In one of my dance
classes I am required to take for my major, my teacher assigned us a
day where we had to teach the class using the Horton technique. I
teach dance on daily basis and have a set playlist that I choose
directly from my itunes library to then use for my classes. I
literally hook up my phone to the sound system in the dance studio I
teach at and teach my class relying on my iphone. This past week when
I was teaching in my dance class at school, we were using live music
as our accompaniment. I was excited by the opportunity of finally
having to work with a live musician rather then simply pressing next
on my I pod when a specific song I needed wasn't working with the
movement that I was teaching. Working with a live musician was much
harder than I thought it would be. I had to thoughtfully prepare my
movement and count it out so the musician could understand and then
play it as we danced. Since I am constantly relying on the technology
of my ipod and the sound system in my studio, I never really have to
count my movement out because I can just change the songs on my ipod
until I find the right song that works for the combination I am
teaching. Since I am constantly relying on technology for music
purposes it was extremely difficult for me to adapt to a live
musician. I would like to further my education working with live
accompaniment and learning how to adapt and function without using an
ipod or sound system. I never realized how much I rely on technology
for musical purposes that I lost touch with my interaction with live
music. It is extremely important to be versatile and adapt to
anything that is being thrown at me when it comes to teaching.
Technology is not always the way.
This sounds like a great opportunity to collaborate with a cross curriculum subject area! Although I do not have a great amount of technical knowledge in either of these subject areas, I see an interesting relationship between the two subjects. The dancers counting out of movements and the musicians counting of beats.
ReplyDeleteThere could also be a lesson in this experience on ballets and other stage performances that are usually accompanied by an orchestra or some form of live music.
I wonder if free dancing to live music vs.ipod music impacts the dancers emotional expression and response through their movements?
For example: listening to a live orchestra is a different experience than the orchestra emitted from speakers.
This is a great way to show the connection between the two disciplines and how each is effected by one another.
Even though working with a live musician was hard for you, I think that it would be a great idea to combine your dance class with the music class. Students from your dance class could work together with students who play instruments to prepare a show for parents and the rest of the school. I think this would motivate students to want to perfect both their instrument playing and dance moves in order to impress their audience. Overall, great post!
ReplyDeleteWhile this was clearly something that took some adjusting for you, it is great that this difficulty occurred, so you can now be aware of the differences between performing with pre-recorded music and with a live band or orchestra. There is a difference, which some may not realize. This could be an idea for a lesson, to see how students adjust to the differences, if they can adjust at all. And this can also lead to a collaboration with another subject, such as putting on a show of some sort with music students.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing that should be mentioned is that if you wanted to go back and redo something, its a much bigger ordeal when you have a group of musicians. You need to stop them, and then line up the specific spot in the music that goes along with the specific move you wanted to redo. Then you have to get all of the musicians attention and give them either a cue to start playing, or count them off. This is much different than pressing a button twice, and then taking another shot at it. I enjoyed hearing about your experience with working with live musicians.
ReplyDeleteI like this post! Its the truth technology has bit us all once or twice, between emails and youtube you cant rely 100% on anything. I think as teachers we have to have back up plans just in case something doest swing our way.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, technology is not always the way. That can be said for every content area. Yes technology can be a great improvement for teachers and help us in our classroom, but it is also good to know how to work with whatever you are given. In your case, it’s similar to what you said. It is good to have a knowledge of dancing with music from your phone as well as an actual live orchestra. An example from an art teacher’s perspective, it is good to have knowledge in the original dark room photography as well as digital photography. Knowing how to work with multiple kinds of things can only help you become a better teacher. And this is a great thing to teach your students, too!
ReplyDelete