Conversational Solfège

Conversational Solfège

June 22–26, 2020

Through carefully sequenced activities, this fun workshop will demonstrate how to enable students to joyfully assimilate the content and skills necessary to become musically literate, including the acquisition of listening, rhythmic and melodic reading, dictation, composition and improvisation in an intuitive manner. Participants will experience a curriculum that grows out of tonal and rhythmic elements that exist in folk song literature. Each rhythm or tonal element will be explored in patterns, songs and themes from classical literature. Participants who successfully complete this course will receive an official certificate of completion from the Feierabend Association for Music Education (FAME).

Conversational Solfège is a pedagogical method created by Dr. John Feierabend that develops musical literacy. Conversational Solfège is for children who have already developed their tuneful, beatful and artful skills and are ready to develop a deeper understanding of rhythm and melody. Conversational Solfège develops an understanding of music through the use of rhythm syllables and solfège syllables at a conversational level, and then gradually evolves into traditional notation. Through carefully sequenced activities, Conversational Solfège enables students to joyfully assimilate the skills and content necessary to be musically literate. Patterns, folk songs, poetry, rhymes and classical music are the primary source materials that are used to develop those musical skills. Ample time will be spent on creating effective lesson plans and opportunities for peer teaching will be made available.

Instructor: Dr. John Feierabend

Dr. John Feierabend is considered one of the leading authorities on music and movement development in childhood. He is a professor of music education at the Hartt School of the University of Hartford, and is a past president of the Organization of American Kodály Educators. He has given presentations in all 50 states and a number of countries. He is the author of over 70 books, recordings, and DVDs, several of which served as the inspiration for the award winning PBS children’s television series Lomax: The Hound of Music.
 
Dr. Feierabend has been honored as a Lowell Mason Fellow by the National Association for Music Education (NAfME); named University Educator of the Year by the Connecticut Music Educators Association; received the outstanding alumni award from Wayne State University; and received the Outstanding Educator Award from the Organization of American Kodály Educators, the James Bent Award for outstanding achievement in scholarship and creativity from the University of Hartford. In addition, he was the first U.S. recipient of the LEGO Prize, an international award given annually to “an individual who has made a distinctive contribution to the betterment of children.”
 
Dr. Feierabend continues his commitment to collecting, preserving and teaching the diverse folk music of our country and using that folk music as a bridge to help children understand and enjoy classical music. His ongoing creativity and research has resulted in two music methods: First Steps in Music, a music and movement program for infants through elementary-aged children; and Conversational Solfège, a music literacy method suitable for elementary through college-aged students. In the summer of 2012, a group of dedicated and like-minded educators honored Dr. Feierabend’s 40+ years of teaching and research with the formation of the Feierabend Association for Music Education. More information may be found at www.feierabendmusic.org and www.giamusic.com/feierabend.