research
Music for Body, Mind & Soul Thoughts on Teaching and Learning in
Two Areas of Secondary Music Education Lois Veenhoven Guderian, WMEA State Chair, Research
The Power of Kinesthetic Learning in Ensemble Teaching and Learning Communication and expression of life through sound and
movement, and organized sound and movement such as dance, are long stand- ing human behaviors and activities: so much so across all cultures and the course of world history, it appears that these be- haviors are, in part, characteristic of what it means to be human. Learning and ex- pressing through sound and movement is
fundamental to human beings. If one stops to think about the use and implications of common, everyday gestures alone, the realization of the communicative power of movement and gesture is sobering. Even more sobering is to think of the power of organized gestures for teaching and learn- ing in music. Think of a music director and how much can be accomplished through gesture – even with 100 or more people at a time.
For example, which is likely to be more effective as a rehearsal technique? Would it be to tell a choir, band or orchestra how to sing/play staccato, or to create a gesture that symbolizes the articulation and elicits the desired response out of the ensemble? While telling students how to play a phrase has its place in the learning process, it is the conducting gesture, modeling of the sound and physical activity involved to produce the sound that in most cases will have the greater impact on the players’ ability to play the phrase the way a con- ductor has interpreted it and hears it in his or her mind. The old expression, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” as ap- plied to conducting an ensemble could be, “A gesture is worth a thousand words.”
Not only the conductor’s gestures are important to learning, engaging students in kinesthetic realizations of various as- pects of the music helps them to develop understandings in the academic language of music and to make sense of conceptual understandings as to how the music should be played. Whether at the onset of the re- hearsal during the “warm-up and review” or during the course of the rehearsal, add- ing movement and gesture to teachings of pulse, meter, phrasing, melodic contour, form, accent, tempo, dynamics, syncopa- tion, rhythm and articulation in ensemble teaching, and engaging students in partici- pating in the activities, can help students
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“A gesture is worth a thousand words.”
to develop understandings in music, to feel the music within themselves and to become a part of the synthesis of sound and movement in music.
Building contextual understandings for a piece of music under study – the when, where, why, by who, with what resources, and how – helps students to develop cogni- tive understandings about music, history, culture and individuals. With secondary education students, teachers need not do all of the work in these areas. Students appreciate opportunities to research vari- ous aspects of the background on a piece of music, a composer, a time period and style of music. This gives students an op- portunity to take part in their own learning and in the learning of their peers.
It goes without saying that taking the time to examine contexts surrounding the creation of a work and the meanings of music and lyrics adds another level to the understandings and personal meanings that students derive from the study of any work. This affective aspect of engagement in music is important to students’ interest and desire to be actively involved in music studies. Students can often relate to the messages inherent in the music that reflect the human experience and at times, can develop feelings of empathy for compos- ers or groups from the past when aspects in composers’ lives and/or purposes behind their creative products resonate with stu- dents’ lived experiences.
September 2013
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