In todays music workshop. We were introduced to the two terms:

• Pulse
• Rhythm

The two terms have very similar definitions. ‘Pulse’ is the steady beat played throughout the rhythm similar to a heartbeat. ‘Rhythm’ is a mix of short and long notes played together. If truth be told- I should have remembered these terms from school- however that feels like a lifetime ago now. This is important to comprehend as it can become useful when teaching children the fundamentals of music.

The next activity involved us using 2 drumsticks to play different beats on the floor or the chair in front. We played the game ‘circles and squares.’ This game accommodates for all learners which is very practical in the classroom as you don’t need to have a musical background or a specific skill in it to understand this concept. The word square has one syllable in it and circle has 2. Therefore, we played 2 beats -using the drumsticks- if the image on the board was a circle and 1 if it was a square. I will definitely use this game in the classroom with pupils as it is an excellent way to familiarise their-selves with music notes. This also allows them to create their own rhythmic patterns which can improve literacy skills from repetition of syllables and phonemes (Creative Scotland,2017.) This exercise could enhance childrens abilities in literacy and implement new practices of how to accomplish this.

Today in art, we spoke about the renown Norwegian artist- Edward Munch- whom is very famous for his painting ‘the scream.’ This painting relates to mental health as many people who lived in Norway were depressed at this time due to the continuous darkness and extreme coldness- which led to being forced to remain indoors majority of the time.

We then discussed print making again and what the underlying reason for using this was. Print makes thinking visible through literacy. Ancient Egypt introduced the first form of writing- using stones to create marks on rocks. The book of Kells- illuminated manuscript- made the world literate as it made thinking visible through the form of literacy. As teachers, we become very routinised in our day to day lives and avoid change. Through this method of print making- it allows us to create adaptations in the classroom as it provides a new form of teaching literacy- perhaps making it more enjoyable for all. Bob and Roberta smith is a very famous artist who devoted his work to print making.

 

Our task today was to decide on a relevant topic of today. I chose mental health as this is a very prevalent topic in our generation. It is also personal to me as I have grown up living with someone suffering from mental health illnesses my entire life. Multiple artists devoted the work to mental health through their own personal experiences such as Van gough/ Pablo Picasso and Georgia O’keefe. Kim Nobles work particularly fascinated me as her artwork provides a perspective on mental health for someone who has no notion of what it’s like living with these cruel illnesses every day. (This can be identified in the picture to the left.) We decided to use the phrase:

”Its okay not to be okay!”

which should be emphasised countless times in schools as our young peoples mental well being is vital.

 

We decided to use contrasting colours to emphasise being different and standing out is okay!

 

When completing this task in the classroom, I would allow learners time to think, pair share in order to gain an insight into others ideas and perhaps accumulate some of their ideas along with their own to form an excellent piece of work. Providing children with choices in the classroom increases their motivation as they have had an input in the lesson and will be passionate about the topics being discussed.

 

References:

Creative Scotland (2017) Attainment, Music and the Youth Music Initiative – A Short Research Report [online] Available: https://www.edubuzz.org/youthmusicinitiative/wp-content/blogs.dir/2405/files/2018/05/YMI-Attainment-Report-2017.pdf[Accessed: 22 October 2019]