Grading in a music classroom is sometimes viewed as a difficult feat because music subjective. I feel that grading in music should be based upon many factors. Some of them being
-knowing techniques
-parts of the instruments
-history of music
-history of instruments
-participation
-attendance
-concert participation/ attendance
-playing tests
Playing tests are sometimes disputed because different students embody different abilities on instruments. For example, how do you grade a student who has taken private lessons for 5 years as opposed to a student who has only had playing experience in the public schools? The same rubric can't be used for both the students because they have both had different experiences with learning and playing music. I feel for playing tests, you should test the students on their ability to play the pieces for an upcoming concert. This way you can comment on their improvement and technique. You can also ask critical thinking questions like "how would you use your bow to play this passage with a staccato style?"
For your more advanced students, you could provide them with a higher level of music and use the same rubric, just more advanced music. This allows you to keep your students challenged and still working. Often times students get bored if the content it too easy for them, so applying higher level lessons and music is great way to keep them interested, working, and even provide them with great rep., and skills that will help them if they decide to go further with music in college.
Attached is a possible rubric for playing tests.
Rubric
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Bullying in the Schools
Bullying has become one of the biggest problems in schools today. The bullying has escalated in such a way that students are considering or worse, actually committing suicide and other self harming activities. A past show on MTV really caught my attention, and I thought it was the most effective way of dealing with bullying in the schools.
If you really knew me was a show about students in schools taking part in a program that allowed and required students to get to know their peers. Because so many problems in school stem from ignorance, this program provided the students with activities that helped them learn about themselves and their fellow classmates.
The reactions to thèse activities were astonishing. Students were expressing themselves, talking about problems in school, with themselves, and at home. Students then were able to understand each other. They were able to understand certain actions and reactions of their classmates, why some of then acted the way they did, looked the way they did, and thought the way they did. I feel that more programs like this should be implemented into the schools all over the nation.
If you really knew me was a show about students in schools taking part in a program that allowed and required students to get to know their peers. Because so many problems in school stem from ignorance, this program provided the students with activities that helped them learn about themselves and their fellow classmates.
Taking Trips
No, no...not the drug induced trips. You sly one, you. I mean field trips.
I think that taking field trips, especially in a music classroom, is a MUST. Learning about the different types of music and the different ensembles that perform that music is one thing, but if you have the means and the opportunity to explore those things in real life, then why not go??
I remember at a young age going to see many plays, concerts, and performances that ultimately made me want to be a musician. Giving your students the opportunity to see live performances is a way to expose them to different life experiences. Exposing them to the aspects of a live performance offers more than just live music.
-lights
-mics
-setup
-costumes
-set design
-makeup
-venue
These are all the different elements that can go into a specific performance. This is great exposure to new, possible career choices for your students. There are little possibilities and opportunities to teach about these elements in any school classroom, so its important to show students that music not only consists of instruments and sheet music. Exposing students to these jobs and activities may spark a new interests in your classroom. From there you can start by adding these elements to your lesson plans, creating assignments, and your students can even take part in new activities in the school like makeup for the shows or proms, lighting and mic for performances, costumes for plays, and even set design and architecture for marching band shows, and plays.
I think that taking field trips, especially in a music classroom, is a MUST. Learning about the different types of music and the different ensembles that perform that music is one thing, but if you have the means and the opportunity to explore those things in real life, then why not go??
I remember at a young age going to see many plays, concerts, and performances that ultimately made me want to be a musician. Giving your students the opportunity to see live performances is a way to expose them to different life experiences. Exposing them to the aspects of a live performance offers more than just live music.
-lights
-mics
-setup
-costumes
-set design
-makeup
-venue
These are all the different elements that can go into a specific performance. This is great exposure to new, possible career choices for your students. There are little possibilities and opportunities to teach about these elements in any school classroom, so its important to show students that music not only consists of instruments and sheet music. Exposing students to these jobs and activities may spark a new interests in your classroom. From there you can start by adding these elements to your lesson plans, creating assignments, and your students can even take part in new activities in the school like makeup for the shows or proms, lighting and mic for performances, costumes for plays, and even set design and architecture for marching band shows, and plays.
Garage Band
Garage Band is a great learning tool to use in the music classroom. Teaching your students how to use and operate garage band is a few lessons within its self, but it can also be converted into supporting other aspects of music.
Films
Film scores are often overlooked by your normal student, so introducing film score along with having activities in garage band is an awesome unit to have in your lessons. For example, informing students about the different emotions and feelings music creates in film and then having them create their own in garage band. Garage band hold so many opportunities for a student to create their own sound track. There are sound effects, and then there are effects for the sound the students record themselves.
Making Movies
Garage Band also has an option to include pictures and video. With this, you can inform your students about the different types of ads on the TV or radio and have them create their own. For example, there are many medias that promote smoking. Ex, music videos, music lyrics, TV shows, and even kids movies. You can use Garage Band to form an activity where students create their own ads, music videos, or re-vamp the lyrics to their favorite songs in order to advocate for anti-smoking.
Composition
Garage band hold so many possibilities for students to compose their own music. If you have students who struggle on instruments, or don't know how to play instruments in general but show great interest for creating music, you can introduce them to the wonders of garage band. Through this, students can compose whatever they wish with the many sounds of garage band.
-classical music with strings and brass sounds
-sound effects
-pop music with vocal effects
-blues music with bending and tempo effects
etc etc.
Films
Film scores are often overlooked by your normal student, so introducing film score along with having activities in garage band is an awesome unit to have in your lessons. For example, informing students about the different emotions and feelings music creates in film and then having them create their own in garage band. Garage band hold so many opportunities for a student to create their own sound track. There are sound effects, and then there are effects for the sound the students record themselves.
Making Movies
Garage Band also has an option to include pictures and video. With this, you can inform your students about the different types of ads on the TV or radio and have them create their own. For example, there are many medias that promote smoking. Ex, music videos, music lyrics, TV shows, and even kids movies. You can use Garage Band to form an activity where students create their own ads, music videos, or re-vamp the lyrics to their favorite songs in order to advocate for anti-smoking.
Composition
Garage band hold so many possibilities for students to compose their own music. If you have students who struggle on instruments, or don't know how to play instruments in general but show great interest for creating music, you can introduce them to the wonders of garage band. Through this, students can compose whatever they wish with the many sounds of garage band.
-classical music with strings and brass sounds
-sound effects
-pop music with vocal effects
-blues music with bending and tempo effects
etc etc.
Two Ways to Teach Theory
In any music classroom, theory should always be an element taught to students. Teaching theory in the classroom can propose many problems. Usually, when one person learns about music theory, they learn about it one way. By that, I mean that there are certain tricks and methods to learning and remembering theory that sticks with someone for the rest of their musical career. If that someone were to become a teacher, they would most likely teach theory to their students the way they were taught. This, obviously, does not work for everyone. Teaching something one way means that only a certain number of your students will understand and grasp the information. So, then you have to teach it another way. Some teachers may struggle with that, and sometime its the students who struggle with the information.
A while ago I found a website that provides theory lessons and unlimited exercises easily accessible to students. The website, www.musictheory.net , is an easily navigated site that allows teachers to assign certain lessons and exercises to their students. Teachers can also modify the exercises to fit the specific content they wish to cover in their lessons.
This site is safe and easy to use for all ages. I used it in my first year of college to practice recognizing chords and notes by ear which was a tested aspect in my music theory an aural skills classes.
This site not only offers a basic way to learn music theory, but it also allows a form of technology to be utilized in music. It teaches students how to access a certain website and find specific exercises relative to their lessons. This site also offers a great virtual keyboard for students to not only be able to hear what they are learning, but also allows them access in the classroom and at home to practice learning they keys on the piano and beginning piano skills.
A while ago I found a website that provides theory lessons and unlimited exercises easily accessible to students. The website, www.musictheory.net , is an easily navigated site that allows teachers to assign certain lessons and exercises to their students. Teachers can also modify the exercises to fit the specific content they wish to cover in their lessons.
This site is safe and easy to use for all ages. I used it in my first year of college to practice recognizing chords and notes by ear which was a tested aspect in my music theory an aural skills classes.
This site not only offers a basic way to learn music theory, but it also allows a form of technology to be utilized in music. It teaches students how to access a certain website and find specific exercises relative to their lessons. This site also offers a great virtual keyboard for students to not only be able to hear what they are learning, but also allows them access in the classroom and at home to practice learning they keys on the piano and beginning piano skills.
Math and Music
A great learning tool is being able to take what you learn in one class, and connect it with another. I've always hear that music and math are related. This is mainly said in a way that mean musicians are supposed to be good at math...this is not true because I am HORRIBLE with math. But I remembered a video I saw a while ago and thought that this could be the new meaning to math and music being related
What Pi Sound Like is a video made to represent the different digits of pi in a musical form. After watching the video, a musician will be able to recognize that though there is music being made, it doesn't really portray any recognizable melody...there is some aspect missing that could really change this music into a lasting, and memorable piece for students.
This video could be used in a lesson in which students will have to re-vamp the music in some mathematical way (again, I'm horrible at math, so don't expect a specific example) to make it so they could remember and sing back the song, therefore remember the first 30-something digits of pi. This is a great starter assignment that could be modified to any other subject. Eventually, your students will end up with a method to composing music, using musical elements, while also incorporating other subject matter that could later be used as a study method and during tests to help remember answers.
I think that this is a great example and resource for creating new and revamped lesson plans in the music classroom. It incorporates all of the important parts of learning music.
-Connecting other subject
-Composition
-Performance
-Theory
-Technology
What Pi Sound Like is a video made to represent the different digits of pi in a musical form. After watching the video, a musician will be able to recognize that though there is music being made, it doesn't really portray any recognizable melody...there is some aspect missing that could really change this music into a lasting, and memorable piece for students.
This video could be used in a lesson in which students will have to re-vamp the music in some mathematical way (again, I'm horrible at math, so don't expect a specific example) to make it so they could remember and sing back the song, therefore remember the first 30-something digits of pi. This is a great starter assignment that could be modified to any other subject. Eventually, your students will end up with a method to composing music, using musical elements, while also incorporating other subject matter that could later be used as a study method and during tests to help remember answers.
I think that this is a great example and resource for creating new and revamped lesson plans in the music classroom. It incorporates all of the important parts of learning music.
-Connecting other subject
-Composition
-Performance
-Theory
-Technology
Teaching to the Test-for music teachers
Teaching to the test is a common phrase heard throughout the education world. It basically means that teachers only use information that they know will be on the standardized tests to pound into their students brains. I can see how this is unfavorable to most uneducated, idiotic, power hungry men (you know who I'm talking about..) but at the same time, I can also see how this is a last resort and only choice for most teachers. Their jobs depend on the ability of their students to score high on standardized tests. These test are used as a critiquing method for the teachers. So when they try to make sure the kids pass the test, they are torn between teaching useful information, and actually having the kids learn something and just shoving this information at the kids so they don't lose their jobs.
This is different for music teachers. We don't have a section on the tests, which means we don't have to worry about teaching to the test....or do we?
I've noticed that a lot of music teachers do teach to the test. Our test just isn't on paper. Our test is our concerts. Many music teachers teach to the concert by having their students learn their music and that's all. I feel that one of the reasons music teachers and music classes are on the chopping block is because after the concerts, that's it. The kids don't walk away with anything and there are way too many "music teachers" just covering the basics. If a music classroom were to be influential on students it would cover a broad range of musical elements like:
-theory
-history
-technology
Theory is a HUGE subject within music covering dynamic, chords, scales, composition, orchestration, sight reading, aural notation, written notation, etc, etc. It covers the in's and out's of music, how its written and read and its an amazing tool to have when students are learning pieces. They can see why certain chord progressions are used in certain pieces and how the music fits together.
History is the basis of music. This covers composers, musical eras from medieval to contemporary, Western and non-western music, musical cultures, and world music. Its for the students to see why certain piece were composed and provides them insight into interesting stories like why Beethoven was deaf, how mozart only wrote the first 4 measures to one of the final movements in his requiem, yet its finished today, and how the music of centuries ago influences the music they listen to today. An amazing way to get students interested in music is to connect it with their own live, cultures, and experiences.
Technology is necessary because the world is becoming engrossed with it. Technology is everywhere and showing students the new possibilities to recording, producing, and composting music opens up unlimited possibilities for their musical ideas.
I think these three main aspects should always be part of a music classroom. I feel that they open up a whole new world full of different experiences and information that can be used by our students, and in their own way advocate for music education.
This is different for music teachers. We don't have a section on the tests, which means we don't have to worry about teaching to the test....or do we?
I've noticed that a lot of music teachers do teach to the test. Our test just isn't on paper. Our test is our concerts. Many music teachers teach to the concert by having their students learn their music and that's all. I feel that one of the reasons music teachers and music classes are on the chopping block is because after the concerts, that's it. The kids don't walk away with anything and there are way too many "music teachers" just covering the basics. If a music classroom were to be influential on students it would cover a broad range of musical elements like:
-theory
-history
-technology
Theory is a HUGE subject within music covering dynamic, chords, scales, composition, orchestration, sight reading, aural notation, written notation, etc, etc. It covers the in's and out's of music, how its written and read and its an amazing tool to have when students are learning pieces. They can see why certain chord progressions are used in certain pieces and how the music fits together.
History is the basis of music. This covers composers, musical eras from medieval to contemporary, Western and non-western music, musical cultures, and world music. Its for the students to see why certain piece were composed and provides them insight into interesting stories like why Beethoven was deaf, how mozart only wrote the first 4 measures to one of the final movements in his requiem, yet its finished today, and how the music of centuries ago influences the music they listen to today. An amazing way to get students interested in music is to connect it with their own live, cultures, and experiences.
Technology is necessary because the world is becoming engrossed with it. Technology is everywhere and showing students the new possibilities to recording, producing, and composting music opens up unlimited possibilities for their musical ideas.
I think these three main aspects should always be part of a music classroom. I feel that they open up a whole new world full of different experiences and information that can be used by our students, and in their own way advocate for music education.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)