This week’s music workshop was theory based so was less practical than previous sessions. We began by reading a paper titled “The Power of Music: it’s impact on the intellectual, social and personal development of children and young people” by Susan Hallam, in the International Journal of Music Education. The paper was split into sections and each group had a section to look at in more depth, making a mind map of the main points. Our group looked at physical development and I learned a lot from the chapter. I found that skills such as throwing and catching can be improved from programmes involving rhythm and that posture can also be improved as well as breathing.

Here is a picture of our mind map:

 

After lunch, we had our first dance input. I must admit I was apprehensive to be learning dance as I have very little dance experience and do not have the best coordination nor rhythm. However we did not dive straight into choreographing a dance routine but by playing games that could be used in the primary school when introducing pupils to dance. These activities helped me by not only settling my nerves but also demonstrated easy ways to engage children and prepare them for learning new skills. We then had the task of drawing around the smallest member of the group and labelling the organs, bones and muscles. This tested our anatomy knowledge and allowed us to think of different warm ups/ stretches for that particular body part. Next, we spoke about our thoughts on teaching dance and I was relieved to discover many people felt the same way as me. We were reassured that as long as we know 10 basic moves we would be more than capable to teach dance. These moves were:

Balance

Gesture

Grab

Hop

Jump

Kick

Reach

Roll

Slide

Turn

After discovering these basic moves, in small groups, we had to create a dance routine using the 10 moves. I felt this input was incredibly beneficial as it emphasised that a teacher does not need to have dance experience in order to teach it and if I develop my confidence in this area I will be able to successfully teach dance to my future pupils.

 

Today’s sessions taught me that the Expressive Arts allow pupils to represent their thoughts and feelings. The Expressive Arts also allow for the development of skills in other areas of the curriculum.

 

Reference List

Hallam, S (2010) The power of music: It’s impact on the intellectual, social and personal development of children and young people, International Journal of Music Education. [Online] pp.269-289. Available: http://ijm.sage.pub.com/content/28/3/269 [Accessed: 17 October 2017].