Journal 3

We learned quite a few new things in this weeks class.  To start off with, we learned the definition of melody.  Second, we learned more about the children's perspective of how they perceive musical related concepts.  Third of all, we learned more in how to read the notes for playing the recorder a bit better this time around.  This is generally what we learned this week.

These were all imparted to me very well in class.  We learned that Melody is a combination of various pitches that can be high, low, and have a constant pitch.  We also learned by drawing pictures how to be able to have children understand the meaning of singing in a higher or lower pitch and also when the beat is as well.  On Friday, Ms. Wang had us play a song called "Think of a Fly" but we were allowed to play it any way we wanted as long as we played it in a way that made sense.  This is what was imparted to me in this week's class.

These skills are very important to learn as well.  With this definition of Melody, I could explain it to the children a lot better.  Also, these concepts that we learned in class will help us greatly in relating to our students so we can understand what they do and don't understand.  This past Friday I felt a lot more confident in myself on how to play the recorder, the lessons we learn in class and the practice we get is greatly helpful.  This is what was important that I learned this week.

It is very important for children to learn melodies at a young age.  being able to raise or lower your voice controllably is a great talent for singing.  It is also a great talent for acting in a play, a tv show, or any performance in general.  Lastly, for playing an instrument, it helps children learn to control their voices and play their instrument more beautifully.  This is why it is important for children at a young age to learn about melodies. 

Journal 2

This week in Musc 373, we practiced saying our rhymes to each other in class.  We were learning how to sing our rhyme to the beat in a normal, steady beat rhyme, and also to tap a beat to each syllable of our words.  We also learned specific definitions to words such as steady beat and rhyme.  Then we were learning how to play the recorder, which takes a little while to get used to. This pretty much sums up what we learned this week in class.

I learned quite a bit from these lessons we had.  First of all, being reminded of how it was like as a child doing this, it really helps so that we can relate to our kids a lot more easily.  Second, the definition's we learned I never thought about to such a big extent.  For example, the specific definition of "rhyme" is on a steady beat, it is a combination of short, long, and silent sounds.  Finally, our teacher helped teach us how to play the recorder by having us learn a note 1 step at a time and then used them in a song.  This is how these things were imparted to me.

All of this information is very important to learn for being able to help teach our future students better.  As I said before, learning how to do this from the children's perspective helps us be able to explain more easily.  Next, knowing these specific definitions helps us  know how to explain the definitions to the students.  Learning how to play recorder helps us be able to implement music while learning in the classroom.  This is why it is important to learn all of these things.

It is very important for children to learn this material at such a young age.  To start off with, being able to understand beats and rhythms can be very helpful in more than just music, such as memorization in other subjects possibly.  If they wanted to have a profession in music, getting them interested at an early age is very helpful as well.  Lastly, kids are able to remember a lot of things when they start out young and are able to retain it pretty well, so storing up as much knowledge in them that they can handle at a young age will also greatly effect their futures for the better.  This is why it is important for children to learn these things at such a young age.

The 10 children's song I remember the best are:

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Mary Had a Little Lamb

Rock a bye Baby

Jingle Bells

Row Row Row your Boat

O Hanukah

Old McDonnell Had a Farm

 This is all I can remember off the top of my head right now.

Adam's Rhyme

My name is Adam

I'm not a madam

Video gaming is my thing

Come and join me, I don't sting.

Journal 1

Hello, my name is Adam Bass, 19 years old, and a sophomore at NIU.  My hometown is Lincolnwood, IL and I went to Niles West High School.  I never did anything professional related to music, although in grade school, each year, we were made to sing songs in front of other kids and parents and I took a 1 semester course in guitar my junior year of high school.  Although, I love to sing a lot and would always sing in the car or to my friends even though I am not that talented at singing.  I also have done Karaoke with my friends quite a bit and one of the songs I love to sing the most to everyone is "Dancing Queen."  I listen to music like all the time.  The music I listen to is Rock, Pop, Alternative, Japanese Pop, Japanese Rock, and Anime music.  I don't really follow any particular group, but any new music I get, I pretty much listen to non-stop for weeks.

I currently have an iTouch and it has 2648 songs on it.  All the genre's I said above are what I listen to and I have it with me everyday, everywhere I go.

The activities we did were pretty fun; at first it felt a little embarrassing, but as we went on, it became easier to let loose and putting myself in that mindset, it helped me be able feel how it is like teaching little kids and putting myself at the same level as them.  We learned it by first acting as if we were the kids, and then we practiced doing what we would be teaching them to do.  They are important to children because when they first go into a classroom for the first time, they will most likely be scared, nervous, and not know what to expect, so it is our job to make them feel comfortable with us and with the other students in the class.