要上沒有創作的音樂課﹐我寧可孩子去操場跑圈 - 起碼能強身健體。

音樂堂裡所有的活動通常都能歸納在三個範疇﹕聆聽﹑表演﹑創作。(listening, performing and composing) 從前當音樂老師很容易﹔通常老師會選擇吩咐各位打開音樂書﹐一直唱到下課(表演)﹑或讓一班四十多人一起望著二十四吋電視熒幕上放映的天鵝湖 (聆聽)。 但時代不同了﹐如果我有孩子﹐而他的音樂老師依然用這些方法教音樂﹐我寧願我的孩子到操場跑十個圈 - 起碼可以練練氣﹐不用浪費時間。 受過正規訓練的音樂老師﹐一定懂得很多有關 listening 和 performing 的有趣活動﹐所以這兩方面的目標不難達...成。但說到創作﹐最有經驗的老師都會給難到。 借口通常包括﹕ “孩子還少﹐他們怎能作曲﹖” “我只是音樂老師﹐不懂作曲﹑更不懂教作曲。” 其實我到今天都會用這些借口來逃避教授創作 - 老實說﹐我不教﹐孩子和家長都不會要求。(

莫扎特效應

無呢件事。

其實大學一年級時﹐呢個課題o係音樂教育界已經唔係新事。教授問我地﹕“邊個信莫扎特效應﹖” 雖然係有幾個同學舉手﹐但係我們根本唔係好明成件事。我地好似又真係唔知o係邊度睇過﹕“古典音樂能令孩子更聰明”之類o既新聞或廣告﹔莫扎特雖然寫過無數唔同種類o既音樂﹐但斷估佢自己都無心作俾我地o既腦部發展掛﹖

教授回應﹕“完全無呢樣o野 - 從來無研究顯示過音樂能夠令人更聰明。”

呢幾年﹐香港o既playgroup越開越多﹐好多以音樂為主﹐仲以“學音樂能令孩子更聰明”之類o既廣告o黎來招攬顧客。超過份﹑勁無知!

其實如果你上網search一search﹐你就會搵到好多關於呢個效應點樣被無限放大。(yahoo知識都有!)等我o係度用廣...東同大家講講。

背景﹕
1993年﹐University of California 的幾位教授邀請了36位大學生參與研究﹐

What does music mean to me?

As a music educator, I always believe that if parents treat music education is as important as language education or math education, children will naturally grow up to:- read a piece of music as easily as they read a piece of news- sing a song aloud as comfortably as they recite a poem aloud- appreciate a piece of music from another culture just like they start to like an author's work from a

對音樂教育﹐家長(可以)有要求嗎﹖

我們這一代﹐很多都在香港的填鴨式教育中成長。現在填鴨式都變成過去式﹐學校要生存﹐大都標榜全人教育﹑雙語學習等等新的概念。 比起上一代﹐這一代的家長都對子女的教育有極高的要求﹔看見不滿﹐他們會立即向校方反映。子女的英文口語不流利﹐他們會致電英語老師﹐表達自己對英語運用對二十一世紀的重要﹔數學功課課題太容易﹐他們會寫封信給校長﹐要求為學習課題增添難度。當然少不了的是送子女上補習班﹐確保他們的成績達標/超標。 那音樂呢﹖ 當然﹐有很多家長仍然視音樂為可有可無的科目﹐所以他們不會對音樂科有要求。但不少家長很明白全人教育的意思包括藝術教育...﹔換言之﹐他們知道藝術比起語言和科學同樣重要。可惜的是﹐他們不懂得對音樂/藝術教育作出要求﹐所以他們只好盲目地要子女學好鋼琴﹔考好八級鋼琴作為培養子女音樂感的指標。 但家長們﹐請撫心自問﹐你們當中有大部份都在自己父母的強迫下學過樂器﹐

ECEA at NCTE 2009

It is hard to believe that the NCTE Annual Convention is just around the corner. The Early Childhood Education Assembly has certainly come a long way in a very short period of time. Having recently gained Assembly status, we are especially excited to catch up with all of you at the convention, and talk with you about ways of drawing attention to our early childhood group. Over the past several months the ECEA Board of Directors Officers, has been busy putting together sessions that focus on early childhood education. At the end of this post we will list various sessions to be held on the Day of ECE at the NCTE convention as well as share with you the ECE workshop we are sponsoring as a post convention event.



Please check back regularly for any updates.

Also, for your convenience in the side bar to the right of this post, you will find information regarding membership in the Early Childhood Education Assembly. We need your support so please share this site with your colleagues, follow us on Twitter, friend us on Facebook and help us to spread the word about our assembly.

We look forward to seeing you in Philadelphia!

Vivian Vasquez and Mariana Souto-Manning

ECEA Chair and Assistant Chair

• A Day of Early Childhood at the NCTE Annual Convention - Click here and join us!
  

• November 23, 2009: Young Children Learning in Diverse Communities: Language and Literacy Strategies for Early Childhood Teachers - A Day-Long Workshop. Click here to register.
  

WORKSHOP DETAILS:
Session: W.01 - 9:00 am to 3:30 pm 11/23/2009
Format: Day-Long Workshop
Room: Convention Center/Room 201B, Level 2 Topic: Other

In this workshop, ten early childhood educators will engage teachers in exploring issues and ideas to support language and literacy learning in preschools, kindergartens, and primary grades across cultural and linguistic communities.

Presenter:
Gloria Boutte, University of South Carolina, Columbia , 'Teaching African American English Speakers: Expanding Educators and Student Repertoires'

Anne Haas Dyson, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and Celia Genishi, Teachers College, Columbia University, 'Writing . . . Talking and Playing Between the Lines'

Maria Paula Ghiso, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia , 'Writing that Matters: Explorations in First Grade Authorship'

Susi Long, University of South Carolina, Columbia , 'Home and Community Literacies: Strategies for Learning about Children Beyond Schools'

Julia Lopez-Robertson, University of South Carolina, Columbia , 'Literature Circles: Inviting Critical Conversations in All Classrooms'

Mariana Souto-Manning, Teachers College, Columbia University and Vivian Vasquez, American University, Washington, DC
'Critical Literacies in Early Childhood Classrooms'

Dinah Volk, Cleveland State University, Ohio , 'Home and Community Literacies: Strategies for Learning about Children Beyond Schools'

Blue man group all-in-one

I'm awed by the performances of the Blue Man Group. Yet I haven't played any of them to children because after all, the Blue Men are quite weird and scary looking for children.

Their performance represents the essence of creativity - creating extraordinary out of the most ordinary. Their most famous stage performance includes "paint drumming" and music-making on PVC tubes.

Here's a short clip

何謂美感﹖(What is Aesthetic Education?)

"Aesthetic Education" 是西方藝術教育文獻裡常見的題目。“Aesthetic Education” 通常包括音樂﹑視覺藝術﹑戲劇與舞蹈 - 透過不同種類的藝術媒體﹐小孩子開始培養他們的審美觀。“美”的定義很空泛﹐我喜歡的音樂﹐你未必喜歡﹔但我不能說我是對﹐你是錯。昨晚﹐我在準備 presentation 的時候嘗試給 “Aesthetic”(美感)一個定義﹔想了良久﹐我都想不出來。既然我不能解釋它是什麼﹐我便倒過來說它”不是“什麼。我想到三點﹕1) 美感不是一種知識。我們不能單憑上樂理課或熟讀美術歷史而變有美感。再者﹐知識會被遺忘﹐美感卻沒有時間性﹔即使身體老去﹑記憶褪去﹐美感依然健全。所以一個懂得顏色構造或考獲八級樂理的人﹐未必等於審美能力超強。2) 美感不是一種技能。所謂熟能生巧﹐技能上的進步通常依賴不停的練習﹔一旦疏于練習﹐技能便會退步。在我身邊﹐

WHY PIANO?

"When should my child start piano lesson?" - This is the most frequent question that I get from parents. First of all, perhaps we need to ask ourselves: why PIANO? Why not violin, or African drum, or erhu? We are the piano-generation. Our moms enroled us to attend piano lesson when we were around 6 years old; whether we liked it or not, we would have attained some qualification in piano-playing (