Learning About Nature Through
Music and the Arts
Be Curious Be Inspired Create and Share Through Music |
Be Curious Be Inspired Create and Share Through Music |
, The more time we spend outside, the more ways I can think of to demonstrate music concepts in different ways, through movement! While it is possible to use instruments in a very limited way, it comes with a lot of necessary steps, many of which can be somewhat of a hindrance for various reasons: - We could do drumming, but I'd have to clean the drums between classes... except there is no "between classes" as they are back to back, so they would only end up drumming for about 10 minutes by the time all the instruments are cleaned...plus I could only do drumming with the single classes, not the double classes, as I don't have a set of 50 of anything, and I don't want to give an opportunity to some that I can't offer to everyone. - We could play with individual instruments that they bring with them, but having been the head of the environment club for a number of years, it's hard to come up with things that they could use that won't end up in the landfill in the future... so they could potentially make their own shakers etc out of objects from home... so that is still a possibility... but not perfect... Basically I get to a point where I feel, for myself personally, like I'm trying to force something that music class used to be into a situation where it doesn't quite fit, and realize "Hey, why am I trying to re-create what we did before in this new situation?" and I have decided this new situation - for me - needs all new thinking.... When I watch examples of simple percussion or bucket drums etc that are being used to try to approximate what a music class was like before 2020, I find myself thinking "I can get them to demonstrate that rhythm, concept, etc with body percussion, movement, (or creative ways... like with their snowsuits!!) etc just as well"... so we have been demonstrating the same concepts from before, but in new ways, which really is quite awesome for your brain! It's called "Brain Plasticity" and it's so important for us! Check out this article from Harvard Health to learn more! Learning new things in different ways also helps with our growth mindset! A few years ago, we spent time as a school talking about this important way to think, and we read "My Fantastic Elastic Brain" : We are definitely needing to think in so many different ways in these times, and see new ways to meet the challenges. This past week, classes have done a few lessons on demonstrating musical form through movement. Music pieces have a form to them. They can be simple, like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, which is ABA form, all the way up to fairly complicated with As, Bs, Cs, Ds, A1s, Bs mixed with Cs etc... Some forms are repeating pattern forms, but some are not patterns at all, but still have recognizable sections that may or may not return!! So! We took a few songs with recognizable sections and made them into dance pieces that were fun to perform! One of them is not only to learn form, but it is so active that it was definitely created to be a warm up as it is so chilly outside some days and we have to find ways to move a lot! So these pieces have double duty of not only demonstrating form through movement, but also warming us up! Also, they really sit a lot inside, with not a lot of opportunity to move, which children really need, so I feel very strongly that as a class in the outdoors, I want to give them that chance to really move, run, dance and shake themselves out! A celebration of movement! It's also great because children really learn a lot through movement as they are very much kinaesthetic learners... think about how they move so much when they hear music, when they are telling a story... they really do so well to get the learning into movement to understand better! Demonstrating musical style/genre, and metre (time signatures) with the ActionPak Dance Resource! There are so many ways to use these cards, and new ways can be created all the time! For example, I was using them last year before the physical school was closed to help our WSO Ensemble students think of ways to represent 2 conflicting ideas in a piece by Mussorgsky, that students were going to demonstrate on stage with a modern dance piece. Hopefully a chance will come again to do this particular Adventures in Music concert so that we can try again as that was going to be very exciting, and may be again in the future. In this situation, I picked several cards (from the French version) and students moved to those movement ideas from the cards to music I had selected to represent those movements. For example, I picked the William Tell Overture to represent galloping, and students were asked to think of why that music connected to that movement. The next step, with especially the older grades, is to try moving to music from different metres, starting with 2/2 and moving up to 7/4, which happens to be divided into 2/2/3... I did a whole lesson with my own son on fraction number lines and used musical selections to do so, and he told me that this was the first time ever that fractions and number lines made sense to him.... through music. Think about that for a bit... different kids need different ways to learn things, and there are studies that show that students understand concepts like fractions better when taught in music class first, than without having that different way of seeing fractions. So we took the 7/4, divided into 2/2/3 and moved to represent this repeating movement in the piece. And now students will be asked to take at least 3 of the movements from the cards and put them together in a sequence of movements that they will teach to someone else, add together, and then perform as a longer sequence. Then those 2 will teach 2 others their sequence and create an even longer sequence... this is a wonderful way to use brain elasticity because they are being asked to learn, unlearn then relearn with new information several times throughout this lesson. Being able to relearn and think in new ways with previously learned information is a very important skill for 21st century learning in any subject, in any future career, so I love giving these chances to think creatively quite quickly. Music learning is brilliant for that. Check out "Your Brain On Improv" from TED to learn more of how music helps us think in creative ways. Another variation of this same lesson is for students to create the same sequence of 3 movements, and I play a piece that they use to practice their movement sequence until they have memorized it, but then they are given different musical styles or genres, or where different musical expressions are represented, so that they now have to take what they have already practiced and re-shape it to connect with the new music... more re-learning. Again, all of these activities, while demonstrating various different musical concepts, also happen to be very active to keep us moving outside, and perhaps warming us up if it is chilly! And sometimes it incorporates our surroundings, such as using the word "soar", while we watch birds soaring above! Beautiful! To see curricular connections for demonstration meter with movement, click on the picture below!
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Click HERE to go back to the first postBio - Jennifer EngbrechtI am a music specialist in the Louis Riel School Division in Manitoba, Canada. I have a strong interest in the interrelationship of all subject areas, especially infusing the arts into all learning, and as their own stand-alone subjects. NEW:
So excited to be interviewed for Green Teacher Magazine's "Talking With Green Teachers" Podcast My article in the MSSTA Journal for Fall 2021... Click on the image below:
My article in the Summer 2021 Green Teacher Magazine. Click on the image below:
Disconnect: The Outdoor Education Podcast - listen to this episode about Teaching Music Outside by clicking on the picture below:
Looking for the WSO Manitoba Mosaic lesson for Hey Terre by Kelly Bado?
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