A Reflective Lens: Music Pedagogical Research to Transform Practice | Page 91

A Reflective Lens:
Music Pedagogical Research to Transform Practice

The pupils only changed the words of the animals and
fruits but they intuitively knew to choose words that had
the same number of syllabus.
In singing the “llama” song:
Have you ever, ever, ever in your long legged life, seen a
short legged llama with his googled-eye wife?
Pupil’s rendition:
Have you ever, ever, ever in your big-nose life, seen a
“fatty-bom-bom” King Kong with his ugly-faced wife?
The pupils not only changed the lyrics but also the rhythmic
structure of the song to fit in their own lyrics.
By naturally integrating the teaching of music concepts as
I taught the songs, I did not have to spend too much time
on it and avoided turning it into a theoretical exercise. I
wanted pupils to experience the music they were learning.
In the clapping games, the activities were sometimes
confusing as my pupils were performing at least two tasks
at the same time: singing a rhythm and clapping another
(rhythm / pulse with variations). Yet, as they played the
games countless times tirelessly, they began to internalise
the melody. Subsequently, they were able to sing the song
in solfège with ease.
I realised that they could learn the solfège and hand signs
and pitch better after they had sung the songs and played
the games for at least two weeks. This revisiting of familiar
songs firmly planted the tone set in my pupils’ minds and
I did not have to teach the song and the solfège together
in one sitting. In actual fact, they could sing the solfège
with greater accuracy in pitching when I taught songs and
introduced the solfège in subsequent lessons. I did not
need to be so adamant in finishing teaching the solfège
and hand signs before they had internalised the songs.

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