In music we focused on the importance of the voice in the classroom. We discussed that the voice is the main way of communication within the classroom, therefore it is crucial that we use our voice. It is important to warm your voice up before raising it. We were advised that you should warm your voice up in the morning by speaking to family members or animals before heading to work. We looked at some websites such as the British Voice Association (BVA) for hints and tips to manage our voice appropriately. This was very interesting because it used techniques that I was unaware of, for example quieting your voice so children have to concentrate more on your voice. This is not only effective in getting the class to listen, but is also beneficial for your maintaining your larynx!

We looked at Choon Baboon to give us ideas of to consider in the classroom. The videoclips are specifically helpful for those who are uncomfortable with teaching music in the classroom. We warmed up our voice and learned a song about dogs which was very amusing. Looking at this lesson in a child’s perspective, I can appreciate that this would be a fun and interactive lesson that children would thoroughly enjoy. The lecturer taught us some songs to sing with children, such as ‘Doctor Knickerbocker’ and ‘Have you ever seen a penguin come to tea’. These songs were difficult because they also incorporated actions. These songs were also fun and very interactive.

To finish the workshop, we created a song with different musical instruments. We worked in groups to make our own tune. My particular group’s song theme focused on a haunted house. We used 2 drums as footsteps and a knock on the door, a tambourine as chains, maracas as the weather and tuned percussion as chimes and a build-up. Overall our song worked out very well. It sounded very eerie which we set out to do.

Drama was based on the theme of Halloween. We focused on 4 conventions: flashback, fast forward, slow motion and narrator. We also focused of the work from Augusto Boal who was the founder of ‘Theatre of the oppressed’.  His work meant that the audience become active in the play and could change the scene that was happening.

The lecturer went into ‘teacher in role’ and explained that he was an estate agent and was selling Dalquharn castle. There had been rumours of incidents that have happened in the castle and the price of the castle had depreciated because of this. In order for the price of the sale to increase, he is willing to offer people money to stay in the castle overnight to disprove the rumours.

We had to use the four conventions to make different scenarios of what happened when we arrived at Dalquharn castle, such as what happened previous to the incident and after the incident occurred. These four conventions are another example that I could teach within the classroom.

I believe that the drama inputs so far have really increased my confidence in teaching drama. Before, I was unsure how to teach children drama but now I have several ideas to take away that I can look at for the future. From reflecting on these inputs, I can see that both can improve confidence in children and also educators. I believe that I have become closer to people in workshops because drama and music have allowed me to work with others who I usually would not interact with. Music and drama have also improved my confidence and has allowed me to not be afraid of trying new things.

References:

The British Voice Association [Online] Available: http://www.britishvoiceassociation.org.uk/ [Accessed: 03 November 2017]

[Accessed: 31 October 2017]