The Third Step

Abstract

As mentioned before, the duration of a sound influences the pitch sensation arriving at the brain. Since our language is make up of pitched sounds that vary both in tonal quality and duration, it is very important to ensure that a young child can hear the differences in duration and is given the opportunity to hear them sufficiently often. When experimenting with a training programme I found that when complex rhythmic work was introduced too early it retarded pitch learning; similar findings were reported by Steiner and Teplov. I believe this to be mainly a question of duration of stimulus because of the need for this to continue long enough for the experience of pitch sensation. To further learn these differences a simple form of notation can be introduced, which will at the same time develop the idea of visually codifying the differences in sound, a process fundamental to the skill of reading.