A Reflective Lens: Music Pedagogical Research to Transform Practice | Page 88

Becoming a Reflective Practitioner:
A Music Teacher’s Exploration of Singing Games

I observed that with further literature review, consultation
with my mentor and research consultant, and professional
development (Orff certification Level 1), I began to open
my mind to other strategies to engage my pupils better.

…to recognise my ability and skills along with my
learning from this experience to reconstruct my
assumptions about my practice. This allows me
to be open to new ideas and factors that I have
not considered and the ability to change and
adapt to new strategies
[Hickson, 2011, p. 837]

Pedagogical Shift and New Approach
After a period of personal discovery, reflection and
consultation, I adopted this new structure:
a. Warm ups
b. Singing of familiar songs / singing games, through
speech and using more movement
c. Learn a new song, play the new singing game (structured
but less regulated)
d. Creative component (self-exploratory, create new lyrics)
I spent less time correcting pupils’ accuracy in solfège and
hand signs, and covered these only for a part of the song
at each lesson.
I decided to shift my pedagogical approach towards the Orff
approach where I would start with speech and incorporate
more movement and the feel of the pulse through the use
of body percussion. I encouraged and welcomed pupils’
suggestions and improvisation even from the onset of
warm-ups. For example, they would come up with their
own creative body percussion improvisation to a familiar
greeting song like “Good Morning”, and the whole class
would imitate it. At first, my pupils were unsure of what to

85