My personal aim is to create an intergrated arts program that involves visual art and music. I hope the class is enjoyable and I feel it will be if the children are enjoying what they are doing. By the end of the element music classes I aim to have children being able to discuss music verbally, improving listening skills, communication, concentration and social skills.

  

Activity Title: Visual Art and Music/ Dynamics and Tempo

 

Who: Group composition age(s): Prep class age 5 years

 

Group size: 2 children at a time

 

When/ Time frame: Warm up with a discussion first:10 min group time discussion and then about 10 mins for the art piece to be created (20 mins) this will depend on the interests and motivation of the children and their conversations being flexible within their learning is the key.

The children are familiar with this piece of music as it has been used for musical exposure in previous lessons but the piece will be played again and again until they are comfortable to move to the activity in groups of two. Whilst the two children are at the easel the remaining class group will engage in musical activities on the interactive white board. We will listen and respond to the video again and share and discuss ideas about the elements we have discussed in previous classes. This will be child-led and will go where ever the children direct their discussions.

 

Why: Objectives: the children will be developing in the following areas; artistic skills and knowledge - musical

* Physically - by using their hands aholding a paint brush and making marks on the paper with different strokes to suggest dynamics and or tempo  

* Emotionally - (intrapersonal) by developing confidence in their ability to transfer their knowledge onto paper

* Auditory perception skills - (musical) by listening to the piece of music and explaining what they have heard 

* Cognitively - (cognitively) by making cpmparisons between dynamic and tempo and being able to discuss the such differences within the musical      piece

*Socially - sharing their own ideas with one another and working together to discuss their art work

Interact with their peers, teachers in a range of contexts, make and share performing and visual arts work that communicate, observations, personal ideas, feelings and experiences and learn about ways of making personal repsonses to arts work.

 

This is lesson is linked to the Australian Curriculum (VCAA) and the following aims to develop students;

* confidence to be creative, innovative, thoughtful, skillful and informed musicians

* skills to listen, improvise, compose, interpret, perform and respond to music expessing what they enjoy 

 

Where: Set up: this will be set up in the designed art area. This area is visually pleasing to the eye, with an array of musical instruments and posters of music elements, dance and movement posters, and an emotion/feeling poster. These posters support literacy development but also have pictures alongside the word. For example; there may be a picture of a love heart to represent 'beat', draw it 2, 3,4 times so the children can learn how many beats there are, a see-saw to represent 'pitch/high and low, a snail and a car for 'tempo', gradually becoming faster, patterns of long and short to represent rhythm, with short and long silences, perhaps illustrated on the board with couple of dots and then a long line and the word next to it for visual representation, this supports the different learners within the group. 

 

What: Materials and resources:  2 child size easels.

An assortment of cloured paints, brushes and large pieces of paper, and smocks.

Small table with 2 head phones and a CD player and the piece of music (Tchaikovsky-YouTube Symphony Orchestra, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBRqkoHhe)

 

What to do: As a class group we will share our prior understanding of the 2 musical element; dynamic, loud and soft sounds and tempo fast and slow at teh beggining of the session. Tempo involves the speed of the steady beat, children can now progress with this element as they have previously have had experiences/ actvities in beat awareness.

I will use the language of music always whilst engaing in conversations and discussions with the children. The video clip will be played to listen to and then respond in group discussions of the element. 

The elements poster wil be displayed in the music area for the children to refer too, and also on the interactive board with some simple descriptions and drawings will be written to remind them of the meaning of the dynamics and tempo. 

Discuss with the children that loud and soft (dynamics) are very different to slow and fast (tempo).

 

Explain to the children, for example when they walk it can be really fast but it can be very quiet or you can walk really slowly but be loud.

For the children to have a better understanding of this sit in a circle and pass an instrument around for children to have a turn with the music.

Play the piece of music and have the children tap softly when they hear the music at  p  (very quiet) and loudly to the music played at  f  (very loud).

Ensure the children have an understanding of the differences before they begin the visual art activity. 

The teacher will explain that there is no right or wrong way, it is their interpretation of  the piece of music and it will be heard differently by us all, therefore it will look different on paper to that of their peers.  

 

Set 2 children up at the easel at a time and when they are both ready they can begin listening & responding through the head phones to the piece of music, self- expression through visual art.

 

What to say: I will explain to  the children to paint as they listen and respond to the dynamics and tempo of the song. For example, big paint stokes or wriggly lines may be when they identify and hear the different dynamic/tempo element. They can change the colour of the paint to make this more obvious or keep it the same, whatever they feel like doing. The less examples you give the children will be better, not a reproduction of what you have said.  It is to be an individual journey of exploration and creativity through the arts. This activity is for them to express themselves freely.

 

Transition out: After the children have completed their art pieces have them share their art with the group .Provide opportunites to view, discuss and respond.

Hang the posters in the music area under the element word; dynamic and Tempo as a visual art exhibition for parents and members of the school community! 

 

 

ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT

 

1. Are the children able to confidently listen and respond to the piece of music?

 

2. Are they able to share with the class group their art piece and explain the brush strokes relating it to the element of dynamic and tempo? 

Explaining; I did this because I heard ......or the music/ tempo was .....

 

3. Do they use the correct terms when speaking? 

'The words fast, faster, stop, now slower and slower assist in developing a musical vocabulary. Four -five year olds can learn that the fastness and slowness of music is tempo (Harris 2009, p.73). These words should be repeated often with this musical activity. 

 

EVALUATION OF TEACHING/REFLECTIONS

 

'Through reflecting on and responding to their own artworks and the work of artists, children develop the skills of talking and thinking (and later, reading and writing) about the arts. When they engage in art criticism, children describe, analyse, interpret, judge, challenge and value artworks and artistic ideas' (Gibson & Ewing 2011, p. 135).

It may be difficult for children to recognise 3 elements at a time, but some may be able to. Allow children the choice and expressive freedom to do it how they like. There is no right or wrong way aslong as they can share it with the group after the activity and use the correct element terms.

 

'Valuing - in this approach, the teacher tells the students that she likes or even loves their art. However, Schirrmacher (1998) warns 'rewarding' and encouraging the child for processing is very different from putting the teachers' seal of approval on the finished product' (cited in Gibson & Ewing 2011, p. 137). 

 

When th children can identify the1 or 2 of the elements this will direct my group/individual planning. Asking myself; do I need to spend more time with 'dynamic' or 'tempo' or can I move onto beat. 

 

This activity is not to produce something marvelous to look at, it is through the process that the learning is achieved, by listening and responding to the element heard. This further develops cognitive processes. Responding artisictically to the piece of music is always an individual interpretation and exploring responses. The teacher nor the child needs to be able to read music or have the ability to play an instrument. This is a medium to provide something concrete for the educator to access and talk about. It is best not to give the child specific instrucions on how to art piece should look.

This connects to other parts of the curriculum, visual art, responding to only what the children hear relating to music. 

According to the Victorian Curriculum (VCAA, 2015) achievement standard for prep/foundation year the students will be able to explore contrasting sounds and improvising with them. Students can describe music to which they listen too, identfying what they enjoy and why. This also links to music and movement and how their hand moves when they are making their markings on paper through listening and responding.

 

Where to from here: Intentionally we have looked at dynamics and tempo in this lesson, when the children have an understanding of dynamic and tempo other elements can be introduced.  We will listen to the same piece of music again and look for other elements as we progess through the unit. Furthermore, I personally have enjoyed learning and researching 'Incredibox' a website where you can make your own pieces of music. This links to other areas of the curriculum such as IT and creaive arts and adds another medium to the lesson. 'In addition to bringing music into our homes and classrooms, we all realise the potential of technology and its unpreceded influence upon the future. Research demonstrates that ideas are the most valuable of assets and that technology can play a role in freeing the imagination' (Daignault 1996, cited in Harris 2009, p. 118). I will incorporate 'Incredibox' within my future lessons. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Gibson, R & Ewing, R 2011, Transforming the Curriculum through the Arts, PALGRAVE MACMILLAN, South Yarra, Victoria.

 

Harris, M 2009, MUSIC AND THE YOUNG MIND: ENHANCING BRAIN DEVELOPMENT AND ENGAGING LEARNING, MENC: The National Association for Music Education, United States of America.

 

Tchaikovsky-YouTube Symphony Orchestra, YouTube, Symphony Orchestra, 2011, retreived 27 January 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBRqkoHheBw

 

VCCA, 2015, The Victorian Curriculum Foundation - 10 (F-10) The Arts: Introduction. Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority, State Government of Victoria, 2015, retreived 9 Febraury, hhtp://victoriancurriculum.vcaa.vic.edu.au/the-arts/introduction/about- the -arts