Methods of Transmission for Teaching in Various Cultures

One of the key factors in how music is shared between people is the methods by which it is taught, or the modes of transmission. Bonnie C. Wade claims transmission is the “most crucial factor for music everywhere” and defines it as “the process by which musical knowledge is taught and learned.” In the teaching of music there are four main categories: Tactile, Oral, Aural, and Visual transmission. Each of these methods are used in various ways by cultures all over the world to help educate others in their quest for musical knowledge.  

Tactile Transmission

In the most hands on approach, tactile transmission is the process of teaching by touch. In this case the teacher would manipulate the student’s body to demonstrate how each movement should feel. In the case of legong dance, the instructor stands behind the dancer moving her limbs and counting out the beats so that she feels the correct positions of each gesture. I remember in my early saxophone lessons my teacher standing behind me to correct my posture and adjusting my hand position to ensure I was playing the instrument correctly. A large benefit of this teaching style is that it allows the student to learn exactly what it feels like to do something both correctly and incorrectly, careful to note the difference. It also is useful when there is something inhibiting the aural learning process. Students with hearing or seeing disabilities can still learn to make music and interact in the musical world by touch rather than sounds or sight. The only way to move past learning and into doing it to learn how it feels to make music, thus making tactile transmission a crucial part of the learning process and a helpful tool for music educators. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obg77f4NuZY&feature=player_embedded

In this video you can see legong instructors holding onto the limbs of their students and moving them to the proper places.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_iOEPKCqko 
A teacher explains how tactile transmission is used to help students with communication impairment. 

Oral Transmission

Oral Teaching is probably the most popular method of teaching in many cultures. While aural is more of the learner’s perspective, oral is more of the teacher’s perspective and how they are the ones providing the information or teachings. In the third paragraph on page 20 of Bonnie C. Wade’s book: “Thinking Musically,” It says, “oral transmission takes perspective of the teacher and implies interaction between the teacher and the learner, while aural transmission takes perspective of the learner, who hears the music through some aural source.” 

Oral teaching is shown literally all around the world. Am example of oral transmission being when the Native Americans would tell the stories of their ancestors. There was no pencil or paper back then, so they told their stories orally. The most common example of oral transmission is really in a class setting. In orchestra, the conductor would tell you if you played something wrong and then he would describe to you what it should sound like. There are times when just listening to something won’t help. You need someone to tell you how it should sound and what exactly you should be doing in order to achieve that. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP4kXJ92Qh4

In this example, these 6 music schools in Berlin are having this performance together and they are currently having a rehearsal. Everyone has the same music, they can all read music, and they can all play their instruments. The piece they are performing is the Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, Op. 46: In the Hall of the Mountain King, so it is very well known. As they are performing, there was one part where the bassoons were kind of overpowering the melody. They are playing what is written and since it is well known, they are also playing by what they hear. They didn’t know that until they were told what they were doing and then told how they should play it. As the rehearsal is going on, the conductor is making all these little comments of how each section should sound, or what should be fixed. 

Aural Transmission

In regards to learning music, this is undoubtedly the most common method of learning. According to Bonnie C. Wade, music learned aurally is by “intentionally listening and by osmosis, that is, by absorbing what we here around us.” Of course, this may look different throughout cultures and even time. Many can attest to purchasing songs or listening to them on YouTube to improve their playing abilities or just to learn a song they enjoy. This is a fairly typical American tradition. It can even just be listening to music on the radio while driving down the road. No specific person is teaching you but you are still learning song. 

In the link below, the significance of listening to others play and sing is examined by a irish fiddle player. However, the watcher must note that oral and aural is still misunderstood as they often seem interchangeable. She mentions listening to her parents sing and eventually picking up on her own, all of the music she absorbed. Now she is a professional player, but this due to her roots with the music. Often, this is similar throughout many cultures. Being taught by your own listening is perhaps the simplest takeaway of this — the definition of aural transmission. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMdtlt-PoT0

Richard Gill

The Value of Music Education.

Richard Gill, the music director of the Victorian Opera Company, discusses the teaching of music, discussing the oral tradition and various methods of learning. He bring up many good points, including how most anyone can learn.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeRus3NVbwE

Visual Transmission 

The last mode of transmission can be both simple and very complicated. Visual Transmission is the process of learning through sight, either through observation of the music making process or by reading written notation. The simple was to learn is by watching a performer of the music you are attempting to learn. I remember watching live jazz bands and trying to emulate the lead saxophone player; the way he tapped his toe, the way he lead the beginning of each phrase with a noticeable nod to his section and the way he confidently stood and danced to his improvised solo musically smiling at the crowd. The other more complication type of transmission is through notation. In Western cultures that primarily evokes images of sheet music lines top to bottom with five line staffs and a flurry of small dots and lines, however there are many types of notation all over the world and depends on what purpose it is intended for. This breaks down into prescriptive notation or specifically how to make the sound, or descriptive notation simply how the music should sound. In the video below you can learn the basics of reading staff notation spread throughout the world through colonialism so that it now functions as a sort of universal musical language. Written notation helps to spread music by creating a physical copy of music that can be shared between different generations, cultures and places all over the world. It helps teachers establish a working vocabulary to discuss and teach music with their students. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCkEv1RWKls

Learning how to read sheet music, dancing Legong styled dance, to listening to your parents sing or learning from a professional instructor. These are only a few of the many examples of transmission out in the world.  Looking at these different cultures and their perspectives of transmission and how they value them, it just comes to show how each culture is different and how nobody is exactly alike. No two people are exactly alike and so they take in information differently. Teachers all around in every culture should take in the aspects of each different type of transmission. In terms of music, these types of transmission would prove useful when learning a piece and performing it. Though it may be evident in some cultures, others have yet to grasp the aspect of this idea. 

Sources

Wade, Bonnie C. Thinking Musically. Third ed. New York: Oxford UP, 2013


Thomandy. "How To Read Sheet Music - The Basics." YouTube. YouTube, 20 Jan. 2009. Web. 17 Sept. 2016.



BerlinPhil. "In Rehearsal: Simon Rattle Conducts 6 Berlin School Orchestras - YouTube." YouTube. YouTube, 14 May 2013. Web. 17 Sept. 2016.


NationalMuseumofAust. "Irish Fiddling and the Oral Tradition." YouTube. YouTube, 12 May 2011. Web. 17 Sept. 2016.



Educationgovuk. "Teaching Pupils with Communication Impairment Using Music." YouTube. YouTube, 27 Mar. 2012. Web. 17 Sept. 2016.


TEDxTalks. "TEDxSydney - Richard Gill - The Value of Music Education." YouTube. YouTube, 15 June 2011. Web. 17 Sept. 2016.