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Welcome to Christie Cleek’s homepage

This site is undergoing a large revision

We are:

Sonya Christie, Scottish: fiddle, song, Cape Breton step-dance and social dance instruction.
Formal qualifications: Bachelor of Arts (Peace Studies), Bradford University 1988 – Music educator (AM), Music Academy of West Jutland 1996 – Master of Letters (Music) Newcastle University 2008 – Teacher training VIA University College 2010, presently studying mathematics as an additional subject.
CV: Danish Music Schools from 1994 – 2010 (teacher of fiddle, orchestra, general music, street bands, choir); Music Academy of West Jutland 1996 – 2007 (Freelance teacher of Fiddle, General music education, Concerts for the young); Arts Council representative in Folk Centre Hogager 1998 – 2006; Live Music in Schools, development 1996 - 2004. Present employment: Comprehensive School, Føvling, Denmark.

Jens Kragh, Danish: accordion, guitar, bodhran, mouth-organ and song.
Formal qualifications: Music educator (AM), Music Academy of West Jutland 1986 – Educational Management, The Municipal High School 1994.
CV: Principal teacher of Blaabjerg School of Music 1984 - 2007 – Member of Ribe District’s Music Council 1992 - 2001 – Member of DMpF (Music Educators’ Trade Union) Committees for Principals and for Educational Development 1999 – 2007. Present employment: Former project leader and teacher in Varde School of Music & Arts from 2008.
Now freelance developer and instruktor in digital interactive music education.

Our homepage presents a new-thinking of music theory, with interactive IT exercises designed for Smart Board, computer or tablet. In the classroom we use these in combination with live music, team quizes and musical movement.

Our musical performance and pedagogy begins in folk-music: melody, rhythm, dance, song, story-telling and the social context creates the holistic musical context. We offer courses in music education with the goal of empowered music: use what you’ve got, understand it and create anew.

We enjoy sharing our knowledge about Scottish culture and whisky tasting. We offer an entertaining evening around whisky tasting, presentating the Water of Life in an historical context using taste, smell, pictures and words, spiced with music and song from the various whisky regions.

Our music is the folk music of Scotland – Ireland – Denmark and other good dance-music and entertainment.

We feature in the regional TV programme Coffee with Kurt: "They were drawn by music" / "De blev draget af musikken".
Press material: Pressemeddelelse i PDF format
Press photo: Pressefoto 1 Pressefoto 2

Music theory thought anew

We can thank our pupils for our development of a new method with an easy inroad to music theory. The many questions our pupils have asked have forced us to rethink how to explain music theory, with new illustrations and explanations. They have also given us the opportunity to try out and refine our ideas.

We have weighted the role of interaction. Interactive classroom boards, internet and our homepage are important tools.
The homepage is built with the help of html coding and Publisher. Our pupils are from age six to adults.

We use the following foundation stones:

The Clockface that provides a framework for learning the circularity of pitch names and is a new tool for discussing intonation – independent of the piano's tangents.

The Scale Clock that, in combination with the moveable clockface, shows intervals, scales in major, minor and modal keys, triad-building and chord functions in major and minor.

The Time Wheel that provides a framework for explaining the musical fractions of rhythm in the context of tempo. To this we have developed rhythm cards that show the relative values of notes in a physical form. They can be combined with time-signature cards.

The Hertz Column that gives a tangible picture of pitch and height. The colours provide a child-friendly language for differentiating the seven ocatves. We have used this colour-code in our tables over various instruments. In the classroom, we have placed sticks with coloured A's on the keyboards.

The House of Fifths is a overview of all keys, making analysis a game. Chord families/ functions in major and minor stand out with clarity.
While standing in its own right, the house is an aid to understanding the circle of fifths.

The Music-table, developed as a manual version of "The Scale Clock," is basic music-theory reduced to A5 size.

The toss-a-note board is in combined treble and bass clefs. Pupils throw balls at the board. The ball sticks (velcro) and pupils must set the correct basic pitch name where the ball hit.

Copyright

You are welcome to use this homepage in education. As with books and other copiable materials, you should report to CopyDan or your country's equivalent that the homepage has been used.
Copyright on all materials on this homepage belong to: cleek.dk alias Jens Kragh og Sonya Christie.

Contact us, we will with pleasure demonstrate our materials.

Contact: clock@cleek.dk or phone: 0045 7543 2313

This homepage was begun on 6th December 2009, built up in "notebook".
Photo of Christie Cleek: Sheila Simm  English version: Sonya Christie – last updated on 9th of April 2012.  Webmaster: Jens Kragh.