Music education is a major challenge for arousing students’ interest in discovering and enjoying music. At the Best Schools in Spain, we use a method which transforms the learning effort into a real passion for music. Students have the opportunity to live the music by enjoying and playing it as a reward for their efforts.
In a fun environment, children develop an active role through recognised music methods such as Dalcroze and Kodaly.
Areas in music education
The music education we teach is divided into four areas:
- Music reading and writing: we acknowledge and use the typical music symbols, taking care of the notation details and maintaining a logical sequence of the reading activities regarding the practice of instruments. Therefore, students learn the music language parameters and put them into practice.
- Rhythm: students internalise the rhythm patterns which they later reproduce on their instruments. In this practical way, students are taught music notation which they can later use in their performance and in future compositions.
- Intonation and auditory discrimination: we foster the students’ ability to listen, to both discriminate the different qualities of sound (pitch, loudness, duration and intensity) and recognise the typical music elements and resources (change in tempo, mode and articulation). We focus on singing since children will start having a sound base for intonation and tuning.
- Instrument techniques:through the method’s technical exercises, popular songs, classical melodies and original themes, students learn and practice the necessary musical language to understand sheet music.
Benefits of music
Music is a universal language through which we can all communicate in an effective way. Its message leaves a mark on people in such a way that no other language can ever aspire to do: feelings, emotions, moods, even the life of the creators or composers themselves. Music fills moments of our life; there is always an unforgettable song or a melody which marks special indelible moments and which we recollect when we hear it once again. That is the power of music!
According to Plato, “music is to the soul what exercise is to the body“, acknowledging this relationship between music and emotions. According to Oscar Wilde, “music is the art which is most nigh to tears and memories.”
Music can be entertainment, an excuse for fun and games, for enjoyment, for losing one’s inhibitions, for feeling, for being moved, for conveying, for communicating, etc. We all know about the many scientific studies showing that music education at an early age stimulates and develops neuronal connections which would not be possible in any other area. Music education also fosters receptivity, concentration and communication among children, highly influencing their intellectual, psychomotor and oral and written language development, which will lay the foundations for boosting analytical understanding, mathematics, the learning of other languages and so forth.
Since music is able to act at all levels, we can achieve goals such as improving children’s affectivity and conduct, developing their communication and means of expression, releasing their pent-up energy, providing them with enriching musical experiences which help them to be motivated, reinforcing their self-esteem and personality, enabling them to be reintegrated and socialise, and educating them. In this way, music becomes an essential subject in education which also improves their quality of life.
There are numerous studies with positive results regarding the benefits of music therapy; for example, to maintain and develop cognitive skills such as language, attention and memory.
Auditions and concerts
Our schools believe that this is a fundamental aspect: at concerts, students must overcome the stress of performing in front of an audience and conquer their own shyness, fighting their own emotions so that they can transmit their music in an effective and skilful way. In short, before, during and after auditions, students must observe themselves so that they can learn and know who they are.
Some advantages of this experience:
- Students increase their self-assurance, developing their skills so that they can socialise with other people.
- During the days prior to the audition, students thoroughly exercise their memory in its three aspects: visual, muscular or gestural and auditory, which interact in the complex process of practising with instruments.
Since the Best Schools in Spain are aware of all the benefits provided by music education, we encourage all our students to play music.