Music Education - Musical Learning And Transfer

The common definition of transfer is to carry or shift from one place to another. One of our goals in music education is for students to become knowledgeable about music and to be able to transfer that knowledge from one musical setting to another. As you read this article, view yourself as a parent or teacher involving the child in constructive and enjoyable musical learning.

The transfer of skills and knowledge takes place as children progress from one level of understanding to another. Refer to the child's previous experience and performance of the musical elements to aid the transfer process. The way we plan and implement transfer processes impacts the choice of music activities. Select teaching strategies that will provide ample opportunity for the children to make musical connections.

Involve the child in discovering and exploring the relationship between the new learning experience and his or her current knowledge. For example, understanding that two quarter notes tied together equal one half note.

Many years ago, one of my choral students, who was musically literate and conversant with reading music notation from basic choral scores, decided to join band. On the student's first day in band class, the band director was stymied by the student's difficulty in reading the music from an instrumental score. We discovered that the student was having difficulty transferring musical information from one format to another. Therefore, pay close attention to the format in which musical notation and information is presented to the students and help them make the transition from one format to another. A simple example of this might be learning to read rhythms with syllables or in “stick” notation and then progressing to standard rhythm notation.

Students should practice skills and music behaviors in a variety of settings. Through repetition and multiple applications of their musical learnings, we are enhancing their ability to transfer these learnings with understanding from one musical setting to another.

We are the engineers of successful musical learning for our children through the use of transfer.

Children’s Music - Repetition In Music And Its History

In a previous article “Repetition and Musical Learning,” the focus was on various ways to use meaningful repetitions to enhance musical learning. In this article we look at the history of repetition as it evolved through the centuries of music development.

Repetition of tones and patterns is an innate part of all music. Repetition encompasses a large variety of types and forms. Repetition gives structure and meaning to help us understand the music. It is a very important principle in composing or improvising music.

How does this relate to children and music? Repetition in melodic patterns is very prevalent in children’s songs, i.e., “Frere Jacques” or “Are You Sleeping.” Repetition may take the form of exact imitation or be a variation of a melody. The spectrum of repetition in music extends to repeating entire sections of a musical selection.

Carl Orff, renown German composer and music educator, and his collaborator, Gunild Keetman, outlined a process of introducing music to children. The process parallels the development of Western music. Using a single repeated tone (pedal), a simple accompaniment is created to add elemental harmony to a melody. Ostinatos or verbatim repeated patterns occur throughout a musical selection or a segment of the selection. The earliest examples of ostinato are found in 13th century music.

Ostinatos are used in a variety of ways and with a variety of musical media, i.e., clapping, voice, unpitched instruments, pitched instruments. Rhythm and melodic ostinatos appear as accompaniments for speech chants and melodies that are sung or played on a variety of instruments. Borduns (drones) are repeated harmonic patterns and appear in early music accompaniments. Other musical examples of repetition include canon, round, theme and variations, chaconnes, and rondo (ABACA) form. The world of repetition in music is multi-faceted and limitless whether for the composer or the listener.

Kids Music - Fun Fitness for Kids

Exercise and fitness for kids can be both physically rewarding and fun at the same time. One of the biggest challenges facing youth today is childhood obesity. Due to a more sedentary lifestyle, this is a growing problem that will take some solutions that deal with children’s attitudes toward exercise.

In today’s age of technical innovations and new ways to entertain children, the growing trend is a lower level of physical activity. More time is spent in front of the television watching movies, surfing the internet, or playing video games. Activity and exercise have given way to the latest sports video game and online adventure. These forms of entertainment seem to have caused today's children to have an increasingly negative attitude towards real exercise. With a little positive guidance this doesn’t have to be the case.

One way to encourage children to exercise is to change the way the think about exercise. Instead of the notion that exercise is nothing but hard work, emphasize the fun aspect of it. Show children what fun it is to play basketball. A fun time can be had when shooting hoops. Look at it as playing a game instead of a chore. The child won’t notice the cardiovascular activity, agility, strength training and hand eye coordination that is being developed. They will only remember how fun it was to play the game and want to play again.

Another positive aspect of group exercise is social reinforcement. Since basketball is a team sport, it is very easy to get other kids involved in the game. It can be played by yourself or up to ten people at a time. When this many children are involved it emphasizes the “fun” aspect of the game. Kids see other kids working as a team and having fun. This leads to other positive aspects such as social interaction, teamwork and sportsmanship. It also shows children that exercise and activity don’t have to be a chore, but a fun game. With a positive outlook on exercise, children can live healthy, happy lives now and into the future.

Kids Songs - Making Meaningful Music

In 2005, I co-founded Silly Bus, a multi-media company specializing in fun, entertaining and educational children’s songs and videos. Up to that point as a songwriter, I had focused predominately on the usual pop/rock topics – love, loss, redemption, etc. Although early in my career I experienced moderate success, nothing could have prepared me for the rewarding life of a children’s songwriter.

Ever since joining Silly Bus, songwriting has been more meaningful. Simply put, it feels great to write songs to help children learn the alphabet, health & fitness, math and other fundamentals of life. The songs have a purpose beyond self—to enrich the lives of children and their families.

An unexpected, but welcome result of Silly Bus’ success has been the opportunity to work with our favorite nonprofits. This work has allowed us to expand our repertoire through the production of unique multi-media combining partner messages with our creative handiwork.

“Heroes and Angels” is one such song of which I am particularly proud. Inspired by and written for Connor’s Heroes Foundation, Heroes and Angels discusses childhood cancer, the unique issues associated therewith and the heroes dedicated to helping children with cancer and their families. Heroes and Angels is a song of awareness, strength and understanding. The song is Silly Bus’ contribution to Connor’s Heroes and its mission. It is our way of turning fear into hope.

The song was recently unveiled in Connor’s Heroes’ new public service announcement featuring Connor Goodwin, Tommy Hilfiger and Alex Garfield. The public service announcement stresses the importance of being a hero in the fight against childhood cancer, and is available on YouTube. Heroes and Angels lyrics are reproduced below. The song will be released for download in early 2010.

For more information, please visit us at: www.sillybus.net

Kids Music - Branding Through Educational Media

As consumers we are drawn to familiar brands that consistently provide great products and services. Brand loyalty is sometimes inherited from our parents (i.e., Do you prefer Pepsi or Coca Cola?). It is also earned through a company’s dedication to quality.

Even the best products and services, though, can go unnoticed or be forgotten. Competition is fierce, and no matter what a company’s line of business, there is almost certainly a comparable provider in the market. To raise awareness and to stay fresh in consumer minds, companies should break the mold and think of creative ways to make a lasting, meaningful impression. Branding through educational media offers just that.

Educational media, as used in this article, refers to kids songs and kids videos containing substantive messages designed to teach children subjects like math, science, fitness and green living. One way for companies to make an impact, raise brand awareness and grow goodwill is to supplement the traditional “pushing” of products with educational media. Educational media through kids songs and kids videos enables companies to use radio, television and bandwidth for the greater good.

By providing consumers and their children with useful and sometimes otherwise unavailable information in fun, entertaining kids songs and kids videos, a company enriches its brand in a number of ways. First, the company shows its engagement in the community and desire to be more than just a product or service provider. Second, the company builds its goodwill with current and future customers by using its resources to give back to the community. Third, the company shows its drive to do something meaningful for its customers. And fourth, the company gives consumers a reason to feel good about doing business with it.

Ultimately, a company wants consumers to know its name, associate good thoughts with its products or services and to remember this when opening their wallets. Commercials and traditional marketing campaigns are great, but sometimes it pays to think outside the box. Companies wishing to do something meaningful and beneficial for their community and their brand should explore educational media and all it has to offer.

For more information, please visit: www.sillybus.net

Making a Difference with Educational Music

At the beginning of 2005, Silly Bus was nothing more than a start up small business. Today, they have released nationally four CDs, and multiple music videos, which can be heard and seen on stations throughout the United States. They have played for numerous benefits, kids’ expos, and schools. They have also worked with well known companies, such as Radio Disney, XM Radio and NBC.

You may be asking yourself, ‘So, how is their music making a difference?’ What distinguishes Silly Bus from other kids music is their focus on educational content. Their first CD release focused on Standard of Learning (SOL) content for young children (Kindergarten through 2nd grades). The songs on this album cover a range of topics, including math, grammar, science, physical fitness, and history.

For their second and third CD releases, they teamed with preschool educators to write songs geared towards learning the alphabet. These songs incorporate both phonics and whole language techniques. The song Turkey Time has fast become a national favorite having been featured on NBC’s Today Show the past two years on Thanksgiving Day.

In addition to these releases, Silly Bus has worked with several companies and non-profits to launch multiple CDs and singles. For example, Silly Bus wrote, performed and produced “Watch Me, I Can Do This!” for promotional support of SportsBackers’ Monument Avenue 10K. This motivational song was used to energize thousands of children participating in the event’s annual kids run. Similarly, Silly Bus teamed with Media General and The Richmond Times Dispatch (RTD) to promote and market RTD’s “Kids Extra” kidzine. Silly Bus wrote, performed and produced “Artie,” the Kids Extra theme song. The song received significant airplay in advertisements and on the web.

The powerful difference Silly Bus makes is evident in the small anecdotes heard from parents. One story from a father conveyed how a Silly Bus song helped his daughter answer a question on her first grade quiz. This powerful difference is not unusual. Attend a Silly Bus show near you, and you are sure to witness children singing every word of their favorite fun, educational songs.

For more information, please visit: www.sillybus.net

Marketing Opportunities with Educational Media

Educational Media, like kid's songs and videos, is an effective medium to engage children and their parents in a meaningful and positive way. Videos and songs can be paired with brands to give back to the community, promote healthy behaviors and to just let kids have fun while learning. Different types of media coupled with an effective marketing strategy to create campaigns can be done on-line, during event marketing, or used together to drive engagement with a fan/consumer base.
Marketing content can be delivered quickly to the consumer with social media tools like blogs, Facebook, Twitter and Linked In. Businesses can create differential and 'sticky' consumer experiences through these types of push/pull campaigns. For example, a push strategy sells directly to the consumer by using promotions and advertising as typical 'push' tools. A pull strategy, on the other hand, is one that creates demand from a consumer to 'pull' them to your product or service. Usually this requires a lot of marketing investment to create consumer demand. However, with the advent of new tools like social media, the ability to more easily make something viral allows for businesses to create a 'pull' with much less up-front investment.
Marketing is about getting a consumer's attention and also keeping it through the marketing funnel. Once consumers are engaged and at the website, for instance, it is important to have their experience be positive and valuable to create the 'stickiness' desired. This refers to the ability of the marketing and experience to keep a customer engaged and coming back as a consumer again and again - hence stickiness.
Educational media is exciting and entertaining. Providing valuable and fresh educational content through kid's songs and kids videos can keep a child or parent coming back to the website and provides opportunities for companies that leverage this unique content to benefit from a brand enhancing customer experience.
When selecting a company to work with it is also important to identify partners that share the same values and want to promote the same positive messages. When combining complementary goals and marketing strategies - educational media provides new options to reach new consumers; give back to the community and drive value for the partners and consumers alike. A great example is Nickelodeon's The Big Green Help, which integrates education with environmental awareness and provides the ability for involvement with the cause.
When Educational Media is integrated with creative marketing strategies - great experiences and value is created for all parties involved.

For more information, please visit: http://www.sillybus.net