The Integrated Arts module consists of four main aspects which are art, music, drama and dance. However during our introduction to this module, it became apparent to me that the expressive arts are being treated peripherally in order to favour “core” subjects such as literacy and mathematics. Prior to this module as a future teacher I would’ve also ranked other subjects, like literacy and maths, at the forefront of a child’s learning. Although, after reading E, Eisner (2002), it was highlighted to me that the arts enable children to understand the possibility of a problem having more than one solution and questions having more than one right answer; a skill which may be hard to develop in subjects such as maths. As well as this the arts encourage children to embrace the idea that the world can be seen in multiple perspectives and allows them to grow to become more open minded individuals (E, Eisner, 2002).

Upon our introduction to the musical aspect of our integrated arts module we were asked to listen to several pieces of music. We were then asked to describe in one word how each clip of music made us feel to give us an understanding of how music can affect us emotionally. After completing this exercise we listened to a different piece of music and had to create a story board which followed the flow of the music.

Picture 1

The music is soft and pleasant as our story begins with a beautiful princess walking through a forrest.

Picture 2

The music begins to sound deeper and darker as the princess picks flowers from the darker side of the forrest.

Picture 3 

The music suddenly explodes as the princess is confronted by an evil witch whom the flowers belong to.

Picture 4 

The music speeds up as the princess is chased uphill by the evil witch.

Picture 5 

The music calms again as the evil witch gets stuck in a tree and the princess runs free to find the good witches cottage and ask her for help.

Picture 6

The music erupts again as the evil witch returns to attack the princess and the good witch.

Picture 7 

The music bounces back and fourth as the good witch battles the evil witch to protect the princess.

Picture 8

The music becomes pleasant again as the good witch prevails and turns the evil witch good and they live happily ever after.

After completing this task it proved how easily it is to include music in cross curricular learning with other subjects such as literacy. It also would potentially make it a more enjoyable learning experience for children as it enables them to be creative and use images as well as words to create an imaginary story. Furthermore it also educates children in how the use of different tones can create different moods and emotions. Overall it has become apparent to me that the arts is a vital subject that must be taught in the classroom so that children are able to express themselves as individuals.