Icons

Icons are non-traditional symbols used to notate music.   They allow students to quickly “read” music without the worry of not knowing standard musical notation.   They also allow students to quickly express themselves at an early-learner stage with known symbols rather than struggling with music notation.  The use of icons develops eye-hand coordination rapidly allowing students to quickly adapt to numbers, pitch names, solfege and then standard music notation. 

The ChimeWorks Icon lesson plans use a standardized group of icons combining shapes and colors.  Sensitivity is given to the use of colors alone due to the statistics that 1 in 12 males and 1 in 200 females suffer from color blindness.  The shapes have been adapted loosely from those used in shape-note singing. 

Since icons are used with pre-music readers, they can be utilized with younger children.  These same children may not yet be literate and understand how to track from left to right.  We suggest that great success will be met when the icon chart is presented through a computer-generated slideshow presentation or interactive whiteboard so that the teacher may point to each shape tracking for the students in tempo and rhythm. 

Once the students master the melody using icons, they may continue with the Chroma-note^® score.  Several methods may be used to achieve success in helping the students to associate their handchime with the appropriate pitch.  Bands matching the pitch color may be put around the base of the handchime tube to remind the students of their pitch.  Older students may meet success by just having the location of the pitch on the staff on the note designation label which is standard on all brands of handchimes and may be able to move quickly to the handchime score which is in standard music notation.

Download a Sample Icon Lesson Plan Here              Download our EZ Legend for Icon Lesson Plans