Integrated Arts: workshop – music and art // painting.
Music:
We split into small groups this week, and were given a glockenspiel or xylophone. We were also given three sheets of music // Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Jingle Bells and Frère Jacques. They were written in a technique called figure notes. Each key had a shape with a different colour. The shape would change with each section, known as an octave. It was difficult at first as everyone was playing random songs at the same time, but I eventually got the hang of it and had a positive experience. I would definitely teach music like this in my classroom at first before moving onto music notation. We then played each song as a class which felt like a mini performance. We were then told that everyone individually had to play a 16 bar improvisation to ‘Hit the Road Jack’ which obviously caused nerves and dread in many of us. This gave everyone a good experience and all nerves were eliminated. I think this would be a good lesson to give to pupils as we all got to listen to each other and show off the skills we had learned in that day. We also had a look at a teaching website called ‘Charanga Scotland’. This website is based on teaching music in Scottish schools. The website gives lesson plans for various levels, or you could even plan lessons yourself using the website.
** I can sing and play music from a range of styles and cultures, showing skills and using performance directions and/or musical notation.
EXA 2-16a** (Scottish Government, 2004, p.67)
Art:
We spent the first half of the workshop making our own paintbrushes to show that even if your school has no resources, you could easily make them with the different objects found. We used willow branches and decorated them using string, ribbon, buttons and other things we could find. I used pink string to decorate the handle of my paint brush, while using a lot of cotton wool as the bristle part as it would be easy to cover a large space with. After we finished making our own brushes, we brought them all together to see the different ideas we came up with. I think that letting children create their own brushes is a great lesson idea as this allows them to be creative and lets the child decide what they want to use to paint. Next, we were given a description of a picture and told to paint what we think the picture looked like. However, we were only given yellow, blue, red and white paint. We were allowed to pick any colour of A3 paper and were allowed to begin painting. This was a good lesson as everyone was given the same instructions yet the pictures all looked different and we could use our own paintbrushes and see what worked well and what needed improved on. Below are pictures of the process of me creating my paintbrush and my actual painting.
**I have the freedom to discover and choose ways to create images and objects
using a variety of materials.
EXA 0-02a** (Scottish Government, 2004, p.61)
Reflection
Music: Using figure notes as an introduction to musical notation, is a great way to get children past the barrier of fear and unknown. I had no clue on how to read music, so the use of colours and shapes helped me a lot. The improvisation task was daunting, however, knowing that everybody was taking part settled my nerves. My reading and listening skills improved throughout the workshop. Working in pairs, we had to listen to each others music playing skills and help each other, which was a fun way of learning. Music and performing builds confidence in young people as they are showcasing their talents to an audience. Giving children constructive feedback is important so they can build in their confidence and improve their musical ability. Teaching children Music is important and engaging. Music is known to not only increase creativity levels in a classroom, but it also impacts other areas and aspects in Education such as Numeracy, Literacy, concentration, self-confidence and general attainment (Hallam, 2010). Children who struggle in subjects such as Maths, can prove themselves in Music and the Arts. All children have the capability to learn an instrument, they just need to focus and keep practising to become better each time. Teaching children, by using the likes of figure notes, is an effective way to learn the basics, like I did throughout the workshop. Using the improvisation task that I completed in the workshop, is a great way to get children past the initial stage of nerves. Giving pupils time to practise and learn will allow the children to have fun and learn music properly. Learning Music in schools can sometimes be difficult, due to the lack of resources. Not all schools have a large range of instruments for pupils to use, hence why, some authorities start up music projects, which allow children to be involved in music actively and even allow children to perform to large audiences, which would boost their confidence and pride in themselves.
Art: Creating my own paint brush, was a unique and fun experience. It took a lot of thinking from what materials would be helpful when painting to the decorating of it. It was interesting that, although everyone was given the same materials, all the paint brushes were different. This proved that allowing creativity in a teaching environment, allows all ideas to come to life, rather than producing many copies. Having a picture described and having to paint what you think it looks like was an engaging and fun task, and again, everybody had similar, yet different ideas. Using your own paintbrush to complete this task was effective, as you could see what worked from your plan, and what needed improved. My listening skills were put to the test during this workshop, as I had to listen to the description of a painting. Taking notes made this a bit easier, however, it was still quite difficult to decide what you thought the painting may have been. Being only given white, red, blue and yellow paint was also quite a difficult task, due to having specific colours in your mind for the painting. Mixing the colours with having very few resources was messy but fun. Teaching children Art is very important, and allowing them to take time to complete a task, is vital. After thinking, I discovered that my experience in taking part in Art in primary school, I never fully finished a piece of art as we were limited to time, and if I did complete it, that would be due to rushing my work. Teachers need to give time to children to fully engage in their work.
Link
The link for the workshops would be creating and developing. Creating your own resources and materials in Art, and creating your own songs with instruments in Music. Also, developing skills in Music through learning to read music, and developing in Art by creating your own resource and having to think about the different ways your resource would need to work.
References
Hallam, S. (2010) International Journal of Music Education. [Module Resource] Available: Integrated Arts in Education module on Moodle. [Accessed: 13 December 2017].
Scottish Government. (2004) Curriculum for Excellence [online] Available: https://www.education.gov.scot/Documents/all-experiences-and-outcomes.pdf [Accessed: 18 December 2017]
