"Music is a natural and essential part of being human, capable of invoking a variety of responses in people" (Bauer, 2014, p. 105), "
"To Music is to take part, in any capacity, in a musical performance, whether by performing, by listening, by rehearsing, or practicing. by providing material for performances...,or by dancing" (Small, 1998, p. 9) (Bauer, 2014, p. 106).
"Listening is the fundamental music skill....Music exists for hearing and listening. Such listening is a skill in and of itself, as well as a vital part of all other musical skills (Haack, 1992, p. 451).
When reading and reflecting on the meaning of these quotes, one can sense the importance of the art of listening. I find it important to teach my students how to listen actively to a musical performance.
Bauer discussed was about the difference between hearing and listening. Hearing is a passive act and listening is an active act."The ability to listen to music with understanding seems to be related to prior experiences with a particular musical genre or style"(p. 107). I find this to be true when having my students listen to music from different styles and time period. My students are more familiar with popular music, and/or classical music that is played in a movie soundtrack, than with classical music that they have not been exposed to at this point in time. When I present a song that is from a different culture my students do have a difficult time accepting the song. However, when I take the time and discuss the history, story, or culture from where the music originated from, my students are more accepting of the song.
The use of listening maps have been helpful for me to use with my students when I present musical form and musical styles. I also use white boards for students to keep tally marks when listening to dynamic changes within the context of the music. And, I have my students moving to the steady beat.
I agree that music is contextual and that most people listen to music doing activities like driving a car, exercising, drawing, doing chores. However, when I was in my teen years I would sit in a rocking chair, rock to the beat, and listen to all styles of music for hours. Now that I am adult, I don't get that opportunity to just sit and listen. I am usually doing something, but not truly listening aesthetically.
Over all, I have enjoyed reading this chapter, I found it refreshing and insightful to the art of listening.
Spotify
After reading this chapter, I reflected back on how technology is used for enhancing music listening skills. iTunes, Youtube, and Spoifty are my students favorite resources for listening to music that is not school related. I use iTunes and Youtube, but I have never used Spotify until now. I enjoyed learning how you can create a play list and share it with your students. Creating my own playlist for our Spotify assignment brought back memories of when I use to share my favorite music using a black cassette tape and cassette recorder. I would wait patiently for my favorite songs to be played on the radio, then I would push the record/play button and hoped that the DJ would not be talking during the introduction to the song. Then on the weekends, I would share my 90 minute cassette tape with my friends and they would share theirs with me. Never the less, when using Spotify, I did not have to worry about a DJ speaking over the introduction. Finally I like the idea of using a playlist that I have readily available instead of sorting through CDs when I am presenting music examples to my students. Also, the idea of creating playlists to share with my students to help prepare them for an assessment would be a win win situation for all.
Video Lessons
I enjoyed viewing the video tutorial on how to use Camtasia. I did not realized that I have "flipped classroom, until after I read pg 119. I am always using videos to provide instruction for my general music classes. There are some videos that I can not use due to poor sound quality, or some instructional videos are not appropriate for my students age group. I am looking forward to being more resourceful when creating my own video lessons for my students, and to enhance my instruction.
Bauer, W. I. (2014), Responding to music. In Bauer, W. I. (2014). Music learning today:
Digital pedagogy for creating performing and responding to music (pp.100-129). New York:
Oxford University Press.
Digital pedagogy for creating performing and responding to music (pp.100-129). New York:
Oxford University Press.
Hi Melanie,
ReplyDeleteI remember the mix tapes! People may think that 21st century technology has a sharp learning curve, but have they ever tried to make a mix tape from the radio? Your comment on the flipped classroom and videos really resonated with me. I hope to "flip" my elementary classroom much more in the future.