A Reflective Lens: Music Pedagogical Research to Transform Practice | Page 132

Benefits of Informal Learning Pedagogy and Popular Music with Normal Technical Students:
Self-Directed Learning through the Use of Technology

These videos provided visual cues to the students on
where their hands and fingers should move to perform
the melody. The simple set up with the laptop in front of
them enabled them to learn how to play the keyboard.
The students could replay videos when they were not able
to understand certain parts. It would have been rather
challenging and time-consuming for a teacher to do
that for an entire class. Not only do the findings of this
research concur with the benefits of informal learning, it
also confirms that YouTube video tutorials are an important
feature of informal pedagogy.
The students did not only rely on the audio but also
the visual cues that they saw on the video tutorials. The
colourful blocks, resembling video games that our students
were drawn to, aided them in the playing of the songs. The
speed in which the blocks came down on the keyboards
signalled to the students the rhythm and speed in which
certain notes needed to be played. The YouTube videos
definitely provided a multi-sensory approach towards
informal learning where they could use their eyes and ears
to learn how to play a song.
On our final performance day, a laptop was placed in front of
the students. For most of them, it was no longer necessary
to refer to the visual cues. The students had memorised
the visual cues. Most of them were able to play the song
by heart by that stage. When they played the song in pairs,
they were also seen to be listening and attentive to each
other’s part. The music they produced was recognisable
to the original and they earned themselves at least 3 or 4
marks in each of the component in the final grading7.

7

Refer to the rubrics in Appendix 3.

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