Music Approaches

Orff Approach
Out of the three videos I found the Orff Schulwerk video is my favorite. In the video the children are sitting in a circle and they are picking up a stick and placing it in front of the person beside them. They are chanting along as they do this. They play a rhythm on the ground while continuing the chant. This video display’s Orff’s approach to music when the children were rhythmically speaking the chants and rhymes. It also displays this music approach when the children accompany body rhymes by clapping. This video shows coordination and in the video you can see a few children whose sticks go flying or are out of reach, those children still continue to sign the chant. This video is a lot different from the video I picked for Dalcroze Eurthymics. This video had a structure where the kids constantly singing and moving the sticks around creating a beat. This video has no hand signs following the scale like the Kodaly video I found does. The similarities in this video and the Kodaly video is that in both videos the students are singing and moving in some form. The Orff approach to music is beneficial because it involves active music making and creative active.

Dalcroze Approach


When I picked this video I originally thought this was a good one because it shows multiple sections of a lesson and events that the kids have done around this musical approach. Now when I’m trying to write about it I should have just picked a video showing one approach but oh well I still like it! The section that stands out most that I noticed showing this approach was the various tempos being played on the piano and how the students responded to it. With the upbeat faster tempos the students had more energy and would run around faster, the slower tempos the students walked or skipped to the tempo being planned by the piano. The ear training in this video demonstrating this method was when the students moved with their bodies up and down representing ascending and descending. What was different about this video compared to the Orff video was this video had various sections and showed more movement in the classroom done by students this video also had students in various sections follow the scale by moving their bodies up or down. The Orff video didn’t have any type of scale to it. Dalcroze approach is beneficially because it leads to more complex responses involving dual coordination.

Kodaly Approach



This video demonstrates the Kodaly approach in various ways. The students use hand signals and follow the scale when they sing in certain snippets. They also practice the hang gestures for the scale when siting in the circle. The work on movement while singing and passing a ball. Just like the Orff video where everyone is passing sticks they are passing a ball. The Dalcroze Eurhythmics video also had a section showing children passing a tennis ball to each other while bending their knees to keep the tempo. This approach is important because it allows students to be able to read music fluently and these students will be able to transfer their music reading from voice to instruments.   

Teaching a Dance

   

Recorder Assessment

Instrument Families

Woodwinds

So I am showing my inner geek this week with theme songs from my favorite movies. This is a flute piece playing the Jurassic Park theme song. The flute is an example of the woodwinds family because sound is made by blowing across a surface. If you look at the musicians mouth she is blowing across the mouthpiece directing her air into the instrument producing sound. 

Brass

 

Trumpet, trombone, baritone, tuba, and French horn are part of the brass family. Brass instruments make sound when the musician’s lips buzz with air against the mouthpiece producing sound. If you look closely at the musicians mouth you can see that his mouth is held completely different than the flute players. He is making the buzzing need to produce sound on this instrument.

Strings

String instruments include a guitar, harp, banjo, violin, or even a cello. The strings produce sound by being plucked or bowed. In this video the musicians is using a pick and producing sound.

Percussion

This video is Travis Barker from Blink 182 playing a marching snare drum. The last family and my personal favorite is the percussion family. Examples from this family include the timpani, triangle, drums, cymbals, tambourine, or even the glockenspiel. Sound from these instruments are made by hitting, striking or even rubbing the instruments. The above video shows Travis Barker using drumsticks to produce the sound.

                                                                          

Singing a Song

 

I have tried and tried to upload a singing video, finally I got one out of like six I made on various computers, phones etc. This is not the best one but its the only one I can get to upload!

Good/Bag Singing

This is my example of bad singing technique. She gets a 100% for effort. For starters she doesn't pronounce the words in the song properly. Being a famous song you have to be able to pronounce the words. She was leaning and some what hunched when singing which wouldn't allow her to breath properly. If you look at some points it looks like she is gasping for air. She sounds very nasally and doesn't appear to be breathing through her diaphragm or keeping her diaphragm tight. She also sings notes that are not even on a scale, Simon says at the end of the video she is making up notes and trying to hit really high notes that don't exist. She is forcing the song way to much.

 This guy Noah, is my example of good. He sings "Sexy and I Know It" by LMFAO. If you have no clue how the original song sounds. Please stop what your doing and listen to it then Noah's version. I love his version so much more. He is sitting playing the guitar but he uses proper breathing techniques. He doesn't gasp for air or force the song. He doesn't try to sound like the original artist. He makes the song his own. He has a deep voice and uses good dynamics when singing. He's eyebrows are also up as they are suppose to be.  

 

 

Reflection of "Fishy Fishy"

For the poem I did “Fishy Fishy.” After reviewing the two videos I now have confirmation that I did convert the poem correctly into “ti-ti” and “ta.” Even with my music background I was unsure that I had done this correctly. The aspects of the assignment that I did well in was explaining to the viewer’s how I would introduce this poem in an elementary classroom setting and the volume on my video was loud and clear. The aspects of the poem that I could improve on is following through with what I said. I explained how I would introduce the poem in an elementary school setting but when it came down to applying it, I skipped right through all the steps. I could also work on making better eye contact. There are a few times I looked over at my computer screen to the poem because I did not memorize the poem all the way.

Poem-Fishy Fishy

 

Excuse the late night post, my dogs kept barking at me during the day when I was attempting to do this so I waited till they fell asleep in their dog bed. They hated the constant beat, you would have thought I was torturing them or making them take a bath!

Blog Audio Check

Rhythm

Rhythm is the uniform or patterned movement of sound or speech. It is easiest thought of as the heartbeat to music.

1) What I liked about Miss Taylor's presentation was the information was presented in a clear, organized manner. She wrote down the definition and symbols in big print on the poster boards, and I especially like how she demonstrated a short rhythm for the audience to first hear then repeat. I enjoyed her demonstration because it was short and to the point; it wasn't drawn out or complicated.

2) The only thing I didn't like about the presentation was they way she was constantly facing and speaking towards the poster cards. When she was showing the pattern it was necessary for her to face the cards but there just wasn't enough camera contact with her facing forward.

3) I do believe it was a example of good teaching. The information was clear, her voice was loud, she was clear in explaining, and she had various ways of explaining rhythm.

4) She presented the information the following ways:
        - Definition
       - Demonstration involving listening
        - Visuals
        - Repetition
         - Demonstration to follow along to
This is important because not everyone learns the same say. Some children have to physically participate to understand while others can listen and can understand. By presenting the information in various ways it helps everyone learn and doesn't just target one typical type of learner.

Introduction

Hello! My name is Maria Harless (Lawson). I got married over two years ago and it still blows my mind all the places you have got to go to change your name. As you can tell I still haven’t made it to West Virginia State University to update my name. Ooopes my bad. Maybe before I graduate I will finally get it fixed. Truth is I didn’t update my license until this past June because going to the DMV is an eight hour event and you need a butt load of documentation. I am from Charleston, West Virginia and have lived here my whole 26 years on this earth. When my husband and I got married I moved to a wonderful little place that no one has heard of called Holly Grove near the Fayette County/ Kanawha County boarder. This is NOTHING up there but it is pretty peaceful and quite. The best part is no unexpected visitors from parents. Yay for that!

I have recently switched from a general science secondary education major to an elementary education major. I know it is a drastic change but I official found my calling this summer when I worked for AmeriCorps Energy Express program. It was a literacy/nutrition/writing program to elementary school children

in rural areas of the state.  I fell in love with working with little kids and just hope I am doing the right thing. From this course I am hoping to gain a better understanding of the importance of music in elementary school and the benefits that can come from music being taught at a young age.

I myself love music any kind and all kinds. I am a percussionist so naturally I love loud instruments. I was in band all through middle school and high school. In marching season I was the lead snare drum player and my last year I switched it up and became a marching bass player! I attempted to play the saxophone and that lasted one hot minutes and that was it. I am not good with wind instruments or any types of horns but bring me a marimba or timpani and I can come up with a good beat. I love to sing. Let me clarify that. I love to sing in the shower and my car but not in front of anyone because I can not carry a tune at all. My concerns about this course are this recorder business and the panicky feeling of having to sing in front of anyone. I have heard from other students who took this music class that they had to play the recorder and sing in front of the class. Those are two things I am not going to be very good at but I will try my hardest!

I am very passionate about animals. I love them! I have two fur babies named Maxwell and Abigail. Max is a six year old all white boxer and Abigail is a two year old brindle boxer. They are my world. The other thing I am very passionate about is traveling. I love to travel. On June 09, 2011 I went to New Zealand with a program called International Student Volunteers or ISV for short. 

This is me in Fiji at Island Bounty Resort. I will never forget these eleven people I had the pleasure of meeting through ISV.

I spent six weeks in New Zealand planting trees, and doing conservation work. I then spent two weeks traveling the north island and the south island. At the end of that trip with ISV I spent 6 days in Fiji. It was amazing. I have been to Mexico, Canada, and China. I love learning about new cultures and traveling. It fascinates me.