This week was very exciting for me. This was my first chance to teach part of the Let's Play Music class. I got to teach about 10 minutes of the first year class (the easiest of the 3 classes). It was very fun for me to get to teach the kids. Since I taught 2 times, I really feel like the second time was an immense improvement. Practice makes perfect as they say, and even though I know all the material, it's really important to work on specific techniques for teaching. A huge art of teaching is adaptation and asking the best questions. It's knowing your audience and what concepts they struggle with. The end goal of this project is ultimately to write a beginning violin method book. So I think one of the most important aspects I should add, as I can't exactly play the role of the teacher, is to incorporateA questions to promote careful thought in the minds of those reading my methodology. Also, I believe that it's possible to create an adaptive method, a choose your own adventure of sorts that would ensure students could move at their own pace, onto topics they believe they need the most emphasis on. It's difficult to make a book change to fit the needs of students learning solely from its methodology. Nothing will ever replace the benefit of a teacher, but self teaching is possible by careful investigation.
Next week is spring break- but I will be continually practicing violin. and begin writing some of my exercises to include in the book I intend to write.
Monday, March 14, 2016
Monday, March 7, 2016
Week 4
Week 4
Violin progress is going well. Slow, but well. I assumed I would be practicing more, to be completely honest. But I am still making progress. I need to begin working on composing my violin exercises. Composing is challenging, but I have some ideas now after working on the violin for almost a month. The problem I keep facing is reconciling my mental perspective of how I should be progressing to my actual progress, which is way slow and requires a ton of work. But, I do see now that my idea for the "expert beginner" thing wasn't completely crazy. I do see a lot of improvement in my ability to begin this instrument now than if I had started it as my first instrument (obviously). But the point is that I can self moderate what kind of exercises I think would be helpful, not just going off what my teacher expects me to practice. I also have tried making up exercises. The difficulty is that, since I'm the only test subject in this research project, it's 100% subjective to my perspective.
Let's Play Music is fun as always. I am preparing about 10 minutes of exercises to teach next week. These exercises include teaching the children to Lorie is really letting me do a lot within her class and I am super glad to get a unique teaching experience. I really feel a difference in my piano teaching. I've decided to incorporate more music theory into my piano curriculum, which is occasionally difficult because I can't put all these kids through Let's Play Music. LPM really makes the theory fun and exciting, which is something I'm obviously trying to do- but it's theory. Also, I find myself approaching notes differently. Generally, I just tell the kids the right answer when they miss a note, or have them try to fix it then assist. But after watching LPM, I've found there's a better way, and it has to do with pitch relations. They do it with solfegge, but also by naming the interval between the notes in a simple way (ie baby step, skip or leap). The kids get a sense for reading the shape of the melody, which, once they find their hand position, it becomes way easier for them to play correctly. The problem I see (potentially) in this, is that there becomes less of a focus on learning the notes and that becomes a little weaker as the kids just rely on "feeling" the way the song goes based on pitch relations. To modify this, I believe it's really useful to do what Let's Play Music does and stress all the notes separate from pitch relations. But it's difficult, in an unstructured piano curriculum like I have, it's difficult to really get the bridge between notes and pitches. Still working on a solution to this, and I am super excited to integrate this concept into my violin book.
At this point, I feel like I am finally seeing a lot of benefits from doing this project. It feels like a good use of my time. Learning how to teach is a useful skill and learning the Violin is a unique challenge that I really enjoy.
Violin progress is going well. Slow, but well. I assumed I would be practicing more, to be completely honest. But I am still making progress. I need to begin working on composing my violin exercises. Composing is challenging, but I have some ideas now after working on the violin for almost a month. The problem I keep facing is reconciling my mental perspective of how I should be progressing to my actual progress, which is way slow and requires a ton of work. But, I do see now that my idea for the "expert beginner" thing wasn't completely crazy. I do see a lot of improvement in my ability to begin this instrument now than if I had started it as my first instrument (obviously). But the point is that I can self moderate what kind of exercises I think would be helpful, not just going off what my teacher expects me to practice. I also have tried making up exercises. The difficulty is that, since I'm the only test subject in this research project, it's 100% subjective to my perspective.
Let's Play Music is fun as always. I am preparing about 10 minutes of exercises to teach next week. These exercises include teaching the children to Lorie is really letting me do a lot within her class and I am super glad to get a unique teaching experience. I really feel a difference in my piano teaching. I've decided to incorporate more music theory into my piano curriculum, which is occasionally difficult because I can't put all these kids through Let's Play Music. LPM really makes the theory fun and exciting, which is something I'm obviously trying to do- but it's theory. Also, I find myself approaching notes differently. Generally, I just tell the kids the right answer when they miss a note, or have them try to fix it then assist. But after watching LPM, I've found there's a better way, and it has to do with pitch relations. They do it with solfegge, but also by naming the interval between the notes in a simple way (ie baby step, skip or leap). The kids get a sense for reading the shape of the melody, which, once they find their hand position, it becomes way easier for them to play correctly. The problem I see (potentially) in this, is that there becomes less of a focus on learning the notes and that becomes a little weaker as the kids just rely on "feeling" the way the song goes based on pitch relations. To modify this, I believe it's really useful to do what Let's Play Music does and stress all the notes separate from pitch relations. But it's difficult, in an unstructured piano curriculum like I have, it's difficult to really get the bridge between notes and pitches. Still working on a solution to this, and I am super excited to integrate this concept into my violin book.
At this point, I feel like I am finally seeing a lot of benefits from doing this project. It feels like a good use of my time. Learning how to teach is a useful skill and learning the Violin is a unique challenge that I really enjoy.
Third Time's a Charm
This whole practicing thing is finally coming together (as is my life). The internship is going great! Lorie asks for my opinion on things which is cool. She then incorporated them (which is even cooler!). I am also training my younger brother on how to teach piano lessons. So I'm teaching someone how to teach. I feel like I have gained a lot of experience just watching Lorie's methods these past few weeks.
Here are some pictures/videos of Let's Play Music that I have included so you can feel apart of everything that's happening.
Here are some pictures/videos of Let's Play Music that I have included so you can feel apart of everything that's happening.
Here are the kids, sitting on their rug and following Mrs. Lorie's instructions.
Mrs. Lorie, singing the welcome song.
Singing the "Valentine" song. "Will you be my V-a-l-e-n-t-i-n-e?" The song is designed to help the kids learn specific solfegge, sol, la, ti, and do which are "hiding"in the song. The kids get to pick out the increments they know, and sing the song again, this time with solfegge and hand signs.
Tuesday, February 23, 2016
Two Down, Infinity to Go
Well week 2 of the research project has come and gone. This was my first week attending Let's Play Music classes, as there were no class sessions this week due to illness. So, this was the really cool part. I had read all the manuals and lesson plans before attending my first class, but I was unsure of how everything was going to go down. I sat in on a total of 4 classes this week, (next week it will be 5).
So, yeah. I am really enjoying my time at Let's Play Music (provided I get enough sleep the night before). It is way more fun to sit in on the first year classes. The kids there are so excited and they have so much zeal. It's adorable. The third year is the trickiest. Being the last year, it's the time where the program really becomes exponentially more difficult. Classes are jam packed with theory and honestly, it's way harder to make the classes fun. Lorie and I both agree on this point and I think there should be another, optional year to explore in more depth the topic introduced in the third year. Can't change it now, but just my opinion.
Lorie is really amazing to watch. Each week we meet and go over the lesson plans for the week. She lets me make suggestions. I notice that the second classes always go a lot better than the first, just because she has a way better sense of the timing. Lorie was probably one of those kids who tried super super super hard in school and made sure every little assignment was done to perfect. It's crazy how much effort she puts into everything. We went over my violin lessons and she gave me some books and good practice suggestions.
As far as observing my piano students, I am now taking notes and making efforts to incorporate what I have learned in Let's Play Music to my own students. Yesterday I found myself singing the song for chord inversions. "The note above the gap's the root". It was as pretty useful way for teaching inversions. I wish I could put a few of my students back into LPM, it would be good for them to get the ear training. I also now always ask my students about staff relations and I started incorporating solfegge teaching.
Practicing the violin is very fun, when I actually do it. I'm working on a habit. Yesterday I actually set the timer and practiced for 30 minutes. It was a huge victory. I'm used to being able to play whatever I want on Piano and on Violin I have the mental capacity of a much better musician but the technical talent of a 2 year old. (This 3 year old kid is just way more adorable than me and 10x as talented).
So, yeah. I am really enjoying my time at Let's Play Music (provided I get enough sleep the night before). It is way more fun to sit in on the first year classes. The kids there are so excited and they have so much zeal. It's adorable. The third year is the trickiest. Being the last year, it's the time where the program really becomes exponentially more difficult. Classes are jam packed with theory and honestly, it's way harder to make the classes fun. Lorie and I both agree on this point and I think there should be another, optional year to explore in more depth the topic introduced in the third year. Can't change it now, but just my opinion.
Lorie is really amazing to watch. Each week we meet and go over the lesson plans for the week. She lets me make suggestions. I notice that the second classes always go a lot better than the first, just because she has a way better sense of the timing. Lorie was probably one of those kids who tried super super super hard in school and made sure every little assignment was done to perfect. It's crazy how much effort she puts into everything. We went over my violin lessons and she gave me some books and good practice suggestions.
As far as observing my piano students, I am now taking notes and making efforts to incorporate what I have learned in Let's Play Music to my own students. Yesterday I found myself singing the song for chord inversions. "The note above the gap's the root". It was as pretty useful way for teaching inversions. I wish I could put a few of my students back into LPM, it would be good for them to get the ear training. I also now always ask my students about staff relations and I started incorporating solfegge teaching.
Practicing the violin is very fun, when I actually do it. I'm working on a habit. Yesterday I actually set the timer and practiced for 30 minutes. It was a huge victory. I'm used to being able to play whatever I want on Piano and on Violin I have the mental capacity of a much better musician but the technical talent of a 2 year old. (This 3 year old kid is just way more adorable than me and 10x as talented).
Monday, February 15, 2016
Introduction
The purpose of this research project is simple: what method works best to teach individuals how to learn an instrument. By simple, I mean there aren't too many layers here. But music education is far from simple. There are many schools of thought concerning the proper way for beginning music students to pick up an instrument. (And many that say you shouldn't even begin learning music on an instrument but through other techniques). The goal of this project is to design a new method for learning the violin based on observation of the program Let's Play Music and my own piano students. Observing different methods of teaching music under while in my internship, I will then put those techniques to practice in my own practice as I begin learning the violin. I will also record the responses of my own piano students to different techniques. The goal: to asses what methods of practice can be utilized when a student is having trouble in a particular area of study.
But first, an introduction to my Internship. Let's Play Music is first a music theory course that utilizes piano playing, singing and classical music to teach young children notes and develop pitch and other ear training. Let's Play Music is the type of program I wish I was enrolled in as a child. It would have made my life 100 times easier as a serious musician. The fact that it teaches young children music concepts like chord inversion, cadences and more at 4-8 years old is honestly astounding. I am very excited to begin working with my mentor, Lorie Briggs and to see her classes. There are 3 different levels in LPM (Let's Play Music). I have the chance to observe all 3 years of the program. I am very excited to begin classes! In a about a month, I will be able to team teach with Mrs. Briggs.
The philosophy behind Let's Play Music is that there is a "Musical Window" for children learning to play the piano (but I believe it applies to every instrument).
Here is the explanation from the Let's Play Music curriculum. But, in my words, it is this. The older the student, the more educationally prepared they are. But the older they get, they also become more stubborn, set in their ways and their natural inclination for music becomes less pronounced unless capitalized upon when young. This is a really interesting concept that makes common sense, but I've never seen applied in such a manner. (I think the closest thing I really have heard about this "Music Window" is where parents make their babies listen to Mozart to make them smarter).
But first, an introduction to my Internship. Let's Play Music is first a music theory course that utilizes piano playing, singing and classical music to teach young children notes and develop pitch and other ear training. Let's Play Music is the type of program I wish I was enrolled in as a child. It would have made my life 100 times easier as a serious musician. The fact that it teaches young children music concepts like chord inversion, cadences and more at 4-8 years old is honestly astounding. I am very excited to begin working with my mentor, Lorie Briggs and to see her classes. There are 3 different levels in LPM (Let's Play Music). I have the chance to observe all 3 years of the program. I am very excited to begin classes! In a about a month, I will be able to team teach with Mrs. Briggs.
The philosophy behind Let's Play Music is that there is a "Musical Window" for children learning to play the piano (but I believe it applies to every instrument).
Here is the explanation from the Let's Play Music curriculum. But, in my words, it is this. The older the student, the more educationally prepared they are. But the older they get, they also become more stubborn, set in their ways and their natural inclination for music becomes less pronounced unless capitalized upon when young. This is a really interesting concept that makes common sense, but I've never seen applied in such a manner. (I think the closest thing I really have heard about this "Music Window" is where parents make their babies listen to Mozart to make them smarter).
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