“What is a ‘meter’ and why does my child need experience with a variety of meters?”

“What is a ‘tonality,’ and why does my child need experience with a variety of tonalities?”

“What is a ‘meter’ and why does my child need experience with a variety of meters?”

A meter is the organization of beats into regular patterns.  Music learning requires a developing “sense” of that organization, a “sense of meter.”  Meters are defined by the organization of “macro beats,” the big beats, and “micro beats,” the smaller beats—the divisions of macro beats.  For example, in Duple meter, macro beats are even and divided into two micro beats.  In Triple meter, even macro beats are divided into three micro beats.  The unusual meters are a little more difficult and may challenge you more than your child!  In Unusual Paired meter, the paired macro beats are not even.  One is divided into two micro beats, the other into three.  It is not important that you understand the theory of rhythm.  Rather, absorb the various meters like your child does and let your musical brain process them rather than your intellectual brain.  Your child won’t count beats or compare mathematical relationships. 

The more your child is exposed to a variety of meters, the more your child will develop a “sense of meter,” a “sense of beat,” a “sense of rhythm,” to bring to every musical encounter.  That sense of meter will not only lead to your child becoming rhythmic, but also provide for your child’s rhythmic delivery to ultimately become very precise and very musical.  You may find that through the rhythm activities, you, too, may become stronger rhythmically!  Many adults would sing or play an instrument far more musically if they had developed a strong sense of meter.

“What is a ‘tonality,’ and why does my child need experience with a variety of tonalities?”

A tonality is the organization of pitches around a home tone.  Music learning requires a developing “sense” of that organization, a “sense of tonality.”  Looking at the various tonalities is a bit like observing seven planets, each time from a different planet.  The perspective, or sense of the whole is different, even if looking at the same planets, as each planet is in a different relationship to the home planet.

Each tonality is unique in its relationship of pitches to the home tone—the “resting tone.”  You may not be able to hear the difference between tonalities, but you, like your child, will become more familiar with the sound of the various tonalities and learn to discriminate among them with continued experience with each.  Perhaps you are familiar with Major and Minor tonalities.  Major is the tonality that we hear the most, but it is not the tonality that most stimulates your child’s music development.  Exposure to many tonalities provides for your child to develop a “sense of tonality,” which will ultimately be brought to every musical encounter.  Your child’s developing sense of tonality will lead to tuneful singing.  Further, it will lead to singing in tune.  Many adults would sing far better in tune if they would have had extensive experience with various tonalities.