The strands of activity in the music lesson

Listening/Responding

/

Performing

/

Composing

  • Exploring sounds
/
  • Singing songs
/
  • Inventing sounds

  • Responding to music
/
  • Playing instruments
/
  • Shaping sounds

Pages 5 – 7 of the Primary School Music Curriculum

Music as an individual and shared experience.

Imagination, sensitivity, inventiveness, risk-taking, enjoyment.

Explore with guidance. Sounds and sound combinations.

(Music = sound organised in time.)

Collaboration – Concentration – Discipline – Self-esteem

Develop the whole spectrum of the child’s intelligence.

Listening and responding develops skills in discrimination, concentration and reflection. Awareness of cultural environment and ethos. Styles of music.

Composing entails creating mental images of physical objects which produce instrumental sounds – long and short-term memory is developed. Spatial reasoning is enhanced. The ability to visualise, to think in abstract form enhances problem-solving skills.

Performing produces a sense of achievement, technical and artistic skills as well as muscular co-ordination and sensitive movement. Skills of perseverance and self-discipline.

Student teachers are expected to plan and present music lessons which develop what children know, understand and are able to do within the following concepts:

timbre – duration – pitch – dynamics – tempo – texture – structure - style

The musical elements
Timbre: / Tone quality of voice or instrument
Duration: / Pulse and Rhythm - length of notes
Pitch: / High and low; tonic solfa
Dynamics: / Loud and quiet - volume
Tempo: / Fast and slow - speed
Texture: / Lines of music and how they interact
Structure: / Beginning, middle, end - form e.g. ABA
Style: / Combinations of the above - history

In junior classes working with the concept of timbre, teachers might design activities so that children develop:

a skill: / to be able to handle and control instruments;
knowledge: / to name instruments and relate them to their sound;
understanding: / to make judgments about sounds in order to combine two or more instruments to create an effect.

In senior classes working with the concept of texture, students might design activities so that children develop:

a skill: / to be able to sing or play in a group and place their part within the whole eg a round;
knowledge: / to know that this is called a round, to be able to describe it and identify other music as a round;
understanding: / to be able to create a simple round using five notes.

Do not teach a lesson on standard notation during your first TP (teaching practice). Focus instead on graphic forms of notation.

Buy 2 CDs that you can use in your own class.

NB! Active music-making.

Pages 8 – 11 of the Primary School Music Curriculum

Active music-making

Enable the child to gain first-hand experience of what it means to be a listener, performer and composer in the world of music.

Divided into four levels

  • Infant classes
  • First and second classes
  • Third and fourth classes
  • Fifth and sixth classes

Explore the three strand units and the sub-units each year.

Ensure continuity, depth and breadth.

  • Content is based on previous music experience.
  • From the known to the unknown.
  • From simple to complex.
  • Sound before symbol.
School Music Programme
Assessment
Formative (continuous assessment?) and Summative (tests at the end?)

Integration

Integration with other subject areas.

Linkage within music itself.

Language

Language is developed through music;
musical knowledge can be developed through language.

ICT (Information and Communication Technologies)

Programs that encourage active listening, musical playing and meaningful composing.

Glossary on pages 92 – 94.

eg Ostinato, Pentatonic, Time Signature, Tremolo...

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