Syllables can serve like an “aural flashlight,” pointing out rhythm or tonal in a song, which naturally includes both rhythm and tonal. Multiple verses of songs from Sing We and Chant It take on new meaning with the melody sung on a neutral syllable, the next verse or two with the melody sung with rhythm syllables, the next on a neutral syllable, the next verse or two sung with tonal syllables, and the next on a neutral syllable. Through successive verses the activity says to the musical mind, “Listen to this song. Notice the meter of this song in the context of the melody. You know this meter. Now listen to the song again without syllables. Can you still hear the meter (syllables)? Now notice the tonality of this song. You know this tonality. Now listen to the song again without syllables. Can you still hear the tonality (syllables)? Several rounds like this—without syllables, with rhythm syllables, without syllables, with tonal syllables, without syllables—compel the musical mind throughout the extended experience.

Singing the song on rhythm or tonal syllables shines an aural spotlight on rhythm or tonal in context, drawing the musical mind’s attention specifically to rhythm or to tonal, in the context of rhythm and tonal combined. It is a grand way to draw the musical mind’s attention to musical dimensions “in flight”—without conversation “about music.” It brings rhythm to the foreground while tonal is in the background, and then brings tonal to the foreground with rhythm in the background.

Children do not confuse rhythm and tonal syllables when they have been steeped in both and have experienced the suggested Rhythm and Tonal Discrimination Activities. Rather, they are compelled by the power of their own audiation to follow the aural spotlight back and forth from rhythm to tonal in the context of a song. Songs in unusual meters are particularly interesting when sung with rhythm syllables and then tonal syllables. It is like saying wordlessly, “Listen to this song. Isn’t it interesting? Do you know what makes it so interesting?  Let’s look at the rhythm. Listen to that! It’s in Unusual Unpaired meter. It’s the meter that makes this song come alive! Let’s listen to tonal. It is simply in Mixolydian tonality. Nothing unusual there! What fun to hold on to the rhythm of this song in flight!”

Singing a song on rhythm syllables or tonal syllables also serves well with song literature. For example, there are many little Art Songs in the SONG LIBRARY with shifting meters that follow the text so naturally that the meter changes are very subtle. Singing a song with shifting meters on rhythm syllables brings the attention of the musical mind to the shifting meters, again, in context, without having to “talk about music.” This can serve well with a children’s chorus to highlight meter changes in vocal literature that are essential to quality performance, underscore the meter, or tonally, to improve intonation by shining a light on tonality amidst the turbulence of rhythm.