SO UN D I N G T H E T E A CH IN G
2
Exposition
EX A MI NI NG MU SI C LEA R NI NG EX P ER I ENC ES
F I N D I N G S
STUDENT REFLECTIONS
QUESTIONNAIRE
STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES
TOWARDS COMPOSING
Positive attitude
Do you think the music
project mirrors real-world
tasks or expectations? Does working in a group
help you complete the tasks
assigned to you?
Do you appreciate
getting feedback from
your teachers? Do you feel that you
contributed to the group
composition?
Do you discuss your
teacher’s comments and
feedback to try to improve
for the next lesson? Having gone through the
project, are you now more
confident about composing
music?
Do you think you have
learnt music knowledge
and skills through the
music project? If you are given another
chance to learn more or do
another music composition,
would you do it?
Do you enjoy working in a
group for the music project?
Did you feel engaged in
the music lesson while you
were working on the music
project?
Enjoyed the process
Had fun working in groups
Okay with composition
Negative attitude
Not interested
Preferred if lessons were more relaxing
Don’t think music should be graded
Don’t need music lessons in my life but
need songs or entertainment
COMPOSITION TASK
Not an interesting project
Not relevant
Would like the freedom to choose
Found composing very difficult
Found theme too restrictive; would
prefer having more choices and themes
COMPOSING AS
A LEARNING PROCESS
Messed up a lot, which made it fun
Would like to create nice songs with
nice lyrics and nice chords
Very important to have nice tunes
Wrote whatever came to mind
GUIDANCE BY TEACHERS
Teacher interfered too much
Too little attention from teacher
Can’t do it without teachers
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NUMBER O F S TU D EN TS W H O AN S W ER ED " Y ES "
LESS
STUDENTS’
SATISFACTION LEVELS
MORE
Have seen better compositions
Satisfied with the outcome as
we gave our best
Not satisfied with outcome
STUDENTS’ APTITUDES
FOR COMPOSING
Familiar with GarageBand
Lacked exposure and experience
BENEFITS OF LEARNING
TO COMPOSE
Learned to play guitar in air-con room
Learned how to do something
Learned what it’s like to be a composer
CHALLENGES FACED
BY STUDENTS
Found it hard to compose – needed
more step-by-step guidance
Needed more guidelines
Didn’t know which chords went
together
Had to keep trying to succeed
Preferred if chords were provided
Environment was too noisy – too many
people in one room, not enough pianos
PERSONAL CONTRIBUTIONS
Felt that I couldn’t contribute
My music skills are not strong enough
Seemed like I was anchoring everything
Jobs were split between members
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