Expressive Arts Blog Week 3
This week in expressive arts we were in the music studio. Last week I decided that the piece of music that that could be connect to my evocative object was a song by Ed Sheeran called Supermarket flowers. This was because it referenced angles in the shape of your mum and this is connected to my object as my teddy was given to my auntie by my gran who is not here anymore, then gave it to me. Before we came today we were tasked with bringing in two pieces of music one to do with our evocative object and one that is the complete opposite contrast.
Due to my piece of music being quite sad and emotional I decided that a contrasting piece would be something more up beat or that brought around more positive memories and feelings when I listen to it. I decided that it would be “Beauty and the Beast” by Angela Lansbury. I chose this because I love Disney and beauty and the beast in particular as it’s my favourite film. It is also close to my heart as I named my dog Belle after the princess, so the film brings around positive emotions of her. During this workshop we all went up to the front one at a time and played our two pieces of music and we could either then share why we picked them or let the rest of the class try and guess. I decided to just share and explain why the sad song makes me feel emotional and why the Disney one makes me feel happy.
While doing this sharing exercise we could see in peoples expressions and explanations of whether they liked the other piece of music and how each piece made them feel emotionally. I in particular felt it hard to keep m y emotions in while listening to the Ed Sheeran song as so many of the lyrics are so real in my experience of my gran passing and make me think of that really hard and sad time. I felt as though I was going to cry when explaining why I love and feel so strongly about the “Supermarket Flower” as it is so close to my heart. There is an importance for music to be taught in school for the benefits of creativity and the children getting to express themselves through varied learning. Fleming, M. (2012). This emphasises that children getting to express themselves through their music choices is an essential part of development.
We then watched a few videos that talked about how much of an impact music can have on a motion picture. They explained how films can make you feel different emotions or make you think differently about a character or situation depending on what type of music is played over the top of the video. I never realised before how much of an impact this is. I always knew that music and sound can change the feeling or a movie, but I never realised just how much and how it can change the theme of the film or moment. For next week we have to make a soundtrack to go along with a short animation and being into class.
References
- Supermarket Flowers lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Universal Music Publishing Group
- Fleming, M. (2012). The arts in education: an introduction to aesthetics, theory and pedagogy. London: Routledge.
