BLOG POST #3 - How can I help my students develop aural skills and an understanding of pitch?

Responding Statment

Pitch is explored across all primary year levels of the Australian Creative Arts: Music curriculum (2019). Over the Early Stage 1 and Stage 1 years, students explore and compare high and low sounds primarily by listening. Students begin to experiment with their voices and instruments but there is a focus on listening and copying pitch progressions and melodies. Examples of listening activities that identify pitch could include a siren or sounds found in the environment, for example, birds and elephants. Figure 16 describes how bodily movement can be applied to support the learning and identification of pitch variations.

Figure 16: High and Low Game (Laughbaum, 2009)

In Stage 2 and 3, pitch is further developed where students continue to experiment with instruments and their voices, and begin to notate pitches. Students commence with informal notations, where colour coding or shape hieghts can represent pitch variations, as suggested in figure 17.

Figure 17: Informal pitch notation (Tasker, 2019)

As students develop their knowledge and skills of pitch and notation, students explore formal notation to present compositions. Pitch is represented as a note, each lettered over the first seven letters of the alphabet, which are placed across a staff, as seen in figure 18.

Figure 18: Formal pitch notation (Tasker, 2019)

To engage students in reading formal notations, the 'Jump to the Note' learning activity promotes student understanding of sheet music and note positions on a staff. Denise Gagne (2016) describes the activity on her website (https://denisegagne.com/tag/staff-jump-game/), BONUS INCLUSION - other learning activities that focus on formal notation.

Learning in Music

Pitch can be defined as "how high or low a note is" (Tasker, 2019). A collection or series of pitches creates a melody. A pitch is considered a single unit within a melody, similar to a letter within a word. 

Pitch is formally presented as notes (A, B, C, D, E, F, G. [repeated in order]) positioned across a staff. Note position on the staff is dependent on the clef; bass clef, alto clef, and treble clef. On a treble clef staff, notes in the spaces are F, A, C, E - face in the space- and notes on the lines are E, G, B, D, F - every good boy desveres fruit. 

Making in Music

This weeks' making in music task provided students with the opportunity to compose a short melody on a xylophone or glockenspiel. Using the notes of G, A, B, D, and E, as seen in figure 17, the composition must start and finish with a G note.

Figure 17: Notes Range (Tasker, 2019) 

The short melody was notated informally, colour coding notes between the instrument and the sheet music, as seen in figure 18. 

Figure 18: Colour Coding Notation

The melody was also notated formally, as seen in figure 19, placing crotchet, quaver, and minimum notes on the staff to depict both rhythm and pitch.

Figure 19: Formal Notation

A performance of the short melody, collaboratively composed, can be seen in figure 20.

Figure 20: Compose your own melody (Caddies, Henderson, 2019)

This activity can be suitable across all year levels, although significant modification is required for earlier stages, as notation is not a required skill in early stage 1 and stage 1, covering content descriptor:

Foundation - Year 2

ACAMUM080 Develop aural skills by exploring and imitating sounds, pitch and rhythm patterns using voice, movement and body percussion

Better suited for stage 2 to 3, this task covers content descriptors:

Year 3 and 4

ACAMUM084 Develop aural skills by exploring, imitating and recognising elements of music including dynamics, pitch and rhythm patterns

ACAMYM085 Practice singing, playing instruments and improvising music, using elements of music including rhythm, pitch, dynamics and form in a range of pieces, including in music from the local community

Year 5 and 6

ACAMUM088 Explore dynamics and expression, using aural skills to identify and perform rhythm and pitch patterns

ACAMUM089 Develop technical and expressive skills in singing and playing instruments with understanding of rhythm, pitch and form in a range of pieces, including in music from the community

(ACARA, 2019)

Responding in Music

Reflecting on the use of teaching strategies and styles other teachers implement in their Music classroom informs the planning of my Music classroom learning and teaching opportunities. Figure 21 depicts the example shown in class this week, where the following questions were considered:

• How did the teacher teach the concepts of pitch?
• How did he use action to reinforce the concept?
• How did he keep all students focused and engaged?
• How did he extend the activity?

Figure 21: Teaching Pitch in the Classroom (Holland-Garcia, 2015)

After reflecting on this video, the teacher teaches the concept of pitch through applying an 'I do, we do, you do' approach of modeled, shared and individual learning tasks. The consideration of Gardner's multiple intelligences (1993-1999) and different learning styles is evident throughout the lesson, for example, students interact with visual learning concepts and ICT capabilities (ACARA, 2019) on the Interactive White Board or IWB. Further, students engage in kinaesthetic and bodily movement describing low and high pitch by touching the hips or shoulders. It is the application of differentiation in considering learning styles that keep students focused and engaged in the lesson as they move around the classroom to a variety of activities. The teacher extends this lesson by modifying or changing pitch examples, providing further opportunity for assessment and promoting the confidence of student understanding of the musical knowledge and skill. 

References

ACARA. (2019). Retrieved from Australian Curriculum: https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/

Gagne, D. (2016, March 7). Fun Ways to Teach Note Names. Retrieved from Word Press: https://denisegagne.com/tag/staff-jump-game/

Gardner, H. (1993). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. New York: Basic Books.

Gardner, H. (1999). Intelligence reframed. Multiple intelligences for the 21st century. New York: Basic Books.

Holland-Garcia, N. (2015, November 20). Music Literacy the Kodály Way. Retrieved from Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BymsIfWBwb0&feature=youtu.be

Laughbaum, L. (2009, January 20). The High and Low Game - The Children's Music Workshop. Retrieved from Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSEojtRAoHw

Tasker, J. (2019). The Music Curriculum EDUC 24112 – Curriculum Studies: Creative Arts. Cooranbong, NSW, Australia: Avondale College of Higher Education.