Do You Learn Songs Better by Heart With Audanika?
Do the visual details on the surface of Audanika help to memorize songs faster? First observations.
Right in the middle instead of just there: Those who know pieces of music by heart have more freedom for imagination, expression, and interaction with the audience.
Jonas Lepper is currently conducting Audanika workshops with children and young people at various primary schools in Thuringia. During one of the lessons at a school, he practices a song that the Gräfenroda cantor Peter Harder developed, especially for an Advent service.
In the first workshop, one pupil was missing. Jonas wants to deepen the song further in the following week but discovers that this pupil still has to make up the song. He is amazed when the pupil manages to practice the piece within 20 minutes, thus reaching the level of the others.
How did she do it? The melody of the song is relatively simple. The harmony, on the other hand, is more challenging. Many irregular line changes have to be played on Audanica. But that is no problem. In no time at all, the pupil learns the song by heart.
Self Experiment: Memorizing a Song in Less Then Nine Minutes
Jonas and Gabriel then decide to give it a try themselves: Gabriel plays Jonas the German winter child song “Schneeflöckchen, Weißröckchen”. Jonas’ task is to learn the song by heart as quickly as possible. The sections played by Gabriel are short at the beginning and then get longer and longer. After about nine minutes, Jonas can play and sing the song by heart. Is it possible to learn songs by heart faster with Audanika than with classical instruments?
We have observed that children succeed in learning songs by heart with Audanika. It must be taken into account that children do not only play a melody with Audanika like on a piano. They also change the line simultaneously and thus play the harmony or chords.
Does Audanika’s Visualization of the Musical Hierarchy Ease Memorization of Songs?
This finding led us to the question of which characteristics of Audanika can favor an internalization of lyrics, melodies, and chords. We concluded that the hierarchical structure of the surface of Audanika could prefer the internalization of melodies. We have identified the following hierarchical levels.
Hierarchical Level 1: Key
We see the key as the highest hierarchical level. In Audanika, the key is symbolized by the background color and thus always present in the player’s mind. The key does not change in most children’s songs during a piece or song.
Hierarchical Level 2: Chord
The chord is the second level of the hierarchy. Chords change every bar or every half bar in most pop and rock songs. Each row in Audanika represents a distinct chord. To change the chord, you need to jump from one row to another. Thus chord changes are consciously followed by the children motorically.
Hierarchical Level 3: Melody
The melody is the third hierarchical level. Melody’s notes change much more frequently than chords. The melodic hierarchical level, therefore, has the highest level of detail. Once a child has found the correct row, it can now play the melody by moving horizontally on this row.
Melodic Substructures
At the melodic level, Audanika again distinguishes between three types of tones.
Root Note
The root note, highlighted on Audanika by a field with a dot, marks the target note, on which many children’s songs begin but even more often end. The dot field thus provides an orientation point that helps the child determine the beginning and end of a piece.
Chordal Notes
Chordal notes are highlighted on Audanika by bright fields. These frequently occur and for more extended periods in children’s songs. In addition, chordal tones are usually located on heavy beats, i.e., at the beginning of the middle of the bar. On Audanika, temporal landmarks thus also become visual landmarks.
The chordal notes in a row also form groups of three interrupted by two successive dark fields, two further ways of finding the correct playing point.
Non Chordal Notes
Non chordal notes are notes that do not belong to a chord are displayed somewhat darker on Audanika. These occur less frequently in children’s songs. Moreover, in most cases, they are positioned as passing or leading notes on light beats, i.e., on the second or fourth. This also visually represents the temporal subordination of these tones in Audanika.
Other Helpful Factors
Function-harmonically Motivated Arrangement of the Lines
Another factor that could favor memorizing musical pieces is the function-harmonically motivated arrangement of the lines. For example, the upper lines of Audanika reflect the dominant, the lower lines the subdominant, and the middle line shows the tonic. Many songs have chord patterns easy to remember, e.g., middle-bottom-middle-top. We refer here to our melody building kit podcast #2.
Cognitive Anchors
All of the above-discussed aspects provide landmarks, what we call “cognitive anchors”. An anchor does not determine the exact position of a ship. Much more, it gives orientation and support. In the same way, a cognitive anchor does not determine the precise point the child should play, but a point from which the child can find the note to be played.
The Top-Down Principle
The top-down principle applies: The child first internalizes the rough structure and then goes into detail step by step. Once it has a level mastered, a child can directly participate in making music together. For example, if a child can locate the correct row, it has to play the bright squares on this line. Thus it can directly support the group musically. As soon as the child has mastered the somewhat simpler playing of chords, it can go down one hierarchical level and acquire the melodic contour of a song. Here, dot fields, light and dark fields, and groups of fields provide further points of orientation that make it easier for the child to learn the song by heart.
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Authors
I’m Tim Stapperfenne, studying Applied Media and Communication Science at the Technical University of Ilmenau. The topics of corporate, product, and innovation communication inspire me. I met Gabriel at a Sunday service. Since then, I have been supporting him in his public relations work. I am supported by the European Union, the Free State of Thuringia, and Grace Cloud GmbH with a Thuringia scholarship. Feel free to follow me on LinkedIn.
I am Gabriel, founder & CEO of Grace Cloud GmbH and inventor of Audanika. I am a passionate entrepreneur, software developer, musician, and Christian. I enjoy creating new things and collaborating with different people on an equal footing. As a husband and father of five lovely children, I have a heart for the upcoming generation. Feel free to follow me on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
