Music literacy encompasses three parts, similar to language literacy: sound, read, write. It's not a straight forward line in language or music. We can learn to write music, or write about it, at the same time we're learning to make music.
Let's look at the complex skills needed to write about music. Just like when a student is read poems, and reads poems to themselves, that doesn't mean they know how to write a poem. A student might be able to identify the sound of instruments, or play a passage forte, but might not be able to actually write about it.
There are many ways to develop this musical literacy. Filling in the blanks is a simple way to guide students to the aspects you want them to focus on. It gives them a framework of what might be significant, or worth further investigation. It can be superficial (basic stats, genre, etc), or it might be much more involved, getting into the students' emotional responses to different music.
Superficial should not be equated with meaningless or of little educational value. It can be a great way to cover a wide range of music that may not fit with the rest of your long range plans, or as introductions to unfamiliar music. It allows students to focus on the music with a purpose, rather than on their emotional response. It can be a routine way to start each class--5 minutes of listening and writing can get students settled and ready to focus. The music you choose can be related to the lesson's content (a sort of "minds on") or random. You can have a student's choice day, reward good behaviour by letting a student choose, or even have a whole class of just listening to student's suggestions. Please have students submit choices ahead of time!
As students get comfortable and competent with answering questions such as genre, significance, dates, you can start adding in more details depending on what you want to accomplish. Perhaps you want to examine each of the elements of music, or perhaps the historical cultural significance. Listening to music does not need to be a passive activity. They probably do that a lot, outside of school. We want students to become conscious consumers of music so we need to actively teach listening skills!
If you're in need of quick, print and go, listening organizers, I've got you covered! I offer a free listening journal on TPT (click on photos):
One for general listening (same as free resource), Black History Month Musicians, and one that has questions and space for each of the six music elements.
Comments
Post a Comment