The Movable Do Disc (basic study kit)

Description

This kit contains:

• The Movable Do Disc (14 cm)
  • On one side all the tones are there, diatonic and chromatic
  • On the other side it shows only the colours, allowing you to fill in the tones as you add them to your practice
• The Absolute Pitch Attachment (9.5 cm) with both natural tones (ABCDEFG) and flats and sharps (b/#)
• The Absolute Pitch Attachment (9.5 cm) with only natural tones (ABCDEFG)
• A whiteboard marker
  • Use this only to write on the APA with natural tones! This way you can add the flats or sharps you need for any key.
• The MDD Sticker (5 cm)
• Diatonic Scale Practice sheet (up to three sharps/flats) (pdf download)

Use your Movable Do Disc to sing & point a song you know, practice scales, or improvise any melody you can think of! You’ll mentally and physically connect the sounds with their syllables, while visualising the tonal context. It is like having an external instrument while singing! And above all, it is a lot of fun!

The diatonic tones do, re, mi, fa, so, la, and ti have each been given their own colour, suggesting their individual character and unique position in the scale. On the Movable Do Disc we can see the symmetry of the scale, with re at its centre, the position of the diatonic semitones between mi and fa, and ti and do, and the tritone between fa and ti, the two leading tones of the scale. The Movable Do Disc is a great tool to contemplate the sounds of the tones and the shapes of all the different intervals!

The backside of the coloured disc allows you to write each newly learned tone in its place until all the diatonic and chromatic tones are mastered. The Absolute Pitch Attachment shows how the alphabetically named absolute pitches function in every key. Notice the tuning fork on A! This layer of absolute pitch is transparent, so that the underlying diatonic or chromatic functions of the absolute pitches are always absolutely clear. To choose the right absolute name for a tone in key, just remember that in any key, the alphabetical order of the letters A, B, C, D, E, F, and G is maintained, and each letter appears in a diatonic scale only once!

Writing on the Absolute Pitch Attachment

The whiteboard Marker can be used to write on the Absolute Pitch Attachment without altered tones (find it on the back of your disc), to add flat or sharp tones and cross out the tones that are not in a scale. This way, it’s easy to understand how flats and sharps are added through the circle of fifths! 

If F is do for example, you can cross out the B and write a Bb where fa is, etc., etc. Like this, you can go through the circle of fifths both ways (fifths up: sharps, fifths down: flats), adding a flat or a sharp for each new key!

Increase your practice time considerably by sticking the diatonic MDD Sticker where you often look (bathroom?), and sing a melody or melodic sequence each time you see it!

The cardboard that the disc comes on also has the image of the Movable Do Disc. Hang it somewhere you often look. Practice thinking of the letternames in a key without using the Absolute Pitch Attachment!

Go to the blog to read more about practicing with the Movable Do Disc!

If you want to place a large order for your school, please get in touch!