Let’s Get Creative – Week 3 – Beth Stobo UWS ITE ePDP

MUSIC

In this weeks music input we were looking at finger notes and the benefits of using these when first learning to read and play music. During the workshop we were divided off into small groups and given a glockenspiel

with a couple of different music sheets featuring finger notes. Having not played an instrument or read any music in a very long time I was apprehensive when beginning this exercise, however I found the exercise very enjoyable and was able to fully co-operate with the task at hand. Drake Music Scotland (2017) stresses that we do not need to know how to read sheet music in order to play an instrument. I think that the implementation of finger notes would be highly beneficial within a classroom as it allows children to explore their musicality without being able to fully understand the meaning of the traditional music note.

ART

During the art portion of today’s inputs we were put to the challenge of creating our own paintbrushes. We achieved this by beginning with a

Initial Materials – Willow Tree stick, feathers, wool, thread and cotton wool

simple stick from a willow tree and decorating it by using a wide range of materials such as wool, thread, feathers and cotton wool. I found this activity to be very enjoyable and it allowed me to be creative in a way that I had never experienced before as during my own time at primary school we were only ever provided with generic paintbrushes during art lessons.

During the workshop we discussed that when children all use the exact same materials they are more likely to compare their artwork with their peers, therefore by allowing them to create their own tools using their own creativity they are less likely to compare.

Having completed the task of creating our own paintbrushes we were then

Painting Materials – Chose our own paper and were given 4 colours to use and mix.

read out a description of a piece of artwork and encouraged to paint our interpretation of this using only four colours -red, blue, yellow and white. I found this activity to be a great eye-opener as I realised that we do not need lots of resources in order to create our own art.

My mixing sheet having completed my painting.

The activities involved in todays art workshop linked to the “10 Lessons the Arts Teach” by Eisner (2002) as they demonstrated that the arts are all about accepting the unknowing and I believe that should these activities be implemented within a classroom that the children would very much enjoy them.