During the art session the lecturer informed us in depth about a unique art project called “Room 13”. This room was a re-appropriated to become an art studio and encouraged pupils to create whatever they want in any fashion they desire. They are supervised by an adult but otherwise this freedom of expression allows for far greater benefit than an average classrooms. The purpose of this project is to allow for fusion between the arts themselves and critical practice whereby these ideas are given physical form (Atkinson et al., 2005 cited in McAuliffe, 2013)
This week during the music session we learned about figure notes and attempted playing music by following the new notation. Figure notes differ greatly from standard musical notation as it highly simplified representing notes as colours which are marked accordingly with notes on your piano/glockenspiel (see examples of both below).
Later in the session the class were split into pairs and instructed to collect a piano or glockenspiel and several sheets of figure noted music. Due to the proximity of Christmas all songs were Christmas themed such as jingle bells. The glockenspiel my partner and I collected was already marked with the colours we were to play and so began playing jingle bells. The notes would extend if they lasted longer than one beat and was very simple to read and play off of. I found it extremely helpful in allowing me to play well without any previous musical knowledge.
McAuliffe, D (2013) Art and Design Education. In T. Bryce, W. Humes (et al. eds.) Scottish Education (4th Edition): Referendum. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press
For our final session of drama I participated in and observed the other groups micro-teaching tasks. After finishing each of these tasks the lecturer would evaluate them with the class regarding what went well and what could have been done better. This form of feedback whilst informal is very helpful for all members of the class as they can learn from their own and others mistakes. (Slowey et al., 2003).
Below are my insights on the music session for this week.
References
Slowey, M., Watson, D. (2003) Higher Education And The Lifecourse. [Online] Available: https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Yy9EBgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA67&dq=benefits+of+feedback+cinema&ots=bro-l0kIdf&sig=HLZoPNVtVFO5pD8LYw9EPGXn39o#v=snippet&q=feedback%20benefit&f=false [Accessed: 8 January 2017].
During todays art session I went over an exemplar essay written in previous years to see what was expected of the assignment. The essay I was presented was simply exemplary with no discernible fault existing at all. It was useful to see what would be required to get a high mark so I can see how to do it myself. From the essay it was apparent that they made great use of pictures throughout the essay and evaluated each one afterwards in conjunction with a relevant reference. Additionally handmade diagrams to illustrate complex theories were an excellent way to make good points whilst saving on words. Their use of referencing was also brilliant acquiring over 40 by the end of the essay. This both inspired me and demotivated me at the same time as I felt I now had better knowledge of what to do but found the task daunting due to the skill this essay was completed. The lecturer later added that this essay is far more than what they are expecting to pass and to not panic.
The music session this week was focused on the voice and contained 2 sections one where we watched a beat boxers performance as a ted talk and the second discussing and participating in vocal warm up exercises. The beat boxer we watched was very talented creating such an impressive range of unique sounds it proved to be an interesting thing that pupils could easily attempt. It would be a valuable video for getting pupils interested in a more niche form of music and could be tied in with music editing software like garage band discussed in an earlier week. If pupils were to attempt beatboxing themselves they could unleash their full creative prowess if an emphasis on how trial and error aids them in their learning. This lack of fear of failure will increase their enjoyment and learning capabilities massively (Burnard, 2000). The vocal warm up exercises we did were fun and were a tool we could use for the future to save our voice. I realised as a teacher I will be using my voice an enormous amount and therefore care must be taken to prevent it being lost.
References
Burnard, P. (2000) How Children Ascribe Meaning to Improvisation and Composition: Rethinking pedagogy in music education. Music Education Research. [Online] Vol.2(1). Available: Taylor & Francis. [Accessed 5 January 2017].
A summary of development as a result of the Integrated Arts module
