This was the first music workshop and I had pretty mixed feelings about this portion of creative arts. On one hand, I used to have a more-than-passing interest in playing instruments, having learned the violin and piano when I was in primary school. But I eventually gave up those instruments since I did not enjoy my experiences being forced to practice and commit large amounts of time, which put me off to performing music.
I consider myself a non-music specialist and my moderately low confidence level in teaching music, especially to upper primary students, is confirmed by Seddon & Biasutti (2008) who state that "non-music specialist trainee primary school teachers lack confidence in teaching music in spite of changes to teacher training and the introduction of music in the National Curriculum in England." However, in their study, three teachers who previously regarded themselves as non-music specialists were put through very informal/casual training to learn a 12-bar blues improvisation on the piano. After the six activities, they could all play with both hands together perfectly. All three of their confidence levels skyrocketed simply by "encountering" music. The authors of the study contend that even non-music people (such as myself) can judge their own musicality more objectively and improve confidence in their informally acquired musical abilities simply "encountering" music at a practical level.
In our workshop this week, there was definitely an easy-going and informal atmosphere for my classmates and I to so-call "encounter" music. We had our pick of instrument to play with and play/present briefly to the class in a unique way; I chose a tambourine. Following the initial exposure to the mostly percussive instruments, we were introduced to the music theory side in a very basic form - introduction of the percussion clef symbol and the different forms and names of notes. The naming system is different from the system I learned in America (ie, crochets and quavers vs. quarter and eighth notes), which I shall have to pay particular attention to.
We then partnered up and performed different parts of Purcell Canon on the wooden xylophone, which brought up memories of my primary school music experience. I definitely had a pleasant experience this initial music workshop and look forward to three more lessons exploring the different aspects of music we will eventually teach, such as singing/vocals/raps and the five concepts of music.
References
Seddon, F. & Biasutti, M. 2008. Non-music specialist trainee primary school teachers’ confidence in teaching music in the classroom. Music Education Research, 10(3), 403-421.
I consider myself a non-music specialist and my moderately low confidence level in teaching music, especially to upper primary students, is confirmed by Seddon & Biasutti (2008) who state that "non-music specialist trainee primary school teachers lack confidence in teaching music in spite of changes to teacher training and the introduction of music in the National Curriculum in England." However, in their study, three teachers who previously regarded themselves as non-music specialists were put through very informal/casual training to learn a 12-bar blues improvisation on the piano. After the six activities, they could all play with both hands together perfectly. All three of their confidence levels skyrocketed simply by "encountering" music. The authors of the study contend that even non-music people (such as myself) can judge their own musicality more objectively and improve confidence in their informally acquired musical abilities simply "encountering" music at a practical level.
In our workshop this week, there was definitely an easy-going and informal atmosphere for my classmates and I to so-call "encounter" music. We had our pick of instrument to play with and play/present briefly to the class in a unique way; I chose a tambourine. Following the initial exposure to the mostly percussive instruments, we were introduced to the music theory side in a very basic form - introduction of the percussion clef symbol and the different forms and names of notes. The naming system is different from the system I learned in America (ie, crochets and quavers vs. quarter and eighth notes), which I shall have to pay particular attention to.
We then partnered up and performed different parts of Purcell Canon on the wooden xylophone, which brought up memories of my primary school music experience. I definitely had a pleasant experience this initial music workshop and look forward to three more lessons exploring the different aspects of music we will eventually teach, such as singing/vocals/raps and the five concepts of music.
References
Seddon, F. & Biasutti, M. 2008. Non-music specialist trainee primary school teachers’ confidence in teaching music in the classroom. Music Education Research, 10(3), 403-421.
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