The Little Book of Music for the Classroom E-Book

Nina Jackson

• Herausgeber: Crown House Publishing
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Serie: The Little Books
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2009

Seitenzahl: 147

Beschreibung

If you ever want to start a fight in the staffroom then bring up the question of the use of music in the classroom. And if you want to settle that perennial dispute then this is the book to do it with. Nina's groundbreaking research has proven how music can be of direct benefit for learning and motivation in classrooms across the school and this book , simply and effectively, tells you what music to use, when and why. So, put away your whale song CD and your James Last box set and explore how real music can transform your classroom.

Leseprobe

Contents

Acknowledgements

Foreword by Ian Gilbert

Introduction – Music and the Mind

Chapter 1: Music for Learning, Memory and Focus

Ready, Steady, Listen and Learn: Memory Recall

Solve It Through Music: Problem Solving

Listening for Language and Learning: Speech and Oracy

Smart Study: Study Skills and Revision

Chapter 2: Music for Relaxation and Calm

Music for Hooking Up, Calming Down and Chilling Out

Cleansing, Inner-Discipline and the Power of Headphones

Setting the Scene

Visualisation and Creation: Hear It, See It

Chapter 3: Music to Motivate, Stimulate and Energise

Shaking Off That Monday Morning Feeling (On Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday…)

Rock the Classroom!

What Have You Heard Today to Make You Feel Proud?

Chapter 4: More Music With Purpose

Music for Learning to Learn: The X-Factor Time Zone

Music for Personal Reflection and Realisation: Music for Me

Music for Learning and Focus: Musical Snacks

Chapter 5: And finally

Caution! The Right Music at the Right Time for the Right Reasons

Silence Can Be Golden Too!

This Is Where the End Begins!

Appendices

Appendix A: Top Tips for Getting Music Cheap as Chips or Fantastically FREE

Appendix B: The Best Nine-Compilation CD Music Box Set for Learning in the World… Ever!

Appendix C: ‘Suggestopedia’ and ‘Jeopardy’ for Study and Revision Skills

Appendix D: BPM (Beats Per Minute)

Contact

References  

Copyright

Acknowledgements

This Little Book of Music would not exist without the research and support of hundreds of teachers and learners who have implemented, tried and tested the theory and application of ‘Music and the Mind’. To all of you, I say thank you.

Thanks also to my dear friend Sue Lyle of Swansea Metropolitan University who encouraged and supported my work from day one and continues to be my rock and motivator. To Ken Jones, whom I think of as ‘The Man in the White Van’, who sold me the Masters in Education course at Swansea Metropolitan University outside Marks & Spencer in Swansea because the modules were half price in the first year! Now Dean of the University, he is a true master of educational innovation.

To the GTCW which gave me my research scholarship to carry out ‘Music and the Mind’.

To my Mamgu, who encouraged me to sing Iesu Tirion at the age of three and led me to discover that music was to be my vocation in life. And Tadcu, whose literacy genius and inspiration to mankind continues to this day at the age of 90. To my mother and father who bought me my first flute, and to Huw Phillips and Douglas Townsend for putting up with my continued thirst for musical tuition.

Thanks to those individuals who have offered ideas and encouragement that have kept the musical spark alive.

To Dick Hamer, who has opened my eyes to true happiness in the world of music, love and laughter, where jazz music continues to be a problem for me in more ways than one!

And finally, grateful thanks to Ian Gilbert, for believing in me as an educationalist, innovator and forward thinker, whose editorial skills have made this book readable, understandable and accessible. For my friends and colleagues at Independent Thinking Ltd, and to Crown House Publishing for their patience and understanding in putting together this book.

‘Music is the medicine of the mind’

– John A. Logan

Foreword byIan Gilbert

Let me start with a true story. I received an e-mail a few months ago from the wife of a primary teacher who had heard me speak about the many and varied uses of music in the classroom. Her husband had taken these ideas and thought them through professionally and properly. He wanted to have a go at using music in his classroom so he talked to his Headteacher about it, he talked to the children about it, he chose the music and the way he used it carefully and made specific allowances for those children who felt that it wouldn’t help them learn. He then introduced a process of monitoring the effects and effectiveness of what he did. In short, he did things the way that Nina Jackson would be proud of.

What he found was that not only did the quality and quantity of learning improve but also behaviour was much better. Music used strategically and effectively was of considerable benefit to his classroom practice.

And then his Headteacher received the phone call.

One parent, one sole parent, one middle class, middle-England, Daily Mail reading narrow minded, bigoted, opinionated, did I mention Daily Mail reading, ignorant, close-minded, selfish, uninformed parent (alright, I’m biased here, and not just against the Daily Mail) was on the phone complaining about the use of music in their child’s classroom and how it was getting in the way of their child’s learning. The teacher was called to see the Head where he explained the findings of his ‘musical experiment’ and how the children loved having music in the classroom and learning and behaviour was improving across the board, including, ironically, for the child of the whinging parent.

Fortified by this the Headteacher explained to the parent what was going on and stood by his innovative teacher, allowing and encouraging the work to continue.

Then came the second phone call. Unhappy with the fact that their prejudices had been rejected in favour of the evidence, the parent had been on the phone to the Director of Children’s Services in the local authority. Now it was that Headteacher’s turn to be summoned.

And that was that.

Songbirds have been shown to have higher levels of dopamine when singing (especially when singing to a female), Java sparrows prefer music to sitting in silence, in Iowa bonobos have jammed with the likes of Peter Gabriel and Paul McCartney, and even carp can tell the difference between Bach and John Lee Hooker (which is probably more than our parent above).

Music seems to be part of the natural state of things, evolving in humans before language, according to some experts (the controversial concept of ‘ur song’) and fundamental not to what makes us human but to what makes us feel alive. Just like it is for the happy songbirds I mention above, as reported in a February 2008 New Scientist article, whose singing induced ‘reinforcement learning’ with a secondary function that ‘may be to create a feeling of euphoria’.

So, music can improve learning and create a feel-good factor. But, of course, that would be so wrong in the classroom.

As Nina points out in this fascinating and practical Little Book, music affects us body, mind and soul. The New Scientist article says ‘Musical activity involves nearly every region of the brain that we know about, and nearly every neural subsystem’ and in his book Musicophilia, Oliver Sacks quotes Nietzsche who said ‘We listen to music with our muscles’ with Sacks going on to describe how music can ‘calm us, animate us, comfort us, thrill us or serve to organize us at work and at play’.

Calm, animated, safe, excited and organised – who wouldn’t want a classroom full of children like that?

What Nina’s research has shown – and she is undoubtedly one of the UK’s leading researchers and proponents of music for learning and motivation – is that done properly, music is a powerful classroom tool and this book is designed to allow you quickly and easily to identify what music to use, when and why.

And as if Nina’s arguments and evidence aren’t enough (and if you want more detailed overview of her research look at her chapter in The Big Book of Independent Thinking or go on to our website www.independentthinking.co.uk), here, based on my own experience, are eleven quick reasons why music can be of great benefit in your classroom:

It helps get the learners in the right mental state for learning It helps get the teacher in the right mental state for teaching It acts as an anchor – a direct link to feeling and emotions that you can tap into just by playing, for example, the theme from Star Wars or Raiders of the Lost Ark or (with your staff) Grange HillIt has been shown to be effective in Accelerated Learning, especially Baroque music It can bring a group of learners ‘back down’ if they come into your lessons over-animated, say from break or directly from a good drama lesson (or a cover lesson) It can bring a group of learners ‘back up’ if they come in a bit too ‘under-animated’, say on Monday morning or directly from a bad drama lesson (or a cover lesson) It helps with motivation, as a way of celebrating good work or behaviour It expands horizons – world music proves there is more to recorded sound than Britney spears It can tap into their likes and values – youth culture and music being such close allies It improves memoryMusic we like, as it does for songbirds, causes us to release dopamine – the ultimate feel-good learning neurochemical

So, enjoy this book, play with music in your classroom, experiment, talk to your learners about it, talk to your colleagues, talk to – and be prepared to defend against – parents and let us know how you get on as you add a very special something to your lessons that really can help everyone feel more alive.

Ian Gilbert, Dubai

March 2009

Introduction Music and the Mind

It was a dark and drizzly morning and the pupils, mainly boys, with various learning difficulties, were uncontrollable. They refused to settle for the start of the lesson. It was my NQT year and, as an inexperienced teacher, I tried every trick in my rather limited book to get them to be quiet: ‘The Stare’, ‘The Wait’, ‘The Raising of the Voice’, ‘The Individual Coaxing of the Ring Leaders to Be Quiet’. But the panic was rising. How was I going to get their attention? I could feel my heart pounding in my chest. My career as a music teacher was disappearing before it had even started. This was the end, I thought – teaching was not for me because I couldn’t get them quiet, let alone teach them.

Then inspiration struck.

My classroom contained a stage. I stood in the middle of it, feet slightly apart, digging my heels in to the boards as hard as I could. Hoping that no one would notice how I was shaking inside, I projected my voice as far as it would reach: ‘Put your heads on the desks and close your eyes! We are going on a journey.’

Amazingly, the class fell silent. But there was no cause for celebration yet. ‘Now what?’, I thought to myself.

Reaching over to my collection of CDs on the shelf, I blindly took one down without even registering which it was, put it in the machine and pressed Track 4. I can still see the display all these years later, flashing at me, ‘Track 4’. My future career hinged on this one track and I didn’t even know what it was. I could hear myself praying silently, ‘Not the Mr Blobby Songbook. Not the Mr Blobby Songbook.’

Obediently – or out of fear for a teacher who had quite clearly lost the plot – my unruly class lay their heads on their desks, closed their eyes and waited. My prayer was answered, for when the music started playing the room was filled with the most beautiful tones and musical colours I ever imagined. I had chosen ‘Gabriel’s Oboe’ by Ennio Morricone.

And they were all listening.

When the track finished, I asked them all to raise their heads slowly so that we could share our musical journeys. It was at this point, when all pupils were silent, both willing and wanting to share their experiences, that I began to learn how to teach. The music had allowed me to learn about the pupils I was teaching and to share some intiate and emotional responses from each and everyone in that class. For the remainder of the lesson I learnt about the troubles and triumphs of each of those young people and discovered that teaching is about sharing and respect, tears and smiles, openness and privacy, the knowing and the unknown and, most of all, an understanding of each other. This was the power that music in the classroom could have, and I was hooked!

To this day I still ask myself: if it hadn’t been for that entrancing music of Ennio Morricone, would I have walked out of that classroom and never returned? Did this one track change my life to one in which I not only survived teaching but came to make teaching my life? Was this track responsible for my understanding of the power of music in a desperate situation?

On that day I realised that a piece of music could drastically and immediately change the emotional make-up of a classroom and all the individuals in it. Thereafter, I wanted to test the theory and implement the idea that ‘Music and the Mind’ is a match made in heaven. This quest came to influence the rest of my life as a teacher. Looking back, it now seems obvious that music can enable teachers, parents and pupils to develop personal skills, to learn and share knowledge, and to cultivate a genuine love of learning. Then, I was groping blindly for the key.

That was 1992 and my first teaching post in a challenging school in Hampshire. Fast forward a decade and you’ll find me back in my native Wales as Head of Music and Learning in Ogmore School, Bridgend, with a Teacher Research Scholarship from the General Teaching Council for Wales. Now I had the opportunity to undertake a specific research study into what I called ‘Music and the Mind’ and share with others music’s amazing ability to change the way we think, instantly and irresistibly.

This book is a Little Book, which means that now is neither the time nor the place to share with you the full nature of my research. (Go to www.independentthinking.co.uk if you would like that, or take a look at my chapter in The Big Book of Independent Thinking.)

The results of this research have had a major impact on teaching and learning since 1992. Teachers and pupils are using the philosophy and application of Music and the Mind to raise standards of teaching and learning as well as for their individual needs, be it emotional, spiritual or for a specific occasion. The impact of Music and the Mind in educational establishments has been immense, and once you try out the suggestions in this Little Book you too will be amazed at their impact. I continue to seek new tracks, and many other individuals are more confident in choosing their own music as well as my suggested extracts to raise standards. Music and the Mind works because of the link between the neuro-science research and large-scale research work with (to date) over 5,000 pupils, the work in my own school, and teachers applying the methods in their own studies. This has been a long-term study since 1992 and I continue to collect and analyse data about the effects of music on individuals.

Such positive feedback was not only matched by the students’ own account of the effects of music on their learning but also by the parents. Some had observed a more positive attitude to work, even towards homework. Some fed back that the behaviour of their children had also changed. When they became frustrated or anxious about home circumstances, the children asked their parents to put on some calm music for relaxation. Occasionally, if there was a family row, some children asked the parents to calm down and listen to the music! One family even told me how their child had helped save their marriage. The child had told them both to sit down, calm down and stop shouting at each other, instructed them to listen to a piece of music which was relaxing and calming, then asked them to talk about issues in a sensible manner, without raising their voices. Both parents were stunned, to say the least.

The common theme running through this book is ‘Sound Waves Make Brain Waves’. As well as rearranging your neural networks, music plays with your state of mind as the electrical energy generated by firing neurons creates Brain Waves. The alpha, beta, theta and delta frequencies created by neural activity – Brain Waves – determine what functions you’re best able to carry out and conduct at that moment in time. The right music at the right time travelling through the air creates these sound waves which in turn alter or affect the Brain Waves. The music you listen to can influence the waves’ frequency, and so your state of mind. And not only does the music affect your mind, it also changes the state of your body. Your autonomic nervous system is literally the link between your mental and physical self, and music directly affects its workings.

From calming unruly pupils to improving your grades to maintaining harmony in the home to saving your marriage – music really is, as multiple intelligence guru Professor Howard Gardner declares, ‘the master intelligence’.

This Little Book of Music for the Classroom draws on my research and experience of using music in my classroom on a daily basis. It is designed to be a handy teacher’s desk drawer-size guide to which music to use, and when and how to use it. It is divided into a number of chapters according to what you want to achieve at any given time. It also gives details of the music I use for these different outcomes, although I’m sure you will soon start to add your own ideas from your personal library.