Drama, music art and PE in school

Drama, music art and PE in school

What is drama? • a creative process that allows children to explore the full potential of drama as a learning experience. It is improvisational in nature and has as its aim a quest for knowledge that involves every aspect of the child’s personality: spiritual, moral, emotional, intellectual and physical.

Through drama we can explore in a unique way • conflicts, • issues, • consequences, • attitudes, • emotions, • concerns • preoccupations that are important to the understanding of real life.

The developmental and learning power of drama lies in the particular nature of the dramatic experience. • surrendering to the fiction • projecting himself/herself imaginatively into a situation • ‘knowing and living’ the circumstances, dilemmas, choices and actions of a fictitious character, and their consequences • refracting all this through his/her own personality

give each child the opportunity to approach new knowledge through the dimension of imaginative activity and experience • give each child the opportunity to approach knowledge in the ways that are most suitable to him/her • create the motivation and interest that can spur the child to research, and thus foster an attitude that views knowledge as essential in adapting to his or her perception of the world

provide the means by which the child can relate knowledge, in a special way, to previous learning and experience • help the child to see pattern and unity in seemingly disparate pieces of knowledge encountered in different subjects

make distant what is close and make close what is distant at both a cognitive and an affective level, so that aspects of life can be explored closely enough to afford effective examination but distant enough to provide safety for the child • give the child a rich oral language experience and afford the opportunity to experiment with different registers of language

give the child experience of drama as an art form • help the child to assimilate and accommodate the experience of other cultures • help the child to assimilate a changing environment through anticipating psychological development and through allowing him/her to transcend immediate experience by trying out other worlds through drama

• facilitate the child’s imaginative, intellectual, emotional and physical development in a contemporaneous and holistic way • foster the child’s creativity, invention, insight, discovery and problem solving through exploring actively the intuitive and the spontaneous

allow the child, through the dramatic fiction, to experience, understand and practise the life skills needed in reality • promote empathy with the ideas, attitudes and feelings of others.

Guidlines for starters • Getting to know your group • Working with other staff members • Choosing a room • Planning a session • Structuring a session • Warm ups and starters

Class Structure Most classes begin with a circle time Circle time gives everybody a chance to leave the outside world behind Focus on the task ahead Drama Games Drama games bring the energy levels of the group up and inject a level of excitement into the session

Role Play • Role play often makes up the main body of the class and often flows fluidly from the drama games • Finally we have another circle time to recalibrate the group • To reflect on the class • To shake off any issues before going home

music • The music curriculum is concerned with the development of the student’s musical abilities in the four core areas; • listening, • responding, • performing • and composing. • It is therefore important to expose the students to all of these to ensure a comprehensive musical education.

listening • explore and listen to a wide range of sounds • ordinary everyday sounds e.g. water, traffic • nature to a variety of percussion and melodic instruments • tambourines, triangles, wood blocks and chime-bars. • Students will also be exposed to music of different styles and traditions, e.g. classical, opera, jazz, Irish, South African, and Japanese

Movement is important at all ages. • The level of responding will depend greatly on the • purpose of the musical activity a simple verbal response is all that is required when introducing new instruments. • Non-verbal students can respond using pictures of the instruments. • Younger students are asked to talk about the music in terms of how it makes them feel i.e. happy, sad, frightened. • Older students may be asked to respond imaginatively to a piece of music through moving, dancing, art work or creative writing

Listening and responding will also give the students the opportunity to explore rhythm • distinguish between loud and soft sounds • high and low pitches • waltzes and marches • These activities will lead towards improving concentration and greater listening skills

Performing emphasis on active music making, beginning with the voice and body percussion (clapping, stamping, clicking fingers) to using an instrument, particularly a percussion instrument It is important that the students have been exposed to a wide range of musical instruments before being asked to perform.

Song Singing -From nursery rhymes and action songs to folk songs from other countries and seasonal songs • Literacy - From identifying steady rhythms and pitch to recognising more complex rhythms and playing simple tunes • Playing instruments - From playing a triangle or other simple percussion instrument (homemade or manufactured), to using a percussion instrument to accompany a piece of music or song

composing • Composing is divided into two units: • Improvising • From representing animals • using instruments • body percussion • accompanying a story using a variety of sounds • Talking about and recording compositions from discussing how the sounds were made • using a simple tape recorder • discussing the selection of instruments in a piece of music recording on a computer or electronic synthesiser.

Composing should start from a very basic level • use any instrument to beat four steady beats • group composing where a variety of instruments are made available and the group must compose a piece of music, four bars long with whole notes half notes and rests. It is important that these musical compositions are performed for the rest of the group. It gives purpose to the activity and a sense of achievement to the performers.

Grant (1990) states that • ‘music is a language and it is only with a conscious understanding of its alphabet that we can appreciate all that is being told us in this most abstract, and sometimes the only language capable of expressing our innermost thoughts and feelings’.

Aims • To enable the child to enjoy and understand music and to appreciate it critically • To develop the child’s openness to, awareness of and response to a wide range of musical genres, including Irish music • To develop the child’s capacity to express ideas, feelings and experiences through music as an individual and in collaboration with others • To enable the child to develop his/her musical potential and to experience the excitement and satisfaction of being actively engaged in musical creativity

To nurture the child’s self-esteem and self-confidence through participation in musical performance  • To foster higher order thinking and lifelong learning through the acquisition of musical knowledge, skills, concepts and values • To enhance the quality of the child’s life through aesthetic musical experience

We will now look at the role of music in both the education and development of the students. • In a classroom situation, music is taught to a group of students, each with their own level of ability and aptitude. • This will work well, as long as each individual is taken into consideration. • As Struthers (1994) states “In music, we must, therefore, think not of ‘music for all’ but ‘music for each’” (p.18).

Learning songs automatically increases the range of new words in a child’s vocabulary and exposes the students to a range of sentence structures. • Through repetition of these songs, the language can become part of everyday communication, giving rise to greater verbal expression. • Giving the student relevant vocabulary to discuss and describe music will support them in articulating a response

Increased language acquisition will, in turn, give rise to the development of selfexpression, self-esteem and the ability to interact more meaningfully with peers and society in general. • Through music, the students will also be provided with many opportunities to practise the co-ordination of mind and body through singing action songs, playing singing games, beating out the pulse of a song with or without instruments and following directions as set out by the teacher

Music will also lend itself to the development of gross motor skills with the students being encouraged to move or dance to particular pieces of music. • This should result in the students becoming more aware of themselves in space and their ability to express themselves in dance, an art in itself which is greatly enjoyed by most students with learning disabilities, allowing greater equality with their peers.

Listening skills are vital to all areas of learning. The enhancement of listening skills comes from activities requiring the identification and discrimination of sounds both in the environment and in music. • Listening also requires concentration and auditory memory skills, being able to relate the correct vocabulary to an auditory stimulant.

Memory skills, both long and short-term, are enhanced through the repetition of songs and through rhythms being played and repeated during a music class period.

Creativity and imagination are fostered through music. • The students are encouraged to move creatively, to improvise with instruments, to compose and to offer critical judgement of their work and the work of others, both peers and professionals. • This, then, develops interpersonal skills when the students express themselves verbally or nonverbally, responding to the music of someone else while other students listen and then, they in turn have the opportunity to respond

. Music will enhance the student’s selfesteem through the response of others to his/her musical compositions and in participating “in singing games, songs, dances and group performances where the individual’s contribution is vital to the group’s success”. (Music Curriculum, 1999)

It is equally important to mention the idea of music as a purely pleasurable experience. Aside from all the academic reasons for doing music, it is a fundamental and recreational aspect of life. • Everyone has a preferred style of music. • We sing, dance, hum or just relax to music. • This makes it a very sociable activity, which needs to be fostered in our students if it is not already present

art

The visual arts programme is divided into six strands: • Drawing • Paint and colour • Print • Clay • Construction

Drawing • Children discover at an early stage that drawing is a means of communication. • Through drawing they create and express themselves, both factually and imaginatively. • Older children use drawing to enhance their ideas and to develop and create plans.

Paint and Colour • Children develop an understanding and appreciation of colour through the observation of their natural surroundings. • They use colour to express their ideas, experiences and imaginative thoughts. • As their work progresses and becomes more colourful and meaningful, they also develop a growing awareness of the artwork of others, both their peers and recognised artists.

Print • Children need to be exposed to print and the printing process as it may not develop spontaneously. • Through experience in printmaking children learn to focus their attention on and deepen their awareness of graphic processes. • Children should be encouraged to experiment and use printmaking in a creative way before guiding them towards a more focused and formal way. • As they progress they learn to take a more thoughtful approach to shape, edges, layout and composition

clay • Children enjoy the experience of clay. • It lends itself to freedom of form and the opportunity to start again if they do not like what they are producing. • Through experience they learn the skills of forming, changing, manipulating and sculptural expression. Freedom with clay is essential before introducing specific techniques and/or suggesting objects to be made i.e. pinch pot. • It opens up the world of three-dimensional art, which needs nothing else other than clay, a board and imagination.

Construction • Construction activities provide opportunities for exploring imaginative worlds in threedimensional media. • Children are encouraged to use a variety of materials to create a piece of visual art, which is meaningful to them. • This involves exploring the possibilities of the materials, experimenting with new ways of balancing and combining them and discovering ways in which to hold their creations together.

Experience in construction helps children to look with curiosity and enjoyment at structures in nature and to develop sensitivity to and appreciation of the structures of great architects, sculptors and craftspeople

Fabric and Fibre • Working with fabrics and fibre helps children to be curious about how everyday fabrics are constructed and develops greater sensitivity to colour, texture, lines and shapes. • They are encouraged to use fabric and fibre as a material for imaginative creations in both two and three dimensions. • Fabric and fibre are adaptable and enjoyable. • As the children gain confidence in using these materials they will also gain insights into traditional crafts and contemporary design, including fashion.

The aims of the visual arts curriculum are • To help the child develop sensitivity to the visual, spatial and tactile world and to provide for aesthetic experience • To help the child express ideas, feelings and experiences in visual and tactile forms • To enable the child to have enjoyable and purposeful experiences of different art media and to have opportunities to explore, experiment, imagine, design, invent and communicate with different art materials

To promote the child’s understanding of and personal response to the creative processes involved in making two and three-dimensional art • To enable the child to develop the skills and techniques necessary for expression, inventiveness and individuality • To enable the child to experience the excitement and fulfilment of creativity and the achievement of potential through art activities • To foster sensitivity towards and enjoyment and appreciation of the visual arts.

Look at, enjoy and make a personal response to a range of familiar and unfamiliar objects and images in the environment, focusing on their visual attributes • Explore and begin to develop sensitivity to qualities of line, shape, colour and tone, texture, pattern and rhythm, spatial organisation and the three-dimensional quality of form.

Express ideas, feelings, and experiences in visual form and with imagination, enjoyment and a sense of fulfilment. • Experiment in spontaneous, imaginative and increasingly structured ways with a range of art materials, including pencils, paints, crayons, chalks, markers, inks, clay, papiermache, fabric and fibre, and construction materials. • Explore the expressive and design possibilities of the materials within a range of two and three-dimensional media, including drawing, paint and colour, print, clay, construction, fabric and fibre.

Apply skills and techniques, demonstrating increasing sensitivity to the visual elements in his/her work. • Look with curiosity and openness at the work of a wide range of artists and craftspeople. • Explore atmosphere, content and impact in the work of artists, especially when they relate to his/her own work. • Identify a variety of visual arts media and describe some of the creative processes involved.

Develop an ability to identify and discuss what he/she considers the most important design elements of individual pieces, especially when they relate to work in hand. • Discuss the preferred design elements in his/her work and in the work of classmates. • Begin to appreciate the context in which great art and artefacts are created and the culture from which they grow. • Respond to visual arts experiences in a variety of imaginative ways. • Use appropriate language in responding to visual arts experiences.

Looking and Responding • The students should be encouraged and assisted where necessary, to look and respond to their work. • Looking and responding is an important part of the art curriculum. • Allow time for this after art sessions but do not make it into a formal situation.

Through looking and responding the student should be enabled to: • Strand: drawing • Describe what is happening in the drawing Talk about the different kinds of marks made Talk about his/her favourite part

Drama, music art and PE in school