Teaching and Learning
1802B
Graphic Score Project
Graphic Score Project
Body Mapping
This week I wanted to work on my balance while singing so I feel more stable and grounded, as I wanted to see if this would make my overall sound improve. By drawing awareness to my knees, feet, spine, and neck, I was able to breathe easier and felt more connected to my music as I was not strained in any way. I first incorporated this when I was practicing on my own. I first stood and closed my eyes and tried to focus on each part of my body separately and tried to map it in my mind. I was able to successfully focus on each part and this also helped relax my body and put me in the right mindset for singing. I then worked from my feet upwards. I stood with my feet in the “tripod” position to secure my balance in the lower part of my body. From there I made sure my knees were softened and that my knees, shoulders, hips, and ears were all aligned so that when I turned sideways I could see that I was standing in the correct posture. Having scoliosis I almost always have pain in my neck and back, but standing in this posture I felt relaxed and free from any tension. It was easier to breathe and therefore I my singing had improved according to my teacher. I applied this new-found body mapping in my lesson and coaching and they both were one of the best ones I have had breathing and singing wise.
Body Percussion
Jeremy Dutcher- Honour Song
This song by Jeremy Dutcher reinvisions a well-known honour song from the Mi’kmaq nation, that Jeremy sings in the Wolastoqey language. The lyrics of this song are from the chant that was received in a ceremony and gifted to the Wabanakiyik (East Coast peoples). Jeremy was allowed to use this chant in his song as the creator George Paul gave him permission and Jeremy’s tribe is from the affected area. The song was written in support for Jeremy’s home territory as there was a massive pipeline resistance established in New Brunswick. This resistance in 2013 included the Mi’Kmaq and Maliseet tribes against a Texas-based company attempting to frack the Elsipogtog First Nations group. The resistance effort was met with a huge police presence, and the struggle between Indigenous water protectors and the RCMP, police dogs, and snipers made international headlines. George Paul’s “Honor Song” could be heard being sung at the frontlines. Now with George Paul’s permission, in 2017 Jeremy released his single to the world and promoted this ongoing issue in Canada. This song is now seen as a “rallying cry” and Jeremy hopes his song can be an anthem for generations of cultural warriors and land protectors. This to me shows the importance of indiginous rights and how people are using their fame to help promote these issues. Listening to the song and watching the video it is very simplistic, but know knowing why it was written really gives it the depth and emotion that George Paul’s chant deserves. I appreciate how this is called “Honour Song” because it is honouring the land protectors and people included in the resistance that he wants to bring awareness for from the past and for the future.
Learning
Attributing my feelings to the person/situation:
Especially over reading week I found myself getting together with old friends from highschool and adapting my feelings to whatever they were talking about to feel included with them. While talking with one friend I had to watch what I said to them because if I said something they did not like for example, “I love living with my parents at home”, to them it would sound entitled from their personal experience and moving away for school. So rather than my interpretation/response to the conversation I was changing my responses based on the situation.
Describing emotions:
I found myself definitely saying “tired, hungry, excited” a lot this break. I felt as if it was just easier to say rather to explain exactly how I felt as that is how I normally talk to other people not, “I have butterflies or my hands are clammy.” I feel I could incorporate this more into my everyday vocabulary as it would make me more aware of how my body reacts to things.
When you or others use the word "but" especially during feedback:
I found myself saying “but” whenever I was saying something positive about whatever the topic was and then had something negative to say about the same thing. I need to stop doing this and start trying to focus on the positive and stop dwelling on the negative, or trying to find a negative.
When describing an opinion:
I would state things as they are to other people as I felt comfortable around most people to say how I felt and not have to say that it is my opinion beforehand.
What might you learn about yourself/others by considering what the opinion tells you about you/them?
I might learn what they find interesting and see if there are common interests. This to me is seeing if you will get along with a person and want to spend more time with them. Everyone has their own opinions and it might open my eyes to a side of something I did not think about, therefore teaching me to be more open-minded.
Leadership Activity Proposal
In my exercise called, “Rhythm Erase”, I will write out several easier rhythms on the board labeled 1,2,3, etc., and then after the students have successfully clapped back each rhythm continuously a few times I will erase one rhythm and see if they can still clap the rhythm without seeing it written down. I will keep doing this until all the rhythms are erased to see if they can perform this task from memory. The purpose is to help with memory and is a fun way to keep people engaged and attentive. It helps people focus and motivates them to memorize all patterns to feel accomplished at the end since once I erase one line it becomes an inner game for the students. It also helps as simple rhythmic exercises, but I could make more complex examples for older people. It also teaches people how to focus on their own and not to rely on other people to do the work for them, only they can see if they have it memorized our not, building trust within the student.
Intention
Unfortunately I was not able to apply this to my private lessons or rehearsals in time, but I focused on applying this to my own practice over a few days. I started out my practicing being aware of my surroundings and focusing on being present in the room. I wanted to keep myself grounded and not let my mind drift away from the present. I really wanted my intention in my practices to be focusing on the present and allowing myself to try new things and not be worried about “being perfect”. To settle into this intention I would meditate or do yoga before practicing so I was super calm and relaxed before singing. I would also ease into singing, not go too fast right away. I then felt more settled into my surroundings and felt comfortable to try different things when singing. I found sometimes if I closed my eyes I felt more rooted to the ground and trusted myself more because of that. This is something I would not be able to do if I was not calm starting my lesson. Before I was so afraid to try new things because I thought messing up was not okay, but with my new intention and mindset to be more aware and calm, I found it was much easier and enjoyable to practice.
Amanda Weber
I watched the video of Amanda’s Ted Talk-Voices of Hope From Within Prison Walls. I think the general public knows so little of the incarceration system because of the stigma associated with it. People assume, including myself, that it is a dangerous place to stay clear of. What people do not realize, and which Amanda stated, is that the people that are in these facilities experience: lack of freedom, grief over loss of caregiving, lack of physical touch, lack of sufficient treatment programs, powerlessness, depression, boredom, fear and distrust, and challenge of re-joining society. I think if people knew about the hardships these people face on a daily basis, the system would change. I believe that everyone has the right and ability to create music and art. It is something that is personal to everyone and taking away that right is taking away a part of that person. Music is expressed as a positive thing, and especially in such a negative environment, music and creativity can change that. In my experience in high school, our choir would go and sing with Alzheimer’s patients at a nearby nursing home, and singing in a choir and performing music the patients had heard before triggered something positive in them and they would sing all the words. Music has a power held over everyone and is used for so many positive things. I would encourage more musical endeavours in incarceration facilities and nursing homes because it is something we can all relate to and associate positive attributes with it. Three things I learned from both the video and lecture presented by Amanda is to use people centered language such as “women in prison”, women in the choir want restorative justice, and she cannot see the women after they have been released for a number of years. The second point I found really interesting and now understand seeing and hearing the way people are treated and feel in prison. I am deeply saddened knowing that she cannot reach out to the released women because she has brought something positive to the prison and built relationships with them that maybe helped them be released. I didn't even know this was something introduced to prisons, but it is something I want to learn more about.
Kellie Walsh
I really enjoyed Kellie’s talk about inclusivity in the choral world. Being a part of the choral organization Amabile for the past 10 years, I really resonated with all the positive aspects of choir that she talked about, especially the inclusivity and building connections with each other. It has been such a positive influence on my life and it makes me happy knowing Lauda exists and that everyone has the opportunity to be a part of something so influential and positive. I really liked how other conductors, music therapists and composers have been a part of this learning opportunity including Jim Papoulis, whom i've worked with many times and love that he brings his enthusiasm, inclusivity, and positivity to each of his pieces. He actually told that story about the major 3rd the last time he worked with Amabile and how he loved the experience working with Lauda. I love how Kellie incorporates kids that are neuro a-typical with neuro-typical kids in order to create the full choir experience. She mentioned that in a rehearsal she focuses on self-awareness, leadership, independence, socialization, self-esteem, vocal development, music literacy, and exceptional music making. I agree with this because this can work for any choir, showing inclusion to everyone and everyone can make music. She also touched on that she uses techniques she uses in Lauda with her other choirs and vice versa, which shows how successful and capable all kids are when creating music together. I like that with the incorporation of the neuro-typical kids that they are not leaders or support, they are there to make music, showing everyone in that choir is equal which I truly believe in.
Video 1
This is a video demonstration of a song to teach younger kids in the classroom. I chose this clip because it was one of the few that was under 2 minutes. I like this clip because the description of how to teach this is in the bio underneath. I like that this exercise can be taught several ways depending on the age group. For older grades it can be taught with the round and alternating circles part, but for younger grades it can be just the unison circle. I would like to pick activities like this to incorporate in my classroom. It relates to the activities that we have done in class. I can only assume that this was taught to all these teachers and then performed for the camera, so I don’t know how these teachers learned it, but based on the description it sounds like it was taught by one person. I can see this activity being a problem with accommodating all students, especially ones that have certain impairments and cannot walk in a circle. I would adjust if this was the case to sitting in a circle and maybe clapping instead of switching directions. This would be the only major concern I see in this video.
Video 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZNDW7eu3Qg
This is a video of a primary teacher explaining what their day to day classroom looks like. I chose this clip because I liked how she explained what she likes to incorporate in her day, and because I want to see what it is like being a primary teacher. I like how she made certain things a priority in her classroom such as: creating a safe space for the children to learn in, incorporating knowledge the kids might know to keep them making connections and engaged, and being inclusive to every child in the room. I really like her positivity about teaching and how her inspiration for the kids fuels my inspiration of being a primary teacher. This relates to the readings and topics discussed about being inclusive with everyone, what the “definition” of teaching is, why people want to teach, and a lot of reflection. Although this is not a video of direct teaching, it is an example of effective teaching because the teacher seems to be mindful of each students’ needs and makes sure each student is getting their education. She states that these kids are her inspiration and I think that every teacher should feel this way about her students and learn from them as well.
Inspirational Teacher
My Thoughts
-I learned that my teaching thoughts are very similar as she raised me, so we have a similar thought process
-She introduced me to teaching younger kids
-I joined choir because she was actively participating in it
-My views are still the same, I did not change my mind after hearing the cons to the job
-Even with the cons, there is nothing she would change about the job which makes me more reassured
-I want to incorporate her positive mindset in my teaching
Musical Future's
Email to Dr. Wright
Dear Dr. Wright,
Thank you for sharing Musical Future's with our class today. I found it very interesting this way of teaching students' music in which they can relate and engages everyone. What surprised me today is that we were going to try this way of learning as well. I found this refreshing and I am glad that I was able to experience this new way of teaching and maybe apply it to my own class someday. I loved how it was practical, but still so fun and is completely personalized. I really liked how we all played the same song, but everyone's version was different. My assumptions before the presentation were that it would touch base on a different way of teaching for students, but I had no idea that it was taking a more popular style route. I love how unique this concept is as I have never experienced this way of teaching until today. I am now realizing that in order to keep kids active in participating in music, teachers need to add relevance to their teaching. There are so many positive attributes coming from this teaching like collaboration, friendships, skills, knowledge, and motivation, that I think future educators should incorporate some aspect of this in their schools. Thank you for sharing with our class today!
Sincerely,
Emily Inch
Dr. Sweet
The main idea that she presented in the Saturday workshop was about the changing adolescent voice. It was about understanding the adolescents and their transition in and out of puberty. The adolescents are going through an abrupt and develop mental transition and it is important to understand what they are going through physically to help and understand them. She started the presentation with the individual growth of all parts of the body and then focused on the changing voice. This explained the issues of puberty in adolescents and how educators need to help them more as they transition into adulthood and not get mad at them for things they physically cannot help at times. What was of interest to me was the changing of the voice. It was important for me to learn this as a voice major and future elementary music educator to be understand how it works before, during, and after puberty. It is unique for every individual and everyone experiences it. I liked how she acknowledged the part being labelled in choir because I related to that concept the most. I was labelled “alto” in high school but whenever the choir director needed more sound on another part, she would move me. I felt I could not sing soprano because I was not one and now, I am labelled a soprano. I feel uncomfortable knowing that it is very common for educators to do this, but it is reassuring now that it is becoming more aware. I was surprised to hear that females experience voice change as well as I do not recall experiencing it like boys do, but everyone’s experience is different. I assumed that it was only boys that go through voice change and I assumed that puberty stopped around grade 9, but we are still going through it during our later teens as well while our brain finishes re-wiring. These assumptions were hold challenged and moving forward I will incorporate this into my future teaching to encourage musical development and normalize voice change. Other concepts of this presentation that I want to incorporate into my teaching is the human anatomy part of music. Making sure kids understand how their voice works and that their vocal folds are located in the trachea, not their throat, and making sure they understand the importance of hydration. I would say to the speaker that I really resonated with her presentation as I feel this topic of voice change is extremely important for music education. I connected the most with this topic than previous speakers as I believe the growth of the voice should be taught in all schools. Also, that teachers need to “chill out” and understand that the kids cannot help what they are doing and need to be reassuring and positive.
Disability in the Classroom
The important questions that this article explained was about disability in the classroom and how to manage it. It talked about how to properly acknowledge people with impairment and create an accessible musical environment for them to not have a disabled environment. The author states that it is important to have music accessible for everyone because even though Bach and Beethoven had impairments, they still created beautiful music and it is important not to discriminate. I found the part about making buildings accessible for people with impairments and comparing that to music interesting. I never thought about it that way and did not realize there was a difference in impairment and disability. I also found the topic of acknowledging people with impairments as a person with “autism” not “an autistic person” surprising because it differentiates the person from something they physically cannot help. This is very enlightening because I had never heard anyone explain this way of first-person language before and I really like how accepting it is. I assumed this article was going to be about encouraging acceptance and making the classroom accessible for all students including ones with impairments. This is correct; however, I was not expecting the author to talk about disability rights, but I did find it to be a crucial part of the article in order to grasp the full idea. I will incorporate educating the students on the social construct on disabilities in making sure kids are inclusive and aware that every student has the same right in all education, not subject to just music class. I would say to the author that I appreciate him incorporating the first-person language on people with impairments because I feel everyone should be educated on that and treat everyone with the same respect and inclusivity.
Stop Saying "Good Job"
The main ideas this article states that it is to stop saying “good job” to children. The author breaks it up into 5 points being: manipulation, creating praise junkies, stealing a child's pleasure, losing interest, and reducing achievement. I would not say this is specifically for music education or specifically education for that matter, this is something that guardians should also apply to their at home activities. But adding this method to music education I feel it is important to be more specific as the article states with what is good instead of saying “good job”. Saying, “I liked how you used a different dynamic for this section”, is more personable and shows the student how to incorporate their own individuality into music and be themselves. What was of interest to me was by saying “good job”, it creates insecurity and the child then grows up to need that validation and cannot accept something without being reassured with a “good job”. This also does not help with guidance from our guardians because it is telling the child how they feel and what the child should feel, not really learning anything. It is important for kids to make mistakes and learn/grow from them. This creates individuality in the child. I was not surprised by anything in the article and had a pretty good understanding of how everything in the article was a negative reason for saying good job. I would incorporate not saying “good job” into music education to create individualism and creativity in students. I would say to the author that I appreciate how this topic was broken down into several sections that explained one phrase we say to children. This shows that it is an important topic that should be discussed more.
My Philosophy Statement
My philosophy statement regarding teaching and learning is that I believe every student has the right to absorb and gather knowledge from teachers and or peers in a safe, educational setting. This statement promotes inclusivity and a safe space allows students to feel more comfortable participating in the activities, therefore they can learn from their peer's actions as well in the classroom. I believe that teachers do not necessarily provide all the knowledge in a lesson but asking questions in their lesson to the students provides them to think for themselves and learn from each other. This may not be something that is included in all classrooms, but is a key tool that should be promoted more. This is also a great way to get to know the students and see how they interpret things on their own. Throughout this course I have learned that it is important to think on our own, but after we have had time to think we share what we are feeling. This is effective because we can see how others think and we can learn from them. Everyone’s lives are different, so seeing how some people react to certain topics or the insight they can share, is how we learn from one another. This also helps other students who may not have a lot of experience with certain subjects. The teacher can interact with the students by providing the knowledge and asking questions to the students so they can really gather and apply their knowledge to what is provided. This way students who do not have background knowledge on the area can see multiple angles of what the teacher has provided. Education involves teamwork between all teachers and students by working together and everyone is constantly learning new things every day. Inclusivity is also a big part of education to me because everyone has the right to be able to learn and interact with others. Even for students with impairments, it is important to include them with the lesson the teacher has planned that day and to modify it to include them. With my experience with kids with impairments in a music classroom is they always have a positive reaction to whatever is happening in that lesson. Modifying lessons to include them can make a huge difference whether it’s just beating a drum or including them in a game that each kid gets individual time in front of the class to be creative is important. These important aspects for teaching and learning are things I have learned myself this year while being a part of this course. My goal is to incorporate my philosophy that every student has the right to absorb and gather knowledge from teachers and or peers in a safe, educational setting, into my everyday teaching in my own music classroom. I want to have a positive environment that kids love and look forward to, because my music classroom in elementary school is opposite of everything I strive to have for my students. Music can have such a positive impact on our lives, and for students who do not grow up with music around them constantly, I hope to introduce something that brings them joy as it has been for my whole life.
Achy Breaky Heart
Achy Breaky Heart- Reflection
Star Wars
Star Wars-Refelction
Shady Grove
I was practicing my choir pieces this weekend and noticed this piece had a lot of lah's and doh's, so I could pick out a chord on both these pitches when I would sing through the piece. They were mostly one chords due to the major tonality of the piece.
The Rose
This is another choir piece I was practicing this weekend, and I noticed it was built on the lah chord due to its minor tonality. I cannot go through this piece now without hearing or singing the lah chord!
Figuring Out B is for Book
B is for Book Full Video
B is for Book Reflection
Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Somewhere Over the Rainbow Reflection
Bring Me Little Water
Bring Me Little Water- Reflection
Solfege Exercises
Solfege Exercises- Reflection
Improve Solfege
Improve Solfege- Reflection
Canon 21 and 23
Canon 21 and 23-Reflection
Solfege Patterns
Solfege Patterns Reflection
You're Beautiful
You're Beautiful Reflection
Lines 1-7
Lines 1-7- Reflections
Canon 131
Canon 131-Reflection
Dorian
Dorian Reflection
Dorian Canon
Dorian Canon- Reflection
Dorian Canon- Sheet Music
Canon 39
Canon 39- Reflection
Hotel California
Hotel California-Rhythms
