Week Three

03/14/2019

The positive impacts of short term music tuition on the fine motor skills of children in this weeks reading demonstrates the significance of music education to children and its ability to improve skills in multiple areas of their life, indicating that a more extensive music education could continue and further develop these benefits for children.

I think that music education and tuition is also beneficial to students through its focus on the individual, as I’ve learned that it requires students to build a rapport with their students, and understand them as individuals in order to use the most appropriate teaching methods. This is further emphasised in Pam Burnard’s Teaching Music Creatively (2017), which also highlights the importance of ‘real world practice’, in the form of experiential learning, performance opportunity and formalised learning. Both these readings emphasised the importance of knowing and understanding individual students and their needs, and catering to them by using teaching methods that are appropriate and tailored to each student (otherwise called differentiation).

Burnard, P. (2017). Teaching music creatively. [Book chapter]. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.13166

Martins, M., Neves, L., Rodrigues, P., Vasconcelos, O., & Castro, S. (2018). Orff-Based Music Training Enhances Children’s Manual Dexterity and Bimanual Coordination. Frontiers in Psychology, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02616\

Week Two

3/7/2019

The Richard Gill video was a good introduction to Orff Schulwerk and a good opportunity to see it in action and see its impact on the children in the class in real time. It was interesting to see Richard using Orff techniques even when simply interacting with the class. This included using simple and very straight forward instructions (“Watch”. “Listen”. “Please sit”.) He also kept their attention by whispering, and by giving the students individual roles. I thought it was also interesting to see the reactions of the teachers afterwards. I really agreed with Richard’s statement, that the way to learn and understand music, is by making it, and composing it yourself, which I’ve learned is typical of Orff Schulwerk from the following articles and sources (http://www.ancos.org.au/pages/about-us/what-is-orff-schulwerk and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmaq06mT6ts) ANCOS. (2019). What is Orf Schulwerk. Retrieved from http://www.ancos.org.au/pages/about-us/what-is-orff-schulwerk Gill, Richard. (Richard James) (2000). The creative music classroom with Richard Gill. MLC School, [Burwood, NSW]. What is Orff Schulwerk? (2014, March 29) [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmaq06mT6ts.

Week One

2/28/2019

I think James’ video highlighted the impact and significance of technology in music education, but also the broadness the term ‘music education’. Normally I would associate the term ‘music educator’ with a classroom music teacher, or a peripatetic music teacher, however it occurred to me while watching the video that James was educating his audience about music through the use of technology, and also by allowing them to learn by doing, and composing music themselves. Furthermore I realised that music education is not confined to learning about classical music, but expands to all genres and styles, including the digital music James was demonstrating, and that by exploring the music and culture of our students, we can make their music education more relevant and interesting to them. During the lecture we discussed Orff Schulwerk and its benefits in teaching music, especially with regards to primary students. I thought that the idea of teaching music aurally was a really suitable for younger musicians who might not yet be proficient in reading music. James also pointed out during the lecture that music education was valuable not only for the sake of learning music, but also because of how music impacts other areas of education, which I later learned was due to its assisting in the development of the prefrontal cortex, and also in improving mental health (as seen in this article https://ab.co/31a1htc). I’ve always believed that music education is an important part of the school curriculum, and this lecture not only affirm this belief but intensified it, and makes me think that a thorough and rewarding music education should be afforded to all children. Collins, A. (2018). Music education helps improve children’s ability to learn. Retrieved from http://education.abc.net.au/newsandarticles/blog/-/b/2974240/music-education-helps-improve-children-s-ability-to-learn?fbclid=IwAR33gwM-WzPeD8bpLhr7FDwkF_cZv4PaKiqQPHvqv0DSyXmpbp1WI5M-TJc Humberstone James. (2016, May 2). The Science of Dubstep | James Humberstone | TEDxOxford [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8s8e8JdGCc