Joan Litman PD Day at Qatar Music Academy 26/01/2017

I went along to the annual Qatar Music Teacher's Guild PD Day expecting much of the same as previous years, with various teachers presenting on teaching practices that they have found useful or pedagogical learning on areas such as Orff and Kodaly Methods.  This year was slightly different as the whole day was given over to Joan Litman, a retired American teacher with a deep knowledge and love of using folk music and the music of the Middle East in the classroom.  Wow!

We not only learnt how to approach teaching songs in languages that we might not know, but also how to perform them in concert, as part of a class performance or as a game.  

My only problem was that with so much to take in, I am liable to forget it all!  If you get a chance, it is definitely worth going to see this lady in action.

Below are my notes on the day:

QMTG Joan Litman PD Session

Qatar Music Academy, Katara, Thursday 26th January 2017

9:00am - 4:00pm (5 1/2 hours)

This workshop was split into a morning and an afternoon session, with the former focussing on ideas for Nursery to Year 3 and the latter Years 4-8.  Joan Litman is a former Music Teacher from the USA who has experience teaching and leading workshops focussing on Middle Eastern Music and Traditional Musics, and how they can be used within the classroom to strengthen understanding of other languages and cultures.  Her most recent position was at the highly acclaimed United Nations International School (UNIS) in New York. 

http://www.cantigas.net/about-staff.php

https://www.youtube.com/user/joanlitman 

GTCS Focus Points

• Demonstrating a commitment to engaging learners in real world issues to enhance learning experiences and outcomes, and to encourage learning our way to a better future.
• Sustaining and developing professional learning
• Deepen and develop subject, curricular, and pedagogic knowledge to be able to lead learners and the learning of colleagues;

Morning Session

Focus on Kindergarten to Year 3 and teaching multicultural songs with language strategies and cultural context.

Afternoon Session

Focus on Years 4-8, Arabic language repertoire, pedagogy and language strategies.

Main points to take away.

1. Use of word cards for teaching songs - each word is on a card which can be used to teach the word order of a song.  

1. Teach songs to ‘loo’ to start, then teach words once the students are confident with the melody.
1. Once the song is roughly taught, split into groups and give them the word cards to put in order.  
2. Sing song through to them (hands behind their backs so they cannot change them as they sing, then correct afterwards.  
3. Next get them to close their ideas and have one member of the group turn two of the cards over.  
4. The groups then try singing the songs again - can they remember the missing words?

1. Do not try to ‘westernise’ the songs with harmony and chords.  To help with teaching the cultural aspect of the music keep as close to the original as possible.  Octave doubling is acceptable.

1. When using songs with older kids, ask them how they could ‘‘mod’ (modernise)’ the games.  Students suggestions are just as relevant as that of the teacher and can also be more inventive.

1. Have a song bat - one side green, the other red.
1. The students sing when the green side is shown, but sing in their heads when it is red.  
2. Can they move between the two and stay in time?

1. Try some of the songs as instrumental numbers (drone notes/ ostinatos and drums as accompaniments) - e.g. Bali Ma’ak

1. Start lessons with an active process such as the song games to get the students involved from the off. 

1. Start using solfege more to teach the song melodies in the first instance.

1. More music games!  Nothing beats the learning of a song as a good old ball passing game.
1. Starter game with song ‘O Anel’.  Hide an object in plain sight. As one member of the class search for it sing song - get louder the colder they are, quieter the warmer they get.
2. What are the Qatari lullabies/ nursery songs everyone knows?
   

Prereading 

1. Before learning songs, work on the beats/ bars/ pulse and rhythm (using pictures with younger kids).

1. Always return to the beat as the main focus of the song.

1. Swap between clapping the rhythm and the pulse of the song,  using a visual/audible singable to change between these.

1. Try clapping the rhythm as singing the song.

1. When singing songs about other cultures you should have pictures of how the people we are focussing on might undertake these activities now (i.e. Arabs do not travel about on camels now)!

Reflection

This was a busy day, with lots of information being passed to and fro.  Joan Litman (JL) was a font of knowledge and was trying to pass on as much as possible in the time available. The overall message was that we should be trying to include more non-western songs in our repertoire and should not be scared of doing so.  We can ask Arabic speakers etc to help us with the words, and not shy away from making our own transliterations if it makes it easier to remember the lyrics.  

As a person who finds languages difficult to pick up, I found the initial learning of songs a little daunting, but learning the melody wordlessly followed by using the word games really helped with building the confidence to attempt the songs.  I also found that if we were learning music games, it helped with fitting the words to the beat of the song.

I also found it interesting to see how members of the Arabic Music Department from QMA quickly found the beat to songs and used classic Aabic beat patterns (10 beats in the bar is quite popular).  This is something that we should definitely try with our older classes to further get them away from a ‘West is Best’ attitude.

JL was adamant that we as teachers should not shy away from songs due to cultural attitudes, especially in our home countries where peoples understanding of the Arabic worlds can be tainted through negative press (my words).  This was definitely something the participants on the course related to.  From this we also discussed how we had to fight a negativity that is sometimes aimed at the western/ none Islamic cultures when trying to expose our students in Qatar to other cultures.

Overall I found the day to be very worthwhile, with lots of great ideas demonstrated and discussed, although it might have been more effective if it had be split over two days with more focussed sessions on specific issues.