Presentation

My own personal music education was not one of consistency or strength. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Primary school I ‘learnt’ the recorder. I use the term ‘learnt’ loosely, as although I went to the Opera House for this instrument, I had no idea how to play more than two notes. The only influence music education had on me in primary school was the choir, as this is where I started singing and performing songs. High school saw my passion for music increase, however my school and specifically the teachers did not have the motivation to see the Creative and Performing Arts excel. This led to me not being provided with the option to study Music 2 in the HSC, accepting Music 1, and learning about the ‘Concepts of Music’ for a year. I entered University without the basic knowledge I needed and this proved to be an extremely difficult task. My music project aims to ensure children with the passion for music I had, especially at such a young age, do not have the same experience.

Throughout the musical project, I will be assessing the key areas of music theory that primary school children, which are the target community audience, seem to struggle with and developing my own teaching booklet. This will contain exercises and accompanying examples that will help these children in furthering their musical education. Although I already teach in primary schools, I cannot use my own booklets as the company I work for has their own booklets. However, the booklet developed can be used for any private lessons I conduct and in the future with the possibility of creating my own music education business. Furthermore, I will research and experiment with teaching methods that work best from firsthand experience at teaching primary school children with my job at Cool Kids Music Co. In a broader cultural context, retaining this knowledge for the future allows me to effectively train employees at the possible expansion of a business. Through the combination of a teaching booklet and the successful teaching methods for musical education, I will be able to ensure any future teaching I do is of the highest quality and ensure that if I create my own business, I have the basics I require to expand and build upon.

Throughout my experience teaching primary school student’s music, I have noticed the same questions being asked and more specifically the same problems being expressed. Many of my student’s cannot remember the names of the treble or bass clef, recognise middle C on the keyboard, remember note names or values and string names (guitar).

The example of note remembering the notes of the treble and bass clef proves to be a problem as this is fundamental knowledge you need when furthering your musical education. For many students, you provide them with a way of remembering, such as Every Good Boy Deserves Fruit and FACE, and the next week, they are struggling with the same problem again. They simply cannot remember. How can we fix this? I believe creating a jingle the students can sing may help this. Furthering simply telling the note names, could the jingle also play the exact notes of the staff? This would begin their aural skills as well, specifically being able to recognise a note when played.

Often when a student asks me where middle C is on the keyboard, I remind them that it is directly before the two black notes on the keyboard. However, this has proven to be ineffective. How can we solve this?

Townsend in Introduction to Effective Music Teaching: Artistry and Attitude proposes six components of effective teaching – Content, Communication, Comprehension, Dedication, Structure and Character.

The content for being a music teacher is the fundamental element. If you do not have excellent teaching content, the other components do not matter. Ensuring you fully understand what you are teaching is vital, as well as being able to further this knowledge for more advanced students. Having a teaching booklet which covers all content would definitely help. For communication, a teacher must exhibit cooperation and understanding, a natural sense of humour, know ways of creating a positive learning atmosphere, knows how to lead students to learn how to learn, involving students in gaining ownership of what they are studying, addressing student needs by knowing a variety of teaching methods and connecting with all components of the students’ network. Comprehension involves setting high standards and providing the students with the tools to achieve them, whilst knowing how to measure student achievement. Furthermore, how to use student achievements to measure the effectiveness of your teaching. Structure refers to organisation, consistency, planning and preparation. Character refers to be trustworthy and reasonable. Being fair, having honour and integrity, and good ethics and values.

The teaching methods for teaching young children music are very varied, however, I found the following to be the most prominent. The Orff approach sees lessons presented with an element of play. The children learn through a mixture of singing, dancing, acting and the use of percussion instruments. The Kodaly method is developing musical skills at a very young age. This method uses folk songs, Curwen hand signs, pictures, rhythm symbols and syllables. Singing is believed to be the foundation of musicianship. The Suzuki method stresses the importance of parental influence and involvement in their child’s musical education. In this method, both parents and teachers work together. The Dalcroze approach sees the body as the main instrument. Students are encouraged to move their body in response to a piece of music, expressing what they hear through movement.

I used the Orff method whilst teaching kindergartens with my job at Cool Kids Music Co. The children would colour, draw, dance, sing and try out different instruments, such as the melody bells. The combination of playtime and learning worked well, however easily distracted children were hard to keep on track due to the ‘playtime’ nature of this approach. When playing the melody bells, some students listened and played their bell in time, whilst others, often too eager, played at the wrong time. Every student I have taught the melody bells expresses the want to play all eight bells before they are content to play one single bell. I would let them have a few minutes to experiment with the eight bells and the different pitches they produce and then get them to concentrate on one particular song. The balance between playtime and learning is vital in this method, as if there is too much playtime, it’s nearly impossible to get the children to concentrate on learning one song.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

References