Today I had my first DP Music class ever. It was exciting. Basically, we just went through the exam and talked about how we would work towards it. It's really just UBD (Backwards by Design). I know we need to get ready for an exam, a musical investigations paper, a creation portfolio, and a performance portfolio, and I know that we have roughly 19 months to do it. As for the how? That's an exciting question. Through talking with my DP Mentors and trolling DP Music websites, I've come to see that every teacher does their programme completely different. Some teachers take the view that this is an inquiry-based programme that results in a compiled portfolio. They use a mixture of teacher-led instruction, listening journals, and creation/performance inquiry. Others are very teacher-driven, with very strict guidelines about what will happen when. During this week of grade 12, the students will study Palestrina.
My school is very inquiry-based and so my natural inclination is to go towards the first example. However, this isn't Montessori, right? There's definite structure needed if we are to meet the exam requirements. We need a balance of skills and inquiry. It reminds me of my masters. I was reading an article on critical thinking in the New Handbook of Music Research. Studies have found that students can't think critically if they don't have basic knowledge and understanding on which to think in the first place. So in the very beginning, we need to start with knowledge. Theory. Sure, they can read music when they are playing. On a basic level, they see a symbol and press the correct string down. They can make an effort and name the notes of the treble and bass clefs, with leger lines. They are very unhappy about alto and tenor clefs, though, which is a problem considering they'll probably have to write for string quartet during the stylistic-techniques component. So we are starting with theory drills. I learned these from when I was teaching grade 3 math.
This activity is also really easy to duplicate. All I did was highlight the entire score in Finale and then transpose it up by a 3rd. If any leger lines went crazy, I dropped them down an octave. Next time, I'll move it down by a 6th, or some other random number. Would you like to try it out for yourself? Here's the file I'm using:
- 100 questions
- treble, alto, tenor & bass clefs
- 5 minutes to complete the task
- Each incorrect answer adds another 3 seconds
- The goal is to finish as fast and as accurately as possible.
This activity is also really easy to duplicate. All I did was highlight the entire score in Finale and then transpose it up by a 3rd. If any leger lines went crazy, I dropped them down an octave. Next time, I'll move it down by a 6th, or some other random number. Would you like to try it out for yourself? Here's the file I'm using:
| theory_drills.mus |
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