Integrating Music into the Primary Curriculum
Nearly everyone enjoys music, whether by listening to it, singing, or playing an instrument. Music provides students with the opportunity to engage in learning experiences that build imagination, social skills and curiosity. Introducing music in the early years of education (NSWBOS, Creative Arts Syllabus, 2006) can help students foster a positive attitude towards learning, socialising, creative thinking and responsible risk-taking.
For children music provides many benefits, through mental stimulation and improving a child’s learning ability, to improving health and wellbeing through movement, targeting fine motor and gross motor skills. Children can better develop their self-confidence through learning an instrument that they are particularly interested in, music can benefit students socially by becoming part of a singing group or choir, student’s might compose a song or a rhythmic dance, developing necessary skills like team work, negotiation skills, and the ability to form sequence to reflect the structure of a beat, rhythm or song.
Music education allows you have a better understanding of yourself, and is a great form of expression, an important part of any classroom environment. The horizons are higher when you are involved in music. Your understanding of art and the world, and how you can think and express yourself, are enhanced.
Looking at the key elements, I have outlined why I think teaching these key elements is important for developing music skills and knowledge,
Singing,
Speech activities through song foster rhythmic awareness; for example building on students’ recognition of the rhythm patterns inherent in their rhymes, songs and language.
Singing can have a positive effect on developing language skills and emotional development, with empathy towards other cultures; for example, through celebration through traditional song (NSWBOS, Creative Arts Syllabus, (2006) P.12).
Positive activities in singing enable students to develop positive self-esteem, self -awareness self-expression, and the ability to work cooperatively with fellow peers.
It’s important that teachers are an active part of musical lessons, and demonstrate that singing is an activity that is both rewarding and enjoyable, enabling students the opportunity to develop pride and to sing with confidence; for example singing a simple ‘Good Morning Song’ every morning enables students the ability to form sequence, giving them a sense of beat and rhythm.
Moving,
Moving provides an immediate nonverbal way of developing and demonstrating aural awareness and understanding of musical concepts (NSWBOS, Creative Arts Syllabus, (2006) P.12).
Moving in response to music is an important part of sensory NSWBOS Creative Arts Syllabus, (2006) and gross motor preparation; for example, clapping, students might clap their hands or tap their feet to the beat of a song enabling rhythmic sound and maintaining a rhythmic pattern, through movement and actions, ways of representing the structure of a song (NSWBOS, Creative Arts K-6 Unit of Work, P.56).
Instruments,
Playing an instrument as part of a group, students develop necessary skills like team work, negotiation skills, and the ability to form sequence to reflect the structure of a beat, rhythm or song.
Students are encouraged to explore the potential of each sound source and experiment with different ways to produce sound (NSWBOS, Creative Arts Syllabus, (2006) P.12).
Composing,
Organising sound involves creative activities, in which students make musical decisions, such as experimenting, imitating, improvising, arranging, composing and notating (NSWBOS, Creative Arts Syllabus, (2006) P.13).
Listening,
Listening and aural skill development underpins all musical activities. Students learn to recognise the presence or absence of sound, distinguish between sounds, identify and classify sounds, remember sounds, recall sequences of sounds, imagine sounds and predict sounds (NSWBOS, Creative Arts Syllabus, (2006) P.13). In singing, for example, students are encouraged to listen to and respond to the difference in the verse and chorus of a song, recognise the structure of song using verse and chorus (NSWBOS, Creative Arts K-6 Unit of Work, P.56).
Listening provides the key to expressive interpretation of songs, to balanced voice blending within a group, and to sensitive performance on instruments and other sound sources (NSWBOS, Creative Arts Syllabus, (2006) P.13).
As an example, I have chosen three unit of work to incorporate music into, which are Mathematics, PDHPE, and English, each unit of work will contain one musical activities, outlining the key elements from the NSW Board of Studies, Creative Arts syllabus, (2006).
Singing song everyone clapping,
While incorporating movement, students will learn movement through music, singing and moving to a simple song. Children will learn to recognise simple musical features rhythm, structure and duration.
No materials are required, students will go outside and form a circle, the teacher will lead the song and encourage children to join in singing and doing the actions when the song prompts them to do so.
Children will learn musical concepts such as maintain a sense of rhythm, children will perform the song using their voices, and movement to reflect the structure. Children will listen and respond to the different versus using movement.
Strategies for engaging students,
- Encourage students to participate and engage actively through movement by clapping and stamping creating a beat using their hands and their feet.
- Encourage students to use big loud singing voices and to keep in time with each other enabling the structure of the song.
- Use of rhyming words to establish key interest, creating a simple song and rhythmic sound.
Assessment
Observe through a visual assessment that children can listen to the clues in the song and react through movement. Observe that children are able to maintain pitch through rhyming and timing of movement. Observe children can follow change in rhythmic pattern.
Links to other subjects
This lesson is related to the unit of work PDHPE, teaching students about musical concepts, such as singing and movement forming a simple song.
Play that Rhythm
Give each student a tambourine and I have a tambourine, I play a series of different patterns and have the children emulate what I have played. You can do this indoors or outdoors incorporating movement.
Children will learn musical concepts such as maintain a sense of rhythmic patterns, duration and movement to reflect the structure of a sound. Children will listen and respond to sound.
Counting using rhythm sticks
Students will perform a number of rhythms and interactive patterns with tapping sticks, focusing on accuracy and rhythm and focusing on co-ordinated movement. Students will sing along counting to 10, to the rhythm of wheels on the bus, students will tap in time to the creating the structure of the song and beat, allowing children to better understand musical concepts.
Children will learn about musical concepts by organising sound through listening, imitation and experimentation.
Students will sit on the carpeted area in the classroom, and each child will be given two tapping sticks one for each hand.
Strategies for engaging students,
- Encourage students to participate and engage actively through movement by using tapping sticks. If students don’t want to participate using tapping sticks they can nod their head to the rhythm of the sticks keeping in time with the beat.
Assessments
Observe that students can keep a steady beat and can follow changes in the rhythmic patterns.
Links to other subjects
This lesson is related to the unit of work Mathematics, teaching students about musical concepts, such as rhythmic sound, keeping a steady beat and timing through numbers forming a simple song.
Hokey Pokey using shapes
Students will sing along to the song Hokey Pokey using shapes. Materials required, cut-out shapes with different coloured felt pieces (triangle, circle, rectangle, square and oval. Children will sit on the floor in a circle this can be inside or outside.
Have the pre-cut shapes of felt on the floor in front of each child. Explain to the children that you’re going to teach them a new song and when they hear a certain shape they need to find the shape in their pile and hold it up and then do the actions in the song.
Students will perform a simple song maintaining a sense of beat and rhythm, children performs song using their voices and movement reflect the structure. Children learn to listen and respond and will create and perform movement in sequences to reflect the structure of a song.
Poetry – Falling Rain Dance
Students will create their own instruments and perform a rain dance, using a medium cylinder roll filled with rice and taped at both ends’, students will seek to emulate the environmental noise of rain. Forming a circle inside, children will move in formation from side to side tilting their instruments creating a rhythmic sound.
Students will learn to create their own rhythms while a movement sequences to reflect the structure of a sound. Students will listen and respond through the organisation of sound.
Strategies for engaging students,
- Encourage students to participate and engage actively through movement by through listening to poetry. If students don’t want to participate using the coloured material, they can just use the rain maker.
Assessment
Observe children rhythmic patterns in terms of using their instruments.
Links to other subjects
Cultural - Language, music, drama
Aboriginal Dreamtime Story – Have the children create their own dreamtime story using instruments.
Write a story on the white board – for example the why Emu can’t fly – Each student will have a musical part they need to play. After all students have contributed to the story, have them go outside and collect two large/medium size rocks or sticks each to use as instruments creating different sounds (tapping sticks or tapping rocks)(which ever they preferred). Have the children paint and decorate their instruments, once decorated have the children sit in a large circle with their instruments. Recite they story and encourage the children to play their instrument that they have created, creating a musical dreamtime story.
Students will learn to create their own rhythms while a movement sequences to reflect the structure of a story using sound. Students will listen and respond through the organisation of sound duration.
Strategies for engaging students,
- Encourage students to participate and engage actively contribute to the storey, by way of creating and responding to sound, encouraging students to recreate the Aboriginal Dreamtime story, incorporating musical exploration.
Assessment
Observe children rhythmic patterns in terms of using their instruments.
Links to other subjects
Cultural - Language, you could incorporate the rain makers into an aboriginal dreamtime story and add tapping sticks.
Shantelle Downey
References
https://www.education.com/reference/article/music-center-enhance-children-development/
https://lessonplanspage.com/musicotherstumpthestudentrhythmfillerideak6-htm/
https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plan/music-and-movement-falling-rain-dance
The Rainy Day, Written by Anna Milbourne and Sarah Gill, Retrieved from www.angusrobertson.com.au/books/the-rainy-day-anna-milbourne/