In fact upon reading up on the history of 20thC English art songs, I fed my class with much knowledge about this genre of music. Even though most were not “in the syllables” but I was glad I gave it to them. I was wondering if I could have even given them the “raw readings” and get them to extract the information for themselves. That perhaps could have been a more effective way of retaining learning.

The flipside to the lesson was that all the scores I had didn’t have corresponding CDs and vice versa. So I could not show a good example of an English art song with both music and score. The best I could do was to play the voice part and got them to make descriptions of it. Wished we had more teaching resources available. Something I need to do is to really organize the teaching resources (CDs and scores) so that I can make the lessons more meaningful.

Before I started the teaching of the Baroque period, I planned to do a quiz on what was previously covered, i.e. Elements of music, instruments of the orchestra and some other rudiments of music. Since it was my first time having to handle 5 different SOWs at one time, I kind of mixed up my lessons and gave the Sec 2 class the quiz for Sec 3’s which tested on music of the Baroque and Classical periods, which have not been taught!

Initially they stared at the questions blankly which I chided them for not retaining what they have learnt last year. As the quiz went on, some students started to be able to answer some (not all) of the questions. Since it was a group quiz, the competition to win motivated them to really think hard. To my surprise, some were able to answer the questions even though these topics were not taught.

It was only after the lesson that I realized I had made the grave mistake!!! Poor girls! But I as sure impressed at how they were able to manage most of the questions. This got me thinking about how much prior knowledge our students actually know, and that we can tap on in order to hasten the pace of their learning so that we can eventually dedicate more time to things they really need help in rather than going through the motion because the syllables says so. Something that I can try out would be to give a “Fore Quiz” instead of a “Revision Quiz” to test how much they already know!

1) What was your biggest challenge when setting up the Music Centre at my school? How did I overcome that?
2) In your fraternity, what is the biggest challenge you face?
(Ans: Parents!! It had to be them! Damn! And I’m one of them)
3) So how do you deal with them or advice others to do so?
4) In light of the subject and the number of pupils you have in your class, how credible do you think, as a Music teacher, are you able to advice other teachers about managing a class properly?
5) How do you help a new teacher bridge the gap between the theories taught at NIE and the reality of the classroom?
6) What 2 main factors allowed you to make the several contributions to the school?

This is as much as my pea-size memory space up there has allowed me to retain.

Then… THE final question that came along that I had to throw a smoke bomb before making a quick escape. To elaborate, it was a lousy, pathetic smoke bomb that didn’t help to cover my tracks as I left the room, not sure where to hide my face. I could see “that look” from the one who posed the question that says “GOTCHA there! Muahahaha!” Well, the question had to be about the well, infamous AFL which is a fad in my school now. It goes.. “How are you going to convince your colleagues into using AFL to teach Music?” or something like that. I knew very well what AFL was, and how it’s used to teach Music to the masses. My answer was lousily smokey that I couldn’t remember what I said, needless to even want to recall and put it down here. It would be detrimental to my reputation. Haha
But what I really wanted to say was this. AFL is about bridging the gap between what’s taught by the teacher and what’s received on the learner’s part. Now, it is often easy for the learner to know where he/she stands since the ear knows what music sounds like and when it sounds wrong. In that light, the student would be able to quickly make an assessment for himself/herself as to how much he/she has achieved and how much more to go. The teacher’s role would therefore be to help the student bridge that gap by providing the student with the necessary drill to master the skill of playing the missing part right.
Sure enough, this was one of those moments where the words just don’t sync with yout thoughts and you make a booboo of yourself. The first and last moments always make the most lasting impression. I had to make that last impression as such. Sigh…
All that said, the months of preparation for “The Interview” certainly did make me think through my set of values that undergirde my practices and decisions in my years as a teacher.
1) Always to try new and better ways of doing things
2) Enjoy the process
3) Provide oppurtunities
I think over the years, what had kept me going was the fact that these personal values were in line with those of the fraternity I am in. Just last week at the Mass Lecture, the vision for teaching was “Lead, Care, Inspire”. Thank God it wasn’t some bombastic sentence that no one could remember. It was 3 simple, yet powerful words that should echo the intentions of a teacher. In ensuring that students enjoy what they do in class, I’m expressing care for their learning. By trying new and better ways of doing things, I inspire and lead others into experimenting with their ideas too. Finally, caring that students’ needs are met, oppurtunities are provided to them whenever possible.
I am deeply encouraged by the Sec 2 Guitar programme that is now cruising along. The instructors are doing a brilliant job in getting the students to learn the skills. The students are kepy motivated to keep trying because the results is plain for the ear to hear. It’s easy for individual student to know where they stand and how far they have to go. Well for those who are still far from the standard, they have been taking initiatives to improve. Every Fri, they make a beeline outside the music room to borrow guitars for the weekend. It started with just a few students. As the weeks go by and it becomes more obvious where they stand in the class, more and more students are coming forward to borrow the instrument for themselves, even one whose hand is still in a cast. He has been playing the guitar like he would a cello. Amazing!
I sit here, awaiting the results from my P. If I make it through, then good for me. If I don’t, I doubt I will be upset for long. Yes I would naturally feel disappointed but the past months of preparing for “The Interview” has certainly got me to think about the reason for my being in the teaching fraternity.
Finally, a tribute to the taxi driver who drove me to the venue for my interview. He taught me to remain calm in the midst of adversities and confusion by looking up “Yishun Ring” road on a map just before the interview.

Yes I cannot deny that these pieces do drill in them techniques needed to be a good musician, artiste, but the original purpose of making music is lost. Students are so keen on the medal that they lose sight of the purpose and meaning in the reason for their incessant practice. For almost a year, they forget why they sing, dance or perform. The love for the art is killed because of that. How can that love for performing be reinforced if all they do is practice the same old 3 pieces every other day for a year? One can only cultivate that love for music only through constant exploration and exposure. The SYF has done nothing but to eliminate those factors which drive that passion.

I constantly have to remind the students why they sing, why they love music; that they mustn’t just be singing notes, but that the notes are vehicles of expression. Music is a universal language that expresses the emotions; this language is nulled if the expression if not conveyed. How can one then put a medal to a form of expression?

All is said, this SYF has been here since the longest time and will be here to stay. Since it’s almost impossible not to not participate in the SYF, I guess I just have to keep reminding students of the purpose of making music. Well for now, there’s 2 more years to soak in the music before the dreaded time is here yet again.

 One of the things that became clearer to me after watching the video is that students really cannot be left alone to their own devices. However there’s only 1 of me and 40 of the rest. I do not know how I should deal with this? Having more instruments in the class may help to keep more students occupied but that would be a money issue. I need help with this!

The other thing I find is that I tend to repeat myself too often (sign of ageing) I try to cover as much ground as possible but it may just result in losing the students altogether if I talk too much, and not to mention too quickly sometimes. I think my talking speed has slowed down over the years. But until the video was played, I thought I was talking fine. So I’ve gotta slow down more and talk even less! Which means I’ve keep it short and sweet!

But I still enjoy hearing the sweet successes of students having learnt and mastered what they need to. It’s music to the ears, literally. I only wish they are able to play more beautiful pieces of music. However with the limited time and knowledge of music they have, it is actually quite hard. Well, I’m only but a teacher, or teaser if you can call it. In my limited capacity and resources, many opportunities opened to the student serve only to tease their tastebuds in hope of them going out to indulge in the fullness of it all.

For sec 1′s, they are now in the midst of learning the 2nd song on the xylophone. I thought the song was relatively easy but i was quite wrong. Section A was but not B. Even the best class had some difficulty managing it. The difficulty came about as they had to play 2 notes at a time. Even though the 2 notes were 3 notes apart (which was why I thought made the song easy),they somehow got very confused. I tried showing to the them the pattern of the song, didn’t help much. Then I told them to memorise the tune of the song as that’s how people who don’t have music background learn music most of the time. Worked for some but many were still grappling with having to coordinate the 2 notes. The last method I tried, which is still in the process of being tried out, is getting students to play the right hand part first. Once they’ve got that,  they just need to put in the left hand which is 3 notes away from the right hand. So far I see more progress. Most students are able to manage that. Of course with the help of having already memorised the tune. Next week, they will move on to putting in the left hand and I hope it will be voila!