How Should We Teach - 1190 Words

How Should We Teach? : A Comprehensive Outlook on Why We Should Teach Elementary Music Education According to Students’ Abilities and Backgrounds. In the book Elementary Music Education by Frances Wright, he lists the characteristics of a good music educator. There he lists how teachers should respect their students and their needs. Most of the list is comprised on how teachers should put the needs of their students first, and make them feel like they have a sense of accomplishment. I could not agree more with this philosophy. As we have learned throughout elementary music methods course, it is important to meet the needs of children and make them feel accomplished and proud of the music they make and create. The National Standards for†¦show more content†¦In this particular piece, she experiments with children who have experienced neglect or abuse at home. Here she states that, and I quote, â€Å"Music can evoke emotional responses in active listeners.† (Graham, pg.14). She finds that children who compose and listen to music are able to express complex emotions that they are normally unable to express. It is im portant that in our classrooms that we allow children to explore all musical ideas. Timbre, tempo, rhythms and harmonies are all used to help illicit emotion. We should teach our students to listen for these concepts in music, as well as write with them. Students will walk into your music classroom with many different living situations. We may not be able to fix them, or make the problems go away, but as educators, we can make sure that students can express themselves in a way that they can let both positive and negative emotions loose. The connection between physical activity and young children is a â€Å"no brainer†. Young children are very rambunctious and need to be constantly moving in order for them to pay attention. In a journal article by David Barney and Keven Prusak, music and physical education are compared. They found that when students listen to music during casual physical activity, they are more focused and energized. During my readings in this journal, I thought about how music teachers should incorporate