Messing About with Music

Mel, I agree completely with your comments on the importance of engaging students in learning through exciting mediums and allowing the classroom the be truly student-centred. Like you, I also adhere to the constructivist theory of learning which meshes well with my previous post on drama as drama is non-linear; it is constructivist. Furthermore, I also concur with your ideas about learning being fun! I dream of classroom full of what I call 'constructive chaos' - the chaos of learning through fun, experimentation, creativity and exploration.

I think that these fundamental ideas are also applicable to music education, and as you know this week we had a three hour music workshop and as a result I once again find myself brimming with excitement and inspiration. As a 'non-musical' person in the traditional sense of the term (perhaps because of my somewhat negative primary music education), I found myself drawn into music education through the active and engaged in the listening, responding and movement to music sections of the music curriculum. I consider this to be an important refection as according to Jeanneret and Swainston (2009)"childhood musical experiences have a powerful influence on the development of future adult attitudes about music and can be predictive of musical involvement later in life" (p. 103). However, after an honestly rejuvenating music workshop yesterday my opinion is somewhat transformed - I will joyfully endeavour to integrate music into my generalist curriculum. 

I particularly liked the way the activities we did this week integrated visual arts and music together. Furthermore, you don not have to be 'talented' in either music or the visual arts to be able to engage with these activities in meaningful and fun ways. I learnt that, contrary to my prior belief, music is not about simply playing a classical instrument or being born lucky with a beautiful sounding voice. I have included a few images of the work that I have done in response to music this week that can be used as activities in a generalist teacher's primary music syllabus. 

Furthermore, I also attended a Australia Childhood Foundation "Transforming Trauma" workshop this week and discovered a great activity to add to my teaching tool-kit. Hyper-active students (and students in general) can be brought back to a state of calm by participating in mindful repetitive, rhythmic drumming/clapping patterns to the pulse of their heartbeat. This is an incredibly soothing activity for all students and particularly those with autism, ADHD and a history of trauma. Information about mindful education an be found here.

We coloured in 'flutterbies' as we listened to inspirational classical music. We moved to the music as a large elegant group of pre-service teachers and rested our flutterbys on each other at points of rest in the music. This was relaxing, playful and imaginative and I have actually successfully used this strategy on my last practicum with a Prep class. This activity engages students in generating, realising and responding to peers. 

This activity is called "Graphic Notation" and involved choosing coloured crayons to respond to active listening to a classical piece of music. For me, I can now see the piece of music in a visual form - like this is its portrait. It involved learning through listening, generating and responding.

Following the above activity we were encouraged to try to encapsulate any images that came to our mind while we listened closely to the music. It was interested to see that many people, including myself, drew pictures of birds in flight. This correlated to the up-lifting, spirited sound of the song and could be a result of our enculturation into relating specific sounding music to specific images. This activity could involve students in the aesthetic processes of generating and responding. 

I did this activity at home after being inspired by the music workshop. It is a seismograph that represents the individual instruments at work in the piece. I think it is a great activity to encourage active, engaged listening to a piece of music. It involves visual representation of the music and would therefore benefit visual learners. This activity requires generating and responding. 

Mel what was your take on the music workshop this week? Have you got any more resources to add to our music teaching tool-kit?

References


Jeanneret, N., & Swainston, A. (2009). Making music and cultural connections. In Sinclair, C., Jeanneret, N., & O’Toole, J. (Eds.). Education in the arts: Teaching and learning in the contemporary curriculum (pp. 101-130). South Melbourne, VIC: Oxford University Press.