December 15, 2016
Quite often, we as people confuse hearing with listening, and do not realize the mass difference between the two. As Pauline Oliveros says in her speech, “To hear is the physical means that enables perception. To listen, is to give attention to what is perceived both acoustically, and psychologically”. “Performance space is as important as instruments and voices”. I think that this is very important when dealing with performing as a musician, and even when being an audience member. Many times we hear sounds, and completely zone out and forget to listen to the actual subject. To listen, means to hear but at the same time, comprehend and process the information as well as remember it. I believe that listening is a skill that is processed with time. What I find the most interesting is that the space or location one is given depicts how one will perceive sound in that environment. Pauline mentions in her speech that she had to learn how to listen while being in the cistern. She was forced to improvise and listen to the other singers in the space. This is especially important when applying this to the real performance world. For example, there is a mass difference between hearing the other parts in an ensemble, where the sound merely buzzes your ears, and actually listening to the music itself, which involves all of one senses; feeling the music, processing it, thinking of the different emotions and ways it makes you feel, as well as any connections you can make with the performers on stage or the piece itself. Personally I find this very interesting and it amazes me how our mind and body are so similar but yet can completely disconnect with each other at times. Our body engages in sounds while hearing but our mind is what incorporates our senses into listening. “The ear hears, the brain listens, and the body senses vibrations. Listening is a lifetime practice that depends on accumulating experiences with sound”. The cistern is a space that forced Pauline and her Deep Listening Band to listen to each other and feel each other’s senses in order to make music. This reminds me of what we did in the workshop of Carlos Abril when we turned the lights off, gathered in a circle and began singing randomly, improvising for ten minutes straight as the time went on. It was the most astounding thing I have ever experienced in my life. We started off completely random (no pitches set, nothing), and then began to listen to those around us, using the space we had by adapting to the room’s acoustics and creating different harmonies, dissonances, intervals etc…. To me that is the importance of listening over hearing. Listening shows engagement, it shows interest in the context of what you are hearing. Listening engages all aspects of our body and activates our mind. Without listening, our ears simply buzz, and nothing gets processed. Who would want to just hear noises and sounds and not actually interpret music, feel music and most importantly, connect with the music. To me once you feel that connection, you have completely mastered the art of listening.
0 Comments
Saturday November 19, 2016
Today we had the opportunity of meeting Carlos Abril, a part time elementary school teacher from the United States. He came to introduce us to an interesting aspect of teaching that I had not taken the time to think about before. “What can you teach a class that you only see once a week for one hour?” This question more so can be applied to a substitute teacher or even any music teacher who is not given the opportunity to meet with their students on a daily basis. When I first walked into the room, the classroom was set up in a lecture type way and I for sure thought that for the whole day we would be sitting in our seats listening and taking notes on how to teach students. After the first ten minutes we were asked to stand up, get out of our seats and sit down on the floor in the middle of the room. We were then told to stand up and begin simply walking around the room as a group of young adults and actual teachers, and in some cases complete strangers to us. As the morning went on we began to repeat Carlos and imitate different patterns such as hand clapping, foot stomping, partner interaction, etc... I was quite confused at where he was going with all of this, but as the day went on, I began to put all the pieces together. Each activity led to another, and I began to realize where he was going with his exercises. When you are given a class for a short amount of time, who are not your regular students, the last thing you want to do is throw theory at them. After a class full of theory, most students would leave and not want to come back. In most cases, because of this, students grow up having less interest in music, whereas if they were given a little more freedom for experimentation in instruments and different genres, the theory aspect of music could slowly creep in once the students gains a strong interest in the subject beforehand. After sitting through this workshop I do agree with this way of teaching, and would want to incorporate hands on and interactive ways of teaching music so that I can create a welcoming, educational and most importantly, fun and well-rounded classroom environment. Yes, I do believe that without theory your students will not be able to read music, so I do think that that is essential, but throwing theory at students right off the bat and forcing them into complex rules and material is going to result in the student losing interest in the subject and slowly gear away from that path. I am not saying that after elementary school or high school every student should go on and pursue music as their number one career choice, but I would hope that every students would leave my classroom, and keep music apart of their lives whether it be their main focus in life or not, music should never be forgotten. It is in my mind, life`s cure and a perfect hobby for any student to pursue. In my classroom, I would pursue a very similar teaching method of that of Carlos Abril. Depending on the age group of students, in this case very young elementary grades, I would prefer to have my students engage in hands on musical practice, improvisation, experimentation, and allow them to explore a type of instrument or musical genre they wish to try. Once the student has their mind set on something they enjoy doing, after an appropriate amount of time, I would introduce some theory so they have an idea of the material and basics of music. In my mind, when dealing with a classroom that you only have for a small amount of time, my ultimate goal is to make sure that every student leaves my classroom feeling like they have accomplished something great, something new, something special, that they will be able bring home with them, and hopefully make them want to come back and pursue something they enjoy doing. That in my eyes, is an effective way of teaching. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xiz8CnP1-0 – bad teaching techniques In the School of Rock, the teacher would be a good example of a “bad” educator. The teacher arrives to his class hungover from the night before and has a bad attitude towards his students. He consistently speaks negatively and refuses to follow the school curriculum. He downgrades the classroom structure and rules that happen throughout the school. The teacher is ill and in a bad physical state so he decides to give his class recess to pass by time. Good educators no matter what stress they deal with, do things for the better of their students and not for themselves. The students do not gain anything from recess other than having a short break. Instead of asking the students for their name, the teacher calls them out by giving them inappropriate nicknames for a classroom environment. He asks the students questions on which music artists they are interested in, and disagrees with their responses because he personally does not like them. A “good” teacher respects the opinions of their students disregarding their own beliefs. We live in a world with a lot of teachers that are similar to the one in the “School of Rock” specifically in this scenario. Many examples of bad teaching are depicted upon the teachers’ attitude in the classroom and towards the students. Some teachers have certain ways of teaching and do not adapt to all of their students learning abilities. As an educator it is important that you take into consideration all of your students. Whenever there is a problem it is the educator’s responsibility that by the end of the class the student understands. If they do not still understand a certain concept you must make time to meet with the student and change the way you explain things to them. Hopefully by then the student understands. Many teachers do not have the time to accommodate all of their students and this is why many students struggle. A “bad” teacher is one who does not care about the students’ needs and this is evident in the “School of Rock” with the teacher’s attitude. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9RDfv5OAZQ – good teaching techniques The teacher Mr. Wright in this YouTube clip seems like an outstanding teacher. He seems to care a lot about his students by wanting them to be interested in his classes rather than just talk and make his students take notes. He believes in applying academics to real life events and having his students take place in hands on activities which seems to have a greater effect on the student’s ability to learn. Mr. Wright is an actual teacher from Louisville Male High School, United States. He is loved by all of his students because of his desire to make the classroom environment a welcoming and caring place. Later throughout the video we learn that Mr. Wright lives with his wonderful family, his wife his daughter and his son. But we learn that Mr. Wright’s son was born with a disability. This teacher is truly inspiring. He is a well-rounded teacher who not only is there to care for his students academically, but offers his own personal support for any students in need of someone to talk to. There are a lot of students who come from broken homes and have a hard life at home, making it challenging to stay focused in school, so I think that it is very important that teachers are there to support their students and offer help when needed even outside of the classroom. That not only makes them a better teacher but a better person. Knowing that there are people out there in the world that care about you when times are tough is the greatest help, and Mr. Wright is truly amazing for offering that support. Having a son who was born with a disability was heart breaking to Mr. Wright, and not fair to his son for having to deal with these social and physical challenges daily. Despite his own personal situation with his son, Mr. Wright maintains such a positive lifestyle in the classroom and is a strong man and father at home. He is someone who his students greatly look up to. He treats his students with respect and really tries to teach them the importance of love and happiness in life. I think that all teachers need to be like Mr. Wright from this YouTube clip. It is important for students to feel welcomed in a classroom environment. We live in a world where grades mean everything to students which add great amounts of stress, leaving them caring less about learning and gaining knowledge on the actual subject material. Teachers need to be more understanding of students learning abilities and that every student learns differently. Just because a student may not achieve 88% in all their classes should not depict there placement in society as being considered a “dumb” student. Mr. Wright seems to only care about the students desire to learn and not about which students get the highest grades. Grades should not matter. Knowledge should matter and the amount of it that students care about and should attain in a class should matter. What it Means to be “Normal”
Series, D. Think Everything’s “Normal?” Then It’s Time To Reconsider And Promote A New Narrative Of Disability. Retrieved from http://organizingchange.org/think-everythings-normal-then-its-time-to-reconsider-and-promote-a-new-narrative-of-disability/ Critical Race Theory
Terms
|