Within my music classroom it is important for my singers to grasp the knowledge of basic music ideas and then build on top of those to understand and interpret even more elaborate ideas. That is why it is very important for them to master the concept of elaboration. Within music, songs usually have a theme, or a "motive." In my ensembles it is important that my students can identify a theme in their music and see how it is broken down, or elaborated on in different sections in the choir. This makes it easier for them to learn their music quickly. It is also important for me as the conductor, to break down the music and show them the puzzle pieces that build on top of each other. My students must also learn to master elaboration when studying music history. Music history is a long series of elaboration where styles build on top of each other and act as the foundation for the next period of music. My students will need to know how Baroque music paved the way for Classical music and how Classical music paved the way for Romantic music. If they can recognize the underlying characteristics of each period, it will help them when interpreting the music we study from each different period.
If I go back and look at the struggle I was having with my advanced ensemble there are some different ways I could have handled the situation. I should have quickly changed my method for teaching the music when I noticed my ADVANCED ensemble was struggling to learn it and quickly losing interest. To keep them engaged with the music, I should have started out by identifying the main theme of the piece, or the "hook" that I knew would buy them into loving the song, even though it was difficult. I should have also made sure that I was not spending too much amount of time every rehearsal wearing them out and drilling the song they disliked most. Instead, I could have broken it up into smaller pieces, taking time away from that piece to work on pieces they enjoyed. Maybe if I would have followed these procedures I could have avoided the major behavior problems caused by a lack of interest in the material.
Elaboration will be so successful for your students' learning! To be able to understand how the music builds over history will surely help them to learn their music more quickly and more accurately. I enjoy hearing about the procedures you can learn to take as a music teacher. The idea to break the difficult song that they disliked into small pieces and allow them to work on things they enjoy will build their motivation and probably help them to learn the difficult piece more accurately.
ReplyDeleteThis was a really interesting post! I would have never guessed that so much went into studying music. The steps you listed seem like they would really work for learning new music. Although I know that it may be hard to motivate others to learn about something from 'the root' your explanation made it obvious that it will only be beneficial in the long run.
ReplyDeleteYour reflection makes it obvious that you have put a lot of thought into figuring new ways to make the music more approachable to your students. Beginning with the most interesting part sounds like a great idea! 'Hooking' your students in to the most interesting part will likely make it feel 'worth it' to learn the entire piece.