Week 2 What Did We Do?

This week in Music 373, we learned two very important musical concepts steady beat and rhythm, we also began to learn how to play the recorder. The different concepts were easy enough for me to understand because of my extensive musical background. In the recorder lesson, we learned how to play the first three upper register notes B, A, and G. The two musical concepts were taught to us by having each student write a rhyme and say their rhyme to a steady beat and a rhythmic beat. This way of teaching the two concepts was perfect for students to grasp the meaning of the two different musical concepts. The way we learned how to play the three notes on the recorder felt like we were in a Suzuki style class since we were not able to see the music written out.
In the class we had this week about rhythm and steady beat this was shown to us by having us experiment and find the best way to strike the hand drum or hit the rhythm sticks together. For the recorder lesson, Dr. Wang showed us the note that we were supposed to play. Then she let us hear how the note was supposed to sound and finally we were allowed to play the note in four short notes. This type of teaching would be ideal for younger students who are interested in playing music before they are able to grasp the concept of reading the notes on the page.
It is important for us as future educator to learn these concepts so that when we are teachers we will be able to teach to children who learn in all different ways. For children who learn best through seeing the information they have the written aspect of subjects like math and social studies. For children who learn best through hearing the information they can learn through the use of music in the subjects that they may find the most boring. These concepts also can help us as teachers understand the different reasons for the learning style differentiations. After we learn the different musical concepts, we will be able to use them throughout our teaching careers in many of our subjects.
It is important for younger students to begin to learn musical concepts at an early age so that the creative portions of their brains will continue to grow and create new synapses. Another reason for the beginning of music education at an early age is to aid in the learning of other subjects. The use of music in the general education classroom could liven up the boring subjects for students who cannot read very well or have problems with reading comprehension. The use of music with older students could be to emphasis different periods in history. Music can also be used to create prime conditions for learning and understanding in the students.

Children's songs I know:
Mary Had a Little Lamb
Row Row Row Your Boat
Do Your Ears Hang Low
Mulberry Bush
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
The Bear Went Over the Mountain
Are You sleeping Brother John
I'm A Little Tea Pot
Take Me Out to The Ball Game
London Bridges
Tomorrow (Annie)

Emilie

My Name Rhyme

My name is Emilie
I have a large family
When they come to see me
We'll have a little party
I wrote this name rhyme in response to an assignment for my Music 373 class.
Emilie

My Music History

My name is Emilie Mann and I am a Junior at Northern Illinois University. My musical background goes back to riding to visit my grandmother in Indiana and listening to the radio when I was younger. When I was in fourth and fifth grade I was taught how to play the recorder and I was in choir with the other kids who decided to give up recess to learn how to sing. at the end of fifth grade we were allowed to try instruments both for the band and for the orchestra. By the end of that day I had decided that I wanted to play either the flute or the alto saxophone. In sixth grade I started in the band with the clarinet just until my saxophone was ready. I have been playing the saxophone now for almost ten years. In middle school I also sang in the choir and by the end of my eighth grade year I was singing solos with some of my best friends. In high school I sang in the middle choir for two years before auditioning into the Chamber Choir, the highest choir besides the Show Choir. During that time I was also playing in the Symphonic Band and often spliting my time between the Chamber Choir and the band. I was also spending most of my time in the after school bands like the Marching Band, the Pep Band, and the Jazz Band. While I was in Choir and Band, we went to contests and often were scored highly receiving either a I or a II in all of the contests but a few. For the choir we sang a wide range of songs in many different languages. Among the languages we sang in Hebrew, Swahili, Latin, German, and Spanish.
In the first two days of classes, I found the activities refreshing since most my classes are serious and would not allow us to act like children. I thought the name learning game was a great idea especially when working with younger children, as I plan to do. I also found the activity we played on the first day a good way to make younger children comfortable when they are first starting school. The way we learned the activities was also well thought out and made the memorization of the songs easy. The use of movement in the song also would help focus the children and release their excess energy. These activities could help to keep the children from fidgeting during the regular class sessions while also helping them focus on the tasks at hand.
Emilie