Wow! What a crazy week it’s been. My son got sick, I had to work from home…and in case you are new to the realization that a mom gets to work from home…it doesn’t really happen. He’s better now and back at school. Anyway, I try to work on my assignments at school, but the office was a beehive today! Finally, when I got home, my thumb was the unlucky one when it became one with the car door. Now, typing with only 9 fingers, I would like to get to it.

I’m a music lover and listen to wide varieties of music. Pop, rock, country, opera, instrumentals etc. Music is an influential thing. Aside from its entertainment value, listening to music is known to have unbelievable constructive effects on your brain. Amongst other, it uplifts the mood and inspires, it lessens stress, improve focus (that’s why some learners prefer to listen to music when studying), help relaxation, condenses anxiety and depression.

Since my own knowledge with music is considerable, I would like to sit on the fence. Unlike me, there are other people who choose only one specific type of music because that is what they are interested in. I believe that you should try and incorporate all types of genres to the lessons. The variety can be based on culture, interests, and different lesson plans. We always tell our older son, you can’t dislike it without even trying it, no matter what the situation. Therefore, I would try and use African music, Western art and contemporary commercial music in my class. It encourages learners to learn about each other through cultural music, traditional music tells us stories and children's songs teaches life lessons. However, if I were forced to choose only one, it would be contemporary.

Study unit 2’s content is inclusive in the light of learning how to work with and accommodate the needs of learners. The importance of using music is to help learners feel at ease no matter their abilities. In this study unit, we learn that involving children in the lesson by teaching us something they grew up with in order to understand heritage, is a good example of inclusivity. In order for a teacher to be able to plan according to the learner’s needs and culture, we need to do a ‘background’ check. This basically enables the teacher to meet them on the same level as where they will be able to relate and they will probably understand better.  

When adapting the study unit’s content, I would suggest that we have a wider variety of ‘case studies’ or examples to understand every aspect of the importance and variety of the use music. I mentioned earlier that I have a considerable amount of music knowledge, but I must admit that I have no idea which songs I could use from African music or Western art to learn my class. I am not familiar with those genres, which means I will not be able to meet the needs of my learners. Other than that, I think the study unit’s content was very informative.

Hi L Griesel , I know the weeks is crazy. I chose contemporary music or popular music but I like your motivation on trying everything and choosing African music and western art as well. I agree with your post study unit 2 is inclusive and it is very important to help learners feel comfortable and at ease.
Hope the coming week is better ;)

Hi L Griesel

Oh, how I enjoyed reading your blog. It seems as if this week has been an uphill battle for most of us.

You made a very interesting point regarding the inclusion of a wider variety of case studies in the study unit content in order to provide for meaningful engagements and utilisation of all genres of music. I agree, I am also not very familiar with certain genres, especially African music, and would definitely be failing my students by not providing an inclusive experience for every individual learner.

Thank you for some food for thought.