Christian Camarao, Owen Flanagan

Teaching Children Music

Dr. Neely

30 October 2019

20 Questions:

1: What are some intrinsic values of learning music? What are some extrinsic values? A:

Learning about sight reading, learning how to keep time, Audiate correctly. Extrinsic Values,

Discipline, Work Ethic, Interacting in the context of an ensemble

2: Why is Music Education an important part of a public school’s curriculum: The extrinsic

values of discipline, work ethic, and cooperation with other students.

3: Name 4 of the National Standards for Music Education: Singing alone and with others a varied

repertoire of music, performing on instruments alone and with others a varied repertoire of

music, improvising various melodies, variations and accompaniments, composing and arranging

music within specified guidelines, reading and notating music, listening to and describing music,

evaluating music and music performances, understanding relationships between music, other arts

and disciplines outside of the arts, understanding music in relation to history and culture.

4: Principles of Kodaly: Music should be taught from a young age, Music should be taught in a

logical and sequential manner, There should be pleasure in learning music, the voice is the most

accessible and universal instrument, the music is taught in the context of the mother tongue folk

song.

5: What is the main goal of the Gordon Method of teaching music?: Audiation, or hearing music

in the mind.
6: What are some aspects of the Dalcroze method of teaching? It is a playful, experiential

method of teaching music to children through rhythmic movement, (often called eurhythmics)

ear training and improvisation.

7: What are some ways that you would get children to learn music if you were teaching in a

primarily Kodaly dominated classroom?: By playing singing games, and dancing folk dances.

8: What are some learning methods that we’ve discussed in class that use movable do? What are

some methods that use fixed do? Kodaly uses movable do, whild Dalcroze, Gordon, and Orff use

fixed do.

9: What teaching method might require specific instruments to be purchased and used

extensively throughout a child’s early education? It would fall nicely in line with the Orff

method of teaching that has children playing on the instruments from an early age.

10: What is a Bourdon in reference to the Orff method of teaching music? A Bourdon is similar

to an ostinato in that it is a repeating rhythmic or melodic line that repeats throughout a piece.

11: What does Howard Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligences suggest? That the definition of

intelligence was too limited and that a person may be intelligent in more than one door especially

strong in one area while only moderately so in another.

12: What are the three learning modalities that are still relevant in contemporary educational

practices? Tactile/Kinesthetic, Aural and Visual.

13: If someone is a kinesthetic learner, what might that mean? It means that they develop

knowledge and skills by touching, moving and physically acting rather than their visual and aural

counterparts.
14:

How might you explain this rhythm to a class of 1st to 2nd graders? Ta Ti Ti Ti Ti Ta Ta

15: Why might it be helpful for a child to create a “pitch map” while listening to music? It

displays whether or not they have an understanding of the contour of the line and that music has

nadirs and zeniths.

16: What are the three phases of musical learning as stated by Bateson and Ellis? Early, in which

music is playfully explored, Middle, in which there is a conscious attention to performance

technique and a commitment to practicing, and Mature, in which musical mastery has been

achieved and Music becomes a form of personal expression and aesthetic experience.

17: What are the four stages of Orff-Schulwerk as adapted in the U.S.? Imitation, exploration,

literacy, and improvisation.

18: Of which learning process is improvisation the ultimate goal? Why is this? It is Orff, as it

builds on all the previous skills developed, such as literacy and understanding of structure.

19: What is an effective way to get children to utilize their “Inner Hearing” in Kodaly? By

singing different, familiar songs and then singing them with solfege and rhythm syllables,
extracting and isolating a phrase from a song that works as a melodic ostinato and divide a group

of singers into melody and ostinato parts during the performance. Replace the rhythm of familiar

songs with rhythm syllables from the French Cheve system.

20: What is Gordon’s hierarchy of musical skill building, in any order? 1. Aural and oral, verbal

association, partial synthesis, symbolic association, composite synthesis, generalization,

creativity and improvisation, theoretical understanding.

Bonus: What is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?

 Land of the Silver Birch

The tonality of this piece is D natural minor/minor pentatonic, it is a simple duple meter

that can be counted as half notes or quarter notes. The piece has a range of an octave, and can

function off of a simple ostinato pattern of the root and minor seventh played in whole notes

from measure to measure. The piece has a relatively simple rhythm which doesn’t vary much

from a ta ti ti ti ti ta pattern, and the form is A B A.

In teaching this piece to a class, I would first instruct the students on how to perform the

ostinato both rhythmically and harmonically either with their voices or an Orff style

metallophone (etc). Then, while they perform the ostinato, I will sing the song to them. Then I

will teach them the song using a whole/part/whole method separating the A and B section. Then

I will have a select group of them perform the ostinato while the other group performs the song,

then have them switch.