"Music education should begin at an early age and
should continue to encourage creative expression through
performance, listening and composition."
~ Alberta Program of Studies
Over the past week, we continued to encourage students' creative expression through listening. During the directed listening activity, Kindergarten and Grade 1 students listened for the musical structure as well as the orchestration in the piece In the Hall of the Mountain King by Edvard Grieg. They were making a connection between what they know about "non-pitched" instruments and what they heard in the piece of music. Grade 2 focused on listening for the strong and weak beats in compound time while conducting the beats. They experienced how music can be grouped in 2 beats.
Grade 3 students learned about rondo form when listening to Fossils from The Carnival of the Animals. They used pictures and letter names to represent the musical structure of the piece. This helped them understand that music comprises different sections.
As they listened to Erlking by Franz Schubert, Grade 4 students put themselves in the position of the composer. They asked themselves what they would do if they were to compose the piece: how would you show that there were four characters when there was only one singer delivering the performance? What would you do to show that the main character was getting more and more frightened?
All of the directed listening activities helped students to develop skills as active listeners so that they can appreciate music at a deeper level.
