Journal #10

This past week we continued our focus on binary music form. Once again that means a song that has two distinct parts to it. We danced to a song called Mariposa to help us further understand what binary form was. A few other binary songs that I am familiar with are Daft Punk: Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger, and Sublime: What I got.

On Wednesday we read the book "The Sleeping Bed" and incorporated percussion instruments with the book. We were able to use repetition and work together to make a pretty good sound with our percussion instruments. Friday we learned two new notes on the recorder, C and D, and we used our recycled instruments to make a beat with the book "Thunder Cakes."

These concepts are important to learn and practice because it helps us get better for when we teach it later. If we are going to teach anything about melody, beat, or anything music related it is almost a necessity to practice those skills first so you can be more effective on teaching them down the road. By learning more creatively, you create the chance that more students will be actively involved in your classroom.

Journal #9

This past week in class we focused a lot on the principles of timbre and how it deals with music. we learned that timbre is the tone and color of the sounds we hear and experience. We also now know that different instruments produce different sounds of timbre. We also focused on the musical concept of binary. It means that the music or song is composed with two distinct sections and sound. To illustrate this to us we used the song Hit the Road Jack. We continued reviewing the differences of forte and piano.

This past week in class we read a book called "The Listening Walk". The book focused on different sounds we can hear if we just take the time to stop and listen to everything around us. Adam read the book to the class and we all took turns making sounds to suit the needs of the word we were hearing. We learned that it is beneficial to take songs that already exist and turn them into a totally different song that is related to the material that we are focusing on. To further help us to understand what binary means with music, we listened to hit the road jack and danced to the two distinct differences the song had to offer.

All of these music skills and concepts are relative and very important to learn because it helps us strengthen our knowledge of music. We can now use these tools that we have learned to help further our musical experience and in turn expand the minds of the younger students we will all soon be teaching.

Journal #8

We learned a few different ways to go about teaching dynamics to young children. We talked about our multicultural reports but unfortunately I was absent that day and will need to figure out what it is exactly that I missed. Through stories and musical notes we learned how to effectively teach dynamics in different ways, and we learned the note F# on our recorders.

For our dynamics example the entire class took turns telling stories through music. Our story involved a walrus named Wally and he sang quietly and then loud to explain dynamics. We also used methods of rhythm and beat recognition through clapping and slapping our knees to the beat. Using music notes is a very effective way to help students visualize and fully understand the importance of dynamics.

We need to learn different strategies for teaching dynamics because everyone learns differently. Some people are visual learners while others are hands on learners. Teaching in multiple ways helps ensure that each child has a firm grasp on the concept you are trying to teach them, and it makes it that much more enjoyable for everyone.

Music is an important tool that every person, adult or child needs to understand. It is a very effective way to teach a lesson and can help people to be more creative and exploratory.