Dr. Feierabend has developed four distinct curriculums:
First Steps in Music for Infants and Toddlers provides developmentally appropriate activities that are well suited for children under three years old with their caregivers. Folk songs and rhymes as well as classical music are the primary source materials that are used to develop their musical minds and abilities.
First Steps in Music for Preschool and Beyond provides activities for children as young as three but appropriate for any aged child that needs to further develop their tuneful, beatful, and artful abilities. Folk songs and rhymes as well as classical music are the primary source materials that are used to develop their musical minds and abilities.
Conversational Solfege™ is a pedagogical method to be used with children who have already developed their tuneful, beatful, and artful skills and are ready to develop a deeper understanding of melody and rhythm. Conversational Solfege™ develops an understanding of music through the use of rhythm syllables and solfege syllables at a conversational level, then gradually evolves into traditional notation. Through carefully sequenced activities, Conversational Solfege™ enables students to joyfully assimilate the skills and content necessary to be musically literate. Through various techniques, Conversational Solfege™ allows the acquisition of musical reading and writing, dictation, improvisation, and composition in an intuitive manner. This course is applicable to general music, choral, and instrumental teachers.
Conversational Solfege Upper Levels will continue to investigate methods, techniques, and materials appropriate for continuing the development of music literacy using more advanced rhythm and melodic content in upper elementary, middle and high school music general music classes, as well as vocal and instrumental ensembles. In addition, methodology for teaching harmony and improvisation will be presented in major, minor, aeolian, dorian and mixolydian. At the competition of the course, participants will be able to apply a sequence of skills to tonal and rhythmic content appropriate for middle school and high school. Develop skills for creating logical and varied lesson plans which give evidence to short and long-range goals. Develop skills at understanding harmony and improvisation using solfege, and last, understand modal tonalities and harmonies. Participants who successfully complete this course will receive an official certificate of completion for Conversational Solfege Level 1 & 2 from the Feierabend Association for Music Education (FAME).