General Music
My General Music Education Philosophy
Teaching students to be young conductors, while covering the basics of staccato and legato!
I, as a General Music educator, strive to actively acknowledge the innate humanity that exists within every student. Little ones, with fresh eyes gazing upon the world, and with charming abandon of any social filters censoring what they might think of the world around them, may be the most human of us all. Rather than shutting down such a natural propensity for emotional expression, my General Music classroom seeks to serve as a musical safe space in which students will be encouraged to facilitate their own natural curiosities, develop their senses of empathy, and advance their social and emotional development. Via the mediums of singing, musical body movement, Social Emotional Learning strategies, and Culturally Responsive pedagogical resources which tap into students’ individual experiences, I hope to cultivate groups of empathetic future-adults who are more open to understanding one another and leading with compassion than any generation of students has ever been.
Two Lesson Plans: FEAP 1a and FEAP 1f
FEAP 1a: Thula Klizeo- Teaching Call and Response Structure
In this song teaching lesson, my co-teacher Emma and I brought a song from the Mbube tradition of South Africa to our students in order to educate them about Call and Response song structure. As Call and Response is a musical characteristic that originated with some of the world's earliest musics in Africa, we thought it was perfect to use this song to demonstrate the concept.
Cueing a group of students as I lead a Call and Response song and provide rhythmic accompaniment on the hand drum!
In the lesson, the two of us first demonstrated the song to our students, with one of us leading and one of us responding. Before we asked the students to begin singing with us, we provided them with background information about the composer of the song, Joseph Shabalala, the characteristic sound of his Mbube tradition, and some of the political context surrounding the song, during which we talked about how "Thula Klizeo" was written during a time in which Joseph Shabalala and his people were not allowed to sing the songs of their culture (Apartheid). Urging them to put themselves in Shabalala's shoes, we asked students to think about what they would do if it was illegal for them to listen to their favorite type of music for 50 whole years! After providing students with the proper emotional awareness of the song, we led them through a Call and Response of just the text and pronunciation, before leading them through the song with myself as the leader, and the students as the echo. Before continuing on, we asked students to help us create unique hand/body movements to go along with each line of text, based on their English translations. After this process, we included these body motions in multiple repetitions of the song. Some repetitions featured one half of the class as the leaders and the other as the echo, while later repetitions featured a select group of eager leaders singing the call, with the rest of the class singing the response.
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I loved sharing this song with students, and believe that it is incredibly important for students to be exposed to music from a diverse set of foreign musical traditions. Through this type of immersion through song, students learn lessons of tolerance of difference, compassion, and empathy with those who may appear very different from them. There were also many students of color in my class, so I think it is all the more important to show songs from non-Western musical traditions, as these musics may tap into their familial cultures that they experience at home; helping students to feel seen in this way is so important for their healthy social and emotional development at a young age.
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This lesson aligns with FEAP 1a ("aligns instruction to standards at appropriate level or rigor") because my students demonstrated in the moment that my expectations of them in learning this song, i.e. performing it with correct notes and rhythms, and understanding its Call and Response structure was an incredibly developmentally appropriate request of them. The Next Generation Sunshine Standards I used for this lesson are: 1) MU.4.S.3.1 - Sing rounds, canons, and/or partner songs in an appropriate range, using proper vocal technique and maintaining pitch; and 2) MU.4.H.1.1. - Examine and describe a cultural tradition, other than one's own, learned through its musical style and/or use of authentic instruments. When students did not understand the concept of Call and Response, my co-teacher and I scaffolded their understandings by demonstrating the song by ourselves; after this point, students were fully capable of performing the song correctly, entering at the correct times, even then their entrances were syncopated. Students were also, when we prompted them to reflect on what they learned about the song and its cultural tradition at the end of class, were able to recall aspects of the Mbube tradition, the song's geographic origins, and the song's historical and political contexts.
Leading students through a performance of their own composition, which they based off of a piece of visual art!
FEAP 1f: Musical Composition via Visual Art
In this cumulative lesson, students were able to use knowledge and cognitive processes accrued from previous classes to compose a short song based on a piece of art which they were assigned. This lesson actually took place over the course of two class periods; this structure ended up working incredibly well, and gave students plenty of time to be creative both in their choices of instrumentation, and in their actual compositional choices!
At the beginning of the lesson, led a short review session with students, asking them to recall the different activities we had done in the last two classes regarding the association between visual art, music, and emotions, identifying how one feels about certain pieces of art and music and why, and how this emotional appraisal process can influence the creation of new art. After practicing metacognition and recalling how students went about quantifying and compartmentalizing their emotions, students were shown three new, contrasting pieces of art: The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh, Night Attack on the Sanjo Palace by Anonymous, and Flower by Takashi Murakami. Students were given a moment to observe each piece and decipher the emotional content of each, before being split into three different groups, with each group being assigned one of the three art pieces. Each group of students was given approximately 10 minutes to discuss with each other and their teacher/group leader how the art made them feel, and how this could be translated into music; we used the guiding question, "If this piece of art was a movie, what would its soundtrack sound like?" to scaffold students' ideas and understanding. Each group of students then went to the back, and individuals spent time experimenting with different instruments, sounds, and timbres, before picking an instrument to play that they feel is in appropriate alignment with the mood and aesthetic of their assigned art piece. This process can be the end of class one, as students may take quite a bit being creative in deciding what instruments they feel best represent their art piece. After this process is complete, teachers sat each group down and had each student or group of students with similar instruments create an ostinato that they felt matched their piece of art. Each student/instrument group composes an ostinato, and then students decide what order to build these ostinati on top of each other, until students have put together a short song!
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I feel as if this lesson is incredibly important for a variety of reasons. Primarily, I believe that students using music and fine art to help themselves to be in touch with their emotions and facilitate their social and emotional development is incredibly vital, especially in a world where so many grow up feeling unequipped to handle their emotions. This issue is especially exacerbated by the lack of socialization that these students have experienced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Helping students to catch up on the development of these crucial emotional skills of self-awareness and self-management in any way possible is so vital right now, and so I feel that lessons involving SEL concepts such as these are incredibly relevant and appropriate. This lesson is also quite significant because I feel as if there is a lack of teachers that feel equipped enough to teach music composition lessons, ESPECIALLY in the general music classroom/with younger students. Many feel that activities like these may be too complex for students to understand, too overwhelming for students to handle, or too lofty in terms of one's expectations for their students. The success of this lesson, however, proves that students of any age are capable of composition, and, in this way, serves to advocate for a more comprehensive diversity of instruction that provides students with a sense of efficacy and trust in their abilities as young musicians. Putting this trust in students is made easier by facilitating composition lessons that do not require Western notation! By breaking out of our preconceived boxes, such as associating composition directly with the use of Western notation, I hope to lead the charge in the music education community for implementing creative, fun lessons like these; especially in combination with all of the music technology we have at our fingertips via phones and other handheld devices, these lessons are truly the future of music education!
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This lesson aligns with FEAP 1f ("develops learning experiences that require students to demonstrate a variety of applicable skills and competencies") because it truly synthesizes all of the skills that have been asked of them thus far. Students must utilize: their ability to perform vocally and instrumentally (on guitar, keyboard, and other classroom instruments, all practiced in previous classes) with correct notes and rhythms; the knowledge and cognitive processes engaged in order to emotionally classify the art and music in the ways that they did; their abilities to listen critically as to recognize musical occurrences and concepts in music; their abilities to think creatively "on the fly"; and, quite importantly, their ability to collaborate with one another and be open and accepting of their peers' ideas and interpretations. All of these skills, which have been developed in previous lessons, come to the table as students are asked to work together to come up with an original composition that aligns aesthetically and emotionally with a piece of art. This lesson is built to be cumulative in this way, and the end product truly showed off all that the students knew. What a great way to close out our time at Frank C. Martin K-8!
Two Teaching Video Clips: FEAP 3e and FEAP 5f
FEAP 3e: Analyzing Art Inspired by Music: An Exercise in Synesthesia
This video showcases an excerpt of the second lesson of my curriculum unit that my co-teacher and I developed, which focuses on the link between music, visual art, and emotion, with the end goal of reinforcing Social-Emotional Learning principles, and encouraging the facilitation of students' social and emotional development. When you press play, you will have just missed me discussing with students the association between a beautiful jazz guitar-and-voice song, and a painting by Henri Matisse.
I go on to talk about the way in which Matisse stated that the improvisatory nature of much of Jazz music inspired many of his artworks, influencing which colors, shapes, mediums, and textures he chose to use. We then arrive at the beginning of this video, where I give a short lecture on the concept of synesthesia, taking the unspoken emotional, sensory experience that Matisse described and putting it into words. Talking about how synesthesia involves the entanglement of the different senses in the mind's eye, I prompt students to imagine how feeling temperatures when you hear sounds, or experiencing tastes when you feel something, or even hearing sounds when you look at something, might affect one's perception of the world, and more specifically, one's perception of music and art, and, as an extension, how this influenced perception might influence an artist's creative process. Then, I tell students that it's their turn; now THEY are going to be the artists! I present "Claire de Lune" by Claude Debussy to them, and, after providing blank pieces of paper and utensils, prompt them to use what they've learned about their own emotional reactions to music, their emotional reactions to art, and the relationship between the two, as well as their knowledge of the concept of synesthesia to draw what they hear and feel while listening to the piece. As this activity ensues, you can sees my co-teacher and I walking around the class and informally assessing them, making sure students are on task, and seeing if anyone is confused or needs assistance. As I walk, you can hear my asking guiding questions like, "Do you think the piano is pretty? Do you think it's overwhelming? How does that translate into what you're drawing, what colors you use?" and, "When it gets faster and louder, how does that make you feel?"
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This lesson aligns with FEAP 3e ("relate and integrate subject matter with other disciplines and life experiences") because it does just that; by asking students to consider the reasoning behind the emotions they feel towards works of art and music, the are forced to reflect on their own life experiences and analyze what in their life leads them to feel a certain way, or have a certain opinion on a subject or piece of media. Further, by having students share their own internal emotional observations and perceptions with the class, students learn to be accepting and open to hearing opinions and perceptions based in the personal experiences of others. Additionally, there is of course the integral element of this lesson that is the connection being made between music and visual art, through which I have actively influenced the subject matter of my content area with another discipline, related them to each other, and expanded upon this linkage, urging students to look within themselves to assess, qualify, and appraise their emotional reactions.
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The greater significance of this lesson is quite similar to that of the above composition lesson, in terms of the social-emotional goals that both wish to achieve. The curriculum which both of these lessons came from emphasizes social and emotional development goals, and utilize the 5 SEL competencies to help students to achieve social and emotional development goals. Particularly in this lesson, students participate in Social Awareness, and Self-Awareness.
FEAP 5f: A Young Conductor’s Guide to Arm-Swinging
This video showcases my original lesson that introduces young ones, ideally 4th and 5th graders, to the fundamentals of conducting! When you press play, you will see me demonstrating two different types of articulation with my voice: staccato and legato. I ask students what differences they perceived between the two different noises I made, and allow them to share their thoughts with the rest of the class, using their astute observations to guide the conversation towards the main idea at hand.
After allowing students to share, I begin to further explain these two contrasting musical articulations. As I do so, I associate imaginative descriptors to each articulation and sound; I also associate each sound and therefore each type of articulation with a graphic that aligns with the characteristic of the sound made/the way in which the articulation functions in music. Specifically, I associated a "spikey dot" with "spikey, short, separated staccato," and a "round/smooth dot" with "long, connected legato." The last association made is a kinesthetic one. After familiarizing students with each articulation and its graphic, I ask students to make a short poking motion with their fingers, and the short staccato noise with their voices, every time they see a "spikey dot" from this point on; similarly, I ask the students to make a flowy, gliding motion with their fingers and arms, and the long, connected legato noise with their voices, every time they see a "smooth dot" from this point on. After helping students to make this wide variety of sensory connections, I ask them to help me to play a connect the dots game, prompting them to connect dots 1 and 2 in a vertical pattern with their hands. First, I ask them to look at the "spikey dots", and prompt them to use their staccato noises and poking motions to connect the dots in a vertical motion. After some practice with this, I ask students to transition over to the "smooth dots"; they are making the same pattern with their arms, however this time they are using their legato noises and their gliding motions to connect the dots. We practice doing both types of articulation, in time, for about thirty seconds each.
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This lesson aligns with FEAP 5f ("implements knowledge and skills learned in professional development (e.g., a methods course) in teaching and learning process") for a number of reasons. In creating the original graphics for this lesson, I have embedded aspects of several different pedagogical methodologies and practices into the activity. Most apparently, I use the numbered spikey and smooth dots to indicate articulation and placement of notes in time. In doing this, I am teaching a musical concept without the use of standard Western notation; this comes directly from Anton Bruner's hierarchy of music teaching. Via the spikey and smooth dots, I am incorporating Bruner's Iconic level of music teaching, which utilizes visuals and abstractions, rather than notes and staves, in my lesson. One could also consider my incorporation of body movements into my lesson to be a manifestation of Bruner's enactive level of learning, in which students use the body to convey musical ideas. My instruction process is also incredibly multi-modal, as it associates cognitive, kinesthetic, and vocal processes, demanding use of students' senses of hearing (articulative noises), touch and proprioception (characteristic hand movements), and sight (spikey and smooth dot visuals). Using all of the senses to facilitate student learning in this way is incredibly Dalcrozian in nature, as those who practice Dalcroze believe that music learning is done best when one goes beyond just using their sense of hearing. The rhythmic, characteristic movements students associated with each type of articulation is also very evocative of Dalcroze Eurythmics, which emphasize moving the body to music in ways which are natural; by associating body movements with the musical feeling that each type of articulation provides, students are moving their bodies in ways that are directly informed by music.
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The importance of this lesson in a greater context is rooted in a reason quite similar to that of the above composition lesson; that is, that even students in general music classrooms should be able to learn about "higher up" musical concepts such as composition and conducting! We place these musical activities up on such high pedestals, reserving them only for those we consider to be musical geniuses and prodigies, when in reality anyone of any age can learn to compose and conduct! To compose is simply to write music; to conduct is simply to lead a musical experience. When we deconstruct these concepts into their simplest parts, we learn to stop gatekeeping these activities from the general public, and begin to make them more accessible to individuals such as our students! Exposing students to these activities as viable activities opens up brand new doors in terms of career options in the word of music as well; no more are the only options to be a performer or a teacher. Now, students can aspire to write the next great movie score, or direct the pit orchestra in a Broadway show!
Reflecting: Teaching Lab Activities Report (FEAP 5e)
Follow along on my journey through my first experiences in teaching general music by observing my detailed thoughts and reflections over the course of 10 wonderful class periods which I spent experimenting with lesson ideas, refining song teachings and genuinely having fun with my students at Frank C. Martin K-8 Center!
Curriculum Design
Music and Art: An Exploration of Emotions
(FEAP 1b)
Throughout our time at Frank C. Martin K-8, my co-teacher and I have curated an SEL-based curriculum comprised of several consecutive, sequenced lessons that focus on the connections between music, visual art, and human emotion. Click below for an in-depth view of our curriculum!
