Listening and Creating
Sandy Stauffer Arizona State University On Saturday, September 30th, Dr. Sandy Stauffer lectured about listening and creating. To be quite honest, at the beginning of the lecture, I did not know what to expect however I got a lot of of this lecture and I enjoyed myself while learning immensely. I think that the biggest thing that I got out of this lecture and hope to remember is the concept of letting students make decisions. In all of the activities that Dr. Stauffer did with us she directed us in a way that we were able to complete the activity successfully while leaving room to allow us to be creative. In other words, she didn’t dictate the group so that we were only doing what she said and also didn’t leave us hanging so that we were confused and did not know how to do the activity. She had the perfect balance and this really stuck with me because it was extremely effective. I found myself being very creative and I wasn’t afraid to be creative because her instructions were clear enough that I felt as if I knew what to do. In the very first activity, we sang a song called “Ram Sam Sam.” This activity was extremely creative because we got into small groups and created actions based on our interpretations of the lyrics. I thought that this activity was very interesting because it was neat to see how different people interpret things differently and we all had the freedom to be as creative as we wanted. There were no rules as to what we could and could not do and this made it extremely fun. Another thing that I remember thinking about after the lecture was over was two of Dr. Sandy Stauffer’s personal principles. They are; “all people are musical. Everyone has a musical self,” and “all people are creative. Everyone has a creative self.” I think that many people are turned away from music because they assume that they aren’t musically talented enough or have enough creativity. I really liked how Dr. Stauffer talked about how every child is creative and musical because it is evident that she believes every child is has it in them and that inspired me because I have aways hated how kids are turned away from music because they aren’t necessarily as talented as their peers. I think that her philosophy and principles support an idea that everyone is different and unique and I really like that idea. Another concept that stuck with me is “musical creativity does not equal notation.” During the three hour lecture, there was only one activity where we were actually notating things done with pen and paper. I think that too many times people assume that you are only musically creative if you are composing and writing things done and Dr. Stauffer really preached the opposite of that. Her activities were very hands on and stemmed from creativity proving that it is not all about notation like many teachers try to teach. I feel as if I learned more about myself and how creative I can be by doing all of these hands on activities than if I would have been sitting down notating things for three hours. My favourite activity from this lecture was the Kangaroo one. This is because I thought it was an extremely genius way of teaching about the elements of music in a non-traditional way. Instead of just talking about the elements of music and defining terms such as staccato, legato, and pitch, we learned about all of these elements without even realizing it. By allowing us to move our fingers creativity to the music we were able to learn about music in a fun way. I will take this particular activity away with me because I thought it was effective in the sense that children can discover and explore hands on what things such as staccato feels and sounds like without even realizing it. This activity really connects listening and creativity in a way that teaches children about the elements of music in a fun and interactive way. One thing that Dr. Sandy Stauffer repeated time and time again was the concept of the “I can…” statement. This really impacted me and changed my thinking. This is because these I can statements are all about a child walking out the classroom saying that they can do something. This impacted me a lot because it promotes a much healthier and safer learning environment in my opinion. It’s about teaching children in a way that they feel proud of themselves when the class is over and they walk out of the classroom feeling as if they are capable and worthy. Dr. Stauffer touched on the idea of evaluating students for what they can do rather than focusing on what they cannot do and this changed my thinking on evaluations and marking students. Prior to this I remember thinking about how it must be hard to mark and evaluate children on music as it is supposed to be creative so how do you mark fairly and make it an even playing field when it is about creativity? After she mentioned “I can.,” my thinking changed because I realized that it should be about what that child was able to do and accomplish rather than what they weren’t able to do and you should be evaluating children on their accomplishments. The idea of a group rehearsal is one thing that I know for sure I am going to take away from this lecture. Doing a group rehearsal is a very smart idea as it allows everyone to perform their piece or activity in a setting that is safe. There is safety in numbers and by doing a group rehearsal, it makes performing seem less scary as everyone is doing it and you are not alone. It also gives groups the time to practice and feel confident in themselves so that they are no longer afraid to present in front of the large group. I think that in many instances, had there not been a group rehearsal, my peers would not have wanted to present in front of the whole group. I would most definitely use a group rehearsal in my classroom and I am very glad I learned about tis technique. “Ask rather than tell” is another technique that I learned from Dr. Stauffer that really made me think. This idea is all about asking students the right questions that allow them to come to the answer themselves. Instead of just telling them, ask them deeper questions that allow them to think and come to the solution by themselves. This goes hand in hand with allowing students to make decisions. A teacher should not be a dictator and just telling students what to do is not going to make them grow as students or people. Dr. Stauffer really instilled this concept into my head. In addition to learning about excellent teaching techniques and concepts, I can honestly say that I learned about myself during this lecture. I learned that it is okay to take risks and I don’t have to be afraid to do so. It takes courage to be creative and I found myself proud of myself when I fully immersed myself into an activity and allowed myself to be creative. I learned that allowing myself to think outside the box and be creative is fun as well as rewarding. I feel fortunate to have attended this lecture as it did not necessarily change my thinking but made me think more critically and deeply about creativity in the classroom, and because I experienced how to listen and be creative, I feel as if I am on the right track to being a good music educator.
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