Abstract:

Color notation uses different colors to represent musical notes, aiming to help pupils read and play music. The article explores music teachers' (n = 148) attitudes towards color notation in elementary schools in Slovenia. The findings of the study indicate that most music teachers do not incorporate color labels and color notation into their teaching practice. Teachers most often use color notation for pupils to perform pieces from sheet music and frequently for addressing pitch. The use of instruments with color labels is not frequent, with boomwhackers being the most commonly used. Music teachers agree that color notation reduces the difficulty of performing musical pieces, reduces differences among students in performance success, increases motivation and engagement, and enables numerous innovative and effective didactic games. Teachers also indicated challenges in using color notation, such as the topic not being sufficiently highlighted, an insufficient amount of materials on the use of color notation, and difficulties in purchasing color instruments. Some teachers also expressed that color notation is only helpful at the beginning of learning musical notation, that they are not familiar with color notation, that students would rely solely on colors which does not help with traditional notation, that colors for notes are not standardized, and that there are not enough quality instruments.

Keywords:

Color notation, music teachers, elementary school, music education.