A Note on Teaching Music

In previous posts I believe I mentioned that I am teaching 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 5^th and 6^th grade music. Two months ago, I would have said I had bitten off a little more than I could chew. Teaching music was difficult not only because it required me to tap into a much different skill set, but also because, due to the relaxed nature of an elective subject, class misconduct evolved from quiet murmurings between students to outright fights between students (at one point escalating to something that resembled a sort of Ultimate Fighting match… kicking above the waist included). Fortunately, as I have solidified my style and authority as a teacher, my music classes have become less daunting and, at times, quite fun. Nina, who taught music last year, spoke truthfully when she said that although music was often the most difficult class to plan, it was often the most rewarding.

The program’s purpose for having the fellows teach classes other than the typical English class is to give students a more “rounded” education. So often in China classes such as music and art are set-aside for the core subjects: Chinese, math and English. For example, the fourth graders at Yongfeng rarely attend music class because their music teacher, who is also their Chinese teacher, uses the class time to further review Chinese content. As such, the importance of our elective classes as a creative outlet/escape is greater than ever.

This semester, the goals for my music classes have been to 1) provide students with an opportunity to get those creative juices flowing and 2) in the spirit of the liberal arts, help students realize that studying music does not just exercise artistic skills, but skills from many different subjects as well.

The pictures and clip below are from a project I did with my 1^st and 2^nd grade music classes. After a few weeks of studying the notation and value of quarter rests, whole, half, quarter, and eighth notes, I asked the students to write their own four beat compositions. Rhythm, note value in particular, can be easily related to math problems. For example, a half note (2) + a quarter note (1) + a quarter note (1) = 4 beats. Therefore, part two of the project required students to correspond their notation with a numerical note value. The enthusiasm and success of the project was exciting for the students and myself. Enjoy the pictures and clip! 

Second grade rhythms:

http://youtu.be/aHLJ7g7mVEU

First grade rhythms: