Chapter 15 Reflections

A lot of these lesson I can see myself using in my classroom. The Melody jumble lesson specifically I feel is good for students to be allowed time to figure out notation software. Working with younger students means that I sometimes have to break things down a little more so that they will understand and more importantly so they don’t become overwhelmed. This Melody Jumble assignment is important to me so that I don’t accidently leave a student behind assuming they can figure something out. I also enjoyed the theme and variation assignment for students to allow their creativity to be expressed. The students are able to practice using the notation software and the students who have mastered that can practice exploring different sounds and practice varying an already existing melody. Having an already existing melody gives the students parameters to guide them while letting them explore passing tones and maybe even accidentals. I could even adapt this assignment by asking the students to write in solfege as lyrics to help them recognize how the patterns in solfege relates to a song in a specific key this can support their sight reading in a way and help them to become more comfortable reading music.

I do agree that using notation software can help keep students focused on the creativity vs. the care it takes to write on staff paper by hand. Students can get caught up on so many things from drawing a “perfect” treble clef to making sure the note head is on the line not in between the lines and a perfectionist student might have trouble moving past these details. As a teacher, I not only want to see that they can notate the music, I also want to see that they can understand form, apply musical concepts of passing tones or follow instructions in starting a Melody with do and ending with do. Notating music on software allows students to quickly show that they can place symbols in the correct place and moves the class forward into more creative and constructive assignments.