1. What aspects of music can be learned from singing a song? Are they usually learned at the same time?
According to Hoffer, at least five things can be learned from singing a song. They include: (1) musical sound/syntax; (2) understanding musical works; (3) understanding the concepts and process of creating music; (4) skills and techniques for performing and listening to music; and (5) attitudes about music. Depending on the piece, the song can also encourage global awareness, teach lessons on language and diction, and demonstrate the stylistic elements of different eras and/or chosen by different composers.
These things are not necessarily learned while singing the song. The piece being sung is generally used as a tool for teaching the above concepts.
5. What factors influence the attitudes students have toward music and other things?
Since we all have the option to like or dislike certain types of music, there are more factors involved. As Hoffer suggests, a person cannot make any judgments about something unless we are educated about it. Whether we like it or not is beside the point—our job as music educators is to teach students what there is to know about various pieces, styles, and genres, so the students can make intelligent decisions as to whether or not they like certain music. Five more specific examples of influences that affect attitudes include: (1) familiarity, (2) the person presenting the information/action, (3) associations with other people/places/events, (4) peers, and (5) family attitudes (Hoffer, 41). Another very strong influence is the media. People often choose to listen to music or to follow trends they see in society every day, sometimes for good, sometimes not.
Project: Standard 6—Listening to, analyzing, and describing music.
1. Are the content standards the same for each of the three levels?
Yes, the standards are the same for each level.
2. If they are the same, how do the achievement standards differ among the three levels?
The level of proficiency and complexity of skills vary at each level.
3. Think of several ways in which Standard 6 (listening) could be achieved in a secondary school orchestra, band, or choral ensemble.
- Listen to music of various genres and cultures, and identify stylistic elements unique to each culture, as well as common elements the pieces share.
- Use music vocabulary to identify compositional, stylistic, dynamic, etc. elements heard in a piece of music.
- Listen to a piece and describe the emotions created by compositional elements (dissonant tones, overall mood, tempo, dynamic, etc.).
- Identify recurring passages in a piece and how they are changed to affect the emotion of the work. (Ex. Peer Gynt, "In the Hall of the Mountain King"—repetition creates suspense, tempo increases, dynamic increases.)
Are these strategies apart from your repertoire? Are they connected in some way? Do the ideas transfer to their performing and your rehearsal techniques? That's really the trick, isn't it?
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