You will occasionally encounter musical terms that you are not familiar with as a non-musician. Your thinking mind will want definitions, but those definitions would make sense only when your musical mind comprehends their sound equivalent. Similarly, we grow up learning to use verbs and nouns, but their grammatical definitions make sense only after we have command of them in speech. A glossary of musical terms would frustrate you more than the occasional term that you aren’t quite sure of. Music is an aural art. Your musical mind, like the children’s, will not learn music through theoretical definitions. You will better understand the unfamiliar terms as you experience the weekly musical activities.
Your non-musician status can actually be to your advantage, as it forces you to receive the music activities in sound, like the children, without the encumbrance of music theory. Like grammar, music theory is helpful only after one can speak the language. Music theory actually gets in the way of understanding music in sound, as it puts the thinking mind in charge rather than the musical mind.
Your musical mind will encounter “rhythm” and “tonal” through a variety of “meters” and “tonalities,” whether or not your thinking mind knows their definitions. “Duple” and “triple” will label two different “meters,” while “Dorian” and “Mixolydian” label two different “tonalities.” “Macro and Micro beats” and “Resting tone” will become common fare in sound. Some of these terms you may know. Some will be explained in the weekly postings. Others you will grasp through sound. Let these terms serve simply as labels for sound, without concern for theoretical definitions. If you are uncomfortable with these terms after experiencing the combination of the online postings and the aural activities, you might find My Child’s Music Development in OTEC helpful. This rich resource includes extensive writing for non-musician parents about the process of music learning. You may find answers to some of your questions in Uncommon Sense, and basic explanations of some of the terms above in Music Content.
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