Using Figurenotes for practising scales
Using Figurenotes flashcards as an aid for practising scales
We have been using Figurenotes flashcards as an aid to practising scales. It has been a very useful tool for musicians with mobile instruments with straps such as the saxophone or the guitar. The musician can physically walk besides the flashcard and play the note it signifies. It reinforces the concept of ascending or descending pitch for SEN students by incorporating physical movement. We have also recently used the same concept for practising scales with groups of learning disabled singers. Each note in the scale is also given a number as well as the coloured flashcard (1 being the root and 8 being the octave above the root) The singers sing the note number as the facilitator walks up and down the scale like a ladder. To add more dimensions to this a card can be turned on its back to signify a hand-clap instead of singing the note, this then introduces the idea of recognising intervals as elements of the scale are removed. The singers seemed to enjoy the visual nature of this challenge.
There are lots of variations you can try; another we found worked well was to use the corners in a room to put flashcards of notes of different pitches in (such as three notes from a triad). The facilitator demontrates the three pitches on an instrument as the participants walk from corner to corner. They attempt to memorise the three / four different pitches. A game is then played whereby several participants stand in the middle of the room and the facilitator plays one of the chosen notes on an instrument. The players go to the note they think it is. If they are right they stay in the game, if they get it wrong they are eliminated, the game continues till there is a winner! To learn more about figurenotes please visit Drake Music Scotlands web site: