WEEK 2 (YEAR 1 Semester 2) -- Musical Multiliteracies

The concept of "musical multiliteracies" has transformed my understanding of what it means to be musically literate. Mills and McPherson's assertion that musical literacy extends beyond decoding staff notation opened my eyes to the multimodal nature of musicianship -- visual, auditory, and kinaesthetic learning working simultaneously.

This week introduced the eight talents of a musician (McPherson and Williamson, 2015): performing, improvising, composing, arranging, analysing, appraising, conducting, and teaching. The lesson planning strategies we discussed -- starting small with one activity and gradually spiralling outward to include greater levels of complexity, incorporating 10 short activities for young learners (to match their attention spans) -- demonstrated how we build students' abilities systematically while avoiding cognitive overload.

The question of older beginner sequences particularly intrigued me as I prepare for secondary placement. While Year 7 students inhabit a different cognitive space than primary learners, they still need to move from the known to the unknown, from concrete to abstract. I must provide structures and support -- for example, starting with modelling and echo, progressing through solfa and hand gestures, stick notation for rhythm, ladder representations for pitch, and finally staff notation. This requires careful planning, consistent modelling, and gradually developing rigour while meeting students where they are intellectually and emotionally.