You Can Do It!If you feel hesitant about integrating the arts — if you feel like you aren't "musically inclined," creative, or artistic — alternative ways to view the arts and your artistic capabilities may help assuage some of your concern. When considering the arts in their complete range and depth, you will likely discover that you are, in fact, an artist, musician, dancer, and actor.
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To begin with, the arts are diverse and include many everyday activities that people might not usually consider formally as art. Think of the many ways you engage in life musically throughout the day? Do you listen to music on the radio or smart phone? Do you ever have a song in your head while you are performing other tasks? Do you sing for or with your own children, nieces, nephews, or grandchildren? Have you ever used a familiar tune to remember something? As a child did you play singing games like Ring Around the Rosie or use chants like Cinderella Dressed in Yella' to jump the rope or Inkadink a Bottle of Ink to choose the-one-who-is-it? Do you sing in the car or shower? Do you sing with the congregation at church or other community events? Do you attend concerts? Do you read about musicians and musical styles or discuss these topics with others? These are all musical activities. Can you apply a similarly broad, everyday vision to drama, dance, or visual art? You likely can if you try? Make a list of the many ways your are musical, artistic, dramatic, and kinesthetic.
Of course, as elementary teachers and parents it's not all about us personally; a lot of what we do is simply for the sake of the children, and we find deep meaning in teaching. This attitude or approach allows us to venture into areas with which we might not normally be involved or interested. We might not see ourselves as dancers, for example, but we are willing to play freeze dance or teach a folk dance because we know it is good for children — that they need and crave physical movement throughout the day and that physical movement is integral to cognitive development.
Of course, as elementary teachers and parents it's not all about us personally; a lot of what we do is simply for the sake of the children, and we find deep meaning in teaching. This attitude or approach allows us to venture into areas with which we might not normally be involved or interested. We might not see ourselves as dancers, for example, but we are willing to play freeze dance or teach a folk dance because we know it is good for children — that they need and crave physical movement throughout the day and that physical movement is integral to cognitive development.
It is always possible that a "real" artist will notice an art or craft project you are doing with your children or students. Maybe they will be critical, or maybe we just think of them as critical due to their expertise. Don't let that stop you! You have every right as a parent, teacher, and human being to engage with others in and through the arts. Christopher Small, an insightful scholar in the field of music education, had the following to say about the would-be experts (the same could be said in other domains of art; just replace "music" in the quote with "dance," "visual art," or "theatre."):
Music is too important to be left to the musicians, and in recognizing this fact we strike a blow at the experts’ domination, not only of our music but also of our very lives. If it is possible to control our own musical destiny, provide our own music rather than leaving it altogether to someone else to provide, then perhaps some of the other outside expertise that controls our lives can be brought under our control also. (Christopher Small. 1998. Musicking: The meanings of performance and listening. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, page 214)
Image courtesy of the New York Times |