The Arts in Childrens Lives

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The Arts in Childrens Lives

• Music as play

Fragile by Sting From the album All This
Time A M Records 493-180-2
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NYCOS experience

• Group discussion (maximum 6)
• Think about the range of activities you were
  doing last day
• List the benefits to you from this experience
• List the benefits to the community / society of
  arts organisations such as NYCOS
• Can you list a few other Arts organisations that
  work in the community

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• Feedback your groups responses

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NYCOS experience 2

• In what ways does music enhance essential
  learning?
• How have you been involved in music making at
  school, home, society?
• In your observations of lessons, how have
  children been engaged in music in the classroom?
• Benefits of arts/music across curriculumList.

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• Feedback your groups responses

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The Tweenies BBC

• Early Learning Goal Creative developmentThis
  goal covers areas such as, music, art, dance,
  role-play and imaginative play. Stimulating
  environments should be provided for these
  creative activities to take place. There are some
  great features on the Tweenies site to promote
  creativity by singing and dancing along to songs.
  Why not encourage your child to sing along to
  some of the Tweenies' songs, make up dance
  routines, or even create a great rhythm with
  Milo's drumkit? Learning the words to songs helps
  encourage language development as children begin
  to recognise words and letters, which is
  reinforced by rhyme.
• http//www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/tweenies/songtime/in
  dex.shtml

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Creativity

• E. Paul Torrance on Creativity
• Suppose that you were asked to identify
  exceptionally gifted children in your classroom.
  If you are like most people, you would use the
  wrong set of criteria to arrive at your
  decisions. When asked to identify creativity in
  their students, most teachers name children who
  perform well on structured, academic tasks
  children who are compliant and well-behaved and
  those who are advanced for their age (precocious)
  (Nicholson Moran, 1986).

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• Based upon his professional lifetime of
  research on creativity, E. Paul
• Torrance (1969) suggested a very different
  set of characteristics that were associated with
  creative persons. These creative behaviours
  include
• Intense concentration becoming completely
  absorbed in listening, observing or doing
  something while appearing to be relatively
  relaxed.
• Active involvement playful, hands-on
  participation in a task voice and manner
  communicate interest and excitement.
• Expressions of individuality a tendency to
  challenge ideas of authorities and trust ones
  own ideas even though they sometimes seem wild or
  silly.

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• Careful observation taking a closer look at
  things, seeing beneath the surface and expressing
  curiosity.
• Interesting connections - seeing relationships
  among apparently unrelated ideas combining or
  re-combining elements to create new forms.
• Insightful commentary raising interesting
  questions and offering penetrating insights.
• Self-initiated learning - working at a task
  without prompting from adults and persisting at
  a task even when it proves difficult.

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CBeebies Advice for Grown Ups

• At primary school, children should be given the
  opportunity for performing, composing, listening
  and responding as well as learning about the
  elements that go to make up music.

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References

• http//www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/tweenies/songtime/in
  dex.shtml Visited 16 September, 2003.
• Jalongo, M. R. Stamp, L. N. (1997) The Arts in
  Childrens Lives Aesthetic Education in Early
  Childhood. Boston, MA Allyn Bacon.
• Nicholson, M. W. Moran, J. D. (1986) Teachers
  judgments of preschoolers creativity. Perceptual
  and Motor Skills, 63, 1211-1216.
• Torrance, E. P. (1969) Creativity. Belmont, CA
  Feron.

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Web links
http//www.nycos.co.uk/index.htm
http//www.ltscotland.org.uk/5to14/
http//www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/makingtracks/
http//www.acblack.com/musicexpress/
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Exploring materials

• Looking through books, collections of materials
  forSongs, games, rhymes, activities

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Making interesting connections
Using the yellow paper as a starting point, use
your collective imaginations to Brainsail away
from the starting point. In the example you
will hear and see, we have taken the yellow paper
to be reminiscent of high stalks of yellow
grasses flowing in a light summer breeze. We then
found a Japanese poem (haiku) that fits with this
theme and then used some musical building blocks
to create a little song. We make use of small
repeating patterns (ostinato), word rhythms,
pentatonic scale (set of 5 notes) and the idea of
writing rhythms down inside boxes (rhythm grid).
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Summer grasses All that remains Of soldier's
dreams
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(No Transcript)
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Briefing for next session
In your groups, decide on a response to the
yellow paper stimulus. Prepare to devise a
musical activity that your group can develop the
next day. Begin to think about links with other
areas of the curriculum. Refer to the indicators
of creative behaviour if necessary. Bring
materials to the next class which will help you,
such as poems, pictures, books, CDs, curricular
material. What are you doing in other classes at
the moment? Is there a connection? Decide who
will bring what. This is not random, but
planned. During the next session you will have
some time to develop your ideas further and to
prepare a short presentation to the rest of the
class which covers more than one area of the
curriculum. You could make links within or
outwith the arts or possibly both.
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Music to think to

• Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence
• Ruichi Sakamoto