Where Does Literacy Fit in the Music Classroom?
Although music literacy is addressed in all grade levels in the Core Arts Standards, typically literacy is only focused upon in general music classes, specifically the elementary and middle grades. Many high schools have band, orchestra, and choir, but not much else in the offering of music classes. In what ways can teaching literacy be incorporated into secondary grades, especially in ensembles?
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Incorporating Literacy Education into Ensembles
Here are just a few ways to embed literacy instruction into secondary ensemble classes. Techniques incorporate content area literacy as well as general academic literacy.
- Assignments to learn about and write about a repertoire piece, composer, and or culture
- Analysis of repertoire music
- Teaching simple arranging and composition techniques to allow students to create (and even perform) their own music
- Allow students to help select concert repertoire and provide support as to why they chose particular pieces
- Increase sight-reading opportunities, especially with a variety of musical styles
- Provide improvisation opportunities, even within a written piece
- Teach conducting and score analysis techniques. Perhaps even arrange conducting contests for upcoming concerts
- Have students create a piece of writing (narrative, poem, etc.) based on a work from their current repertoire and present at the concert
- Provide reflective questions during rehearsals
- Allow students to analyze their own performances
- Incorporate literacy projects into concerts as informances or lobby exhibits
- Use the Before-During-After approach to: activate prior knowledge of a piece prior to rehearsing, make connections to schema during rehearsals, and reflect on prior knowledge, newfound connections, and newly derived questions after rehearsals or performance (Weidner, 2017).
- Utilize plot analysis techniques to analyze forms of repertoire pieces (Weidner, 2013).
Writing in the Music Classroom
In their report Writing Next, Graham and Perrin (2007) outline 11 aspects of writing instruction to help students learn to write as well as write to learn. We will examine these 11 elements and some examples of how they can correlate to aspects of music literacy:
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Literacy Teaching in Action
(angusbeefoo, 2014)
In this video, the teacher is incorperating academic literacy and music literacy into a lesson about ethnic instruments. Some teacher that the teacher is using:
In this video, the teacher is incorperating academic literacy and music literacy into a lesson about ethnic instruments. Some teacher that the teacher is using:
- Asking students to compare and contrast the new instrument to prior knowledge of a similar instrument
- Practicing pronunciation
- As the teacher is discussing the differences between the pandiero and the concert tambourine, he is modeling musical academic language, such as articulation, samba, and, bossa nova
- Students reading aloud about the new instrument and its relevant use in music
- Reviewing some key ideas of the end of the lesson