Our third week in music 373 we learned about many different musical concepts. We furthered our discussion on melodies, steady beats, and rhythms, and started learning about music scales and musical notation. We practiced these skills by playing the recorder and coming up with our own melodies on the recorder.

We were shown the different kinds of scales on the board in class. We learned about treble clef, what it looks like and what it means in music. We were also taught different kinds of notes such as whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, and so on and we were taught how to keep time in using those notes. These are all basic skills necessary to know in order to read music and in turn, to play music as well.

We also learned specific notes on the recorder, such as A, B, and G that are played by covering the various top wholes with your left hand on the top of the recorder. In addition to learning Hot Cross Buns, we learned to play another song in class by coming up with the note combinations ourselves.

Learning these important concepts and then learning to play music for young children is very important because learning these types of skills are easier the younger an individual is. The information children learn at a young age has a higher probability of sticking with them if practiced, and it will allow children to further their music education and become more advanced in the art if started early. It also is an important way for children to have fun in learning new things. If children know the basics of music, such as the concept of melodies or rhythm, then they are more apt to learn about different and more difficult concepts.