Victor Stec Nov.

25, 2018

Campbell, P.S., & Scott-Kassner, C. (2013). Music in childhood: From preschool through the elementary

grades (4th ed.). Cenage Learning.

Chapter 8:

Which of Miss Hailey’s three musical activities was most musically valid or pedagogically sound?
Explain.

While I found Miss Hailey’s progression of musical activities adequately organised; warming students up
with a rhythmic repeat after me exercise followed by a beat activity and finishing with a composition
activity, I found one exercise more effective than others. The composition activity is one that I viewed as
very effective in allowing students use their musical creativity, nevertheless, the method in which Miss
Hailey introduced the activity lacked sufficient instruction. First off, I believe students would have been
better off having had used descriptive words in depicting each scenario (mountains, river, volcano) as to
provide them with an effective idea of distinguishing each soundscape from one another. Consecutively,
the teacher should have walked from group to group, monitoring and offering suggestions to students
about how they could accurately illustrate their scenarios. Had she incorporated these elements, I
believe she would have achieved a better result with her students composing better quality
soundscapes.

If the children were more, or less, skilled, would it influence the success of the lesson? Could Miss
Hailey have intervened at any point in developing the children’s instrumental skills?

Yes, had Miss Hailey’s students been more experienced using all instruments, I believe all of her planned
activities would have achieved better success. During her lesson, in my perspective, she could have
incorporated more time with developing her student’s instrumental skills. The overall scenario described
elements of struggle for students in each of the three activities. The presence of struggle signifies a
teacher needing to step in and help students which could have easily been done, for example, in the
“repeat after me activity”, where the teacher could easily view students struggling in regards to rhythm
and technique. It is then that she could have addressed correcting mistakes made by students.

Would it have been possible to involve the children in more singing, moving or listening along with
their instrument playing? How? Why?

It is my belief that the educator could have effectively incorporated more elements of movement and
listening to her lesson plan. In terms of them both, I find the possibility of associating previously selected
recordings with specific scenarios for the third activity could have been integrated with a moving
activity. Therefore, students would listen to a recording which the teacher would have associated with a
scenario while likewise using actions/movement to depict the music. This would set up students for
success by offering them better ideas of what each scenario could sound like. After composing their
soundscapes, students whose turn it was to perform could play while those who did not, could move to
the sound of the music. Allowing students an opportunity to move to both recordings associated to
various scenarios as well as their own personal soundscapes in relation to a scenario sets up an
Victor Stec Nov. 25, 2018

opportunity for reflection in terms of how their movement to the recordings was different to that of
their composed soundscapes.

Chapter 9:

How would you justify spending class time having children listen to recorded music?

Recordings offer a great resource in teaching students the sound of proper tone that is if a quality
recording is being used. A teacher should always make sure to find the best possible recordings as to
help demonstrate to students the most accurate sound produced by whichever instrument/s the
educator has chosen to highlight. This could easily be done with if a teacher pre-plans listening examples
to share with students. Allowing students to choose music recordings is a possibility although they
should be first viewed separately by the teacher before presenting it to a class as to ensure the
presentation of good quality recordings. Nevertheless, if students have had a reasonable amount of
experience listening recordings of high calibre, I would recommend possibly doing an activity where
students could listen to two independent recordings, one being of good and on of bad quality, which
they would later need to distinguish in regards to the sound of them both.

How might a teacher respond to older elementary children’s requests to bring pop music recordings to
music class?

From what I have been taught, allowing students to bring pop music recordings to a music class is
acceptable although they must first be screened by the teacher as to verify whether the music and lyrics
of a song are acceptable for listening in class. If openly presenting such an idea to a class, I would
suggest ensuring specifying guidelines in regards to what type of pop songs could be used as to minimise
the amount of inappropriate recordings given to a teacher by students. This would hence prevent the
exclusion of songs chosen by some students, as they were unacceptable for class, therefore promoting
inclusivity of all students’ musical choices.

Discuss with others in your class the validity of the following statement: “A teacher can make children
like music that the teacher likes.”

Educators serving as role models to students have a strong influence with respect to students’
preferences of music. Much of a student’s yearly life is spent around their teachers so it would come no
surprise to me if an educator were to effect a child’s inclination to different music’s. Nevertheless, I feel
like it is an educators responsibility not only to expose students to their preferred music types but
likewise different styles and genres of music as to help students independently decide their most
desired type of music.

Which approach(es) to listening outlined in this chapter seem to hold the most potential for having
children own a piece of music and why?

In my perspective, I found the use of deep listening techniques or of student construction of listening
experiences to seem ideal with potentially having the greatest affect in making a child’s piece their own.
The techniques that encompass these two approaches deeply involve students in independently
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exploring and representing music through vast amounts of repetition. The chapter offers some
techniques, one being called “Attentive Listening” which features the use of diagrams to highlight
musical structures such as, points of interest in a piece, motive/themes, dynamic changes etc. While
although I see the value of analysing the structure of a piece, I viewed this technique to be less
interesting and enjoyable to students, likewise offering students less potential in making a piece their
own. By contrast, I believe the “Engaged Listening” technique is a far more appealing method as well as
an effective manner by which students could develop a deeper relationship with a piece of music. The
technique involves students tapping a beat, playing an ostinato or singing a melody of a given song. To
achieve doing any such activities, students must be deeply attentive to the music they listen so as to
recognise any repeated patterns. With many listenings, students would have the capacity to engage in
performing both rhythms and melodies associated with the song. It is the explorative manner by which
the “Engaged Listening” technique uses that I believe is best suited in offering students the potential of
having them own a piece of music.