How reflection enriches music lessons
Passionata – Music lessons make all the difference
A few years ago, the class teacher of one of my second classes was on maternity leave, so I suggested to the children that we write a song for her newborn son Santiago. The children were thrilled. Since I teach half-classes, we composed two songs.
The «Zebra» group immediately agreed that it should be a lullaby. They split into groups of two and three to brainstorm ideas. Some wrote down rhymes, others tried out melodies on the xylophone or invented a dance.
The children had previous experience. They had been in basic music education for a year and a half and knew that creative work sometimes leads to dead ends or differences of opinion. That morning, there was a lot of experimentation and little arguing. Probably the motivation to make their beloved and missed teacher happy was so great that giving up was not an option.
Music lessons offer ideal conditions for strengthening a sense of community while giving children space for personal development. They learn self-efficacy – confidence in their own ability to overcome challenges. For this to succeed, traditional teaching methods, which are heavily focused on reproduction, must be changed. Learning does not happen solely through demonstration and imitation. Rather, lessons need to provide creative freedom in which children can develop, test and reflect on their own ideas.
Analysing musical compositions
Professor Christian Berger from Zurich University of the Arts has developed a teaching model for this purpose, which I have been using for a long time. Every lesson in the elementary music programme should allow space for children to be creative, whether through improvisation on the xylophone, jointly inventing a story for voice training or composing their own song.
Reflection is a key component of this: consciously thinking about music, dance or singing. Children learn to analyse their own musical creations. This means that their ideas are not just snapshots, but become part of their repertoire that they can draw on again and again.
Elementary music education is about giving space to ideas, big and small.
When the groups presented their products to each other, the reflection phase was like another fireworks display. A team of three sang, «Oh baby, oh baby, good night,» and the children watching immediately joined in. The beginning of the song was thus established. We then put the individual ideas in a coherent order and began working together on the melody, sound and form of the song.
The children were happy when I helped them take notes or brought some order to the room when everyone was talking at once. But they determined the content, because elementary music education is about deepening children's skills and ensuring that both small and big ideas have a place. That morning, the children who suggested ideas were just as important as those who listened, reflected and, in some cases, offered criticism.
The wording of the final sentence was particularly controversial. It read: «Sleep, baby, sleep, because tomorrow is a new day, maybe you'll have lots of fun.» Kristian* suggested improving it to: «You'll definitely have lots of fun.» He believed that the little boy would sleep better if he was promised a happy day ahead.
Alexandra disagreed: «We have to be honest. There are also days when there isn't much fun to be had. When the baby is teething, for example.» Lejla summed it up philosophically: «Nobody has fun every day. Otherwise, you wouldn't have any special days to remember.» So the text remained unchanged: «Tomorrow is a new day, maybe you'll have lots of fun.»
Passionata – Music lessons make all the difference
From the third grade onwards, they have the opportunity to join the school choir. Children and teachers regularly sing and dance together in the playground.
Making music is pure life, and educationally sound music lessons are important for every child's development.
In the weeks that followed, we recorded the song on my mobile phone. The children learned the appropriate ukulele chords, decided on vocal solos and jointly decided on the use of instruments such as shakers, triangles and xylophones. With each step , not only did the song grow, but so did the precision and concentration with which the eight-year-olds played.
Listen to the song here and read the lyrics and sheet music here.
*The children's names have been changed by the editors.
