Music Class

My Musical Journey

This is the first time that I have ever shared my musical story. In the past, I never considered that I had a musical story. I never deemed myself to be a “good singer”, I only played the trumpet for a short time, and never had a “good sense of rhythm”. After class on Monday, I have taken a step back and recognized that everyone has a musical story. As a future teacher, it is important that I reflect on my body map and think about how it is going to influence me as a music teacher.

My name is Bri Molnar and I was born and raised in Canada. After our class, I realized how evident music is in our everyday lives. Music is truly a magical thing. I really appreciate music when I am at the gym, and this is where I encountered music last. I workout at the YMCA and always find that music motivates me to run harder, faster, and longer. It makes me feel energized, and I certainly could not run the same without music in my ears. This has made me recognize how physical education and music are great cross curricular partners! Having music on during physical education is a great way to energize students and music class can incorporate physical education as well.

I like listening to songs that I can sing and dance to. On my body map I wrote about how I like to dance to music, but now I realize I also love music that I can sing to! Although I am not a strong singer, I enjoy songs with upbeat lyrics so I can happily sing along. This impacts me as a music teacher because I will always give students time to dance/sing in music, for it is an effective way for students to “feel” musical components.

Some prior knowledge that I have about music is that music has beat and rhythm. I understand the importance of always keeping a beat with my students during instruction.  With this being said, I will be a music teacher that will use my hands to represent low versus high pitch in order to show pitch verbally, visually, and kinesthetically for students to meet that needs of all learners.

On my body map I wrote that I want to know how to teach deaf children music. I think this is a very intriguing topic, but I think I got ahead of myself. Before I ask this question, I think it is important that I know how to teach non-deaf children music first. Learning music-teaching strategies for non-deaf children initially will help me answer my original question. I want to know how to engage students in music and how to maximize collaboration and movement in music. I am excited to learn about this in our music course.

My story is going to impact me as a music teacher in a variety of ways. To start off, I will NEVER tell a student they cannot sing. I will never forget the time a teacher at my school told me that I was an awful singer and should never sing in public. I know she was only kidding, but it hurt me. I need to grow confidence in my voice and believe that everyone can sing. “If you can talk, you can sing”. Furthermore, I will remember to make music engaging for my students. Growing up, music was repetitive and boring. We would discuss musical theory over and over. The teacher would talk and we would listen. I do not want my music classes to be teacher centered, but instead be student centered. I want students teaching each other instead of being lectured to. I want to be a music teacher that creates a safe atmosphere where all students feel comfortable and believe in the sound-before-symbol teaching process. Students should learn beat, rhythm, pitch, and so on through collaboration, dancing, singing, and smiling. I have prior knowledge in fun sing-along songs (eg: Row Your Boat) and I would love to use these songs to engross students. I am excited to learn more about musical concepts so I can be an effective music teacher with strong musicianship that nurtures students to be musically appreciative.