Week 13: Music (1)

Today’s workshop began with an examination of how sound can be organised into a process of experimenting, imitating, improvising, arranging, composing and notating. We then listened to a piece of music, and without being provided with the title, had to close our eyes and listen carefully to it. Whilst doing so, we were encouraged to jot down thoughts that emerged, the story that came to mind as we listened, how it made us feel, etc.

The piece we listened to used a wide variety of percussion instruments. As I closed my eyes, I pictured a person peacefully making their way through the natural setting of a rainforest. The layers of sound and building tension reflected the variety of unfamiliar animals within the forest that increased a sense of anxiety within the person. At the magnificent climax, I pictured the person emerging into a beautiful opening, one like the picture below. After listening to the piece, we were encouraged to share what we had imagined with the person next to us. My friend and I were surprised to find out that we had a similar story come to mind! We came to the conclusion that the used of ‘natural’ sounding instruments, such as the woody sound the xylophone produces, inspired us to imagine in this way. We later found out that this piece was in fact titled ‘Rainforest’, played and produced by the group B’Tutta. 

The next component of the workshop involved ‘sound scaping’ which involved notating music through the non-traditional method of diagrams, symbols and/or pictures. Below is an example that our tutor showed that reflected what this representation could look like.

My group did a sound scape of a thunderstorm in six parts. Beginning with the light sound of raindrops, the pit-a-pat-a sound grew louder, building up to produce a sound that depicted heavier rain. As clouds began to roll in, there was thunder and a crash of lightning.  After a while, the sound of heavy rain returned. The rain eased, and the piece concluded with a sound of ‘peace’ after a storm. We used a range of percussion instruments, some including cymbals, a bass drum, and a glockenspiel. Doing this activity reminded me of a thunderstorm body percussion performance that I stumbled across on youtube whilst doing research for my music lesson on professional experience. It is such a magnificent representation of a thunderstorm, and as I listen to it with my eyes closed, I am completely convinced that there is a thunderstorm happening outside!

To conclude the lesson, we learnt about raps. In my opinion, composing (and in some cases, performing) a rap can be such an effective tool of learning – it’s ‘cool’ and so students enthusiastically engage in the process of creating one. It encourages students to think imaginatively, consolidate their learning as they represent their knowledge in a new and different way and also develops their poetry skills. Whilst on professional experience, I utilised ‘rap writing’ in my lessons on a number of occasions. For instance, students wrote (and performed) a rap about Order of Operations: BODMAS (Maths), Flight (Science), and how they felt from a characters perspective after reading a chapter from C.S Lewis’ book ‘The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe’.  And what amazing raps they produced, I was constantly blown away!

Week 13: Dance

It was examined today how dance can be taught and learnt in an effectual way that encourages one’s unique creativity to be explored alongside the imaginative interpretation of ideas. We explored in the lecture how different stimuli (including visual, kinaesthetic, auditory, tactile and ideational) have the ability to stir and evoke ideas of creativity within a person and reflect their interpretive approach in a practical demonstration. This was examined more deeply within our dance workshops, which were based upon the children’s book ‘Henry and Amy: (Right-Way-Round and Upside Down)’ by Stephen Michael King.

After reading the text, we did a series of locomotive and progressive warm-up activities that encouraged us to ‘get in the zone’. One particularly engaging activity that followed this was a dance version of ‘Chinese Whispers’: students formed a line, and had to pass on a short dance sequence that either represented the character of Henry or Amy, to the next person in the line. The final person was required to perform what they believed was passed on to them, and it was interesting to observe the way people interpreted other peoples dance sequence, modified movements, increased/decreased dynamics etc. Overall, it was a very enjoyable and engaging activity that I will definitely be using in my future classroom. I also had the idea that one could use a similar modification of the game for drama ‘Chinese Charades’. The first person in a line would receive a sentence that they had to act out to the next person, and so on. The final person would have to act out what had been passed on to them, and would attempt to phrase this into a sentence. The original and final sentence would be compared, and the class could discuss various drama techniques that were employed, as well as the significance of interpretation in performance.

To wrap up the dance workshop, groups were formed and we were instructed to create a dance sequence that either represented the character of Amy, Henry, or a combination of the two characters. My group was allocated the combination of Amy and Henry. We titled our dance ‘The Journey of the Shadows’, and created a dance that symbolised Amy’s journey of taking the uncoordinated Henry around and teaching him how things were to be done properly. Eventually, Henry got the knack of things, and a playful ending represented their friendship restored back to balance, with Amy no longer being as ‘bossy’ as she once had been.

Grumet (1998) points out that one’s contact with text, alongside a personal interpretation, assists in the development of a performance. 

Performance simultaneously confirms and undermines the text. The body of the actor, like the body of the text, stumbles into ambiguity, insinuating more than words can say with gesture, movement, intonation. Mimesis tumbles into transformation, and meaning, taken from the text, rescued from the underworld of negotiation, becomes the very ground of action. (p. 149)

In conclusion, a compelling TEDTalks presentation, 'Do Schools Kill Creativity?’ Sir Ken Robinson discusses intelligence, creativity, and the necessity of the arts within schooling. Robinson highlights the traditional public schooling as a product of both industrialisation and academia, of the need to train people for jobs and to attend college, which all ultimately suppress children’s creative capacities. Robinson asserts that schooling that honors creative intelligence, which is diverse, dynamic, and distinct, is necessary. As Robinson (2006) states,

Children need math and they need dance and they need to experience and think across disciplinary lines. Creativity is the process of having original ideas that have value. … More often than not it comes through the interaction of different interdisciplinary ways of seeing things.

Week 12: Music

Today’s music workshop focused upon the instrument by which we produce from the sound from within; the voice. Specifically, we examined singing, which can be defined as to make musical sounds with the voice, especially words with a set tune. The workshop began by brainstorming some of the techniques that make somebody a good singer;

• Accurate sense of pitch
• Good range
• Controlled Breathing (from diaphragm)
• Correct Posture (Standing up straight, legs at shoulder width, with one foot slightly forward).
• Rhythmic Accuracy
• Articulation (Lips, teeth, tip of the tongue)

Like any physical activity, a warm up of vocal exercises should precede the singing component. There are several important reasons for this, such as warming up the voice, stretching the muscles and articulating technique.

Whilst warm-up activities can often be perceived as tedious and repetitive, with enough preparation and effort, fun and engaging vocal exercises can be delivered to students. In our workshop, we were provided a sheet of example vocal exercises that developed the way we use our tongue and lips when singing, as well as examining pitch intervals and how to breathe in an accurate and controlled manner. Below are some other examples/resources for warm-up vocal exercises;

• Vocal Exploration Cards
• http://shop.musicplaytext1.ihoststores.com/images/misc/VocalExplorations.pdf
• Animal Sounds Warm Up
• http://www.music-for-music-teachers.com/support-files/vocalises-animal-sounds.pdf
• Mouth Shapes
•  http://mcmurrysingingsigns.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/mouth-shapes.html
• Bouncing Ball - Using the ‘doo’ sound with the voice, bounce an imaginary ball, following the changes in height with changing pitch of the voice. Add a ‘boing’ sound effect each time it hits the ground. See how high the ball can bounce. This is an ideal remedial activity for children with monotone singing voices.

In the next component of the workshop we began singing (woohoo!). We firstly sung a short song called ‘Beachcombing’, a relatively straightforward piece due to its limited vocal range (F-B). This music can be attained for free at jozzbeat.com, a website that offers an abundance of classroom music resources. To conclude the lesson, we sang ‘Wet Day Blues’. This music was attained from welcometomusic.net, another online resource that offers sheet music, accompaniment, and much more for the musical classroom. Our class was divided into two groups, and together we sung the song, often in harmony. It was a beautiful way to conclude the lesson!

To wrap up, I thought to share another child prodigy, classical crossover singer Jackie Evancho. She is such an angel. At 10 years of age, she gained second place in America’s Got Talent.

Week 12: Dance

Our dance tutorials are awesome! The interactive and physical elements to the lesson allow the learning experience to be exponentially more interesting and engaging. Moreover, we are provided with the opportunity to step into the students shoes, have a go at experiencing the lesson’s activities from the other end and see if they are ‘fun’ and effective.

We began today’s dance tutorial with a series of dance ‘warm-up’ activities. There are several reasons behind why it is so important to ensure that there is a time for warm-up before dance practice. For instance, the warm-up:

• physically prepares the students’ body (e.g. raise the pulse rate and body temperature, mobilise joints and warm muscles)

• helps to focus students’ mind on the lesson as well as reflect the focus or content of the lesson

(DET, 2011)

In our tutorial, we were firstly told to move about the room in different ways and forms, whether it was walking at a steady pace, side stepping on a medium level or moving in a zig-zag form. We were encouraged not to copy one another, but be creative and unique in the way we interpreted the instruction. We giggled and squealed like little children as we made strange moves, or accidentally collided into each other.  The next warm-up activity built upon this, and involved breaking the class up into smaller groups. In a ‘follow the leader style’ each group formed a line, and each person within the line was designated a different movement element. For instance, the first person incorporated a ‘swing’, second person combined ‘percussive ’movements etc, and the members in the group had to follow and copy these moves. Children, without a doubt, would find both these activities very exciting. The next segment of the lesson included a more serious warm-up, where we practiced and developed our specific dance moves (e.g. the twist) as we made our way down the length of the room. These moves would later be incorporated into the dance that our tutor had choreographed.

As mentioned earlier, ‘warm-ups’ are fundamental to a dance lesson. The following link (Curriculum Support; DET) provides a sequence of warm up activities for dance, specific to focusing upon cardiovascular, technique exercises or thematic warm-ups.

http://www.curriculumsupport.education.nsw.gov.au/primary/pdhpe/dance/dan005.htm

In the body of the lesson, we examined ‘musical theatre’. I was excited by this; I love all of ‘those’ movies (e.g. Pitch Perfect) and also have a slight obsession with the TV series ‘Glee’. Using one of the songs from the musical Hairspray as accompaniment, we learnt a dance. It was fast paced and involved what some would classify some tricky/advanced moves (e.g. shimmy!). But what fun it was!

To conclude, this week I stumbled across a tap dance of the famous ‘cup song’ from Pitch Perfect. It’s great!

Week 11: Music

Today we also began the art strand of music – this is in the form of a weekly 2-hour workshop. I was also super excited to begin this part of the course, I LOVE music! I thoroughly enjoy playing music; I played the piano and saxophone for the HSC and as of this year I have been teaching piano for 8 years. I have found teaching music to be such a rewarding experience; to watch my students improve week by week and develop a real appreciation and passion for music brings me such a great sense of joy. I also enjoy listening to music, whether it’s a CD of a favorite band of mine or turning on to my favourite radio station, smooth 95.3. Music, I believe, is so special. There are dozens and dozens of reasons why music is so important, and should be taught to our students from a young age. And that is why I am so excited to be doing this art strand; to be encouraged to ensure that music is taught at schools and to learn how we can be teaching this in the most effective manner.

The workshop began by watching a youtube video of a child prodigy – Jonathan. At 3 years of age, he exhibited a great musical talent in conducting. Below is a video of Jonathan conducting to the 4th movement of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony. In the first few seconds it appears to be just another cute kid waving his arms to a recording of a symphony. But before long, it is apparent that he is uniquely gifted – he is locked into the music, expressing himself with his full body, frowns, smiles, rolling of eyes. He glides from mood to mood, from being possessed to jumping with joy at Beethoven’s percussive blows and syncopations. It’s amazing! (I spent a good hour this afternoon watching many other video’s of Jonathan; he is now 6 years of age and has already conducted a symphony!)

Throughout our music workshop, we learnt the names of a variety of percussion instruments (e.g. tone block, cow bell, tambourine, bongos, etc) and attempted to create two different sounds with each of the instruments. We briefly examined the five musical concepts (pitch, dynamics, tone colour, structure, duration), before moving on to learning about note values. We then examined Vanessa Amorosi’s hit ‘Absolutely Everybody’, and broke the song up into intro/tag, verses, chorus, bridge, coda etc. To conclude the lesson, each student in our workshop were provided with a glockenspiel or xylophone and played ‘Purcell Canon’. It was absolutely beautiful! 

Whilst I was on professional experience, I had the opportunity to teach a music lesson on body percussion. Below is a copy of the lesson plan.

Body Percussion

- Music -

LESSON DATE:  Monday 9 September 2013

LESSON AIM: Students learn and appreciate the music that can be produced through ‘body percussion’, and produce their own rhythm in a small group. 

SYLLABUS OUTCOMES:

- [MUS3.2] Improvises, experiments, selects, combines and orders sound using musical concepts.

·      by responding to music through performing and organising sound activities and identifying features of this music

• understanding, appreciating and evaluating their own work and the work of others

LESSON OUTLINE:

RESOURCES	- IWB (Youtube)
Introduction 15 min	1. Introduce lesson: Body Percussion - What is body percussion? ·       Body percussion involves using the body creatively to generate percussive sounds. - Traditionally, there are four main body percussion sounds. What might they be? ·       Stomp: Stamping the feet against the floor or a resonant surface. ·       Slap: slapping either the left, right or both thighs with hands ·       Clapping hands together ·       Clicking fingers - What are some other possibilities for body percussion sounds? ·       E.g. hitting chest, clicking with the tongue against the roof of the mouth, etc
	2. Simon Says - Play Simon Says using body percussion sounds. Once the class has the hang of it, allow a student (who is engaged/actively participating) to take over and continue.
	3. Show class examples: 1.     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sb-2VsE2y-U - (stop at 1.15min) Ask students: What was good/effective about the rhythm they produced? (steady beat, etc) 2.     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3XBNvPLWMs - (start at 16sec) Tell class this is a performance. Ask students: What was good/effective about the rhythm they produced? (many layers, variety of sounds, etc)
Body 20 min	Activity: Make your own rhythm - Groups of maximum 5 students - Create a body percussion rhythm ·       Important to keep a steady beat (suggest four) à keeps it going/doesn't get awkward ·       Introducing the idea of layering* as an option ·       Inform students to use dynamics* where possible ·       Tell students that there is an opportunity to perform your groups rhythm to the class J  * define terms with students - Tell students that they can write/notate their rhythms if they can - Whilst observing/5min remaining, warn students to start rehearsing the whole rhythm
Conclusion 5-10 min	Performances - Ask students what they enjoyed about each group’s body percussion performance

ASSESSMENT:

- Observe: In groups, students create a rhythm using only body percussion.

To wrap up the first music entry for my blog, I thought I would share another child prodigy; Emily Bear. As a composer and pianist, she has played with orchestras in the U.S., Europe and Asia, at such venues as Carnegie Hall and the Hollywood Bowl. By the age of eight, she had composed more than 350 pieces. She is incredible - there are no limits to the musical heights that she can reach. Below is her first appearance of the Ellen Show back in 2007 (fast forward to 3min35sec for the performances).

Week 11: Dance

Today we began a new art strand: dance. I was excited for this part of the course; how could I not be?! I hoped that, like the other art strands, there would be a good balance between theory and practice, as I have found that immensely helpful for my own learning in the past. But I was also looking forward to this art strand because I quite enjoy dancing (although not terribly talented at it!). For over a decade I was part of a social, non-competitive dance school doing tap and jazz. I absolutely loved it, and hold many wonderful memories of those years. I was also involved with dance both at my primary and secondary schools, and those experiences were on the whole very positive too. Personally, these experiences alone provide such a great motivation for me to teach dance to my students in the future!

We began the lecture by firstly asking ourselves, What is Dance?

Dance is the art form in which rhythmic human movement becomes the medium for sensing, understanding, and communicating ideas, feelings, and experiences.

We then proceeded to view a series of dancing examples. My favourite by far was the Hyundai advertisement, which was performed by dancers behind a screen, creating a shadow. These dancers are in fact a Hungarian shadow theatre group called ‘Attraction’, and this year won ‘Britain's Got Talent’. I had already watched several of their performances on youtube prior to today’s lecture – I absolutely love their work. There is so much emotion in their performances, and I have often found myself drying my eyes after viewing them!

Below is their audition for 2013 ‘Britain's Got Talent’:

We then examined aspects of ‘dance education’ as well as what is expected in regards to the NSW Creative Arts syllabus.

Dance involves educating learners through the medium of movement*, which encompasses performing, creating/composing, and valuing/appreciating dance experiences.

[*elements of movement; space (where), time (when), dynamics (how), action (what), relationships (who) and structure (form)]

The following quote articulates what dance education encompasses:

“Dance education is a crucial component of a comprehensive education for all students. It is a movement art form that promotes learning to communicate and express ideas, feelings, perspectives, and concepts through kinesthetic modes of learning… Dance is for all students of all abilities; everyone can participate, create, learn, and experience the joy of dancing with others.” Cone, 2011.

The dance tutorial this week was fabulous (ps. I had broken out in a sweat by the end!) and the components served to be both fun and challenging. By the conclusion of the tutorial we had created two short dances (4 x 8 counts), and primary students would without a doubt enjoy the warm up and series of activities as much as we did. After my first week of this art strand, I am even more excited and encouraged to ensure that dance is taught at schools, or at least within my future classroom.