In writings past, I have often talked about a theory or structure that I came up with called the checkerboard effect. The idea that because our bodily systems and movements create rhythms without any dictation and all other practices and appointments are regulated when “snapped to the grid.” In the western world, we often see this checkerboard as spreadsheet or a schedule and yet what I am referencing is quite different than that. The schedule is the guideline, yet the checkerboard is created in how we interact with each other and the world with an actual rhythm. We are aware of the the musicality of our daily life. Walking, breathing, dancing, speaking, humming, drawing, typing, thinking, heart beating, tummy gurgling symbolizes and provides a soundtrack to our existence. In this effect, we look for opportunities to hear and create new rhythms with existing ones. I have found that the more intentional I am in learning various rudiments and rhythms of the world, my ear is trained to hear the music in everyday life.
In class the other day, the music teacher for the homeschool enrichment class taught the importance of listening through her lesson. She asked the eight students to lay quietly on the ground and she dimmed the lights. She played a classical piece of music for close to ten minutes. The students were asked to listen and only listen to the music, nothing else was required of them at that time. A few students squirmed while listening, a few others rolled around a bit, yet I did not hear any other voices, Some closed their eyes and others stared at the ceiling, a few conducted the rhythm with their hands. The first few minutes seemed the most fidgety, yet as the music continued a calm filled the room.
After the piece was finished, the light was turned back on and the students were asked to come back to the rug in the center of the room. The teacher passed out a sheet of paper that had a two by two grid and the word SQUILT. Now, I am new to this practice, and learned that SQUILT is an acronym for Super Quiet Uninterrupted Listening Time. Squilt was started by a homeschool mom and music teacher by the name of Mary Prather to develop listening and analysis skills without a musical background. The four quadrants of the SQUILT worksheet/grid outline dynamics, rhythm and tempo, instrumentation, and mood and the students can write or draw their responses to these prompts based on the music they listened to.
I observed and abundance of creativity to these responses, the children are ages 5-7. Some of the drawings were very literal, for example for rhythm and tempo, a young boy drew a picture of a drum. Another student actually mimicked the rhythm of the piece and drew bursts that resembled a firework. In the mood quadrant, I saw a similar theme. Some students drew a simple “emoji” on how the music made them feel and others resembled their mood more abstractly thought shape, line, and color. I was simply amazed by this practice and particularly enjoyed the diversity of responses due to the open-ended nature of the exercise. It reminded me of a Ghanaian proverb in drumming and dancing, “that everyone has their own hand.”
As I reflected on this exercise in couplet with the Checkerboard Effect, how can listening be involved with rhythm? How can silence and pause offer meaning. I was reminded that listening offers rest and reflection. One of my favorite proverbs from the Ewe tribe in Ghana is “Hadzimatso la, akaye wo gba na, roughly translated to playing the instrument (akaye is a calabash shaker) without pause damages the instrument. The checkerboard becomes the pause, with their was no stark contrast between the two colors it would just be a solid square. If I want to the doctor and my heart had no rests, I would need some serious medical intervention. If I only played music without listening to it, how would I know what to do or how to respond?
This was a wonderful reminder to take time to listen and to teach listening skills. I often get so excited to teach something new that I haven’t offered the students an opportunity to truly hear it first. Pause is important, it fills in the blanks. Boredom is important, it brings creativity. In the age of smart phones and a solid square of activities, how can we bring in more listening and pause and rest!
Prather, M. (n.d.). About. SQUILT Music Appreciation. Retrieved September 25, 2026, from https://www.squiltmusic.com/pages/about-squilt
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