In todays Music input we were exploring our ability to keep the pulse and rhythm, using our hands, our feet and finally beaters or drum sticks.

The Rhythm is the arrangement of sounds which is added in to the piece of music.

A pulse is the steady beat which is kept consistent throughout a piece of music.

Here is a short YouTube clip which shows children the different parts of music :

Beat :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kaX2l413p8&t=4s

Rhythm (this clip also explores the different notes):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYsGlNpx2YI

(Music express Magazine,2015)

We explored beat and pulse both at first and second level.

These are the first level experiences and outcomes that we covered:

‣I can use my voice, musical instruments and music technology to discover and enjoy planning with sound, rhythm, pitch and dynamics. EXA 1-17a

‣ Inspired by a range of stimuli, and working on my own and/or with others, I can express and communicate ideas, thoughts and feelings through musical activities. EXA 1-18a

(Scottish Government,2008)

The lesson began by creating a beat through shapes.

For this activity you had to work out how many syllables were in the shape (I.e. square – 1 syllable, circle – 2 syllables). The amount of syllables in the word was the beat (i.e. square – 1 beat, circle – 2 beats).

We then moved on to linking these shapes and beats to musical notation.

From here, we were able to create the beat of this song.

From these lessons’ our class and the children we will teach are able to:
✓ Show their ability to keep the beat
✓ Play rhythmic patterns
✓ Define crotchet and quaver
✓ Work together and alone
✓ Share their feelings and expressions.

We then moved onto second level to explore both beat and rhythm. The second level experiences and outcomes we explored were:

‣ I can use my voice, musical instruments and music technology to experiment with sounds, pitch, melody, rhythm, timbre and dynamics. EXA 2-17a

‣ Inspired by a range of stimuli, and working on my own and/or with others. I can express and communicate my ideas, thoughts and feelings through musical activities. EXA 2-18a

(Scottish Government,2008)

Second level experiences introduced us to more complex notes and helped us to understand how many beats each note had:

As someone with no musical background, I found this extremely helpful in understanding the basics of notation.

From here, we began to explore more complex songs such as :

I found this extremely difficult at first, but with practice I was able to follow the notes.I feel that both of these lessons show just how simple it is to integrate music within the classroom, I myself have no musical background and I prior to this module I feel I would most likely have shied away from teaching music. However, these lessons show that music can be both fun to teach and easy for me to implement.

The second part of my day took us to art, where we were exploring ways in which we can make literacy more engaging and active. We were given the opportunity to look at Rob and Roberta smiths work. Rob and Roberta smith is an artist who works with print. Here are a few examples of his work:

Our cohort were given the opportunity to create our own prints, which illustrate a topic in which we feel passionate about. This is our groups printing process :

We chose to do the topic of female rights and equal pay as in todays society, women are still being paid substantially less than men for doing the same job. It is crucial to eliminate this gender pay gap and it is something our group felt extremely passionate about.

I feel this would be a very worthwhile activity to do within the classroom as it would allow children to explored different methods of writing and expressing their information. It would also be a great way to incorporate art into topic work, with each child designing their own print poster for the topic.

References 

Music express magazine. 2015. The music show #2 I’ve got rhythm. [ONLINE] Available at:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYsGlNpx2YI  [Accessed 16 October 2019].

Music express magazine. 2015. The music show #1 The beat is the heart of the music. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kaX2l413p8&t=4s [Accessed 16 October 2019].

The Scottish Government. (2008). Curriculum for Excellence: experiences and outcomes [online] Available at: https://education.gov.scot/scottish-education-system/policy-for-scottish-education/policy-drivers/cfe-(building-from-the-statement-appendix-incl-btc1-5)/Experiences%20and%20outcomes  [Accessed 16 October 2019].