Schools are a breeding ground of collectivity, where everything the children do and learn entails a sense of partnership and responsibility towards each other. All of the lessons and experiences lived within the school environment – including on a personal level – are part of the process of being together. And it is in this collective backdrop that the children also learn music. Be it in a band, a dancing or singing group, or playing, the children learn how to feel and make music by understanding that they are part of a bigger picture, just like each instrument in an orchestra.
According to Elementary School music teacher, Amanda Ribeiro, musical learning is structured differently at be.Living compared to conventional music schools, where the main focus is to learn how to play a certain instrument. “Our goal is not to train instrument players, but rather to sensitize children to music and different artistic expressions in this universe across different regions, cultures and times, giving them a fresh perspective on humanity through this artform.
According to Amanda, however, this doesn’t take away from the importance of actually creating music. In addition to opening up new repertoires to the children, the learning goal is also to offer hands-on experience for them to actually feel different sounds and expressions. “More than just studying music, we listen and discuss musical movements. We try to put concepts and learnings into practice, into the children’s bodies and voices, touching and experimenting a wide range of different instruments from different cultures, such as African, native Brazilian, South American, among others. But the musical experience is always built around the concept of collectivity. While the children learn how to play instruments, melodies and rhythms, through practice and repetition, they realize that they are part of a bigger context, interacting with others who are playing together. That is how they learn how to listen to each other. Sometimes, they realize it’s more important to listen than to play, because it’s crucial to be able to listen to others in order to play as a group.”
Amidst the pandemic, teacher Amanda and the children faced a new challenge: how to make music like they did in the collective and diverse school setting, but now isolated from their own homes?
The first problem to solve was the instruments themselves. There are several percussive and melodic instruments to choose from at school. To make sure they had a rich and practical experience with instruments, the teacher started to think about which everyday objects we all have at home that could be used as musical instruments. “I had been working with unconventional music specifically in the 4th grade, drawing inspiration from artists like Hermeto Pascoal and Stomp, who make music from objects. With the pandemic, I expanded this content to all other classes, drumming on everyday objects or building musical instruments from them. Next, we moved on to learning rhythms, songs and melodies, since they already had something to experiment on and make music.”
The second issue was collectivity. “I came across a big problem: videoconference platforms such as Zoom and Google Meeting work really well in other learning areas, but I found it very frustrating to use them to teach music. It’s simply impossible to make music together, because of the bandwidth lag. One the one hand, we experienced and felt how things were out of sync and all over the place. It was an interesting experience. We were able to see what it’s like to play out of rhythm, how this create different sounds that we’re not used to listening, but also opens up a new musical possibility at the same time.
Another interesting aspect that came from digital platforms was the ability to learn more about each child’s own universe, where there are often instruments that we don’t have at the school, and where music is experienced in a very specific manner. “The children shared their homes, their own instruments or their parents’ instruments. We saw keyboards, pianos, drums, electronic drum sets, banjos, accordions, guitars… A whole new range of possibilities opened up when we got to peek into the musical and cultural universe inside each child’s home. We were able to explore each family’s repertoire. But when we took all of this to Zoom, it was very difficult, because the audio was often shoddy and breaking up. This happened because the platform is designed to cut or mute audio spikes in the background. This feature is designed to minimize background noises such as dogs barking and other noises. So, I realized that these platforms were definitely not the right tools to create music, and we still wanted really bad to be able to sing a song together. That’s when the idea cam up to make videoclips.”
Inspired by so many wholesome clips created during these times of isolation, where bands and musicians found a way to make music together, the teacher came up with a solution to allow everyone to make music as a group. “The logic behind the clip is the same as a studio recording session, but instead of recording audio, we record video. The first musician records the song base track and sends it to everyone else, each person with their own headsets, listening to the recording and playing over the base. Then, we just put everything together. And that’s how we did it.”
For each videoclip, the teacher recorded at least 3 base tracks of her singing and playing, in order to make the children feel more confident and less lonely when recording their own tracks. “In the video, there are always three “Amandas”: one playing the guitar, another playing percussion, and another singing. For some children, it can be disheartening to sing along with everyone else, because they really want to showcase their voices, but for most children, singing together brings comfort and a sense of security. Many children said they felt good because there were many “Amandas” singing along with them. Some children felt too lonely or intimidated by the camera and couldn’t record. This is very understandable, because it really is challenging doing anything in front of a camera, even though we have been overexposed to screens during these times of isolation, be it watching something or being watched. Some children are very comfortable with it, while others struggle a little. Still, it was very nice and rewarding seeing everyone play together in the video. They all loved seeing their own little squares and everyone else as well, singing along to the same tune!”
Besides the videoclips, which gave a whole new meaning to the challenge of making music collectively, another huge accomplishment during this period was getting the families involved in the journey of musical learning. “I have been doing many activities, challenges and games involving rhythm, motor coordination, and the children have sent me several clips of them playing and singing with their parents. So, we were able to transport this idea of sensitizing and musicalizing into each children’s homes and families.”
Amanda reminds us that music has been an important ally during these times of quarantine. “When a class faces a challenge or an obstacle, we always suggest a song that will help them get through it. This can be a heartwarming song or a tune to push away sadness, allowing us to move around and dance whenever we feel bored of having to stay home, in front of the computer. Music has different social roles right now, be it to introduce content, discuss a certain time period, facts, feelings, politics or social movements. In a very sensitive way, music can embrace many contexts and I, as a music teacher, feel very privileged to work with this tool that can bring people together across borders.”
Clique here to watch the videoclips!
