Chant Teaching Tool: Magnet Neums
  • Anhaga
    Posts: 55
    I have magnet vent covers that are not used any more. And an idea suddenly came up to my mind that I cut up the vent covers to shape neums of Gregorian chant. And I ordered a magnetic whiteboard that I can attach staff paper on it. It may be useful when practicing pitches of movable "Do" or "Fa". I hope this tool will be a strong magnet to attract more people to Gregorian chant. I welcome any modifications to this idea.

  • JamJam
    Posts: 636
    I think that's awesome! but what about the other neumes besides the punctum?
  • miacoyne
    Posts: 1,805
    I'd love to try them for my schola. Can I buy them from you? (possibly a set; magnet board with four line staff and various neums.)
  • Anhaga
    Posts: 55
    >> I think that's awesome! but what about the other neumes besides the punctum?

    I think it will be most useful to practice solfege according to movable clefs.

    >> I'd love to try them. Do I buy them from you?

    You may be able to make them much better than what I hastily made last night. You can buy magnetic whiteboard at Office Max or Office Depo. I bought the magnetic vent cover at Home Depo. I wish someone could professionally produce magnetic neums in a better shape.

    I was also thinking about painting the magnet neums with different colors for children. Children have fun with learning alphabet and numbers with magnetic letters. Why not neums?
  • Carl DCarl D
    Posts: 992
    Fantastic! I had thought of doing a similar thing, but our whiteboard at church doesn't have a metal backing.

    My solution was to find some big honkin' whiteboard markers which have a square nib that's half an inch wide. The brand is Foray and I was able to order them through Office Depot.

    image

    Coloring in notes with a normal whiteboard marker was just driving me nuts. Not a long journey, admittedly.
  • miacoyne
    Posts: 1,805
    But I think magnet is much easier and fun to play around, change notes around and clefs too. Kids will love the magnets. (I can think of using it for many solfege games.) Maybe someone make them professionally and sell them as a Gregorian chant kit?
  • Maureen
    Posts: 675
    That would be a great education tool. You could also use the same system for regular notes, shape notes, etc. (Shape notes do use color as well as shape, if I remember correctly, in one of the systems.)

    You wouldn't have to paint the magnets (though that might last longer). You can buy sheets of magnets and sheets of magnet backer (fronter), upon which you can print designs, and I believe I've seen that stuff printed in different colors as well. It was a big thing for magnetic business cards, etc., for a while.

    You can get very small and very large magnet boards and whiteboards, especially at industrial/business supply places. I had some friends who rented a Victorian house together after college, and they bought and mounted in their front hallway an industrial whiteboard/magnetboard that was about the size of a non-Victorian room wall. :) (For "in", "out", and phone numbers, mostly, although the marker murals were also nice.)
  • Anhaga
    Posts: 55
    Here are additional pictures. As Maureen suggested, printing out neums on magnetic sheets might be a lot easier to make than painting.


  • G
    Posts: 1,397
    Fantastic!

    (Save the Liturgy, Save the World)
  • Chris AllenChris Allen
    Posts: 150
    The thought of a "Soul Chant Train Scramble Board" has crossed my mind on occasion.... :-)
  • incantuincantu
    Posts: 989
    I love love love this idea, if for no reason other than that it recreates the idea of a "choir book" for everyone to read from. Might I suggest that each week a different schoa member can be in charge of transcribing a chant? It's amazing how much we can learn from the process of notating something ourselves.
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