Visual Understanding Reflection

    When I first started this project, I was going to use a topic closer to my inquiry topic about choosing appropriate repertoire, but I found the topic to be a bit too wordy and hard to visualize for students, so I decided to change gears to a different aspect of the inquiry topic. 

     When figuring out what images to put with print, I found in very easy with my new topic, Understanding Solfege since solfege is a very visual thing, the best way to teach it is to show it visually and physically in relation to sound. I used an image of simple C major scale with each corresponding solfege syllable to show which syllable goes to which note and how at the high C the solfege syllables restart back to “do” the way the letter note cycles every seven notes. I also used a poster of the Jackson 5’s song, “ABC”, this was for multiple reasons. The first reason being a sort of “hook” for readers since students are familiar with the song and the image is very bright, so it captures the student’s attention. The next reason is because it refers to ABC, 123 and Do re mi being very simple. That is very true, despite some non-musical people considering music to be very complicated when in reality it isn’t. The comparison of letters, numbers and solfege syllables is a very real thing in music, since solfege syllables are assigned to letter note names, as well as sometimes solfege syllables can be swapped for numbers in some cases, but this is a rarer practice for more advanced music areas.  

     The image on the second page is of all of the hand sings for each solfege syllable, this is one of the key parts of learning solfege is learning the hand signs since they help understand solfege aurally and therefore understand music better as a whole. I then described the rules for applying the hand signs since they work the best when used a specific way. My last four images are little images of a brain, an ear, a hand and eye. These are all body parts that are benefitted musically by solfege, I then described the exact benefits to each body part. This will help students understand which parts of them change and improve musically from the use of solfege 

Music is a very abstract concept on paper, it is why music theory is very difficult without a piano nearby. Solfege is no exception, you can understand it fully by just reading about it, you need to see visual proof of what is happening as well as knowing what the hand signs look like. Seeing visually what parts of the body are affected by solfege helps internalize and understand clearly which parts are affected. I am a very visual and tactile learner so describing what solfege is and how to apply it came very easy to me. Visualization and having something to visualize off of to validate and confirm my learning is how I learn best so being able to lay out that process in  this infographics is a very accurate and efficient display of visualization and my own personal thought process.