can read the kicks, compared to having to memorize everything. How easy it is to have your music player by others if you can notate it.

    Tell them reading is one thing that helps you work in a professional level and rhythm.

    Having said that, when teaching kids, reading is pretty low in my priorities. Mostly I try to convey playing songs and having fun.

  20. #19

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    What age kids are we talking about? I’m a fan of classical education, including the Trivium: Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric.

    The Grammar stage is all about memorization. School age kids do it eagerly and naturally. Mnemonics like “Do a Deer” are helpful. Explanations of why something is important are not.

    The Logic stage is where the arguing begins. A good school (very hard to find) will begin formal logic in 5th or 6th grade or so. Maybe you could stage a debate, Resolved: Learning Solfège is Good Preparation for Any Life, and make some of the most popular kids take the affirmative. Idk, just spitballing. . . .BUT, if they’d done the memorizing during the grammar stage, you wouldn’t have to argue about it.

    The Rhetoric stage is where it all comes together. Perhaps solfège here is a tool for music appreciation.

  21. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by StuartF
    What age kids are we talking about?
    Roughly from 6-16 years. They get bored of solf, some quit the school because of that.

  22. #21

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    When I was first exposed to a musician who, in the context of a room full of loud instruments, could tell who played a wrong chord, what the wrong chord was and what it should have been, well, that was the first time I wondered if I had missed out on something because I never had solfege (or any other formal ear training).

    Perhaps frame it as a medicine - one that some people don't like the taste - but it helps solve the problem of being clueless about what notes you're hearing. And, you'll be glad later.

    Not every kid can deal with this sort of delayed gratification, but some can.

  23. #22

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    Can you describe what you mean by "solfege class" a bit more? I took ear-training classes in college that used solfege syllables (both fixed and movable do), but not a class that was explicitly called solfege. These classes mainly involved learning to recognize pitches, melodies, chords, and rhythms, and either writing them down or singing/tapping/playing them back. I found ear-training to be helpful, but I can't say I've used the syllables outside of that class.

    OTOH, I know people who took classes called "solfege" in European conservatories, but the curricula of these classes (as described to me) seemed more like what would be called "theory" in the US.

  24. #23

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    Quote Originally Posted by emanresu
    Roughly from 6-16 years. They get bored of solf, some quit the school because of that.
    For the <12 (pre-puberty) you really shouldn't have to tell them anything other than "you'll understand and thank me later". That's what I should have been told when I showed no interest in theory (not even an official solfège class), rather than "ok, true, you don't really need that as a violinist". I'm convinced this is why I'll probably remain helpless when it comes to "doing something nice with a bunch of chords".

    My didn't really push me a lot to study and make progress in music school as entering one had been my idea. 30 min/day was the only requirement, plus paying back the tuition fees if I dropped out. That one worked magic on me, I have no idea about today's kids.

    For the older kids ... it should be possible to include practical examples of applications, no? BTW, are we talking about a solfège class that has pupils from all the instrument sections or are these all guitar students (if so, what kind of guitar)?

  25. #24

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    Something like this, I suppose.


  26. #25
    Quote Originally Posted by John A.
    Can you describe what you mean by "solfege class" a bit more?
    Theory+ear training+singing+knocking.
    So they go through all keys, intervals & chords with inversions, write down rhythm or melodic dictates,
    sight read and sing melodies, knock rhythm exercises.
    All together, this class is called solfege here. No extra theory or ear training courses for kid's music school. Those are all bundled into this one "solfege" class.