Interesting journal article.

I came across a journal article which caught my eye as soon as I read the title, "Parents' goals, knowledge, practices, and needs regarding music education for their young children in South Korea'. The reason was probably because it contained the words 'music' and 'South Korea'. I was born in South Korea, never lived their but spent my whole primary school life with Korean parents and grandparents. However, when I started to read the article, I found the focus was not on 'Korea' but more on music itself, which is why I continued to read it. 

Youm (2013) states that music education is crucial for the development of children not only in the Creative Arts but within all areas. This is likely as music is a positive factor that enhances the emotional, social and cognitive development in children. However, primary school students are under the care of their parents and the music provided to these children is mostly not by choice, but by what is approved by their parents.

It is also stated that music can serve as an 'emotional bonding' activity in which the parent and the child grow a connection. I remember in primary school when I used to dread private piano lessons, but I still loved playing the piano at home. My favourite part of playing the piano would be when I would practice at home and grandfather would pop a chair next to me, watch me play and ask me to "teach" him. Although I was just learning the notes of the piano myself, at the age of five, I was teaching my grandfather all I learnt from these lessons. I think the only reason I continued to go for these lessons was so I could come home and 'teach'. This is where I grew a strong bond with my grandfather despite the fact that he was so strict and strong on discipline.

The article discusses that parents feel lost when teaching music to their children. I find that this is the way most M.Teach (Primary) pre-service teachers will feel if placed directly into a music classroom with a class of students all wanting to do something. The article continues by saying parents "seek direction wanting to do something good for their children but not knowing how" (Youm, 2013), I think this depicts my thoughts on teaching not only music but the whole Creative Arts stream. I love the Creative Arts, absolutely love music, drama, dance and visual arts. But before and during the unit of study 'EDMT5530 Creative Arts K-6', quite often I wondered, "Is it enough to love it?", "Does enjoying something mean I can teach it and teach it well?", "Will my students learn? If so, how? If not, why?". But then I think back to when i played the piano with my grandfather, I taught him what I knew and by doing this, I consolidated my knowledge and learnt even more than I knew. I think the underlying principles in teaching the creative arts can be quite similar. Although at the moment, I am still not 100% confident in going into a classroom and delivering an excellent lesson where all my students will be engaged and passionate about their learning, I have gained quite a steady knowledge of how to plan and where to look to be able to teach this KLA. This unit of study has really helped me learn about how to teach and why we need to teach the creative arts in primary school. I believe that with further practice, with further research and with further planning, I think I will be able to place myself in a position where I teach to learn and ultimately learn to teach the Creative Arts!


Youm, H.Y. (2013). Parents' goals, knowledge, practices, and needs regarding music education for their young children in South Korea. Journal of Research in Music Education, 61(3), 280-302.

Week 13, Music 2

Music Workshop (Wednesday)

Tillman (2001) states that the most important period for the development of musical abilities starts as early as kindergarten. In primary school, children should develop listening skills, to listen selectively, and enhance their attention to detail (Gooding & Standley, 2011). The workshop today focused on one of the most important factors when it comes to music - listening.

We listened to different pieces of music and discussed the five musical concepts. I thought that learning about the five musical concepts was very useful and important as although children will enjoy music nonetheless, if they understood the underlying concepts of music, it may trigger a spark of greater interest.

- Pitch: Notes being played.
- Duration: Rhythms, tempo, time signatures.
- Dynamics: How it is played, loud-soft. Creates the mood.
- Structure: Orchestra/solo. Placement of music, i.e. Verse and chorus in a song.
- Tone Colour: Which instruments plays the main melody, which are in the background. Types of sounds.

What we did was listen to a piece of music and analyse its features in terms of the five musical concepts. I thought that this was an excellent teaching activity to teach theory (Which can often be regarded as 'boring') in an interesting and engaging way. Asking children to memorise definitions does not help them develop a conceptual understanding. By asking them to listen and to discuss then to analyse and share gives them the opportunity to explore and further develop meaning in music.

Reference

• Gooding, L., & Standley, M. (2011). Musical development and learning characteristics of students: A compilation of key points from the research literature organised by age. Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, 30(1): 32-45.
• Tillman, K. (2001). Conference keynote musical development theories revisited. Music Education Research, 3: 227-242.

Week 13, Music.

Music Workshop (Monday)

Creating a 'soundscape' was the focus of the workshop today. When I head the word 'soundscape', I had no idea of what the word meant and I had no idea of what the workshop was to be about. Just as any teacher would, our teacher began to scaffold the lesson by asking us to write down thoughts that came to our minds whilst we listened to a piece of music. We were not given any other knowledge on the piece of music we had to listen to. I thought that this was a useful strategy as with children, although giving relevant information is important, providing them with too many details may reduce their creativity as they get worried to what is 'incorrect' and prefer to replicate the example or idea provided by the teacher. We were asked to create an image in our heads of what this music was expressing and telling us. Once we listened to the piece of music, we discussed with our peers about what we thought about it. I had written 'jungle' but we soon found out that the piece of music was called 'Rainforest'. 

In groups, we then got a piece of paper and began to draw our own soundscape plans. Our group selected the theme 'thunderstorms' and I drew our ideas on the page in a progressive form. 

Our story began with a person driving home on a cloudy and windy day. It starts to rain lightly and then more heavier as the person gets closer to home. The rain develops into a full thunderstorm and the person runs out to his house and slams the door. 

Once our soundscape, illustrated plan was complete, our group collected some percussion instruments and we started to play our instruments so that our story would be represented by our sounds. 

- Large drum: Moving fingers on the surface to represent driving car. Loud banding for thunder. 

- Shaker: Light rainfall

- Maracas: Heavy rainfall.

- Tambourine: Lightening 

- Two-tone block: Alternating sounds to represent running footsteps. 

- Claves: One loud sound to represent door slam. 

This type of lesson is great to develop collaboration and communication skills with children as they need to discuss, plan and create a soundscape as a group. I would love to use this workshop to base a future lesson on. Personally, I think this activity would work best over a couple of lessons with a higher age group (Stage 2 or 3). For the younger stages, I would adapt the activities a bit. Perhaps, Asking students to draw a comic strip that represents a piece of music they hear. 

We then, in the same groups as before, learnt to create a simple rap. It was to be four lines, not necessarily rhyming. This task made me remember my professional experience this semester, I was placed in a Stage 3 classroom and the children composed their own raps on the theme of saving energy. Children generally show interest in music even without having any experience listening or making it (Morehouse, 2013). Although they may not be confident at first, with an appropriate amount of scaffolding, I found that children would be engaged with a task like this. 

However, I had never thought about teaching students how to rap. I had never thought about teaching students to put emphasis on certain words and to keep with a beat. I had been ignorant to the basics of music in creating a rap. This lesson helped me learn that I need to take a couple steps back and really break down components of teaching and student understanding that I assume children may know. 

For our rap, we had a beat-boxer, two people rapping the four lines together, and the remaining helping to put emphasis on certain words. It was fun but quite embarrassing as our rap was not 'educational' at all. But, I can definitely see children enjoying a task as such and engaging in these types of activities. 

References

• Morehouse, P. (2013). The importance of music making in child development. YC Young Children. 68:4, 82-89.
• NSW DET. (2006). Creative Arts Syllabus. Sydney: Author. 

Week 12, Music.

Music Workshop

This week's music workshop was on singing. These days, it is quite difficult to find good and appropriate music that children enjoy (That is not Disney). We were introduced to a couple of suitable and fun resources to use with students in primary school. I think in the future, if I am given the opportunity to take responsibility over music in my classroom, it is important that I have a good list of resources that are usable with children.

The activity which I enjoyed most in this workshop was singing 'Wet Day Blues' with the class. Especially with younger students, using simple, repetitive songs are best. Also, a good teaching tip I learnt in this session is that we should try give various students specific parts of a song rather than getting the whole class to sing the whole song through together. For students to enjoy music, they need to have a personal interest and need to be engaged by it (Reid, 2006). Singing the whole song from start to end with the whole class is quite disengaging and students are more susceptible to 'zone out'. Also, music is not only about sharing to another audience, but it should also be about sharing with those who are performing together (Reid, 2006). By providing students different parts, they will be listening to each other, concentrating on the sound of others and their own which is a core part in sharing with each other.

To practice a part with harmonisation, it is important to let groups have sufficient time to practice so that they can sing their part without being confused by other parts when sung together. I learnt that if a song has catchy lyrics which you can put small dance movements to, the children will learn the lyrics faster as the movement recalls the lyrics to their memory!

Kenney (2011) outlines the 'Seven steps for developing successful singing and listening habits' which from a pre-service teacher's perspective, I found quite interesting.
- Step 1: Energise and align the body
Move the body so that one is 'activated'. Fix body into a tall posture. This is to prepare the body for singing and get them focused.
- Step 2: Love the breath
Sit or stand tall. Bring oxygen to each part of the body and enhance correct posture.
- Step 3: Play with the voice.
Imitate sounds, be expressive. Feel the vibrations of the voice in high and low pitches. Experiment and listen.
- Step 4: Sing one pitch.
Sing one pitch to another in a 'sliding motion'. Listening to and feeling the difference in pitch.
- Step 5: Sing two pitches.
Sing one pitch and progress to another. Enhance listening before imitating. Matching pitch.
- Step 6: Sing a short phrase.
Choose a simple song and sing a phrase, ensure to listen so that all pitch is correct. Listening and recalling the melody from memory.
- Step 7: Add words to the phrases.
Complicating the easy procedure. Enhances concentration. Combining different pitches, listening and matching pitches.

When I read this, I thought that it would be a good 'starting off point' for new primary school teachers that haven't had a singing-teaching experience. It is easy to make children repeat and copy everything you do, but I realised that to repeat, copy and imitate, students need to be able to listen and listen carefully to the changes that occur whilst singing.

Reference

• Reid, S. (2006). Introducing music to young children. A Fine FACTA, 7(1), 39-40.
• Kenney, S. (2011). Teaching young children how to sing: One school's experience. General Music Today, 24(2), 52-56.
• NSW DET. (2006). Creative Arts Syllabus K-6. Sydney: Author. 

Percussion Instruments.

Percussion Instruments I couldn't name:

Rachet

Two-tone block

Hand Castanets

Claves

Guiro

• Percussion instruments produce sound by being struck. They help establish the rhythm of a musical piece along with melody and harmony.
• Percussion instruments can have a definite or tuned pitch (such as marimbas, chimes, triangles and xylophones) or indefinite or untuned pitch (such as drums, cymbals and castanets).
• In primary school students will compose music in 4/4 time, or tempo. 

http://www.schoolatoz.nsw.edu.au/homework-and-study/other-subjects-and-projects/the-arts/percussion-music

Week 11, Music.

Music Workshop

It is never too early to introduce music to children, and it is never too late to start (Reid, 2006).

This first music workshop reminded me of how much I really enjoyed music in primary school. I went to primary school in a country called Botswana in the Southern part of Africa. My primary school was very enthusiastic about music and I remember every week, I attended every single musical extra-curricular activity the school provided. Recorders, marimbas and choir. Then on my more 'flexible' afternoons I would have private piano, flute and violin lessons. Funny enough, I loved school activities but the private lessons I would dread. 

This got me thinking to the reason why I enjoyed school music but dislike private lessons. Now that I think about it, I believe that it was because at school I had more reasons to be engaged. I was given the opportunity to 'try things out' and always had friends who would giggle at silly mistakes but we would help each other when in need. Whereas the purpose of the private lessons were to complete the music grading examinations, nobody was there to have fun with and every mistake would be an extra round of practice for homework. This workshop gave me ideas on how to keep the class engaged so that my future students will enjoy music as much as I did. 

The main part of this workshop that I enjoyed the most was the part-by-part joint performance of Purcell Canon using various xylophones and met allophones. I think performance is about sharing and music itself is sharing as well. With a group, music needs to be played in synchronisation and this raises awareness of others and only if the proportions are equally played within the group, the sharing with another audience will go well (Reid, 2006).

Allocating small groups to a specific part of the whole song is a good strategy to ensure that all students try to perform as a whole group rather than trying to progress by themselves. This strategy ensures the children are listening to their own playing of instrument but as Reid (2006) states, their listening skills will be enhanced as they need to be aware of the rest of the class to make sure where to fit in a play their part. Working in small groups also allowed students who were more capable of playing to help those who were struggling. After the allocated parts had been practised, specific combinations of parts were to be practiced until the whole class could play their parts together and perform Purcell Canon.
With this idea, I am eager to try 'break down' pieces of music into parts to practice and perform together with my future class!

Reference

• Reid, S. (2006). Introducing music to young children. A Fine FACTA, 7(1): 39-40. 
• NSW DET. (2006). Creative Arts Syllabus K-6. Sydney: Author.