{"id":5867,"date":"2021-04-02T09:47:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-02T16:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bandworld.org\/magazine\/?p=5867"},"modified":"2025-03-20T15:42:47","modified_gmt":"2025-03-20T22:42:47","slug":"half-truth-series-of-h-e-nutt-series-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bandworld.org\/magazine\/index.php\/half-truth-series-of-h-e-nutt-series-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Half Truth Series of H. E. Nutt \u2013 Series 4"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Introduction\n<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In music, there are many traditional ideas or concepts that have been taught and passed\ndown through the years that are only \u201chalf-true\u201d. This series of ideas, developed by H.E.\nNutt, co-founder of VanderCook College of Music, seeks to make you think of improved\nways of teaching the student. His concept was that \u201cwhy do we teach \u201chalf-truths\u201d, only\nconfusing the student and interfering with their progress?\u201d If we teach the student\nexactly what the concept means from the beginning, we will eliminate the long term\nconfusion and so when the student progresses, they will do so without questioning the\nvalidity of what was taught in the first place.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This series can be \u201ccontroversial\u201d, so proceed with caution… <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Series Four
READING PITCHES by LETTER NAMES <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Did you ever see this when grading a music theory worksheet from your\nstudents AND you marked it wrong for \u201cnaming the notes?\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Or how about this, when the note was listed and the student\nhad to write the notes in?\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This one really hits home, as a young piano student, we had theory assignments. When\nit came to note reading, I had many \u201cmistakes\u201d, if the assignment asked me what the\nnotes were \u201cname the notes\u201d… I would write the answer AS I SAW it. When it asked me\nto draw the notes in, I would write the answer AS I SAW it. Both were always \u201cwrong\u201d.\nWhy do we perpetuate this \u201chalf truth\u201d from generation to generation? When I finally\narrived at VCM and was taught about this, it really made a lot of sense!\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally most students have been taught to read the pitch names as……\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This is a Half-Truth!\n<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The whole truth is, the sharp, flat or natural SHOULD be read BEFORE the letter\nname. That\u2019s the way it is written, so that\u2019s the way it should be read. The sharp, flat\nor natural is never written AFTER the note, so why read it that way! Why read\nbackwards! Retrogression in reading SLOWS down the reading AND causes pitch\nmistakes.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The student must read and think each note with it\u2019s sharp, flat, or natural, as a UNIT.\n(Sharp F), (Flat B), (Natural F) and not as two separate items. THIS is the TRUE way to\nREAD.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The whole truth is, the sharp, flat or natural SHOULD be read BEFORE the letter\nname. That\u2019s the way it is written, so that\u2019s the way it should be read. The sharp, flat\nor natural is never written AFTER the note, so why read it that way! Why read\nbackwards! Retrogression in reading SLOWS down the reading AND causes pitch\nmistakes.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The student must read and think each note with it\u2019s sharp, flat, or natural, as a UNIT.\n(Sharp F), (Flat B), (Natural F) and not as two separate items. THIS is the TRUE way to\nREAD.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most students do pretty well when the sharp, flat or natural is written in front of the\nnote. Trouble comes in trying to remember from the KEY SIGNATURE which notes\nare sharp, flat, or natural. Here the system advocated really pays off!\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the student is not THINKING the sharp, flat, or natural IN FRONT of the letter\nname, it shows immediately in the playing of wrong notes.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In learning any scale, the student must think and read each unit correctly. For\nexample… in reading the scale of THREE FLATS, he should recite….\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In doing it this way, the student is fixing the correct units of that scale in their thinking.\nIt is a matter of learning, not memorizing. If the student reads the letter name and then\nhas to look back at the key signature to decide whether it is sharp, flat, or natural…\nTHAT\u2019S TOO LATE. There isn\u2019t time to look back. The student MUST know BEFORE the\nnote is played. They must think and read the proper symbol in FRONT of every note\nthat is played.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Try it out, it REALLY does help the student THINK the right note BEFORE it is played… It\nhelps eliminate… B (student presses 2nd button on trumpet)…oops, flat (student then\npresses 1st button.). I have NEVER had a student who made an honor band, and the\nconductor calls it the Traditional way be confused…. BUT when they first start to learn\nhow to read, it sure helps SAVE confusion on reading music!\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Introduction In music, there are many traditional ideas or concepts that have been taught and passed down through the years that are only \u201chalf-true\u201d. This series of ideas, developed by H.E. Nutt, co-founder of VanderCook College of Music, seeks to make you think of improved ways of teaching the student. His concept was that \u201cwhy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":7343,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,25],"tags":[480,247,246,511,256],"class_list":["post-5867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-philosophy","tag-abc-graduate","tag-bandworld","tag-bandworld-magazine","tag-guy-mckinney","tag-philosophy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bandworld.org\/magazine\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bandworld.org\/magazine\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bandworld.org\/magazine\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bandworld.org\/magazine\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/79"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bandworld.org\/magazine\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5867"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/bandworld.org\/magazine\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5867\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7347,"href":"https:\/\/bandworld.org\/magazine\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5867\/revisions\/7347"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bandworld.org\/magazine\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bandworld.org\/magazine\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bandworld.org\/magazine\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bandworld.org\/magazine\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}