The Kodály Concept. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.oake.org/about-us/the-kodaly-concept/. I am reflecting on a reading about Kodály that I had just read for my elementary methods class. This is a technique to help students connect to music and enjoy it through folk songs and solfege. This method was designed to enrich the lives of those who participate in it. It helps students also work towards producing their product of music on their own so they can feel fully accomplished and developed by the end of the lessons. Zoltan Kodály is a Hungarian composer/polosphere who had a connection with folk music who invented the Kodály method. Some practical uses for this method would be games based on repeating solfege based games. This would also include some games that have students take folk music and perform it in small groups with each other incorporating different musical aspects. Some challenges is that since this is folk music that is based on other countries sometimes you might be lacking context for the lesson. This might also result in the topic being highly inappropriate for the class. This also mostly is based around western notation so learning music of non-western traditional culture might be difficult. The issues with finding a folk song that might be offensive results in possibly altering some aspects of the tune. This being if possible, I would mostly recommend you just find a new song. If we were to adapt a folk song, I would start with the lyrics. Changing just the troubled lyrics can be difficult because it still is almost exactly recognizable. Other than overhauling the lyrics I would recommend adding other harmonies or even altering some of the chords a bit. This runs into another issue of can the class do harmony read the new chords. Those are some of the first points I would recommend approaching when meeting this issue.
0 Comments
Chapter 1, Hammel, A. M., & Hourigan, R. A. (2016). Winding it back: A framework for inclusive music education. In A. M. Hammel, R. A. Hickox, & R. M. Hourigan (Eds.), Winding It back: Teaching to individual differences in music classroom and ensemble settings (pp. 1-14). New York: Oxford University. The Winding sequence is the process of designing a learning experience for every student individually within the classroom. Winding starts with winding it back, this processes is taking something and decreasing the steps or simplifying the process so the student can learn at a level that best challenges them. For example a student is having trouble clapping half notes. Having them subdivide by clapping them on quarter notes or even eighth notes in order to understand its full value. This processes also includes winding it forward. This is the process of taking the next step in a lesson in order to challenge a student who is already meeting the general goal of the lesson before it even starts. An example of this is having a student clap hemiola rhythms that land on off beats while other students clap the straight pulse. A question I have about the winding sequence is how do you wind without making a student feel ashamed of their placement to their classmates or even superior? What do I do if a student does not accept the winding processes I created and they just want to keep attempting to do the original lesson that's very obviously too hard for them. When reading about Lena and her struggles in class within chapter one. I would think that a student being asked to not play one of the notes and rests for it would be demeaning to them. Everybody wants to be at least average so winding back can sometimes make a student feel like they aren't performing well even though they might be performing amazingly according to their self development. Chapter 2, Hammel, A. M., & Hourigan, R. A. (2016). Winding it back: Setting the Tone for Inclusive Music Learning. In A. M. Hammel, R. A. Hickox, & R. M. Hourigan (Eds.), Winding It back: Teaching to individual differences in music classroom and ensemble settings (pp. 14-45). New York: Oxford University.
This chapter covers a lot of basics for setting your students up for success when it comes to an ensemble setting. In one section it talks about patterns and the process of using these patterns that naturally come through solfege/ rhythm syllables. These can help build students into later classes where they would be able to apply these tools and learn from them but also transfer them to other things music related outside of performing such as composing. This chapter covers a lot of points on young children having an endless outlet with their free imagination. With just one little discussion young minds can reinvent the wheel with cool fun new ideas and games. In one section of this chapter it says the students “Strive to construct their understanding of the world around them. Thus, the natural approach for children is to use their bodies and sense to playfully interact with their environment” (Hammel 2016). We are cheating young minds of a fruitful and encouraging musical experience when we don't challenge them in the ways they specifically need it. They have the energy and creativity so why don't we use it? (Allsup & Baxter, 2004)
In Allsup they're three types of questions that it is narrowed down to when choosing to ask students to answer. These three can be narrowed down to open, guided, and closed. Open is a question where the topic can go almost anywhere, for example “What's your favorite type of music?” or “How much music do you listen too?”. The next one is guided where you are targeting a more specific area, for example “What happened at the end of the piece?” or “How many people want to take a solo?”. The last one closed is very forward for example “What is the name of that note in measure 3?” or “What are the types of accent that clarinets have in measure 20?”. The next section that is covered is shared between analytical, judicial, and creative question frameworks. Each of these challenges the student to think in a different realm of creativity. The first one Analytical would be “What is the bass line?” For the next one Judicial It challenges students to reflect on specific aspects within the activity. For example “How did you decide you wanted to shape your solo?”. For the last one Creative this one is very broad and can result into something specific or even more broad than you would think. An example of this would be “What parts did you like about the music?” For the last part I would like to talk about why it is important to ask questions in your experience. Questions and the variations of questions not only challenge the students to individually find a path to the answer they are looking for, but it also allows the students to have a more long term effect on the lesson plan. Maybe you ask a question that really stuck to a student, something that they couldn't figure out. That student might go home and find out on their own time with their own energy the answer to that question. That is just the beginning to a lifelong musical experience. That student then can find more questions or even more points on the topic of what was covered that interests them. They may even bring you back a question the next day to share with the class, at this point the learning process is feeding into itself and my purpose as a teacher is complete. If I were to just tell them how something is they aren't taking the time to understand the why and the how of what it is to be the way it is. This does not only not fully inform the student it encourages them to lead a life of following and doing what they are told without any context. Students need to have relevant knowledge and factual understanding to fully understand a topic within anything. Now our job as a teacher is to make sure the questions we are meaningful to their experience. I need to make sure that the question I am asking is not only valuable to the topic but valuable to life and many other topics. I need to have a plan that if that student answers that question that I don't just give them a pat on the back and a sticker, I bring them a bigger fish. This being because students are hungry for knowledge and sometimes they don't even know it until they are poking around on their phones sitting on the couch at home. |
Brandon RhinehartHere I will be posting reflective essays and philosophical documents and other assignments Archives
December 2019
Categories |