Going Global: World Music in the Kodály-Inspired Classroom

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Clinician: Christopher Roberts, cr777@uw.edu

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Saturday, February 1, 2020

Registration:    9:00 am-9:30 am

Workshop:       9:30 am-3:00 pm 

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St. Paul’s First Lutheran Church

5244 Tujunga Ave

North Hollywood, CA 91601

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About the Workshop: 

As our country grows increasingly diverse, many Kodály-inspired music educators are looking for ways to incorporate world musics into the curriculum.  However, if students are not actively engaged in music-making and do not connect the material to their contemporary lives, lessons on world music can bore children and lead to simplistic experiences with the music.  In this workshop, participants will explore issues related to two types of learning experiences with world music:

Listening lessons:  When teaching music that is unfamiliar, recordings can be an effective way for students to experience the music as it sounds in the home culture.  In this part of the workshop, we will:

• Explore broad principles of music listening, including Campbell’s five-step model of world music pedagogy;
• Participate in listening lessons of music from El Salvador and Botswana;
• Create a listening lesson as a group;
• Examine online resources of listening lessons and recordings of world music.

Singing games: Children throughout the world engage in musical play through singing games, and they are a staple in many Kodály-inspired classrooms.  In addition to being an essential part of child culture, children’s singing games lend themselves to a variety of pedagogical purposes, such as in-tune singing, rhythmic development, melodic development, and solo singing.  In this portion of the workshop, we will:

• Learn singing games from many parts of the world;
• Listen to field recordings of children at musical play;
• Observe videos of elementary-aged children in the United States playing singing games from other cultures;
• Discuss characteristics of successful multicultural singing games, and identify potential breakdown points while teaching them;
• Learn of published resources for singing games from around the world.​

About the Clinician:

Christopher Roberts is Lecturer and Director of Music Teacher Preparation at the University of Washington, where he teaches both undergraduate and graduate students. An elementary music teacher for 20 years, he has given workshops for music educators in over 40 states and provinces, on topics including World Music Pedagogy, the joy of singing games, and effective ways to promote in-tune singing. Christopher is the director of the Kodály Levels Program of Seattle and teaches Levels at Westminster Choir College in New Jersey. Additionally, he was a founding instructor of the Smithsonian Folkways Certification Course in World Music Pedagogy. In 2018, his co-authored book was published by Routledge.

Parking:

You may use street parking, meter parking, or the lot of the elementary school behind Wagner Hall. The parking lot behind Wagner Hall is off of McCormick St. and Bakman Ave. If you park in the lot, walk north/west back to the corner of Tujunga Ave. and McCormick St. to get to the gym where the workshop will be held. Look for the KASC banner!

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Lunch:

We will be taking lunch orders in the morning from Firehouse Subs!    3 combo options will be available, which will include an 8 inch sub, chips, a cookie, and drink for $11.00 (cash only!)​. Place your orders in the morning during registration!