VISUAL ARTS & MUSIC

Music

This year in Music, students at Gwynne Park have been absolutely spoilt for choice when it comes to embracing and honing their creative skills. Throughout the year groups Mr A has been focused on instilling a solid baseline understanding of music theory to equip our kids with the knowledge they need to become self-motivated and passionate musicians. This focus while not only preparing our students for future endeavours, utilises cross curricular teaching to consolidate prior learning and help concepts make sense on an individual basis. By incorporating aspects of our shaping minds approach into the music room, expectations are consistent and familiar to students. When composing music, we use fractions as well as rhythm names, spelling the names with the phonics concepts being taught, using the fraction names and matching it with syllable names (Ti-ka-ti-ka = 4 sixteenth notes) to decode and read sheet music. 

This means that during one music session, children are recalling and consolidating concepts learnt in their other classes. They can choose the name/definition that works best for them on an individual level and their teacher can collaborate/check in with Mr A to have him include specific concepts in his teaching. For example, if a class is learning all the ways to spell the “ar” sound, currently looking at “ah”. When writing a bar of crotchets (1 beat rhythm with one sound), we would use the name and spelling, “Tah Tah Tah Tah”. Alternatively, if the class is learning about fractions, we would instead call these Quarter notes (1/4). 

This musical education gives students the opportunity to excel in the subject, helping them to understand how the elements of music can come together to share meaning or express feelings. Starting with the concepts of beat and rhythm they learn how tempo and dynamics used alongside pitch, can create an interesting melodic tune, that shares something with the listener. They learn that being an audience member is a skill and that this skill needs to be practiced explicitly in order for them to truly show an understanding. An example of this is being able to give your attention to a performer and offer a performer constructive feedback, helping to build them up. Lastly, as technology advances, so to must the ways we create. This is why Mr A has also been incorporating music technologies into his class. This is done through exposure to Digital Audio Workspaces (DAWs) such as Garageband, by creating and recording loops on Mr As loop station and exposure to early level sound engineering skills, such as line order and cable management. 

And of course, what kind of music class would it be without instruments! This year we are truly beyond lucky when it comes to instrumental access, with class sets for guitar, keyboard, ukelele and both pitched and unpitched percussion. This has allowed students to try a wide range of instruments that are played in a number a different ways, giving students the chance to discover what instrument resonates (HA! what a pun…) best with them. Any one lesson of music could see a student playing anywhere from 1-4 instruments from various musical families (percussion, string, woodwind, brass), helping to develop musical understanding as well as build up the fine/gross motor skills associated with each instrument (strike, hit, kick, tap, click, scrape, spin, etc.) 

To make things even more exciting, This year at Gwynne Park we have been lucky enough to get the lovely Miss Daily on Tuesdays and Fridays. Miss Daily is a teaching musician from the West Australian Symphony Orchestra (WASO) working in association with the Australian Children’s Music Foundation (ACMF). Each session she takes small groups. Our seniors go into our new piano room, where Miss Daily is teaching students how to read, write and play piano music, including scales, notes, chords. They also learn how to use music technologies such as our full size midi keyboards powered by an iPad and GarageBand. For our juniors, she works with students that need extending or takes small groups to practice percussion instruments and new musical concept/skills. This ongoing small group work while amazing in its own right also means reduced class numbers for those left, which in turn allows for more access to instruments and less sensory overload. It also means students are given multiple chances to show us what they know in different settings, highlighting the those able to translate skills across different instruments.