SOME PRACTICAL IDEAS FOR LEARNING MUSIC MATERIAL IN THE LOWER SECONDARY STAGE

Abstract

The current environment of teaching adolescents requires music teachers to be flexible and have the skills of both a teacher and a performer. Music encourages creativity and builds confidence, helps students express themselves and shows them the importance of communication. The author of this paper explores the possibilities of acquiring elements of music literacy, included in the curriculum, through playing musical instruments, in the music c lasses of a comprehensive school in the music curriculum at the lower secondary stage, practical activities are mainly limited to singing songs. A few rhythmic exercises are also present in the fifth and sixth grades of the comprehensive school. There are also several sheet music examples of songs or themes from musical works that students should sing from the sheet music. The problem comes from the fact that singing by notes is not a favourite activity for the students due to many reasons, some of which are - not good absorption of music theory at the primary stage, change in voices during puberty, hence students feel shame to sing in front of their classmates. Also reading music is found difficult, boring and most of all - pointless by the students themselves. Ultimately, we need to give students a reason to learn to read music and, consequently, to be able to put this knowledge into practice. Knowing the music curriculum well, I looked at the opportunities it gives us to apply playing musical instruments alongside singing music. For this we need musical instruments that are easy to play without special training. The musical instrument that I am going to present to you I discovered by accident in my search for different ways to successfully conduct music lessons that involve singing by notes and rhythmic. In countries on different continents, playing musical instruments is part of the music curriculum. In Bulgaria, it is only in the primary stage that children's musical instruments (harpsichords, tambourines, triangels, maracas) are played. On these instruments, as is known, only rhythm can be played. This is extremely insufficient considering the overall musical education of children. In this paper, I will suggest the advantages that boomwhackers (boomwhackers) give to perform melody and harmony, in music classes at the junior secondary stage. Finally, I would add that integrating musical instruments into the school education system not only enriches the students' experience, but also plays an important role in their personal and academic development.