The Music Road: A Journey in Music Reading, Book 1

Book excerpt: The Music Road: A Journey in Music Reading presents an exciting, effective way for beginning music readers to experience the joy of reading and playing music at the keyboard. In the three volumes of The Music Road, a comfortable sequence of steps is presented. Each unit is divided into three parts: "Stop! Look! Learn!" presents new material with follow-up written assignments; "Stop! Look! Play!" presents new material in simple playing experiences, short mini-melodies, and one measure musical examples; and "Destination" uses folk songs and original music to offer many opportunities to "see and play" what has been presented in the learning part of the unit. Each unit has a corresponding "Stop! Listen!" appendix in which the ear is trained to "hear" what has been "seen" on the printed page. Listening to "high - low," keyboard location, quarter, half, whole notes, 3/4 - 4/4 time, and intervals are a few of the beginning focuses in Book 1. Relating the eye and ear in this way is excellent sensory reinforcement and makes sense, too, of music theory for the young student. An additional appendix contains a teacher's guide, and general and specific practice points to help the teacher and parent use The Music Road successfully. The slow progression throughout the books ensures the mastery of concepts, and the extensive use of those concepts at the keyboard gives the student a wonderful sense of accomplishment. The philosophical and psychological basis for the Music Road books is a natural extension of the Suzuki approach, yet teachers with traditional approaches find the books equally successful with their students.