Study Unit 2 - Listening to and responding to music

 

Study unit 2
Listening and Responding to Music

·  What new things did you become aware of when working through this study unit’s content?

Firstly, I just want to say how very entertaining and fun this study unit was. I really enjoyed the music and the activities. Everything within study unit 2 was new to my knowledge. I have actually learned so much. It was very interesting to learn why we would move to the beat and how we unconsciously just start moving. I never knew how to figure out the meter in music, within the first video of Mrs. Rina Francis showing me how to do this using a ball and wooden spoons, I was surprised that I could actually understand this and know what she was talking about. So interesting and I really enjoyed this. To be honest I was really not looking forward to this study unit. I am really not very musical and probably tone-deaf too. But pleasantly surprised that I was able to manage and understand most of it. This gave me new confidence regarding music. Must admit…this was kind of fun.

· What concept/element/idea was most significant for you in this study unit?

I would defiantly say I really struggle and still struggle to understand musical notes or note values. This to me is a completely different language like Sesotho and English. I struggle to comprehend this and it is really not very easy to remember which note means what. I could follow with the activity and the explanation. However, I think if I’m left to write notes or figure out notes by myself, it might just take some time. It is difficult yet interesting to learn about, so I am eager to figure it out and fully understand it too. I defiantly realised I should not try to sing high pitch and rather show it with a musical instrument, I do not think I have a soprano or alto voice even though I am a woman, mine sounds more like a tenor or bass, to be honest.

Individual reflection

1.As a Foundation Phase teacher, you have to choose between utilising indigenous African music, Western Art music or contemporary commercial music (including popular music and film music) in your classes. Which would you choose? Please motivate your answer.

This would be a very tough choice to make as if I could I would include all of these music genres, as they all have different qualities and importance and different tone, beats, and rhythms that children can learn from.

If I have to choose only one, I would probably choose the most controversial one, which would be commercial music that includes all the popular music and songs from movies and the radio. According to the Journal of Voice (LoVetri, 2008) contemporary Commercial Music (CCM) is the new term for what we used to call nonclassical music. This includes everything including music theatre, pop, rock, gospel, R &B, soul, hip hop, rap, country, and many more. Therefore, I think this would be the best one to add in my classes as there would be a song that all the children would probably know either from a movie or from the radio, also children grow up with many of these music styles in their home. I still remember Niel Diamond, Queen, ACDC, and Roxette songs from my childhood, when hearing them it instantly takes me back and I for some reason still remember all of the words to each song. So, this is the reason why I would choose commercial music, as this is the one that most if not all children will be able to relate to and participate with during music activities.

2.Do you think that the examples and content offered in SU 2 are inclusive? Please motivate your answer.

Yes, I do, I think it was very inclusive and incorporated many different elements of music. It did include everything that has to do with music, many things that were unknown to me, such as the texture of the music, which I had no idea was an actual thing. It is definitely open to anyone and everyone as it included modern music, classical music, western music, and even traditional music to explain the concepts in this study unit, it was not limited to certain types of people. The examples were well thought out and made me understand music and teach music or musical concepts in an entirely different way.

3. What suggestions do you have for making the content more inclusive? Please provide examples of how the content and activities presented in SU 2 could be changed or adapted to be more inclusive.

I do not feel that anything should be adapted or changed. As mentioned above I felt that it was very inclusive and informative. If I had to mention one or find something to add onto SU2 is probably to include other music styles such as Hindi music or even Afrikaans music, which is well known to have many instruments play together all at once and have a completely different type of beat, this can actually show the duration of music or the meter well, as Afrikaans has many types of music one can dance to (Wals 1,2,3 – 1,2,3).

A song on YouTube I found to help children keep to the rhythm or beat and was actually fun and can be used in the classroom too.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfG98nQK9RY


Comments

  1. Hello, Lindie:)
    Your blog post is fantastic. It's always intriguing, and I look forward to reading your blogs. I agree with you that everything in this study unit was interesting and fresh to me, and I feel we learned quite a bit from it that we can carry with us whenever we finish our degree.

    ReplyDelete

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