Expressive Arts

Hello bloggers!

In this blog I will be talking about something that I am very passionate about and that is music and the expressive arts, more specifically, how it relates to the four purposes of the curriculum that are outlined in Donaldson Review.

Music has been a passion of mine for about 12 years, I’ve always wanted to tutor music and since I have undertaken my studies I have realised what an excellent opportunity it is to experiment with cross curricular learning, I will now give examples of how the expressive arts relate to the four purposes of the curriculum

All our children and young people will be:

Ambitious, capable learners

Ambition is something that al musicians and dancers must have, you must want to better yourself and be the best, and this will only be achieved through practise and self-discipline, these two skills will be vital in bettering yourself in any subject, any subject requires time and attention

Being capable not only means being able to do something it means understanding why you’re doing something, whilst the expressive arts are something that comes from the heart, there still needs to be an aim, and a direction.

Anyone with an interest in the expressive arts is capable, and can be ambitious.

Enterprising creative contributors

Creativity is the bedrock of all the expressive arts, creativity fuels all musicians, dancers and artists. Enterprising can mean teamwork, how a group of people work together to achieve an objective, this usually refers to business but can quite easily relate to music, group performances really enhance team work as everyone relies on each other, the melody relies on the bass to keep it time, whilst the bass relies on the melody for ques. You need to exercise a lot of trust in your peers when performing as a group.

Ethical, informed citizens

Being ethical, and informed on global issues is something that can be easily understood through art, all cultures demonstrate art in some way and it’s all expressive, the romans created fashionable pots while Zulu warriors would paint their shields, you can obtain a great understanding of a cultures virtues if you examine their art, this also provides an opportunity for school trips which will further enhance a child’s learning.

Healthy, confident individuals

Pride, confidence and responsibility breeds competence and power (Webb, Liggy 2013), confidence is something that will be used all your life, everyone has some degree of confidence, and it’s how much confidence we have that determines how far we go in certain situations and can make us miss opportunities, I know that if a lecturer asks a question I am reluctant to answer, then I get anxious because what if I’m right and someone steals my praise, but what if I’m wrong and I am mocked. How much a child participates is directly linked to how confident they are in themselves, and all of the arts are a fantastic way to build confidence, you can perform in front of friends in music, dance in front of friends in drama and show friends you’re masterpieces in art, although they are the obvious answers, what people don’t realise that in all of the expressive arts you can always improve, and this means you can always and I mean always be criticised, it’s this constructive criticism that leads children to see that you don’t have to be wrong to want to do better, and that being told where you’re going wrong is the key to learning.

Here is an interesting video that outlines why the arts are important in schools

References

Donaldson, G (2015) Successful Future: Independent Review of Curriculum and Assessment Arrangements in Wales Available at: http://gov.wales/docs/dcells/publications/150225-successful-futures-en.pdf (Accessed 16th April 2018)

Webb, Liggy (2013) How to Be Happy: How developing Your Confidence, Resilience, Appreciation and Communication Can Lead to a Happier, Healthier you. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated [Online] Available at: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/cardiffmet/reader.action?docID=977921&query=# (Accessed 16^th April 2018)