Byzantine Beginnings has had to go on the back burner for a little while and I probably won't have a lot of time to devote to it until the summer. My St. Stephen's Course questions arrived almost two weeks ago and I have until March 1st to write 7 papers for a total of 32+ pages.
In addition to all this we are buying a house (God willing)! We will hopefully close on February 28th and then I will have tons of work to do because it is a 3000 sq. ft. fixer upper. Let's just say that there is a paint sprayer and an extension ladder in my future since I hope to do all the painting that I can manage. Plus there is all the packing and unpacking. My parents will be coming to help which I am really grateful for. I am still having lessons with my two students, but they have been canceled a lot due to school cancellations. I am also continuing to have lesson with Nick and Stephen and am working on things more in my head now since I don't have time to devote to work on the computer. Also, I had been chanting ison for about a year, but in December Stephen said that I could start chanting the melody. That has been really helpful. I usually practice the music ahead of time but we often chant at lightening speed! Over time I know that it will get easier as I become more familiar with the hymns. I have been working on the Nightly Ni and hope to post the first draft soon. I also hope to get the Ni Pa Vou cards and Greek Letter cards sent out to the new printers in the next few weeks so that I can see how they look. My other goal for this busy time period is to take some videos of the games during my lessons so that I can put them up on the website. It won't take a lot of extra time but will be very helpful to people trying out the games. Written explanations are so much harder to follow.
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The Nightly "Ni"* will be a key component to ByzB and I want to explain its background, purpose, and my future goals for this material (as well as solicit help!). The idea for the Nightly "Ni" comes from Music Mind Game's Daily "Do" and so I would like to begin by explaining the Daily "Do". The Daily "Do"![]() The Daily "Do" accomplishes two major things. First, it trains students' ears and helps them "internalize pitch relationships" within the equal tempered scale. Second, it teaches a lot of basic western music theory, including: m3- minor third M2-Major second Major triad Major scale P4- perfect fourth Relative minor scale Minor Triad The Daily "Do" allows students to experience music theory with their voice. They then explore the music theory using other Music Mind Games materials that work well in conjunction with the Daily "Do". The colors of the note heads of the Daily "Do" correspond to the colors of the Do Re Mi cards and the magic notes. This allows teachers to use the Daily "Do" with other materials to teach theory in a really practical and memorable way. I will do a follow up post to talk about how these materials work together in more detail. One integral part of the Daily "Do" that I will explain more now are the hand signs. |
Amy HoggSAHM by day; ByzB curriculum developer by night. My career was in teaching: kindergarten, first grade, bilingual reading, Suzuki piano, and Music Mind Games. Now I paint icons and spend lots of time making materials on the computer. My greatest joy is directing my students in their learning. This blog documents the process and provides a space for my other ramblings as well. Archives
March 2018
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