<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Mar 28, 2013 at 3:38 PM, Caryl Bigenho <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:caryl@laptop.org" target="_blank">caryl@laptop.org</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div><div dir="ltr">Hi Guys,<div><br></div><div>Yes, I do have a AB in Music and an MA in Music Ed. I need to take a look at the keyboard to see how Gonzalo has laid it out. But there are a few factors to think about.</div>
<div><br></div><div>There are 2 systems using Do-Re-Mi in solfege, the "fixed Do" and the "movable Do." With the fixed Do method, Do is always the note C, Sol is always G and so forth. This method is used in many places. The "movable Do" method is where Do is the first note of the scale, so if a song is in the key of G (for example), Do will be G, Sol will be D and so forth. </div>
<div><br></div><div>Supposedly these methods are used in different locales. In the US we use the movable Do. Latin America supposedly uses the fixed Do, however, when I asked the teachers in Uruguay (at Rosamel's school) whether they were using the fixed Do or the movable Do, they indicated they used the movable Do.</div>
<div><br></div><div>More importantly, Tam Tam uses the movable Do! This is evident when you switch to different "instruments" and test them with an electric tuner (which I have done). You will see that what would be the C key on most keyboard instruments may be something entirely different. So, it seems logical to use the movable Do with the XO. Maybe that is why they use it in Uruguay with their XOs.</div>
<div><br></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>At least one teacher complained about this issue with TamTam. He said the kids can't play a song with multiple instruments due to different tuning.</div><div>
</div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div><div dir="ltr"><div></div><div>Now, for the syllables... Do, Re, Me, Fa, Sol, La, Ti, Do are standard for the major scale in the US and many other countries. Some countries (Uruguay for example) use Si instead of Ti for the 7th tone. The Kodaly method (a method of teaching music to children) also uses the movable Do. </div>
<div><br></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>At least in Argentina, "Si" is used instead of "Ti" </div><div><br></div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div><div dir="ltr"><div></div><div>I suggest you might want to look over the little FLOSS manual I have put together for Tam Tam if you want to learn a little bit more about this. I still haven't done the final edits, but it is quite usable the way it is.</div>
<div><br></div><div><a href="http://booki.flossmanuals.net/fun-with-tam-tam/_full/" target="_blank">http://booki.flossmanuals.net/fun-with-tam-tam/_full/</a></div><div><br></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>
Great.</div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div><div dir="ltr"><div></div><div>Now... I just had what one of my Ed Profs called a "BGO" (Blazing Glimpse of the Obvious). If the XO-4 is going to have an on-screen keyboard there is no reason why there couldn't be alternate keyboards available. One to consider using would be for the pentatonic (5 tone) scale used by Orff Schulwerke. (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orff_Schulwerk" style="font-size:12pt" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orff_Schulwerk</a>).</div>
<div><br></div><div>To use an Orff-like method with the XOs someone (probably me, I guess) would need to take a deeper look into its workings and come up with some suitable lessons that would be easy for teachers to use. We probably wouldn't want to call it Orff Schulwerke as that name is probably protected, but some of the same techniques could be used, which I think you will see fit in nicely with PBL, Cooperative Learning, and Constructionism.</div>
<div><br></div><div>I know this is way more information than you wanted, but it is food for thought!</div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>This is more than I can do right now. But if anybody is interested, is welcomed.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Gonzalo</div><div> </div></div>