In our final week of integrated arts, we participated in dance and music workshops.
In the music workshop, we learned the basics of playing the ukulele. We started by learning various basic chords including; C, F and G. We then moved on to look at an A minor chord which is more challenging. While studying these chords, it allowed us to start playing a song called “My dog has fleas” which I felt was a great introductory song for playing the ukulele. Following on from this, we progressed to look at and play “Last Christmas.” It was interesting to see how quickly we progressed and started to look at different and more difficult songs. Ukuleles are being used more widely in schools nowadays and it can allow young learners to easily understand different musical chords and allow them to learn other musical instruments including the guitar. Ukuleles are easily accessible, particularly to schools, and they are one of the cheapest musical instruments that are available today. It has been proven that through learning to play the ukulele, children’s levels of motivation and engagement have increased as a result. They are also a newly up to date and modern instrument and can be used to play many of the pop songs that are currently in the charts, which can be particularly motivational for young learners. An experience and outcome that I have chosen that relates to the activities carried out in today’s music session is as follows:
I enjoy singing and playing along to music of different styles and cultures. EXA 0-16a
During our dance workshop, we were finishing and finalising our Christmas dance. This was then recorded which allowed the cohort to look back and reflect on our efforts. The cohort gathered to watch our final dance and we also had the opportunity to watch the other half of our cohort which allowed us to determine the differences between the two dances. Following on from this, we carried out a self-evaluation in the form of two starts and a wish. Through the use of self-evaluation, it allowed us to reflect on and appreciate the dance that we had created. Creative dance allows individuals to express themselves freely and develop their confidence. This is backed up by (McAullife, 2007) as he believes that the expressive arts help give learners the freedom to express themselves. Through the creative dance workshops, my confidence in being able to teach creative dance has increased dramatically. It has given me a basis to teach dance upon and ideas of lessons which can be led mostly by the learners to increase their engagement. Learners are also able to evaluate their peers and themselves in order to reflect on their practice which relates to the following experience and outcome:
“I can respond to the experience of dance by discussing my thoughts and feelings. I can give and accept constructive comment on my own and others’ work.” EXA 0-11A EXA 1-11A EXA 2-11A (Scottish Government, 2018).
Our final Christmas dance – https://player.vimeo.com/video/301866692?fbclid=IwAR34f2DnWSB6iyFcV45qtZigG93hezlzXls6YBBzs9-CtrJNB-lfmaCSXS8
References
McAullife, D. (2007) Foundation and Primary Settings. In Teaching Art and Design 3-11 (Edited by Sue Cox, Robert Watts, Judy Grahame, Steve Herne, and Diarmuid McAuliffe). London: Continuum.
Scottish Government (2018) Experiences and Outcomes[Online] Available from: https://education.gov.scot/Documents/expressive-arts-eo.pdf [Accessed: 5 December 2018].
