One thing I feel that we don't often touch upon in the music classrooms nowadays is allowing students to compose their own music. We're all taught how to play certain music by certain composers, but why are we never puushed to make music that's all our own? While looking for resources for online musical games for our group project, I had wanted to find maybe a few musical composition games out there that get the students started into composing in middle school.
Unfortunately it appears that there are very few of them, which frustrated me immensely. Musical composition is an important part of music that is always missed out upon, as it challenges students to use their imagination, and collaborate with others...
Here are the few games that I found that would be great starters for composition in junior high:
Classics for Kids - Compose Your Own Music
This allows students to compose a cute little four measure melody.Great to use for a beginning music class once you've covered the concepts of whole notes and half notes and quarter notes. Unfortunately, no sharps or flats are included on this, thus limiting key choices to C Major and A Minor.
nyphikids.org - Musical Mingles
Taken from the New York Philharmonic Kid Zone, this game is filled with cute little bouncing creatures, that make noises every time they hit an obstacle. If you arrange the obstacles correctly and time them properly, you can create some great sounds!
http://www.sfskids.org/templates/musicLabF.asp?pageid=15
A cute little game that lets you mix measures to create a cute little tune. Change 'em up if you don't like what you hear the first time.
I hope in the near future, more online interactive games are out there for composing. However, I DO also recommend installing Sibelius into the classroom. I think it would be beneficial for your students if they knew how to use it!
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Sunday, November 18, 2012
My evening with Sir Ken Robinson.
Just recently I had finished reading an amusing TED talk with Sir Ken Robinson entitled "Schools Kill Creativity" Which was, surprisingly, rather interesting, and the many stories, especially of the musical choreographer he knew was rather refreshing to watch.
Lately, I've been finding many recurring trends in my other classes, which is causing me to really struggle with myself in my beleifs of music education. This, included. One of my courses, Foundations in Music Education often features articles regarding many of the issues with current music education programs, and how they preferably "train" rather than "educate". Another, for Classroom Management, which talks about many ideas of classroom environments and discipline theories. For Classroom Management, there are many disciplines that we had looked over and discussed within that talk about accomodating to students' strengths and abilities, which is something I strongly support. I was never strong in Math or Science, and the many aspects of English I did enjoy involved creative writing of sorts...
One thing that really stood out to me was the following quote:
"Kids will take a chance. And if they don't know, they'll have a go. They're not frightened to be wong... If you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original.... By the time they get to be adults, most kids have lost that capacity. They have become frightened of being wrong."
The thing is, this can even occur within a music classroom, as I have interpreted within my Foundations class... Many of the music classrooms nowadays are strictly ensemble and performance heavy, focused intently on rehearsing for that Winter Concert, or Festival that is quickly approaching, even then, students are trained to play music with the dynamics and tempo markings they are expected to on the page, as well as the ones interpreted by the conductor. Furthermore, the heavy focus on classical music tends to turn them away from the idea of music all together. Through these performance heavy classes, you learn nothing but how to play an instrument, and nothing else... When really, music can give us so much more, such as identity development as well as the skills to develop praxis (practice and reflections) and opinions of their own. Many of the articles promoted the ideas of incorporating popular music into the classroom, as it is a part of the students' culture, as well as offering other forms of expressing yourself in music, such as composition and even the ideas of using informal learning processes, rather than the traditional Western music processes.
Through my whole transition from high school to university, I had found myself... Having... less enjoyment than I normally did... I listen less to music, focus on practicing my clarinet and fighting to sound "good", became frustrated because I thought it wasn't good enough... I used to play simple tunes on the clarinet by ear, or fragments of old band pieces and think I was on top of the world after practicing. I think I even now, I feel as though I don't laugh or smile as much... Now, less listening to music could just be because my course load has become heavier over the years... But still... I felt as though in a way, my of having fun with the clarinet had been squeezed out of me... Just this afternoon I was upset after a decent practice of Brahms (which I had been LONGING to play because I LOVED it) with my accompanist because I was slightly out of tune, or I kept making tiny mistakes/squeaks... The fun wasn't there for me anymore... I think I've even become (even more) of a boring person to people and feel like they don't want me around as much!
I didn't realize at all that the heavy focus of Classical was not for everyone, and since many of my classmates had been forced to take band, they didn't find it as satisfying or fun... I also think I maybe underestimated the power of using popular music in ensembles, and performing them if used properly can involve some form of educational purpose. I want everyone to experience similar feelings that I had felt when I had taken music in high school! I even wouldn't mind exchanging music between my students and I, and even encourage them to bring CDs of things they listen to, so we can analyze, discuss and apply to the classroom! One thing I never had in my experiences was people to jam with (insert forever alone face here)! I wouldn't mind a jam session every lunch hour, despite the fact that I'd never see an inch of quiet time in my office! I... I'm still even struggling to know if I want to be a band teacher anymore! Oh my god, I'm rambling!
Well, I see that this post got more lengthy than I had planned... But... the point is... This video has told me that I had lost a piece of myself... And I wish I had it back... But I don't know how to get it... Maybe I'm just stressed with my courseload this term... Major assignments should NOT be due in the same week. ):
Lately, I've been finding many recurring trends in my other classes, which is causing me to really struggle with myself in my beleifs of music education. This, included. One of my courses, Foundations in Music Education often features articles regarding many of the issues with current music education programs, and how they preferably "train" rather than "educate". Another, for Classroom Management, which talks about many ideas of classroom environments and discipline theories. For Classroom Management, there are many disciplines that we had looked over and discussed within that talk about accomodating to students' strengths and abilities, which is something I strongly support. I was never strong in Math or Science, and the many aspects of English I did enjoy involved creative writing of sorts...
One thing that really stood out to me was the following quote:
"Kids will take a chance. And if they don't know, they'll have a go. They're not frightened to be wong... If you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original.... By the time they get to be adults, most kids have lost that capacity. They have become frightened of being wrong."
The thing is, this can even occur within a music classroom, as I have interpreted within my Foundations class... Many of the music classrooms nowadays are strictly ensemble and performance heavy, focused intently on rehearsing for that Winter Concert, or Festival that is quickly approaching, even then, students are trained to play music with the dynamics and tempo markings they are expected to on the page, as well as the ones interpreted by the conductor. Furthermore, the heavy focus on classical music tends to turn them away from the idea of music all together. Through these performance heavy classes, you learn nothing but how to play an instrument, and nothing else... When really, music can give us so much more, such as identity development as well as the skills to develop praxis (practice and reflections) and opinions of their own. Many of the articles promoted the ideas of incorporating popular music into the classroom, as it is a part of the students' culture, as well as offering other forms of expressing yourself in music, such as composition and even the ideas of using informal learning processes, rather than the traditional Western music processes.
Through my whole transition from high school to university, I had found myself... Having... less enjoyment than I normally did... I listen less to music, focus on practicing my clarinet and fighting to sound "good", became frustrated because I thought it wasn't good enough... I used to play simple tunes on the clarinet by ear, or fragments of old band pieces and think I was on top of the world after practicing. I think I even now, I feel as though I don't laugh or smile as much... Now, less listening to music could just be because my course load has become heavier over the years... But still... I felt as though in a way, my of having fun with the clarinet had been squeezed out of me... Just this afternoon I was upset after a decent practice of Brahms (which I had been LONGING to play because I LOVED it) with my accompanist because I was slightly out of tune, or I kept making tiny mistakes/squeaks... The fun wasn't there for me anymore... I think I've even become (even more) of a boring person to people and feel like they don't want me around as much!
I didn't realize at all that the heavy focus of Classical was not for everyone, and since many of my classmates had been forced to take band, they didn't find it as satisfying or fun... I also think I maybe underestimated the power of using popular music in ensembles, and performing them if used properly can involve some form of educational purpose. I want everyone to experience similar feelings that I had felt when I had taken music in high school! I even wouldn't mind exchanging music between my students and I, and even encourage them to bring CDs of things they listen to, so we can analyze, discuss and apply to the classroom! One thing I never had in my experiences was people to jam with (insert forever alone face here)! I wouldn't mind a jam session every lunch hour, despite the fact that I'd never see an inch of quiet time in my office! I... I'm still even struggling to know if I want to be a band teacher anymore! Oh my god, I'm rambling!
Well, I see that this post got more lengthy than I had planned... But... the point is... This video has told me that I had lost a piece of myself... And I wish I had it back... But I don't know how to get it... Maybe I'm just stressed with my courseload this term... Major assignments should NOT be due in the same week. ):
Friday, November 2, 2012
iPad Apps for the Music Classroom and Creative Concert Repertoire Lists
During class this week, we had the opportunity to look at various music iPad apps, and see if we could find any which would be of any use in the music classroom. hile I found many of the apps that were at our fingertips rather entertaining, I didn't find that many of them were rather useful. A lot of them seemed to be more for the sake of entertainment rather than education, save for a few of the musical instruments.
One of the ones that stuck out to me most was a trombone app, which not only made noise at the touch of a finger, but had guidelines for slide positions for each note. I could certainly see this as very useful for student trombonists if they encounter any difficult sections in their music, or any notes that they are unaware of, and should assist them with how their parts will sound. I think if made with proper detail, any instrument app for an iPad OR iPhone if it is available to the students can certainly help them have a better understanding of the instrument.
Another, was Bebot. Yes. You heard me right. I find Bebot useful for educational purposes. Why? Not do I see it great for demonstration of pitch and tuning in instrumental sections, but I can also see it being useful for singers, as the different qualities of tone the little robot produces based on how high/low your finger is on your screen seems like it can help teach students to develop the appopriate vocal tone... But as I am not a voice major, I cannot say for certain, and this is merely speculation.
Personally, I feel that if there are going to be iPhone apps for instruments, they have to be made by someone very knowledgeable about the instruments themselves, and know their ENTIRE way around them. If it's not accurate, then it's completely useless.
Later on within my week, our Symphonic Band had received new repertoire after playing a FANTASTIC concert the week before and one of them was this recently composed peice to be incorporated with a good old silent Felix the Cat cartoon! Which we all found extremely awesome:
One of the ones that stuck out to me most was a trombone app, which not only made noise at the touch of a finger, but had guidelines for slide positions for each note. I could certainly see this as very useful for student trombonists if they encounter any difficult sections in their music, or any notes that they are unaware of, and should assist them with how their parts will sound. I think if made with proper detail, any instrument app for an iPad OR iPhone if it is available to the students can certainly help them have a better understanding of the instrument.
Another, was Bebot. Yes. You heard me right. I find Bebot useful for educational purposes. Why? Not do I see it great for demonstration of pitch and tuning in instrumental sections, but I can also see it being useful for singers, as the different qualities of tone the little robot produces based on how high/low your finger is on your screen seems like it can help teach students to develop the appopriate vocal tone... But as I am not a voice major, I cannot say for certain, and this is merely speculation.
Personally, I feel that if there are going to be iPhone apps for instruments, they have to be made by someone very knowledgeable about the instruments themselves, and know their ENTIRE way around them. If it's not accurate, then it's completely useless.
Later on within my week, our Symphonic Band had received new repertoire after playing a FANTASTIC concert the week before and one of them was this recently composed peice to be incorporated with a good old silent Felix the Cat cartoon! Which we all found extremely awesome:
Although it's going to be a really difficult peice, I think it will certainly be a very fun peice for us to work on, despite the fact that I barely survived sightreading it. (CURSE YOU VERY NEW E-FLAT CLARINET REED!!) What I really like about this day of age in musical ensembles is that there is many repertoire out there that composers somehow incorporate technology into whether it is a video or an audio track. I certainly think that there needs to be much more repertoire like this that can be accessible to high school band programs, as they are great spring concert repertoire choices that could not only entertain parents, but attract the attention of many possible new recruits. I had recently gone to a Music Educator's conference in Manitoba, and one of the listed reasons for band programs to decline was the day and age of technology being an important factor. Well, why not spice up the repertoire a little?
The issue with this is that many of the peices like this that are composed end up being terribly difficult... I beleive that many of the composers for band should take many examples from many of the new music composers and help bring this technological creativity to a junior high or highschool ensemble respectively. If the repertoire is both fresh, and manageable for a school ensemble, students may look at band programs with much more praise.
Of course I am not saying that this should be done constantly, but once in a while, we should give the students something that they'd never expect to be made for a band.
Well, that's it for now. To end this post, I'll give you another great example of music and technology being incorporated together by Eric Whitacre, one of my favorite composers:
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