Today was our last input in Integrated arts.

In music we explored teaching and playing the ukulele. We began by playing ‘My dog has fleas’, this is a short song which helps to tune your ukulele. Here is a short video of how to tune your ukulele:

(The ukulele teacher,2011)

We then spoke about the different parts of the ukulele. Here is a clip art of the different parts of it :

We then moved on to strumming the guitar. In order to do so you use your second fingers nail to strum down on the strings. Here is some songs you can play by strumming:

The first chord we learned to play was a C. This is what a C looks like on a ukulele:

This was colour coded yellow on my ukulele to follow the figure notes method of learning.

We then learned to play the F chord. This is what an F looks like on a ukulele:

This was colour coded red on my ukulele.

Here an some songs we learned to play using only the F and C chords:

We then moved on to learn the C7 chord. This is what the C7 chord looks like on the ukulele:

We then learned to play the Dm chord. This is what the Dm chord looks like on the ukulele:

Here is a song we learned to play with the C, C7 and Dm chords:

We then watched a video on the use of the same 4 chords being used to write a variety of pop songs, I found this very surprising :

(The Axis of Awesome, 2011)

We finished the session by using all the chords we had learned to play last Christmas. Here is a video of the lyrics, backing music and chords and a video of my peer playing last Christmas on the ukulele ;

(Best songs backing tracks, 2015)

Here are some other Christmas songs which you are able to play on the ukulele:

(The ukulele teacher, 2012)

The second half of the day took us to dance. For the past 4 weeks our cohort have been planning and practising a dance routine. Today we put the finishing touches to it and recorded our routine. This is a copy of the final full class performance :

https://vimeo.com/376244950

Curriculum for excellence states that all children should participate in performances and presentations. This should include opportunities to perform a dance to parents or in the community.

Here are some of the experiences and outcomes included in dance :

• I enjoy creating short dance sequences, using travel, turn, jump, gesture, pause and fall, within safe practice. EXA 1-08a
• I have created and taken part in dance from a range of styles and cultures. EXA 3-08a
• Inspired by a range of stimuli, I can express my ideas, thoughts and feelings through creative work in dance. EXA 0-09a / EXA 1-09a / EXA 2-09a
• I am becoming aware of different features of dance and can practise and perform steps, formations and short dance. EXA 1-10a
• I have opportunities to enjoy taking part in dance experiences. EXA 0-10a 
• 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 / EXA 3-11a

(Scottish Government, 2008)

Over the past four weeks our class has covered every benchmark without even really realising it. It has been an extremely enjoyable experience, even for someone like me who does not dance. I look forward to teaching it in class.

Over the course of 12 weeks, it has become abundantly clear to me that exploration of dance, drama, music and art, have a major impact in preparing children to learn, achieve and succeed in all areas of life. I can now see it is crucial to embed these in our day to day teaching as we do with English and Maths.

References

Best Songs Backing Tracks, 2015. Last Christmas – Wham! Guitar Backing Track with scale, chords and lyrics. [Online] Available at : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLhYC7F8uZw&feature=emb_title  [Accessed 27/11/19]

Scottish Government, 2008. Curriculum for Excellence: Expressive Arts Experiences and Outcomes [online] Available at: https://education.gov.scot/Documents/expressive-arts-eo.pdf [Accessed 27/11/19].

The Axis of Awesome, 2011. 4 Chords | Music Videos | The Axis Of Awesome. [Online] Available at : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOlDewpCfZQ [Accessed 27/11/19]

The ukulele teacher, 2011. How to tune a ukulele. [Online] Available at : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dl7uzySXUSw  [Accessed 27/11/19]

The ukulele teacher, 2012. How To Play Three Easy Christmas Songs on The Ukulele. [Online] Available at : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQBOJRquyi0  [Accessed 27/11/19]

 

 

Creative dance leaves the inspiration of the dance to the young people.

(Cone, 2009)

When planning a creative dance experience it should be 4 things :

1.  Fun : dance should above all be enjoyable for children
2. Safe : the safety of a child is paramount at all times, so the facilities in which you dance must be safe
3. Meaningful : dance should bring things to life and provide meaningful experiences
4. Child led : Creative dance can only ever be successful if you all the children to explore their minds and choreograph their own piece.

The benefits of creative dance include :

•  Increased confidence in children
• Increased physical and mental wellbeing in children
• It develops communication and collaboration between children, their teachers and the wider community
• Improves the self esteem of children
• Creates a visual image and experience of wider curricular topics

During todays lecture, we explored our roles as teachers in creative dance. Here are some of the things I took from the discussions:

• Always show the children that their creativity and ideas are valid.
• Cherish the process, it is not always the end product that is most valuable
• Ensure the environment is safe for the children to learn
• Facilitate when required, in order to add structure and stimulus to encourage creativity.

Children should have the capacity to compose, perform and appreciate dance.

(Smith-Auturd, 2002)

Here is our group composing and performing in our dance workshops :

In our music session, we explored the Glokenshipel and reading music. Reading music is something I find incredibly difficult, having a none musical background. I therefore found it increasingly difficult to keep up with some of the tunes due to being unable to read the notes. This is something I would love to expand my knowledge of in order to be able to read sheet music in the future.

We also were given the opportunity to improvise to Hit the road Jack. This made me extremely nervous as I am not confident in performing infront of my peers, however, when my turn came around I was able to create the 16 beats and I realised it really wasn’t so bad at all.

Here is a video of my peers improvisation :

Improvisation covers the following experiences and outcomes :

• I can use my chosen vocal and/or instrumental skills to improvise and compose, showing developing style and sophistication. EXA 4-17a
• I can use my voice, musical instruments or music technology to improvise or compose with melody, rhythm, harmony, timbre and structure. EXA 3-17a

(Scottish Government, 2008)

The skills I have developed today are :

Creativity – I was able to create a dance and a piece of improvisation and perform both of these infront of peers.

Confidence – My confidence has been developed majorly today in terms of performance. Performance is something that makes me extremely nervous, however, after successful completion of both performances today, I now feel a little more secure in doing so.

Cooperation – All of the tasks I have completed today have been either in a pair or in a group. Therefore I have been able to work with other people and learn from them.

References 

•  Cone, T. (2009) Following Their Lead: Supporting Children’s Ideas for Creating Dances. Journal of Dance Education. Vol. 9:3, pp. 81-89.
• Scottish Government. (2008). Expressive Arts Experiences and Outcomes [online] available : https://education.gov.scot/documents/expressive-arts-eo.pdf [accessed 19/11/19]
•  Smith – Autard, J. (2009) The Art of Dance in Education (Performing Arts Series). 2nd ed. London : A. & C. Black.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In todays lecture, the concept of creative partnerships was explored. Creative partnerships aim to improve the facilities within the education system for the arts and bring together a variety of talents. It also aims to upskill teachers and ensure children are getting the stimulating and enjoyable inputs into the arts.

Creative partnerships in schools involve such people as :

•  Teachers
•  Classroom assistants
• Office workers
• Visiting specialists
•  Parents

Within the wider community, this also includes :

• Arts development officers
• Numeracy officers
• Literacy officers
• Attainment challenge officers
• Health and wellbeing officers
• STEM
• GIRFEC managers

These partnerships work to enrich a child’s life, by developing skills and creating relationships, both with staff and other children and with the wider community.

In our music input we explored Figurenotes. Figurenotes is technique which aims to simplify the first steps in learning to read sheet music. Each note is matched with a coloured symbol. Stickers with these coloured symbols are placed on instruments to help learners to play what they see.

Here is an example of a Figurenotes sheet :

FigureNotes is a three stage process, with the end goal being the children having the ability to read conventional notation. Here are the 3 stages :

1.  Figurenotes notation 
2. Figurenotes on the stave
3. Coloured notes. (When the individual is ready to progress the colours can be taken away)

(Drake Music Scotland, 2019)

This approach works with all ages and aims to eliminate the pressures of reading sheet music in the early stages. It enables all learners to develop their abilities within music, without the pressure. This is something I find extremely helpful as I struggle with reading sheet music and this has made it so much easier for me to develop my knowledge of doing so.

In the dance workshop, Scottish music was explored. This was done through creating a dance to a Scottish Landmark. Our group was given the Edinburgh Castle. This dance move showed the cannons going off at the castle. Here are some pictures of my peer groups dance planning :

We also explored games which would be great to use within the classroom environment. These include such things as :

• Splat – We all moved around the room in a way the teacher directed (such as skip and run). The teacher would then shout Splat on the… and we would splat on that surface.
• People to people – This game started in pairs, you joined a body part to the other person. For example elbow to elbow. When people to people was shouted, you joined with another group.
• The bean game – There is different beans, runner bean (Jog on the spot), jelly bean (wiggle body), baked bean (lie on the floor and sunbathe) and Mexican bean (the full class did the mexican wave.

These are some experiences and outcomes covered in todays dance input :

• I enjoy creating short dance sequences, using travel, turn, jump, gesture, pause and fall, within safe practice. EXA 1-08a
• I have created and taken part in dance from a range of styles and cultures. EXA 3-08a
• I am becoming aware of different features of dance and can practise and perform steps, formations and short dance. EXA 1-10a

(Scottish Government, 2008)

Overall, I look forward to using all of the methods I have learned in my future classroom. I will continue to look into Figurenotes to develop my ability to read music and I look forward to continuing to dance in workshops.

References

• Drake Music Scotland, (2019).  Figurenotes. [Online] Available at: https://drakemusicscotland.org/figurenotes/ [Accessed 19/11/19]
• Scottish Government. (2008). Expressive Arts Experiences and Outcomes [online] available : https://education.gov.scot/documents/expressive-arts-eo.pdf [accessed 19/11/19]

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today marked the beginning of our four week block of dance.

Our workshop showed us some small starter tasks which can be used in school. For example playing a variety of different music and setting the children in a line, with the person at the start beginning a dance for the first song, the second person starting a dance for the      second song and so on. This was a very enjoyable task which helped to decrease the pressure on us to ‘choreograph’ and allowed us to do so without even realising it.

We then moved on to learning about the parts of the body we must warm up before dancing. We did this by drawing an outline of a body and placing the parts of the body/muscles inside the body were we thought they were. This is a picture of our outline and the body parts we need to warm up:

We then discussed some warms up we can do for each part of the body, starting from our head and working down to our feet. This was very helpful and I now know the importance of warm up’s when dancing.

Here is a just dance video which could be used for warm up’s in the classroom :

(Never fear gaming, 2012)

I look forward to next week and to developing my ability to both teach dancing and to feel confident when doing so.

Our next workshop took us to music. Here we had a very special visit from the children of a local primary school. They were a primary 7 class who have been taught to play through school. They came to visit us today to teach us to play string instruments, my primary 7 buddy taught me how to hold and play the cello, the different parts of the instruments I was playing and how to hold the bow correctly.

This was a fantastic experience, to hear the importance of music from a child’s point of view really opened my eyes about just how important it is to include it in the curriculum. This school is from a deprived area in Ayrshire, without this programme they may never have came across any of these instruments, seeing the passion and love they have for playing highlighted just how worthwhile this programme is.

 

Here are some experiences and outcomes covered today :

• I can sing and play music from other styles and cultures, showing growing confidence and skill while learning about musical notation and performance directions. EXA 1-16a
• I can sing and play music from a range of styles and cultures, showing skill and using performance directions, and/or musical notation. EXA 2-16

(Scottish Government, 2008)

It is important to remember as a teacher, that not all children flourish within academic situations. Some children love nothing more than reading a good book, while others find the same       satisfaction through playing an instrument or creating a dance. Our education system needs to begin to understand and celebrate the differences  of our children, they are all magnificent in their own ways and we must develop their skills and passions.

References 

Never fear gaming, (2012). Just Dance: Warm-Up [Online] Available : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlbCrGqToaw&t=24s [Accessed 5/11/19]

Scottish Government. (2008). Expressive Arts Experiences and Outcomes [online] available : https://education.gov.scot/documents/expressive-arts-eo.pdf [accessed 5/11/19]