Music 3

This week there was a focus on listening skills: how to decipher and single out various aspects of diverse pieces of music. In listening to various pieces of music we were to gauge the duration, structure, pitch, dynamics and tone colour of each diverse piece.
In demonstrating such diverse pieces of music to students and providing them with a framework to appreciate music in this way there can be a greater level of understanding of how different types of music are made, as well as enabling students to make distinctions between different types.
Furthermore, allowing students an opportunity to engage with music for enjoyment can be beneficial in providing an interesting and enriching cultural experience.
As discussed Kokotsaki (2012), by allowing students to explore music allows a level of creativity to take place and to develop their “musical imaginations”, further allowing for a rich, meaningful listening experience. (Kokotaski, 2012)

Reference

Blogspot. (2014). Appreciating music. [Image]. Retrieved from: https://creativeartsblogedup.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/b6355-i_love_music_1.jpg

carstenknoch.com. (2011). Playing violin. [Image]. Retrieved from: http://carstenknoch.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/chamber_music.jpg

Education Portal. (2010). Listening to music. [Image]. Retrieved from: http://education-portal.com/cimages/multimages/16/listen-music-student-girl.jpg

Kokotsaki, D. (2012). Research Studies in Music Education: pre-service student-teachers’ conceptions of creativity in the primary music classroom.34(120). doi: 10.1177/1321103X12466770

Music 2

This week’s music tutorial was based around singing and use of the voice and ways singing can be incorporated into the classroom. Discussions were carried out surrounding the selection of musical repertoire for use in a primary setting: songs chosen should be engaging and relevant to students to ensure musical experiences incorporating singing are meaningful for students and ensure engagement. By exploring a range of musical pieces and taking part in singing with the group divided into sections, a sense of understanding could be gained of how important it is for singing to be a part of primary classrooms.
As discussed by Bintz (2010) singing can be incorporated into classrooms to reinforce learning (reciting mathematical concepts such as time tables, or aspects of literacy such as the alphabet) in an engaging and enjoyable way. It assists students in developing vocal skills such as voice projection and communication, as well as phonic and phonemic skills. (Bintz, 2010)

Reference

Bintz, W.P. (2010). The Reading Teacher. 63(8), pp. 683 – 686. doi: 10.1598/RT.63.8.7

Blogspot. (2013). Children singing. [Image]. Retrieved from: https://creativeartsblogedup.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/2b8c8-lbwkidssinging.jpg

Word Press. (2011). Dominican kids singing. [Image]. Retrieved from: http://stgeorgesardmore.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/dominican-kids-singing.jpg

 

 

Music 1

The first music lesson allowed for recapping of key musical concepts – duration, pitch, structure, tone colour and dynamics. As a class we looked at how these features give music their character.
We were able to use percussion instruments to create musical pieces, dividing the group into sections (soprano, alto, tenor and bass), as well as body percussion (hand clapping) to create sounds fitting with a recent popular song.

http://www.wimp.com/trombonehappy/

In this video, Bill (2014) illustrates a similar concept: a recent popular song is reworked to provide a varying sound from the original, but the structure is maintained and is certainly recognisable. (Bill, 2014)

Using body percussion or other types of musical play is highly engaging for students, and incorporating songs students are familiar with offers a greater level of engagement and enjoyment. Students experiencing different ways of producing songs that they are familiar with can facilitate interesting discussion surrounding how music can be diversified in this way.

References
Bill, C. (2014). Trombone version of “Happy”. [Video file.] Retrieved from: http://www.wimp.com/trombonehappy/

Gandharva Loka. (2014). Wooden xylophone. [Image]. Retrieved from: http://www.gandharvaloka.co.nz/instruments/images/mi-wooden-xylophone-lrg.jpg

Thoman. (2014). Glockenspiel. [Image]. Retrieved from: http://images.thomann.de/pics/prod/113404.jpg