Soundscaping

In this workshop, we focused on creating soundscapes. In groups of 3 or 4,we came up with an idea or theme and create a sequence of events that can be represented in a soundscape.

We drew them on a piece of paper, and then used the various pitch and untuned instruments to pair up with the story.

Our group came up with a day at the circus. We made use of the metallaphone to represent an acrobat ascending and descending from a tightrope and the drums to signify a round of applause.

As an introduction to this main activity, we tried to link music with literacy. We read The Billy Goats Gruff and used instruments to add to the character. We learned to match the character with the tone and pitch of the instrument.

I think it’s an excellent way to link music with literacy! It would be a very fun lesson for my students in the future! I can foresee myself doing an activity like this!

Just Dance!

Warm Up:Follow the Leader

• Every person is allocated a word to move to with the music e.g. swing, lyrical, percussive, sustained
• Follow the leader’s movements and move around the space
• Change leader so every person gets a couple of turns as leader

I really really liked this warm up activity. It gave us all freedom of expression and creativity. I think it’s also a great warm up for PE lessons as well. We were all really engaged.
Today’s workshop saw us learning the dance steps to the Hairspray song. In the “real” world of teaching, it could probably take a few weeks to teach children the steps. I am beginning to understand how the dance instructions are being broken down. It gives students the chance to practice and be familiar with the steps, at the same time, allows for the teacher to spot mistakes and give feedback on individuals.

We then learnt some choreography to 'You Can't Stop the Beat'. The focus was on timing, characterisation and performance.

How we learnt the steps to a song in just an hour: I think this is a fantastic way for teachers to help break-down the steps, one which we can employ in our future lessons:

• Break up into rows.
• Teach dance steps.
• Students line up in rows of 6 behind a leader at one end of the dance studio.
• Teacher to repeat and demonstrate the first step of the song.
• Play music and allow students who are first in line to dance towards the other end of studio.
• When all steps have been rehearsed and students, teacher puts all the dance steps together.

Half the class then performed the dance to the other half, which was good as it allowed you to pick up good techniques from the others in your class, while at the same time there was safety in numbers.

During lecture, we explored:
SPACE: Where, Dimensions (forwards, backwards, up, down), Pathways (curved, linear, zig zag)
TIME: When, Tempo, Duration, Rhythm, Beat
DYNAMICS: How, Quality (Swinging, Lyrical, Sustained Movement, Vibratory, Percussive), Movement, Force

Singing: Dynamics, Tone, Structure

In workshop this week, we focussed on singing. I was really excited to learn that because I love going to karaoke! I took home a lot of strategies for teaching music this week. I find myself filing away many activities that can be done in the future.

One of my favourite activities during the music workshop this week was the Rap on school bullies. I would absolutely incorporate it in PDHPE or Literacy lessons in the future!

We also sang two simple songs: Beachcombing and Wet Day Blues. We sang beachcombing with little actions which I fell would really help students remember the lyrics.

Here, the class was split up. We were singing Wet Day Blues and had the class singing different notes in harmony.

The most important thing I took away today was the difference between Rhythm and Beat. Like majority of my course mates, we had no clue there was a difference at all.

So, what’s the difference between beat and rhythm?

Beat is the underlying basic unit of time in music while rhythm is what goes on top of that. A good way of demonstrating this to students is to chant a rhyme while keeping beat with your hands. The words represent the rhythm, while the clapping represents the beat.

 

Some useful resources for singing lessons are:

www.jazzbeat.com

www.welcometomusic.com

www.karaokeversion.com (good quality backing tracks)

Dance Warm Ups

Having just ended our Professional Experience, I was geared up for the Creative Arts Dance and Music classes. In my prac school, my supervising teacher was the dance coordinator and was heavily involved in the SCHOOL SPECTACULAR and WAKAKIRRI dance competitions.She had personally cheographed the songs and I saw how students from Years 3 to 6, both boys and girls really enjoyed the whole experience. I was amazed that the students were able to remember the moves and actions. The actions were so sophisticated! I wondered if I would be able to teach dance in the future!It was wonderful for me to watch the dance group dance together during rehearsals, as it was so joyful and free.
When people dance together, it is "the ultimate in aesthetic and visible rendering of coming together, being in one another's heads and bodies, and joining in mutual support and interdependency" (Heath, 2001, p. 14 from Ewing, 2010).
During the first dance lecture, we watched a Hyundai Ad by Pilobolus Dance Company. It was such an amazing ad!

I was excited to learn more that I can implement in the school context – and during the dance workshop, we were taught many activities. I thought that it was pretty similar to some of the Drama workshop’s techniques, in that we made use of free-walking, freezing, levels and the like.
IN THE WORKSHOP, this is what we learnt:
The aim during a warm up is to:

• Increase the body’s core temperature
• Increase heart rate
• Increase blood flow
• Improve muscle resilience

Some warm-up activities for creative dance include:
Chain Tag

• Good for cardiovascular
• One person as tag – the rest of the students traverse around the room using movements the teacher calls out e.g. bounce, walk backwards, twirl etc.
• Once students are tagged they link to form a chain and move in sync with each other to try and tag the other students

Huggy *

• Free walk around, being aware of space around. Teacher will call out “Huggy *″  and students must form groups with the people closest to them based on the number and instructions given by teacher
• Student forms shapes according to the teacher e.g. “Huggy 3, low height, square”

As conclusion for this post, I’d like to share a video of my favourite flash mob. Sound of Music at Antwerp Train Station. I absolutely love how dance brings people together. It knows no bounds. It’s in itself a language.

Reading, Learning and Playing Music

I took away so much just in this 2-hour session alone! I am looking forward to the next few weeks of music!

The instruments we were introduced to. Barred instruments - which are the xylophones (those made of wood), glockenspeil (small metal 'xylophones') and metallophone. The 2 sticks with hit the notes with are called mallets. The other instruments that have no defined pitch are called untuned instruments such as the tambourine, two-tone block, maracas, cowbells etc...

In just 2 hours, we did a MULTITUDE of things! We learned to read beats and rhythms, read musical notes, learn musical terms and even played barred instruments - for a class with students who largely had no background in music! It was amazing that in half hour, we were able to practice and play Purcell's Cannon in C - which sounded amazing to my ears.

I can foresee myself doing this with my Stage 2 or 3 class in the future. I feel that in learning to read music, I could incorporate Math into it. In introducing beats and rhythms and the number of counts of each bar pattern or each note to the students, I could make a little Math activity out of it!

I found a couple of youtube videos of Grade 3 and Grade 5 students playing the very same piece. It's a great way to slowly introduce students into gaining confidence through reading and playing music.

A Grade 3 class in all engaged and performing this tune so well!

Storytelling: Selkie Myth

I walked away from today’s drama workshop with ONE message that struck me.
I felt really motivated to BE a teacher who has the gift of storytelling. I want to take up the challenge that Egan (1997) suggests – which is to “reconceive the curriculum as a set of great stories we have to tell children and recognise… school teachers as the storytellers of our culture” (p. 64).
I experienced the enchanting and engaging effect that storytelling had not only just as listeners but also as storytellers. I absolutely loved how we could all get creative with the storytelling process. Students would be given free reign to imagine their own stories as the story can undergo several changes and hence differ with each re-telling. The workshop fleshed out this idea focusing on the use of storytelling as a way of connecting (meanings, subject matter, ourselves) to the listener.
I’m really keen to do the story-telling activity in class with Stages 2 and 3 in the future.

Steps:
1. Teacher provides the bare bones of The Selkie Myth by acting and dramatizing the story.
2. Have a chat about how they felt as listeners. Were they engaged? What hooked them?
3. In pairs, the students retell the story. One student does the telling and the pair can either say to advance or ask for more detail.
For example, when students ask for detail, it would mean that the teller should create as much detail for that moment in story. “There was a fisherman, who had ginger curly hair falling to his shoulders. He was middle aged and had yellow teeth. He had a big beard that is long and wispy.”
For advance, move the story forward.

Further related activities could be getting students to bring a story from their home to tell.
At the end of the session, time permitting, teachers could do a ‘Conscience alley’ to decide what the Selkie does when she gets her skin back. Should she leave her family? Yes or No.
A great link to literacy would be to write new ending.
References:
Egan, K. (1997). The educated mind: How cognitive tools shape our understanding. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Working with Clay

Working with clay. Making a picture frame.

This week’s art workshop saw us trying our hands at clay. I’ve never had the opportunity to work with clay ever – so, it’s really my first time.

Having just completed a month of prac, I found this art lesson really refreshing. The art lessons in the school that I was at did not leave the students’ much room for creativity. Everyone had to follow guidelines, every student painted and drew out the “same” picture, a picture which the teacher had set as the “standard” for each student to reach.

With this clay activity, I felt that students would be given free reign to express their creativity, and at the same time, also develop motor skills. We had to knead the clay to get the air bubbles out, pound it and shape it into a picture frame. As an introduction for students, we could perhaps analyse examples of clay and sculpting and have a talk about how ceramics are used by people (practical daily use & artistic expression).

Having done that, a teacher could give clear instructions.

Steps:

1. (This step is optional) Have students draw their intended design on a piece of paper first.

2. Students to put on art smocks. Retrieve a board. Hand out small blocks of clay.

3. Throw and knead clay on board to remove air bubbles in the clay.

4. Explain why we need to remove air bubbles – so that when we put it in the kiln, it doesn’t explode and harm other students’ work.

5. Roll out clay with a rolling pin to the thickness of their finger.

6. Use tools to mark out, shape, cut out and carve their photo frame.

7. Lay out the completed work to dry.

8. Fire clay at a local high school or let them air-dry.

9. Paint with acrylic paint.

Some of the previous cohorts’ finished product. Those were great ideas to help give me a direction for my own photo frame. It’s important to have a ready-done model to show the class before they begin.