MUSIC

Music is really important for a lot of things and, day by day, people is beginning to understand its real benefits and importance. 

It is said that music is not only an artistic language but also it can be used as a therapeutic method, as a social media or even as a way to improve some skills such as the attention capability.

Today we want to reinforce this importance and share with you different ways to work the music using ICT tools. 

The first one we want to explain is the possibility to record the songs or movements that you and your students sing, play or dance to have them saved in your computers or share it with the families, teachers, etc. The recording is, on the other hand, a perfect way for allowing our students to do a self-assessment of the activity so that it is one important to take into account.

Which ways are the ones that we have to record these songs?

We can use the recorder able in our computer or we can downloaded one tool to record whatever we want. 

We can also record it with the input devices like a camera and then uploaded to our computer.

Which ways are the ones that we have to upload our songs?

If we want to share them throughout a media in the internet there are different options that we can bear in mind. For example, web platforms such as Goar or Soundcloud allow us to store and share audio files while Youtube web gives us the chance of uploading and sharing video files. In all the cases, you will be required to sign up in the page but, do not worry because it is completely free.

Now, we are going to show you different English activities treated from the music subject.

Songs

Children normally love singing and that is good for different reasons. Songs allow the learners to develop musical aspects such as rhythm or coordination as well as language skills like listening, use of English, speaking or reading. The young students enjoy a lot having a good time and being the main character of their learning process working through different songs actively.

We want to share with you a video of the song "Five Little Monkeys" that we have been already made and uploaded to YouTube.

Our proposal is listening at first, singing then, including movements later, talk about it and, finally, do an activity related with the numbers to work in a global way.

 

For example, you can show the numbers to the students in different ways (flashcards, image, objects, etc.) and then do an activity on which they have the chance to reinforce it like a supermarket.

This is a collage made with Picasa that could be an option to present the numbers to the students.

De Collages You can require to the students writing a song with the numbers already worked. By this way, you will work the speaking and the writing.  You could give a worksheet with some parts of the song already made to encourage the students starting with it.

The Numbers Song

Last but not least, we suggest doing an art activity that mix the plastic and musical languages using the Paint tool (you could do it in group at the Interactive Whiteboard or in little group or individually in the computer). How to do it? Look for a song or musical piece and ask for do some paint while the students are listening to it. They will enjoy a lot and the results will be amazing.

Some interesting musical compositions are:

Alfred, Tristan, The Colonel, The Legend (Part 2) - BSO Legends of the fall. Recovered from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aUrIED9YtQ&index=1&list=PLAB475B81BAEAFEAC

The Carnival of the animals "Aquarium" - Camille Saint Saëns. Recovered from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyFpZ5MZ7kk

The Grand Finale - Danny Elfman. Recovered from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hULBzzdi5Uw

Bolero - Ravel. Recovered from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwjckBCIPZU

One last wish - BSO Casper. Recovered from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvpSQ8nJmUk

La cabalgata de las Valkirias - Richard Wagner. Recovered from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsRLV5BKFtg

We hope you will enjoy them.

Thanks for following and see you soon.