Music Works So Let's Teach!
By Anna Mlynek-Kalman M. Mus. B.
Ed. Dip. Teach. A.Mus. A. (Flute)
Music Educators are constantly
challenged:
Why devote time
to music education when we can amalgamate all the arts into one and have more
time
in the curriculum for other things, the three
R's etc....?
Music Education
can surely be justified in a curriculum because through music education all the
following
opportunities for the full development of the child can take place:
(this list is
based upon Piaget's Developmental Growth chart for children)
Physical - gross motor development -
whole body movement etc.
Development fine motor coordination -finger
plays etc.
movement-
free, creative
movement
choreographed- folk dancing, coordination
working with
others, in time to beat, clapping, rhythms, hand eye
coordination,
formation- circle, line, group etc.
Social participation, social
graces-turn taking, hand holding, ensemble work-
Development working as a team, in partnerships-
choosing partners etc.
Emotional
& -self confidence to
move, sing and play in front of
Psychological others- praise for effort,
successful experiences,
Development Security and promotion of self
worth- all have something positive to
contribute.
Morale of the school can be totally changed by a strong
inclusive music
program
Aesthetic
Appreciation- Beauty of sound etc.
Intellectual - concentration,
Development conceptual development- following
instructions, listening and discovering at an
unconscious and
then at a conscious level, concepts within the music.
Literacy
Language acquisition and expression
Numeracy-mathematics
Musical memory,
general memory
Listening
-ability to focus
creativity
logical thinking
and problem solving
But surely
music must be taught for the sake of providing opportunities and experiences of
excellence and
appreciation for its own sake.
To make any
sort of difference that is meaningful we must have excellent teachers.
Educators
must develop
their own skills to a point of excellence. We must undergo further training in
education
by means of
serious courses which will serve as stepping stones to our own understanding of
how,
what and why we
will present music education to children to best serve them. We want to steer
away
from the
haphazard throwing together of activities and take care to develop carefully
planned
programs with
serious attainable goals and excellent evaluation procedures. We must endeavour
to
teach a skill
based program that is fully developmental and progressive so that what we teach
makes a
difference. Do the children dictate what we will teach and what they will learn
or do we
decide the
curriculum based upon our own excellent training and understanding of our
subject?
Are we creative enough and passionate enough
about what we do to present it in such a way as
to change
attitudes and give our students new insights and understandings as to what
music
education can
really be. What we can achieve given the right guidance and instruction. Music
education must
be for all. We must break the cycle of music education for the elite and change
attitudes
generally of what music education should entail. We must convince the powers
that be
that we have
something important to offer. We are not just filling in time as a soft option.
This
cannot be done
unless we have studied and learned from the great music philosophers of last
century-
Kodaly, Orff, Dalcroze, Suzuki etc......and there are many others. Our job is not to
reinvent the
wheel- but perhaps to refine and develop what has come before us- to apply and
adapt the most
relevant and important ideas that these great people have presented.
Yet we are
given an ever increasing number of hurdles to jump- not least that of
amalgamating
the time
devoted to music and lumping all the arts together in a limited timetable. Lack
of
financial
support to music education also takes its toll. Once the time allocation drops,
we produce
a new
generation of musicians who are less and less well trained. We produce a
situation where
there remains
little justification in the curriculum for there can be no pursuit of
excellence where
the new
upcoming generation of teachers lack experience skill and knowledge. We must
stop this
new system
before we make our jobs redundant and before music education becomes something
of a hobby for
those who can afford it and have the time to dabble in it. In our quest to
strive
for excellence
we should note that music, being a performance based activity has the potential
to
'speak' or
rather penetrate to the powers that be to demonstrate what a school with music
excellence can
be.
Although much
of the material in this collection is geared at first glance towards younger
children,
teachers in primary schools can use the material at most levels. Some of the
rounds can be
sung in many
parts and are more demanding, requiring far more skill. I have listed elements
and
suggested
activities for teaching purposes, for a developmental, skills based learning
program.
The
accompaniments are also geared more for older students who might team up with
their 'buddies'
in junior classes and prepare performances together. The alternate words
to some of the
material present further opportunities for inclusion into a program.
Practical references:
‘Exploring Orff-A Teacher’s Guide’ Arvida Stein
‘Music For
Children’ books 1,2, & 3 Regner,
Herman (Ed)
‘Discovering
Orff- A Curriculum for Music Teachers’
Jane Frazee
‘Elementaria’
Gunild Keetman
‘Accent on
Orff’ Saliba
‘Music in the
Preschool’ Katalain Forrai
‘The Kodaly
Context books 1 and 2 ’ Lois Choksy
‘The Selected
Writings of Zoltan Kodaly’ Z. Kodaly
‘Musical
Reading and Writing’ E.Szonyi
‘Music Movement and the young child’ by Heather Gell
‘Rhythm and Movement- Applications of Dalcroze Eurhythmics’ by Elsa
Findlay
‘Teaching Creative Dance’ by Exiner and Lloyd.
‘Nurtured by love’ Dr Sinichi Suzuki
‘Ability Development from Age Zero’ Dr Sinichi Suzuki
‘Young Children’s Talent Education and it’s Method’ Dr Sinichi
Suzuki