Today in music we were looking at music notation and in particular, Figure Notes. These were created for primary school children who need additional support, to make music more accessible. They are made up of different coloured shapes each representing a musical note. We were tasked with playing Twinkle Twinkle, Freres Jacques and Jingle Bells reading the Finger Notes notation. I was apprehensive about this, as I have no musical background or skills, however, I thoroughly enjoyed this session. Drake Music Scotland (2017) emphasise that you do not have to be able to read sheet music to play an instrument as with finger notes “if you can match, you can play!”. I really feel like Finger Notes will be easier for me to be able to teach music in the classroom, and if children are like me, then it will really help them understand music too.

Today in art was a little different. We were given materials such as wool, string and cotton wool – before being tasked with creating our own paint our own paintbrush. The point of this activity was to create a painting beyond the constraints of precision the traditional paintbrush tends to impose. Artwork children would create using their own paintbrush, would be full of personality and flare – and less likely to be compared to others in the same way as using a traditional paintbrush would.

The follow-up task to this was to paint a picture described to us only through speech – we didn’t get to see it at all. Doing this allowed us to experience art in a completely different way and our imagination came to play to try and recreate the picture. This task allowed me to understand that you don’t have to be good at art to be an artist – something I will definitely take into my classroom!

If we look at Eisner’s (2002) “10 lessons the arts teach” – two of these points were taught through the lessons today – Art being looked at from different angles and embracing the unknown.

What I have come to realise from both sessions today is that you don’t need to be an artist or a musician to have access to the arts. Anyone can access the arts whether you have previous skills or not. This has been my first insight into how the arts are integrated.

REFERENCES Drake Music Scotland (2017). Fingernotes – Drake Music Scotland. [online] Available at: https://drakemusicscotland.org/figurenotes/ [Accessed 01 October 2017].

Eisner, E. W. (2002) The Arts and the Creation of Mind. London: Yale University Press.