Date: Time: Venue: Participants:
6-11 June 2011 (Monday – Saturday) 9:00am – 5:00pm Hotel Continental, Penang, Malaysia Ajub Udjiawan • Calista Leonard • Choi Yue Sien, Jessica • Debora Susanna Widjaja • Dushayntha M. Dias Abeyegunawardene • Ervina Rajaratnam • Helena • Herwanti Andriana • Imee Bautista • Irena Soh • Juliani Jacob • Juniar Jacob • Lalanka S. Dias Abeyegunawardene • Liang Weng Sum • Maria Angelica Lukmanto • Neo Chun Choon • Royke Ng Kurniawan Rachmat • Shalindri Thusahni Mendis Joachim • Sheila Natassya • Sonya Herawan Budijanto • Sylvia Shintarini • Thisaraine Shiroma Egodage • Tjin Sen • Yap Fei Ling
The recent annual music jamboree organized by Rhythm MP attracted music teachers from Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines and Sri Lanka who were put up at the Hotel Continental in downtown Georgetown, the capital of Penang Island. Penang Island is renowned as a vacation destination for travelers all over the world. The charm of Penang has always attracted many to travel here and savor the culture, sights and all that Penang has to offer. The location of the hotel in the historical enclave is near the center of the early beginnings of Penang. It was and still is the center of business and finance for the island. It will give teachers the opportunity to explore the area that represents ‘early’ Penang. We hope their wanderings will give them an overview of the local culture and discover the uniqueness of the island.
The jamboree began on 7th June 2011 and the schedule involves two full days of training workshops at the hotel with two sessions of hands-on application at the Penang Chinese Girl’s Primary School. The purpose of the jamboree is for the teachers to: • • • •
Discover themselves and know where their strength lies in teaching music, thereby building confidence in oneself Hone their overall teaching skills further Identify and plan effective lessons and activities for their students Develop musicality and musicianship in themselves and their students
Key points of the workshop training for music teachers are to: • • • • • • • •
Identify and develop the various facilities in the musical mind required to understand music well Put music theory into practice using innovative and fun activities Learn and explore ideas to develop aural skills that are essential for further musical development and creativity ‘step outside the box’ to explore and experience innovative teaching ideas Experience activities suited for individual and group class Understand classroom management and control for effective teaching Learn organizational skills to instruct and lead an ensemble of music students in an activity Creating weekly lesson plans to suit students individually or as a group
Following two full days of the workshop training for music teachers, the ideal situation is to put into practice the ideas and activities that has been learned. This valuable and important practice has been an annual arrangement with the Penang Chinese Girl’s Primary School. Students from the school and other schools were invited to participate in the event.
Teachers were guided on the manner to run the various activities to achieve the desired results. The participating students were all assessed based on their performance to let them know how well facilitated they are in their musical skills, or what they need to improve on.
For the participating students, the benefits for them would be: • • • •
To develop aural skills, thereby developing more musicality in their musical mind To experience learning from other teachers, especially from foreign teachers of a different culture To raise their awareness and appreciation of team work and peer support in successfully carrying out the musical activities An assessment by their jamboree teachers about their musical abilities
On the itinerary annually for the past three years was a visit to the Music Department, School of Arts, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), whose main campus is on the island.
The annual USM visitation is to: • •
Let teachers experience tertiary level lectures by the illustrious lecturers of the university Promote the university’s music programs.
Check out Rhythm MP's blog at http://musicperformanceappreciation.blogspot.com/
Rhythm MP Sdn. Bhd. (480980-H) The music publishers who care for our children’s music education
2060 & 2061, Jalan Persekutuan, Permatang Tinggi Light Industry, 14000 Seberang Perai Tengah, Penang, Malaysia. Tel: +60 4 5873690 Fax: +60 4 5873691 Email: rhythmmp@mphsb.com Website: www.rhythmmp.com
Young Musician's Skills Development (YMSD) program overview A very special feature of the YMSD program is IMPROVISATION. Improvisation is a motivating, fun and expressive musical endeavor, which can be started on the first day of one's musical journey. Improvisation is ‘on the spot’ composing. The process is fascinating and of great benefit to the student! It provides many benefits for the learner. Some of the benefits are: 1. Ear training: When improvising, we are listening to the music and the ear will tell us whether we are producing what we intended. Benefits: To develop musicality. 2. Improved aural skills: With practice, you will eventually be able to recognize intervals, chords and scales instantly. You will be able to hear the "right" improvised melody, before you even play it. Benefits: Creating and connecting melody to harmony. 3. Self expression: Too often music is taught as pure reproduction of sounds written down on a page. When improvising, the joy of being able to create music also motivates the musician to find his/her own unique ‘voice’ in performing it. Benefits: Developing and establishing your musical identity. 4. Study of music theory: Learning scales, chords, arpeggios, harmony, pattern exercises etc. are an important part of attaining proficiency on an instrument. Improvisation offers a great way to use all these elements to create music. Benefits: Puts music theory into creative practice. 5. Thinking ahead: In order to make music that is in time and on the beat, we need to always think ahead and hear the music before we actually play it. Improvising adds an additional layer of complexity to improvisations because what we are about to play does not even exist yet! Benefits: Developing ability to respond spontaneously. 6. Improved creativity: Improvisation improves overall creativity and develops the mind to create further. This entire process continues throughout the lives of those who can improvise.
Benefits: Keeps your mind fresh with ideas. Makes you aware of, sensitive to and decisive on situations as it unfolds.