As a music teacher, I use a TON of non-linguistic representations.
For example, when learning rhythm for the first time, we start by looking at the words. Then we clap with the words we say--our first time clapping rhythm. Once we've done that we pat the steady beat and look at where we would put the heartbeats. I have heart shaped magnets that go on my easel u
nderneath the words to show where the beats are. We can see that some words have two sounds on a beat, and some have only one. Where there are two sounds, I switch the single heart magnet, for one that has two small hearts shaped within one big heart. We find all the words that have two sounds and replace them with these double hearts.
Then, I tell the students that we don't write musical notes with hearts. We call these rhythms with double hearts "ti-ti" and the single hearts "ta." Then I have two students come up to the front who are best friends and talk about how "Ti" and "Ti" are best friends and when they're getting along, they have their arms around each other: the students model this. This whole little story shows what eighth notes look like barred together as "ti-ti" or by themselves as a single "ti." Then I show the students the rhythm magnets, and we replace the double/single hearts with those.
This is just one example. I use magnets, symbols, and colors to show rhythms, melodies, and themes all the time. To learn xylophone pieces, I will sometimes just draw squiggly lines to show how the phrases are shaped. Non-linguistic representation happens every day in my classroom.
For example, when learning rhythm for the first time, we start by looking at the words. Then we clap with the words we say--our first time clapping rhythm. Once we've done that we pat the steady beat and look at where we would put the heartbeats. I have heart shaped magnets that go on my easel u
nderneath the words to show where the beats are. We can see that some words have two sounds on a beat, and some have only one. Where there are two sounds, I switch the single heart magnet, for one that has two small hearts shaped within one big heart. We find all the words that have two sounds and replace them with these double hearts.Then, I tell the students that we don't write musical notes with hearts. We call these rhythms with double hearts "ti-ti" and the single hearts "ta." Then I have two students come up to the front who are best friends and talk about how "Ti" and "Ti" are best friends and when they're getting along, they have their arms around each other: the students model this. This whole little story shows what eighth notes look like barred together as "ti-ti" or by themselves as a single "ti." Then I show the students the rhythm magnets, and we replace the double/single hearts with those.
This is just one example. I use magnets, symbols, and colors to show rhythms, melodies, and themes all the time. To learn xylophone pieces, I will sometimes just draw squiggly lines to show how the phrases are shaped. Non-linguistic representation happens every day in my classroom.
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