Art
Today in art, we learned about Room 13. Room 13 is a global uprising of creative and entrepreneurial children who are responsible for a growing international network of student organised art studio (Gibb, 2012). Room 13 was created in 1994 by a group of artists in a studio in Fort William and is now open for children allowing creativity, by designing their art work through their own thoughts and feelings and not being instructed what to do. Before children can go to Room 13, they must finish any class work- this motivates children who may otherwise be easily distracted.
As a class, we looked at different pieces of art work from many schools. We discussed what we thought was being conveyed from the whilst having tolerance for ambiguity. I was particularly drawn to one of the images we were shown. (Picture below).
When I first looked at the picture I felt scared because of the mask and gloves. Normally your bed feels like a safe place however, this child has made the ‘safe place’ seem creepy and conveyed it as something out of a horrible film. Without the mask and rubber gloves the picture could be express completely different emotions as the child could be smiling which would change my perception of the image.
I think Room 13 is a wonderful idea that not only encourages children to work hard in other areas of the curriculum to allow them to go to Room 13, but allows freedom in creating their own art as they can take lead and think for themselves without having expecting of the final product.
Music
Today was our last music input.
We began by considering alternative ways of teaching music and today, that involved figure notes. This simple system is designed to demystify the first steps in learning to read music. Each musical note has a corresponding coloured symbol. With the help of stickers on the instruments, learners play what they see. There are no ‘dots’ and ‘squiggles’ to be learned, just two simple concepts (BBC, 2017). Each musical note has a corresponding coloured symbol. With the help of stickers on the instruments, learners play what they see. Reading musical notation can be very difficult and takes time to learn- this can cause frustration for many learners and give them a negative experience of music. However, through using figure notes, this can be overcome as a coloured shape can be given to each note which makes music a lot easier to read and follow.
Later we by created our own figure notes through developing images for certain sounds for example, for the sound ‘boom’ there was a firework. We then placed the different symbols into a grid and used instruments that made a similar sound, to create a tune. This task allows for creativity through drawing, and literacy skills can be developed through using words to convey sounds.
The class was then able to choose an instrument and play the songs ‘Jingle Bells’ and ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ using figure notes. This allowed everyone the equal opportunity of playing an instrument and did not just favour those who could read musical notation.
The use of figure notes is a fabulous invention as it allows everyone to be able to learn an instrument quickly and it is made easier and then later, musical notation can be introduced.
Throughout my experience of Music in the Integrated Arts module, I feel privileged that I have been able to learn valuable information about the teaching the subject. I can now deliver Music Education to children that will allow them to learn whilst having fun. I have gained a vast amount of knowledge and skills, that I look forward to taking back to the classroom, and implementing a successful Music programme in the future.
References:
BBC (2017) Get playing – the Toreador song melody only – Figurenotes – BBC music. [Online] Available: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5gBTXBszBxR7BGJR3Tj10sD/the-toreador-song-melody-only-figurenotes [Accessed: 8 January 2017].
Gibb, C. (2012) Room 13: The Movement and International Network. International Journal of Art & Design. Vol 31 (3), pp.237-244)
