Estimated reading time 2 minutes
Table of Contents
Introduction
Have you ever had a really distractable student who keeps missing features of the score? I know I have. Luckily, color does not need to be limited to color coding. Read more to learn how to color the music score to bring staccato, legato, pedal, dynamics, and accents to the foreground by using a highlighter and red pen.
How to Color the Music Score to Focus on Legato and Staccato
Mobile users: for best results reading the music, tilt your screen 90o to the right.
Apply color to the music score by highlighting the slurs in the score so that they pop off the page. Next, circle the staccato dots in red pen to bring them forward. I used to circle the slurs, crescendo, and decrescendo symbols in red as well. However, this cluttered the score, so I switched to yellow highlighter.
How to Color the Music Score to Focus on Dynamics and Pedal
- When applying color to the music score, circle all the dynamics in red, except for the crescendo and decrescendo symbols. Highlight them instead. If the words crescendo or decrescendo/diminuendo are instead printed in the score, use the red pen for the words. However, still use the yellow highlighter for the dashed line.
- Notice how I use red arrows to point out where a student needs to get louder when performing the crescendo. This makes sure the student does not get loud too quickly or too slowly.
- One of my students on the autistic spectrum had a problem with pedaling. I found it difficult to get him to press down the piano’s pedal when I pointed at the score. When I started highlighting the pedal symbol, he no longer had any problems seeing when he needed to press down.
Many Highlighter Colors and How to Color the Music
There are many highlighter colors, but I stick with yellow. It seems to be the best for focusing the student’s attention on the highlighted notation.
- I have known other music teachers, including one who works with ADD, LD, ASD, and special needs students, who used a variety of highlighter colors to differentiate various features of the score. So far, I have not needed that much variety. If you wish for more options, you can use any highlighter color you want, giving the score a stratified effect.
- Effective use of multisensory teaching can make the difference between success and failure, especially for special needs and LD students. Color the music score and watch your students achieve the next level of playing beyond notes and rhythms.
Accents have a slightly different treatment and will be dealt with in the next post.
© 2020 Geoffrey Keith
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