These last few weeks, my class learned a great deal about incorporating movement into music, in order to help children be more active in the classroom and active in their learning of music skills. Another concept we focused on these last few weeks was on listening and how to incorporate that into our teaching.Therefore, much of our classtime was spent going over the importance of both movement and listening when teaching music. However, it was made clear to us that movement and listening can be done in all subject areas in school, and that the activities that accompany them are great to keep children engaged in their learning whether it is musical or not. While learning how to listen to music, we also focused on identifying tone color, dynamics and changes in rhythm within music.
One way in which we learned how to incorporate movement within a musical classroom was by doing various warm up activities, such as just moving to music or making up motions to music to do while we were moving around the classroom. These warm up activities got our blood flowing and us ready for class, so we knew that these warm up activities would definitely help to warm up younger children who need a good deal of physical activity to stay focused. Outside of the warm up activities, our class spent time being with partners and learning various dance moves to put to music. Our teacher would teach us movements, and we would have to follow them to a certain pace and do them in conjunction to music. Another activity we did was also in partners, and our teacher had us make up a dance to the music she provided and it had to be original and go along with the music. We competed against other sets of partners to see who made up the most creative dance, therefore teaching us creativity along with movement concepts. Finally, we learned how to identify tone color, dynmanics and change in rhythm by doing an activity in which we were split into two groups and had to pass around a ball in a circle to the pace of the music. We would change our pace when there was a change in dynamics or tone and it helped us learn how to identify those using our listening skills.
I feel it is important for me to learn both movement and listening skills in music because both of these help in all areas of school. Movement and listening can be used in all classrooms not matter what the subject, and they only enhance the children's ability to engage in learning. Being that I will be a teacher one day, I value what I have learned as far as the movement and listening activities that our teacher presented because I know they will be helpful with my students one day. The warm up activities that I have been taught and the various listening games that we have done in class can be used in my classrooms, even though I am not planning on teaching music. My students will never be bored and can get the exercise they need while learning musical concepts.
I feel it is important for children to learn both movement and listening skills and concepts because it provides not only a fun aspect to learning for the kids by keeping them active, but it keeps them creative. What I learned through participating in these listening and movement activities is that children are left to interpret the music in their own way and show their creativity in how they express themselves in relation to the music. I also feel that these activities help children understand music and appreciate it, so I feel they are very helpful to the students in the classroom. It is fun to listen and dance to music, and therefore to be able to incorporate that in a classroom, children will enjoy school on a whole other level.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Assignment #9
1.The following are guidelines that can be used to help teachers generate ideas for students to learn music through rhythmic bodily response activities.
.Encourage the child's natural inclination to move. For example, student's naturally want to get out of their seats or if they are sitting for too long they are squirming around trying to make themselves more comfortable. Teacher's should take advantage of this situation and should use the student's eagerness to move to incorporate music and movement in their lessons.
.Encourage the natural use of speech, gesture, and body language to express thoughts and emotions. Allow the students to feel the music and respond to it with whatever comes natural to them, which will in turn bring out their creative ideas.
.Encourage the use of various levels of energy (dynamics) and timing in movement, speech and gesture. Encourage the students to move to the music in the way that they feel about it at the time, usually when children hear fast paced music, they will move that way or sing that way as well.
.Allow children to explore and find ways to "live" particular elements of music in movement. this means that children should not be directed necessarily on how to move to music, they should simply just be encouraged to move and whatever movements come out of that are their own creation and this shoulld be supported.
.Identify elements, concepts, or other aspects of music that children should experience.
.Pay attention to children's individual responses. Because children are creative in a variety of ways, they each have something creative to bring to the table. Therefore, encourage their individual creativity and have that reflect on the other students.
.Allow children freedom and opportunities to express music with their bodies in spontaneous ways. It is okay for the student's to act "silly" and this should be encouraged because a child's true creativity will be brought out and children will know this is acceptible behavior in the classroom and their ideas can fully be expressed.
.Encourage the completion of structured tasks that will, in turn, result in musical learning. It is good to have openness and freedom in the classroom, especially with music, but it is important to have a criteria for the children to follow to make sure they gain every musical concept possible to accompany their learning. In the end, it will only better their education not restrict it.
.Choose music for rhythmic activities that causes children to respond instictively. An example of a instinctive response is tapping of their feet to music, and this is encouraged because it will let their natural creativity and response to music come out and this will lead to them expressing themselves musically.
2. A locomotor skill is to move from one place to another. A non-locomotor skill is to move within a stationary position.
3. The four stages in children developing body awareness include the following:
1. movement as an expression of problem solving
2. movement as an expression of imagery
3. movement with no external beat
4.movement to a beat with a sense of timing
4. The musical concepts that can be taught through movement activities include the concept of the following:
.beat/meter,
.fast, slow, getting faster, getting slower
.accents
.dynamics
.rhythm patterns
.melodic contour
5. A lesson that involves the concept of teaching students rhythm patterns begins with the teacher introducing this concept by having her students "step" the rhythm patterns. For example, the teacher will play music using an instrument such as the piano or drum and will have her students move to the notes of the music. Specifically, the teacher can have her students walk, gallop, skip, hop or do any of the following movements in conjuction with her playing the notes. Therefore, the teacher can assign a note to a certain movement such as a quarter note to a walking step. Once teh students practice moving around the room according to the notes being played, the teacher can combine the notes and a rhythm "pattern" is created. One game of activity presented in this lesson that a teacher can use to express this idea is the stop and go game which involves the students moving according to the musical notes and stopping as soon as the teacher stops playing her instrument. This game can be done in groups or as a class and is similar to musical chairs with the stopping and starting of the music.
After these games are done to emphasize the rhythm patterns, the teacher can then have the students translate the movemnt words into rhythmic notation. For example, the teacher can assign different note values to the words of songs and have the students step the rhythmn while singing the song. Another way the teacher can emphasize this concept is by assigning different words like the childrens names or seasons to note values so they see the relation in all words not just movement words.
.Encourage the child's natural inclination to move. For example, student's naturally want to get out of their seats or if they are sitting for too long they are squirming around trying to make themselves more comfortable. Teacher's should take advantage of this situation and should use the student's eagerness to move to incorporate music and movement in their lessons.
.Encourage the natural use of speech, gesture, and body language to express thoughts and emotions. Allow the students to feel the music and respond to it with whatever comes natural to them, which will in turn bring out their creative ideas.
.Encourage the use of various levels of energy (dynamics) and timing in movement, speech and gesture. Encourage the students to move to the music in the way that they feel about it at the time, usually when children hear fast paced music, they will move that way or sing that way as well.
.Allow children to explore and find ways to "live" particular elements of music in movement. this means that children should not be directed necessarily on how to move to music, they should simply just be encouraged to move and whatever movements come out of that are their own creation and this shoulld be supported.
.Identify elements, concepts, or other aspects of music that children should experience.
.Pay attention to children's individual responses. Because children are creative in a variety of ways, they each have something creative to bring to the table. Therefore, encourage their individual creativity and have that reflect on the other students.
.Allow children freedom and opportunities to express music with their bodies in spontaneous ways. It is okay for the student's to act "silly" and this should be encouraged because a child's true creativity will be brought out and children will know this is acceptible behavior in the classroom and their ideas can fully be expressed.
.Encourage the completion of structured tasks that will, in turn, result in musical learning. It is good to have openness and freedom in the classroom, especially with music, but it is important to have a criteria for the children to follow to make sure they gain every musical concept possible to accompany their learning. In the end, it will only better their education not restrict it.
.Choose music for rhythmic activities that causes children to respond instictively. An example of a instinctive response is tapping of their feet to music, and this is encouraged because it will let their natural creativity and response to music come out and this will lead to them expressing themselves musically.
2. A locomotor skill is to move from one place to another. A non-locomotor skill is to move within a stationary position.
3. The four stages in children developing body awareness include the following:
1. movement as an expression of problem solving
2. movement as an expression of imagery
3. movement with no external beat
4.movement to a beat with a sense of timing
4. The musical concepts that can be taught through movement activities include the concept of the following:
.beat/meter,
.fast, slow, getting faster, getting slower
.accents
.dynamics
.rhythm patterns
.melodic contour
5. A lesson that involves the concept of teaching students rhythm patterns begins with the teacher introducing this concept by having her students "step" the rhythm patterns. For example, the teacher will play music using an instrument such as the piano or drum and will have her students move to the notes of the music. Specifically, the teacher can have her students walk, gallop, skip, hop or do any of the following movements in conjuction with her playing the notes. Therefore, the teacher can assign a note to a certain movement such as a quarter note to a walking step. Once teh students practice moving around the room according to the notes being played, the teacher can combine the notes and a rhythm "pattern" is created. One game of activity presented in this lesson that a teacher can use to express this idea is the stop and go game which involves the students moving according to the musical notes and stopping as soon as the teacher stops playing her instrument. This game can be done in groups or as a class and is similar to musical chairs with the stopping and starting of the music.
After these games are done to emphasize the rhythm patterns, the teacher can then have the students translate the movemnt words into rhythmic notation. For example, the teacher can assign different note values to the words of songs and have the students step the rhythmn while singing the song. Another way the teacher can emphasize this concept is by assigning different words like the childrens names or seasons to note values so they see the relation in all words not just movement words.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Journal #3
Overall, within this unit my class focused on and learned a great deal about how to incorporate instruments into the classrooms and various subjects. Specifically, in the beginning of the unit we learned that many everyday objects can be used as instruments, especially in the early grades because it is a good way to introduce them to the ideas of musical sounds and how to create them in many ways. In relation to this we learned how to use everyday objects as instruments while telling stories. As a class, we learned that a teacher can add educational and musical aspects to their story telling. We learned that using instruments or making sounds while reading a story keeps the children more active and involved in their own learned and that it can keep them interested for a longer amount of time.
Another aspect that we learned as a class within this unit was the fact that music can be incorporated into other educational subjects to enhance the lessons. By incorporating music or musical concepts into other educational subjects, a teacher can add more emphasis to a lesson and therefore keep the kids interested in what they are learning. Basically, if teachers do this they can keep children more musically inclined and allow them to learn more efficiently. A specific example of this concept that we learned in class was that music was a great way to add emphasis to children's literature. However, overall our class learned that music and musical concepts can be added to just about every subject within a curriculum.
As I stated before, a large part of this unit was spent on discussing how to incorporate instruments into not just musical lessons but other subjects within the curriculum. In learning how to do this, my class learned about the various classroom instruments and how to play some of them including the recorder, xylophone, and the drums. Much of our class time was also spent playing our recorders and learning how to compose our own song. The "chocolate candy" song involved us students learning how to play the five notes A,B,C,G and D. We had to use these five notes to compose our own song in which we will be tested on soon.
An example of how my class learned the musical skill of using various objects to produce musical sounds is that our class was broken up into groups and each member in the group was responsible for bringing a piece of trash to class to use as a musical instrument. These "musical instruments" were then used when our group told a story to the class. The instruments represented various sounds within the story and we used this techinique to also show that incorporating musical instruments into other subjects leads to more class participation and interest in the story.
As a class, we also learned how to incorporate musical instruments into other non-musical subjects such as children's literature. For instance, as a class we did another activity involving the playing of instruments in accompaniment to a story being told. As an entire class we used real instruments such as the xylpohone, recorder and drums to represent various parts of the story.
Finally, as a class we went about learning the various classroom instruments through class discussion and by some of us playing them. We also learned how to compose a song using five notes and are expected to play it on our recorder's for a grade.
I feel that it is crucial as a future teacher that I learn how to incorporate musical instruments into my lessons because no matter what subject is being taught, if a musical aspect is involved the children will automatically pay attention more and will be having more active and creative fun. I also feel it is important for me to learn how to play the recorder and have a better knowledge of the classroom instruments because as the leader I would like to go around and help every student possible. I also feel it is important for me to know how to use the recorder properly because as a teacher I would be need to help a good deal of my younger students who struggle and if I know my instruments well I can help teach them.
I feel that it is important for the children to learn how to play various instruments and use them while in music class and in other subjects because it enhances their learning and knowledge of the material. Using instruments in accompaniment to learning is great for keeping children’s attention and interest in what they are learning. Also, children develop better use of their fine motor skills by playing instruments. I feel that children have more fun learning when they can be active throughout the lesson which is why I feel it is important for children to be exposed to them. Like singing, the playing of instruments is a creative outlet for children and a great one to accompany other musical lessons. I feel that it is important for students to understand sounds of their environment and that anything can be an instrument because music is so important in everyday life.
Overall, I feel that as a class we learned a great deal of information and I had no real difficulty when learning any of the concepts including learning how to further develop my recorder playing. I had a good time learning just how much instruments can be incorporated into music and non musical lessons.
Another aspect that we learned as a class within this unit was the fact that music can be incorporated into other educational subjects to enhance the lessons. By incorporating music or musical concepts into other educational subjects, a teacher can add more emphasis to a lesson and therefore keep the kids interested in what they are learning. Basically, if teachers do this they can keep children more musically inclined and allow them to learn more efficiently. A specific example of this concept that we learned in class was that music was a great way to add emphasis to children's literature. However, overall our class learned that music and musical concepts can be added to just about every subject within a curriculum.
As I stated before, a large part of this unit was spent on discussing how to incorporate instruments into not just musical lessons but other subjects within the curriculum. In learning how to do this, my class learned about the various classroom instruments and how to play some of them including the recorder, xylophone, and the drums. Much of our class time was also spent playing our recorders and learning how to compose our own song. The "chocolate candy" song involved us students learning how to play the five notes A,B,C,G and D. We had to use these five notes to compose our own song in which we will be tested on soon.
An example of how my class learned the musical skill of using various objects to produce musical sounds is that our class was broken up into groups and each member in the group was responsible for bringing a piece of trash to class to use as a musical instrument. These "musical instruments" were then used when our group told a story to the class. The instruments represented various sounds within the story and we used this techinique to also show that incorporating musical instruments into other subjects leads to more class participation and interest in the story.
As a class, we also learned how to incorporate musical instruments into other non-musical subjects such as children's literature. For instance, as a class we did another activity involving the playing of instruments in accompaniment to a story being told. As an entire class we used real instruments such as the xylpohone, recorder and drums to represent various parts of the story.
Finally, as a class we went about learning the various classroom instruments through class discussion and by some of us playing them. We also learned how to compose a song using five notes and are expected to play it on our recorder's for a grade.
I feel that it is crucial as a future teacher that I learn how to incorporate musical instruments into my lessons because no matter what subject is being taught, if a musical aspect is involved the children will automatically pay attention more and will be having more active and creative fun. I also feel it is important for me to learn how to play the recorder and have a better knowledge of the classroom instruments because as the leader I would like to go around and help every student possible. I also feel it is important for me to know how to use the recorder properly because as a teacher I would be need to help a good deal of my younger students who struggle and if I know my instruments well I can help teach them.
I feel that it is important for the children to learn how to play various instruments and use them while in music class and in other subjects because it enhances their learning and knowledge of the material. Using instruments in accompaniment to learning is great for keeping children’s attention and interest in what they are learning. Also, children develop better use of their fine motor skills by playing instruments. I feel that children have more fun learning when they can be active throughout the lesson which is why I feel it is important for children to be exposed to them. Like singing, the playing of instruments is a creative outlet for children and a great one to accompany other musical lessons. I feel that it is important for students to understand sounds of their environment and that anything can be an instrument because music is so important in everyday life.
Overall, I feel that as a class we learned a great deal of information and I had no real difficulty when learning any of the concepts including learning how to further develop my recorder playing. I had a good time learning just how much instruments can be incorporated into music and non musical lessons.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Assignment 8
1. (a) A melodic instrument is any instrument that can produce a melody. Examples of instruments that play melodies are the piano, electronic keyboards, xylophone, recorder, melody bells, resonator bells, glockenspiel, metallophone and tone chimes.
(b) A harmonic instrument can play harmonies or drones as accompaniments to songs. Examples of harmonic instruments include the autosharp, the q'chord and the guitar.
(c) Rhythmic instruments can play the rhythmic accompaniments to songs. They are divided into woods, metals and skins. Examples of percussion or rhythmic instruments are rhythm sticks, claves, woodblocks, maracas, sand blocks, guiro, cymbals, traingle, tambourine, jingle bells, hand drum, bongo drum, and conga drum.
2. One musical concept that can be gained by playing instruments is that children can better identify contrasting melodies. Another musical concept gained is that children can increase their ability to hear repetition and contrast of musical ideas. Another musical concept children can gain from playing instruments is being able to work in ensembles and listen to others sounds and incorporate it with their own. Finally, another musical concept to be gained is the understanding of dynamics by the differences in the way they play various instruments.
3. Activity: Playing the xylophone while reading the historical story "Pocahontas" depicting the Native American Pocahontas and early American civilization. The xylophone will express the various sounds made by the dwarfs along with the sounds of the environment.
Musical concepts:
.Students will be able to learn the proper way to play the xylophone through teacher instruction and repetition throughout the story.
.Students will be able to recognize various sounds throughout the story and interpret them through the playing of the xylophone.
Non-musical concepts:
.Students will better their reading abilities.
.Students will better their reading comprehension.
.Students will learn the history of Pocahontas and how she affected U.S history.
Musical skill:
.Students will learn how to play an instrument, the xylophone.
.Students will be better at interpreting sounds made by the xylophone.
Non-musical skill:
.Students will be able to read, follow along and comprehend the story.
Procedure:
The teacher will first provide all of the students with their own xylophone. The teacher will then review the proper way in which to play the xylophone. The teacher will continue the lesson by introducing the story "Pocahontas" and will read it to them once through. Then the teacher will have the students name the various sounds they heard while she read. Once the sounds of the characters and the environment are described, the teacher will assign certain students to play the xylophone for the various sounds. Then the teacher will read the story to the children and have them play their assigned sounds when they come up within the story. In addition to playing the xylopohone, the teacher can add to the lesson by having them sing along with some of the sounds in the following repetitions of the story.
(b) A harmonic instrument can play harmonies or drones as accompaniments to songs. Examples of harmonic instruments include the autosharp, the q'chord and the guitar.
(c) Rhythmic instruments can play the rhythmic accompaniments to songs. They are divided into woods, metals and skins. Examples of percussion or rhythmic instruments are rhythm sticks, claves, woodblocks, maracas, sand blocks, guiro, cymbals, traingle, tambourine, jingle bells, hand drum, bongo drum, and conga drum.
2. One musical concept that can be gained by playing instruments is that children can better identify contrasting melodies. Another musical concept gained is that children can increase their ability to hear repetition and contrast of musical ideas. Another musical concept children can gain from playing instruments is being able to work in ensembles and listen to others sounds and incorporate it with their own. Finally, another musical concept to be gained is the understanding of dynamics by the differences in the way they play various instruments.
3. Activity: Playing the xylophone while reading the historical story "Pocahontas" depicting the Native American Pocahontas and early American civilization. The xylophone will express the various sounds made by the dwarfs along with the sounds of the environment.
Musical concepts:
.Students will be able to learn the proper way to play the xylophone through teacher instruction and repetition throughout the story.
.Students will be able to recognize various sounds throughout the story and interpret them through the playing of the xylophone.
Non-musical concepts:
.Students will better their reading abilities.
.Students will better their reading comprehension.
.Students will learn the history of Pocahontas and how she affected U.S history.
Musical skill:
.Students will learn how to play an instrument, the xylophone.
.Students will be better at interpreting sounds made by the xylophone.
Non-musical skill:
.Students will be able to read, follow along and comprehend the story.
Procedure:
The teacher will first provide all of the students with their own xylophone. The teacher will then review the proper way in which to play the xylophone. The teacher will continue the lesson by introducing the story "Pocahontas" and will read it to them once through. Then the teacher will have the students name the various sounds they heard while she read. Once the sounds of the characters and the environment are described, the teacher will assign certain students to play the xylophone for the various sounds. Then the teacher will read the story to the children and have them play their assigned sounds when they come up within the story. In addition to playing the xylopohone, the teacher can add to the lesson by having them sing along with some of the sounds in the following repetitions of the story.
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