Theory Pedagogy Publications


Explorations in Music



Order from Neil A. Kjos.

“I believe students can best understand how music is constructed by working with each concept in a number of different ways – writing, listening, analyzing scores, investigating their own repertoire, experimenting with composing, and various other creative activities. With this broad understanding, your students will make connections between the study of music theory and the music they hear, perform, and create.” - Joanne Haroutounian

Explorations in Music is a comprehensive curriculum in seven levels, with teacher guides providing guidance for instruction and CDs included for listening lessons and ear-training. Each musical concept is learned through writing, listening, eye and ear analysis ,composing and other creative activities.

The curriculum can be used with any method and extends beyond method theory books to reach the level of concepts found in Advanced Placement theory tests. The curriculum is differentiated, with Explore Bonus pages to challenge curious students and Beyond the Page activities encouraging students to analyze their own music.

Listening activities include ear-training and melodic/rhythm dictation starting from Book One, with real-world exploration of listening for rhythms and meters in orchestral excerpts. Explore pages in the student book and in the back of the Teacher Guides provide creative activities that makes theory fun to learn.

 

Rhythm Antics

“Creativity is the key factor in the use of Rhythm Antics. If a student finds interesting new rhythmic ideas reaching beyond the pages here, we’ve accomplished our goal. If these explorations lead them to their instruments to try their hand at composing – BRAVO!” - Joanne Haroutounian

Rhythm Antics is a delightful way to get off the bench and enjoy rhythms, especially designed for the beginning music student. It provides opportunities to explore rhythm in different ways away from any instrument and the complexities of note reading on the staff. It can be used in private lessons as well as in classes. Kodaly syllables are used with some variation for certain note values. The rhythm exercises are variations of Orff's work with rhythms. Organized into 15 lessons (with an introduction and conclusion lesson), each lesson introduces a rhythmic concept and reinforces it through various exercises and written work.


Order from Neil A. Kjos.


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