For a Whole Lifetime a Students Delight in Something Which Ought to Be His/Her Birthright
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1 www.onlineeducation.bharatsevaksamaj.net www.bssskillmission.in “Music Appreciation”. In Section 1 of this course you will cover these topics: From The Creator To The Listener What To Listen For In Music Becoming A Musically Aware Concertgoer How The Basic Musical Elements Interact Performing Media: Instruments, Voices, And Ensembles An Introduction To Musical Styles Topic : From The Creator To The Listener Topic Objective: At the end of this topic student would be able to: Learn the Music and Speech Develop good Listening skills Get familiar and use the Gregorian Chant Develop a clear understanding of the Anatomy of Music: A Learning Tool for Listening Definition/Overview: Unfortunately, not every student loves music. Distorted on monotonous perception of musical sound may spoilWWW.BSSVE.IN for a whole lifetime a students delight in something which ought to be his/her birthright. But some students troubles do not stop there. They are often afflicted by underachievement in other areas of listening. They are poor, one could almost say disabled, listeners. But listening can be improved and the love for music can be regained. And in what it seems to be a paradox, music can play a key role in the restitution of listening. Key Points: 1. Music and Listening Music is made up of two elements: rhythm and melody. The inner ear, being the sensory part of the ear, seems to be perfectly conceived for the integration of music. The inner ear is actually made up of two parts: the vestibular system and cochlear system. The vestibular www.bsscommunitycollege.in www.bssnewgeneration.in www.bsslifeskillscollege.in 2 www.onlineeducation.bharatsevaksamaj.net www.bssskillmission.in system controls balance and body movements. It also allows for the integration of movements which make up the rhythm of music. The way the body expresses musical rhythm is seen clearly in its response to rhythmic dance music or military marches. It is because of the vestibular system that music seems to have an impact on the body. The cochlear system enables the transformation of acoustic vibrations into nervous influx, and thereby allows the perception of melody. Music is a highly organized series of sounds that the ear must analyze. Therefore, listening to music is an excellent way for students to learn how to perceive sounds in an organized fashion, or in other words, to listen. Singing has a beneficial effect on the development of students audio-vocal control or self-listening (ability to listen to ones self when vocalizing). 2. Music and Speech The main characteristics of music - namely tonal pitch, timbre, intensity, and rhythm - are all found in spoken language. For this reason, music prepares the students ear, voice, and body to listen to, integrate, and produce language sounds. Furthermore, music can be considered a pre linguistic language since it has all the characteristics of speech except for semantic value. In order to understand the pre linguistic value of music better, consider the student who is beginning to talk. His babbling and repetition of words correspond to the scales of a musician. While repeating phonetic scales, the student integrates the sound structure of words auditorially and vocally. Later, and only later, will he attach meaning to them. Childrens songs are an excellent illustration of how a student approaches language. In these songs, the emphasis is on the sound and the construction of words which sound pleasant; they WWW.BSSVE.INare phonetically descriptive and fun. The young student is more interested in the sounds of the words than their meaning - the story told is secondary. As in the case with babbling and repeating words, nursery rhymes and students dances are also seen as games by students. Because they are perceived as games, the students motivation is stimulated to listen, learn, and vocalize. As a result, students songs act as a catalyst in this important transition from the infants nonverbal world to the adults world of verbal communication. In a way, these songs are like toys for the ear and voice. The educational value of such toys speaks for itself. All students should have access to them. Childrens songs and nursery rhymes harmonize body movements and motor functions by their effect on the vestibular system of the ear. They also increase the students awareness of his body and help shape his body www.bsscommunitycollege.in www.bssnewgeneration.in www.bsslifeskillscollege.in 3 www.onlineeducation.bharatsevaksamaj.net www.bssskillmission.in image. It is useful to view the body as an instrument which allows language to be expressed. Helping the student master the body instrument with music and song paves the way for successful language development. It is interesting to note that over 100 of the bodys muscles are used when speaking. We must also remember the importance of motor functions in writing. Counting songs illustrate that music may be considered highly mathematical in structure. Counting while singing invites the student to learn numbers in a playful way. This not only facilitates the integration of arithmetic facts and concepts, but it also allows for better awareness of space and time. When we work with a student who has problems with his multiplication tables, we suggest that he sing them as a series of counting songs. 3. The Child with Listening Problems A student with listening problems cannot benefit t from most of the effects of music that have just been described. In many cases, he does not like music, or else he ignores it. This makes sense when we know that defective listening permits only and unclear, distorted, or monotonous perception of sound. The student who is unable to listen is at a great disadvantage in the process of language development. This student will certainly have problems reading, spelling, and perhaps in arithmetic; he ma also be diagnosed as learning disabled or dyslexic. Whether this student sings in or out of tune, his voice often sounds unpleasant. It is monotonous and dissonant when he speaks, as though he were speaking off-key. His sense of rhythm is precarious and in some cases non existent. The same is true for his awarenessWWW.BSSVE.IN of time and space. He doesnt like classical music, and he especially dislikes instruments which produce high-pitched sounds. He says that the sound of a violin is like a metal saw; it hurts his ears and sets his teeth on edge. When learning how to play an instrument, he may have problems with hand and foot coordination. Just as he reads a text, he will read a music score slowly, with confusion, making mistakes along the way. At the same time, he would like to play drums ad spends his time listening to rock and disco music, which very often is too loud. Its music for the deaf! his parents say. No, it is a poor listeners music. www.bsscommunitycollege.in www.bssnewgeneration.in www.bsslifeskillscollege.in 4 www.onlineeducation.bharatsevaksamaj.net www.bssskillmission.in 4. Gregorian Chant Gregorian chant is a musical genre which has a rhythm consistent with the breathing and heartbeat of a calm, relaxed person. In other words, the rhythm of Gregorian chant parallels the physiological rhythm of a non-stressed person. During the program, Gregorian chant is used to calm impulsive, irritable, tense, or anxious students. Singing exercises using Gregorian chant are introduced during the active phase of the program. These exercises improve the quality of the voice and thus prepare the way for active sessions in which the student repeats words and reads aloud. Teaching the student to produce a good sound with his voice is the key to developing good audio-vocal control or self-listening. A student who likes the sound of his voice will be happier to use it for speech and language. 5. The Anatomy of Music: A Learning Tool for Listening The Anatomy of Music is a multimedia, interactive educational program for use with a Macintosh II computer and a CD-ROM drive. The purpose of the program is to serve as a learning tool for the instruction of non-music majors in music listening. Assuming that the learner lacks the skills needed to make use of a musical score, the program relies mainly on ostensive definitions. Musical forms are seen as abstract prototypes of whole classes of compositions. The program allows the learner to interact with the music by clicking on graphically presented form-charts. With The Anatomy of Music, students can develop mental scaffolding by conceptualizing chunks of music as elements of musical form and thus relate what is heard to the abstract prototype. It clearly has transferability and can be done without WWW.BSSVE.INrequiring an understanding of theory or harmony. Topic : What To Listen For In Music Topic Objective: At the end of this topic student would be able to: Learn about the Sound and Pitch in Music Learn about the Rhythm and Note Durations Discuss the Structures and Forms Discuss the Sounds and Textures Learn about the Repertoires and Styles www.bsscommunitycollege.in www.bssnewgeneration.in www.bsslifeskillscollege.in 5 www.onlineeducation.bharatsevaksamaj.net www.bssskillmission.in Learn about the Listening Frames Definition/Overview: This topic discusses that Perceptive listening is a key competency that is central to several areas of the general music curriculum: analysis; stylistic and historical awareness; orchestration; composition; performance; and music engineering. Musical examples range from Handel to The Doors and as you progress, you will learn how to identify and discuss individual elements that contribute to the overall makeup of a piece of music including metre, rhythm, structure, timbre, and texture. You will also learn about the relationships between musical sounds, styles and repertoires as well as the cultural, social and historical contexts in which different pieces of music have originated, been performed and listened to.