Recycling Is Good

I really pride myself on creating fun and unique musical activities. Activities that engage kids while sneakily teaching them something about music. About a year ago I remembered feeling very stuck with new, young students after having gone through all of my activities. I remember thinking that if it wasn’t new and fresh that they would either lose interest or it would be a waste of their time. Then I remembered something I had read in one of Malcolm Gladwell’s books.

He talked about how Sesame Street changed the way we view children’s programming simply by thinking of quantity over quality. Usually you would think that with education you would want quality over quantity, but in this case the creators of Sesame Street realized that the kids watching their show did not care if the same episode played every day that week. They still watched it! And after studying this new method it was discovered that the kids were able to retain way more information from watching the same content 5 times a week.

This made me realize that even though I had done an activity with a kid before, It didn’t meant that they were not going to learn more from doing it again and it certainly did not mean they were already bored of it. This obviously saved me lots of stress when grasping at straws for new content, while giving me piece of mind that recycling these activities would help engrain the content even more. Thanks Sesame Street!

-Hilary

Teaching Children how to Communicate Through Music Part 1/3

Music is undoubtably a type of language. I am sure anyone who has made music with another person would agree. This is especially evident when improvising or jamming, where a piece of music can fall apart if there is not some form of communication between performers. Something amazing happens when a simple nod, look or chord progression can completely change the mood of a piece. 

I always tell my students that the most important component to group jams is listening. Listening to each other as individuals and to the group as a whole. It is in listening that a performer can find their role in a piece. Should I play out? Should I sit back? Should I change my surface tempo or chord progression? It is also very important to know when it is time to lead or when it is time to follow. Knowing when to do these things and how to do these things is so important in being a well rounded musician. This is why I feel it is important for the students of CRASH to be exposed to improvisation in group settings as frequently as possible. The skills that are required to communicate with each other in improvising is crucial in interpreting music in any setting. Stay tuned for some of the methods I use with the students of CRASH in order to help them learn how to communicate through music. Stayed tuned to learn more about these methods.