06/11/16 – Week 12
In week twelve of music, we looked at the figurenotes. This is ‘a simple system 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’ (Figurenotes, n.d.).
I think this is a really interesting and clever system which has been created. I feel it makes the process of learning to read sheet music less daunting and definitely a lot easier. I have used the system before myself in school but had not realised that this is the terminology used for it. It goes without saying that I will use this in the future, especially with children in lower primary anyway as it I think it would make the whole process much easier and more enjoyable for the children.
References
Figurenotes (n.d.) [Online] Available: http://www.drakemusicscotland.org/figurenotes/ [Accessed: 3 January 2017].
29/11/16 – Week 11
In week eleven of music, we learned the basics of the ukelele. We learned about four chords and about the various strumming styles that can be used.
Below is a short video clip of the song Last Christmas, which we played along to from the smartboard:
I really enjoyed this class. It gave me many ideas to use in the future, which I found especially helpful, as I do not have a great deal of knowledge with many forms of music, especially with regards to string instruments. I think I will definitely make use of the knowledge that I gained in this session as a lot of it would be understood by most levels of primary aged children. This is the case in Greenhill Primary School in Ayr with their Strings Project and there is no reason that other schools cannot do the same. Given that the school has the resources to do so, I would definitely use this as a series of lessons in the future.
22/11/16 – Week 10
In music this week, we watched this TEDx video of a man called Tom Thum, from Brisbane.
Tom Thum is a beatboxer and in this video he gives demonstrations of his unconventional work. He uses his voice in a variety of ways to create music.
I found this video extremely interesting as I had never considered that music could be made in such a way. I also think that it might encourage children who have aspirations of becoming beatboxers or musicians etc, as this man has been able to make money off of a talent that he has.
Also, during this session, Julie also practiced she voice management activities with us. These included various warm up techniques and activities which could be used in schools, such as Mr. Knickerbocker number nine and looked at top tips from the British Voice Association (BVA).
15/11/16 – Week 9
In week nine of music we were back in the mac lab, where we were finding out about a piece of software called Charanga. Charanga is ‘a living cloud-based resource that brings together great music, modern pedagogy and the latest educational technology. It supports all aspects of music in school including Curriculum for Excellence, as well as providing children and their families with opportunities to continue learning and exploring music at home through Music World’ (Charanga, 2016). There are a whole variety of activities and worksheets designed for every level to develop children’s music skills according to their age and stage in the curriculum.
Throughout the session we looked at the Mamma Mia sheet music and song, then looked through the various activities ourselves to get a feel for the site.
I personally really like this software and think it is an excellent idea as it provides many lesson plans and ideas for teachers and I think I will find this very helpful in the future as I do not have a large knowledge of music. I also think that children would really enjoy this software as it is interactive and it could be used either as a whole class on the interactive smartboard or individually on laptops or computers to expand on their own music skills.
References
Charanga Scotland. (2016) For primary teachers: Musical school — Charanga Scotland. Available at: http://www.charangascotland.co.uk/site/musical-school/ [Accessed: 5 December 2016].
08/11/16 – Week 8
This week, we spent our music lesson in the mac lab on Garageband by Apple. We made our own pieces of music through this equipment with guidance from Julie. We tried out the various instruments and then created an recorded our own tunes. This input has totally changed my mind about this piece of equipment as Garageband is something that I had previously heard of but never used as I had never thought that I would be able to. I now know the basics and feel I would maybe be able to use and share this knowledge in future within schools. This equipment would allow children to be more independent and expressive through the use of technology.
01/11/16 – Week 7
In music this week, we received a visit from the P6 children and their teachers from Greenhill Primary School in Ayrshire, who were involved in a programme called the ‘Strings Project’. This involves learning a string instrument of their choice in order to play as a class orchestra. This project has lead to these children having had many opportunities to be involved in experiences, such as performing for Prince Charles and playing along side various well-known musicians. These kinds of opportunities will hopefully encourage these children to get involved in similar projects and carry music with them into high school and beyond.
We had the opportunity to learn to play a string instrument with one of the children as our teacher. This was very interesting and was a useful new skill to learn which I may hopefully be able to apply to music lessons in the future. The instrument which I learned about was the violin and a lovely girl taught me a lot about the handling of the instrument, told me what each part is called and taught me some of the basic notes. As a class we played some basic notes together, which was an amazing experience which I can imagine they regularly get to be part of. Giving them a great sense of achievement and ultimately making them closer as a class unit, as they have to be more reliant on one another in order to play as one.
From listening to the class’ teachers, I definitely think the class benefit from projects such as the String Project, as we were told they appeared to be more calm in class, worked a lot better together and had better concentration as a result and were also able to take pride in their achievements. In Susan Hallam’s ‘The Power of Music’, she states that music enhances both reading and writing skills, which may well have been the case in this situation with the children from Greenhill Primary.
Below is a picture of atypical notes which we had to clap from the smart board, which stood for various beats. Yet another lesson which could be used to ease children into the idea of using notes to begin reading musical notation.
References
Hallam, S. (2010) ‘The power of music: Its impact on the intellectual, social and personal development of children and young people’, International Journal of Music Education, 28(3), pp. 269–289. doi: 10.1177/0255761410370658.
25/10/16 – Week 6
In week six of music, we were able to make use of glockenspeils and xylophones, as this week’s class was to do with rhythm. I do not have much knowledge musical notation in this format except from the odd occasion where I was able to play these instruments in school, however, I found this easy enough and found it enjoyable.
Firstly, we learned about semi- quavers, rests, crotchets and minims. Once we had grasped how many beats each note was worth, we clapped out the rhythm of each note and then repeated this but instead of clapping used our beaters to tap the notes out on the floor or our knees. We then used the glockenspiels and each person in the class had to improvise a few short notes to the song ‘Hit the Road Jack’ using only notes C, D, E, G and A, also known as the pentatonic scale (which I had not known prior to this class). I found this activity to be quite unnerving to do in front of the whole class, however, everyone had to do the same and there was no wrong way to play as when using the pentatonic scale it is near impossible for the tune to sound wrong as those notes are meant to compliment one another. I think this made everyone feel more comfortable and that this would be a good task to be used within the classroom.
20/09/16 – Week 1
In our first week of Integrated Arts in Education, we had our first lesson in music.
The class was taken by Julie Carrie, where we looked at musical appreciation and how music made us feel. The class started by thinking about how music made us feel and we made a list of some of the emotions which we tend to feel when listening to music. With this in mind, we then listened to different music clips, all of which varied in style, tone and pitch. There were five clips which were around twenty to thirty seconds each. After each clip we had to write down an emotion which we felt when listening to that piece of music. This was a nice start to the class, it was different and something that could also be used within a primary school environment.
We then listened to a slightly longer music clip and in groups, we had to make up a story from the piece of music in the form of a story board. I enjoyed this as it sparked your imagination and allowed you to hear and discuss the ideas of others to create an interesting and original piece of work.
The picture below is the piece that my group created. The music was from Disney’s Fantasia 2000, which is both fast and slow paced which our group decided was like a chase scene.
I really enjoyed week one and think that it gave me many ideas to use within a primary school for future reference. I think even the activities which we used in the class would be very enjoyable for children of any age and it has made me feel more confident in linking music with other subjects as this task shows that you can incorporate music into literacy tasks.
