Tag Archives: Music

Reflective

Week 5 Music

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In this week’s input we investigated the way in which technology can be used in teaching Music. In an increasingly digital age it is important that we give children skills which are fit for the 21st century. Becoming familiar with tools such as garageband, wavepad and Audacity gives children opportunities to develop skills for digital creative work. For example, creating and editing their own podcasts, audiobooks and radio shows. From my own education, music seemed to be considered superfluous. However, it can provide employable skills and should not be seen as extraneous to the curriculum.

In Csikszentmihalyi’s description of creativity, they refer to access to a ‘domain’ and ‘field’. The former refers to the form of the creative process and  the latter refers to the place where the product of creativity can be received by others. This access to creative spaces, mentors and tools is affected by socioeconomic, cultural, and social capital (Csikszentmihalyi, 1996).

With the decrease in free instrumental instruction in Scotland (Tes, 2020), the purchasing of instruments and the financing of individual tuition, can act as a barrier to music and developing musicality. This leads to a divide between who is able to access music education. Audio-editing software, such as the examples mentioned above, are  free to use and could decrease this divide.  Most families  have at least one device which their child can use and all schools will have a bank of devices that can be shared among the children. The use of technology in music can therefore close the divide between rich and poor and the unequal access to musical experiences and education.

This is particularly important given the benefits of music education.  In their TED Talk,  Anita Collins outlines the cognitive benefits of music education and argues that it should be an essential part of education. Through MRI scans, musicians brains have been shown to be structured differently to non musicians. Musicians have a larger ‘bridge’ between the two hemispheres, improved executive function and better memory systems (Collins, 2014).

These technologies allow files to be saved without the need for recording music in either graphic or formal notation. This could free children’s creativity as they can focus on exploration of sound,  rather than feeling held back by the need to write down their compositions. This emphasis of experimentation and exploration encourages children to take risks and be more confident in acting creatively.

From Elliot Eisner's '10 Lessons the Arts can Teach'
From Elliot Eisner’s ’10 Lessons the Arts can Teach’

References

Csikszentmihalyi, M (1996) Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention. New York: Harper

Eisner, E. (2002) The Arts and Creation of Minds. New Haven: Yale University Press.

TED (2014) Anita Collins: The benefits of music education. October 2014. Available at: https://www.ted.com/talks/anita_collins_the_benefits_of_music_education?language=en (Accessed: 4 January 2021).

Tes (2020) Number of music pupils drops for third year in a row. Available at: https://www.tes.com/news/schools-number-music-pupils-drops-third-year-row.  (Accessed 4 January 2021)

 

Reflective

Week 4: Drama and Music

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This week we looked at using informal notation to teach music . I am lucky enough to currently be working as an outdoor teaching assistant in a primary school. Once a week I spend an afternoon with a Primary 1 class in a (forest school style)  outdoor classroom. Following a consultation with the class teacher and guidance from Julie, I planned a series of three lessons creating, playing, and recording simple rhythm patterns.

These lessons used the woods as both a stimulus and as an instrument. This culminated in a final lesson where the children told ‘the story’ of the outdoor classroom. Starting at the entrance and moving through various locations, they used different materials to make rhythms which represented the activities and emotions they experienced in the woods. I was very interested in the way they negotiated what was included in the final performance and what it revealed about their own musicality. I particularly enjoyed the beginning of the piece where they stamped their feet faster and faster until they were jogging on the spot. This was because they wanted to show how excited they were to get into the woods. I had not discussed with them how pacing can be used in music to indicate tone and mood, yet they were able to include these kind of dynamics in their composition.

Through these lessons I gained a deeper understanding of what mattered to each child and what they valued about their outdoor education.  Though I had included EXA 1-18a in my lesson plan,

Inspired by a range of stimuli, and working on my own and/or with others, I can express and communicate my ideas, thoughts and feelings through musical activities. EXA 0-18a / EXA 1-18a / EXA 2-18a

(Education Scotland, 2009, p. 67)

I had not considered how I would use the children’s opinions nor their influence on me as a practitioner. This activity provided an  experience where the children could explore their creativity and their creation has enriched and informed my own teaching practice.

In Drama we looked at the use of puppets. This was a wonderful opportunity for collaborative learning. We made a short drama with shadow puppets which we had created before the workshop. Here, I gained a deeper understanding of the value of the creative process.  Through team work we developed a cohesive narrative which joined our four previously unrelated puppets. To do this, we assigned behaviours based on associations and connotations we had with our puppets.

In the early years, this activity seems to be a natural extension of play and would harness their innate power of imagination. This kind of creativity comes naturally to children but requires teacher facilitation in the classroom (Craft, 2007). This task also required negotiation and adaptation for our individual ideas to work together as a whole. This could provide a venue for  children to utilise and develop social skills in a way which is relevant to their lives.

 

References

Craft, A. (2007) Creativity and possibility in the Early Years. Available at: www.tactyc.org.uk/pdfs/reflection-craft.pdf (Accessed 4 January 2020)

Education Scotland (2009) Curriculum for Excellence: Experiences and Outcomes. Available at: https://education.gov.scot/Documents/All-experiencesoutcomes18.pdf

Reflective

Week 3: Drama and Music

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This week in drama,  we looked at developing drama using a stimulus.  In this case it was an audio recording of ‘The Drums of Hanto’. I saw how drama could be used as a tool for creative teaching across the curriculum, and can benefit children with additional support needs.

We explored various techniques from Farmer 2011. I was particularly interested in how freeze-framing can be used in language development. In particular, the benefits for kinaesthetic and visual learners as they can link their body movements, and the positions of others, directly to description. This could give a deeper understanding than simply reading the word and using context clues. For children with dyslexia or for those who have English as an additional language this could be especially useful.

We also saw how freeze-framing could be used to develop emotional language. Children can be encouraged to verbalise their feelings by using bodyscaping . It could also be used to support children who have difficulty in deciphering and responding appropriately to facial expressions and body language.

From Elliot Eisner's '10 Lessons the Arts can Teach'
From Elliot Eisner’s ’10 Lessons the Arts can Teach’

These activities also fit into the Curriculum for Excellence’s focus on active learning (Scottish Executive, 2006, p.10). In all of these examples children are involved in the conscious act of thinking and constructing meaning.

In the following video, I explore how the rhythm and pulse workshop could be used in a classroom setting and to develop my own musicality.

References

Eisner, E. (2002) The Arts and Creation of Minds. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Farmer, D. (2011) Learning Through Drama in the Primary Years. Drama Resource.

Scottish Executive (2006) Building the Curriculum 1. Available at: https://education.gov.scot/Documents/btc1.pdf (Accessed 4 January 2020)

Reflective

Week 6: Visual Art

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Since the mid-2000s Helen Carnac, a sculptor, designer and maker has been leading workshops in brush making. By making the brushes or any mark making tool, creativity extends beyond the final piece but is imbued in the development process.  Diarmuid led us in a similar activity which I have documented in these following videos.

and

 

This activity could be easily transferred to a classroom setting and combines both the visual arts and design technology. This is a problem based activity with an unlimited range of solutions.  As each child would create their own brush, each painting would also be unique to that individual.

It can also be used to teach across the curriculum with an integrated art approach.  Listening skills can be developed as children paint a scene from a verbal description. Writing can be supported through the use of a visual stimulus of the child’s own creation.

From a sustainability perspective children can be taught to value all resources. As the brushes can be made out of materials which would otherwise be through away, the workshop pushes children to reconsider what is and is not valuable.

From Elliot Eisner's '10 Lessons the Arts can Teach'
From Elliot Eisner’s ’10 Lessons the Arts can Teach’

References

Eisner, E. (2002) The Arts and Creation of Minds. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Helen Carnac (no date) Brushes and Tools Available at: https://helencarnac.wordpress.com/making-things/ (Accessed 11 November 2020)

Reflective

Week 2: Creativity, Drama and Music

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This weeks input started with the lecture ‘How to avoid Killing Creativity’.  As a student teacher, I feel excited by the prospect of teaching creatively but I worry that, once I begin my career, the practicalities of classroom management, paperwork and inspections may reduce my capacity for creativity.

Anna Craft (Craft, 2001) writes about creativity in a very reassuring way, making it seem achievable by anyone.   She distinguishes between little ‘c’ and big ‘C’ creativity. The latter being associated with geniuses, experts in their field and eureka moments, whereas the former describes more everyday and ordinary creativity. Here attitudes are seen as important, particularly a playfulness and childlike approach to exploration and discovery. Small ‘c’ creativity requires practitioners to be willing to ‘stand back’ and learn from their pupils. This shared work of creativity, rather than the onus being entirely on the teacher, is quite comforting. If we see children as naturally creative, then it seems most important that we give space for that creativity. It is not then, necessary to reinvent teaching or be Picasso or Mozart.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (Csikszentmihalyi, 2013) also allays the fears of those of us who do not consider themselves to be creative. Creativity is not necessarily something that someone is born with, although there are genetic predispositions, there are also other factors at play. It requires persistence and hard work. It is not always the story that is written in a day but the one which is redrafted multiple times, rethought and even restarted which proves to be most valuable.

This is reiterated in ‘ How Creativity Works’ (RSA, 2012 ). Although here creativity is talked about in the context of business and entrepreneurs, it is a good example of how creativity is a transferable skill and attribute.   Another way describe the aforementioned factors which encourage creativity, is resilience or the ability to adapt and  and overcome difficulties. Resilience is seen as a key to overall Health and Wellbeing (Education Scotland, 2010), therefore encouraging creativity in ourselves and others could have benefits out with the expressive arts.

This lecture was followed by a Drama input. We took a deeper look  into how freeze-framing and thought tracking could be used across the curriculum. Somewhat surprisingly, I felt much less comfortable doing the activities by myself than if I were in a group at university. However, I took this as an opportunity to embrace and overcome these feelings of uncertainty and discomfort. I recognise that to grow and develop as a teacher, I need to leave my comfort zone. Tom Senninger refers to this as entering the learning zone, where things may feel uncomfortable or unfamiliar but where the potential for learning is at its greatest. (Senninger as cited in Perruci et al., 2018)

I did not recognise the picture, nor did I know exactly what was being depicted. However,  trying to gauge and express the emotions I perceived allowed me to feel a sense of loss, longing and despair. When I later learned the title of the painting and its inspiration being the Highland clearances, I was able to connect with people who existed hundreds of years ago. I can see many applications for the workshop in drama and out with it. It could be used for health and wellbeing to develop language for feelings and emotions. Or it could be an excellent activity to integrate topic work with literacy. Children could write a poem, story or news report about the experiences of the people in the painting. It could also be used as a way of discussing and understanding the contemporary experiences of refugees.

Drama was followed by an introduction to Charanga Music. Having access to a resource of this kind is an excellent way to boost the confidence of both practising and student teachers. Although I can read music and know some very basic keyboard skills, I do feel a little daunted at the prospect of teaching music.

I was lucky enough, while on placement last year, to see this resource being used in school with a primary two/three composite class. The children each sat at a xylophone and played together as a group.

From this experience, I could see some of challenges that arise when using this resource. The children were very excited to play the instruments and found it difficult to not give into their impulses. The children were handed beaters at the beginning of the lesson, this made it very tempting to play with the instruments and explore sounds. The aim of the lesson however, was to play a piece of music  as a group by reading formal notations.

These difficulties could be alleviated by spending a short time at the beginning of class establishing standards of behaviour and the consequences of not following instructions. I would also review the previous learning of what different notations signify by asking the children to clap the rhythm.  I would ask the children to point to the bars which correspond with the notes. Once all this had been done, only then would I hand out the batons and begin the practical instruction.

Having the opportunity to fully explore all that is offered by Charanga I feel much more confident and excited to teach music.

References

Craft, A., Jeffrey, B., Leibling, M. 2001. Creativity in Education. London: A&C Black

Csikszentmihayli, M. 2013. Creativity: The psychology of discovery and invention. New York: Harper Perennial.

Education Scotland. 2010. Curriculum for excellence: health and wellbeing experiences and outcomes. Available at: https://www.education.gov.scot/Documents/health-and-wellbeing-eo.pdf (Accessed 15 October 2020)

Perruci, G. and Hall, S., 2018. Teaching Leadership. 1st ed. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd, pp.83–115.

RSA 2012 How Creativity Works- Jonah Lehrer. 16 May. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ufnp89NOreI&feature=youtu.be (Accessed: 15 October 2020).

Reflective

Week 1: Drama and Music.

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On the 6th of October 2020 we had our first inputs on Drama and Music.

It is understandable that some people may feel apprehensive about a Drama input as it requires a degree of vulnerability and the willingness to feel foolish. However, I felt excited to engage in a dynamic form of learning after only one day of online university.  The chance to move and collaborate with peers was much appreciated.  If this is true for adults then it is certainly true for children. Frequently, formal education requires children to sit still and listen; drama offers the opportunity to participate and create as part of learning. This will come naturally to many young children; having a learning process which complements this instinctive behaviour  would therefore be advantageous. (Farmer, 2011)

Angela was so confident and joyful in her teaching, I was also eager to participate; something I would be keen to emulate  in my own practice. Her enthusiasm was infectious and the range of ways drama could be used as a teaching strategy was exciting. For my own practice, I can see that the playful nature of the lesson would build on the innate skills that children have. This could be seen as diametrically opposed to the prevailing landscape of education (TED, 2006). Rather than discouraging their creativity, their imagination and play is an essential part of the lesson.  In this way, creative teaching can offer a vital opportunity for children to be creative.

I was particularly interested in how Drama could be used in social studies, such as history. Using an image as a prompt, small groups spent time thoroughly investigating and discussing what they could see. A range of drama strategies were then used to deepen the children’s understanding (Baldwin., 2009).Their sense of discovery and excitement and creating meaning was palpable.  They made Soundscapes, Tableaus and used Thought Tracking to share their learning with the rest of the class. This seemed to be an excellent way to harness a child’s imagination to engage them in another time and place. I am also interested in the possibilities it presents for allowing children to access primary sources as a way to discover and make their own conclusions. This avenue for analysis and evaluation is an opportunity for children to develop their higher order thinking skills. (Churches, 2008).

The Drama input was followed by Music, where Julie reassured us that to teach music we did not need to be professional musicians.  This is reiterated in the supporting materials; all that is required is that we  allow children to participate in and we ourselves are willing to teach and learn through music. (Daubney., 2017)

In this input we engaged with a listening task. After listening to a piece of music as a whole class, we broke off into groups and created a story based on what we had heard. It was interesting to compare the similarities and differences as we came back together as a whole group.

Our story was about a family of elephants and the trials and tribulations they experienced throughout the day.

It was particularly enjoyable that there was no right answer, each group could have vastly dissimilar stories but each would be equally valid. The images the music had conjured up for each of us and the way it made us feel were not set against any rubric so there was no risk of failure.

From ‘ 10 Lessons that the Arts can Teach’ by Elliot Eisner

Learning to collaborate and learning through collaboration is acknowledged in Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy as an essential skill for the world of work in the twenty first century (Churches, 2008). These kinds of activities, therefore, can engage students in discrete disciplines but also develop skills that are relevant across the curriculum and post formal education.

As a classroom assistant, I have seen the practical ways music can be used,  both as  a tool for learning as well for classroom management. For the latter, I have often seen teachers use “tidy up songs” as an indication that a lesson has come to a close or use a quiet, often classical, piece of music to play when children are engaged in quiet work. If the the music cannot be heard, then the class volume needs to be reduced. This can also give children exposure to music they might not otherwise have and helps create a calm atmosphere.

I have also seen  music used to aid spelling.

Spelling songs are useful to support children in their reading and writing, particularly auditory learners. If they asked how to spell a word, instead of laboriously looking up a short word in a dictionary, the teacher, I or fellow pupil would sing or even hum the tune. This usually triggered their memory. Instead of looking elsewhere for the answer, the children realised that they had the tools to help themselves.

In a similar way, when a child came across a word they couldn’t decode phonetically, we would sing the associated song, pointing to each letter as we sang the letter name.

Both of these inputs demonstrate the way Music and Drama can be embedded across the curriculum, in ways which add meaning and provide scope for creativity. I am looking forward to expanding my knowledge in these areas and develop my skills in creative teaching.

References

Baldwin, P.  (2009) Improvement Through Drama; A creative whole class, whole school continuum. London: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Churches, A. (2008) Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy.

Daubney, A. (2017) Teaching Primary Music. London: Sage

Farmer, D. (2011) Learning through Drama in the Primary Years. California: CreateSpace

TED (2006) Do schools kill creativity? February 2006. Available at: https://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_do_schools_kill_creativity?language=en  (Accessed: 10 October 2020).

Eisner, E. (2002) The Arts and Creation of Minds. New Haven: Yale University Press.