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Pat brought instruments for students to use.

Music class, like art class, is a rarity in rural China. The Guan Ai School students are lucky to have music class once a week. However, with little exception, teaching does not address any music concepts or learning beyond singing. The textbooks are basically “song books”.

That’s why we welcomed the chance to have Music Professor Patricia Riley from the University of Vermont visit Guan Ai. She demonstrated lessons using the songs straight from Chinese school textbooks and incorporated more movement, instruments, and musical concepts. Pat was introduced to RCEF by Ben Frankel of the China Schools Foundation (CSF). Before arriving at Guan Ai with a big box of tambourines, maracas, bongo drums, and bells, she and Ben had spent several days trying out the lessons at 4 CSF sites in Shaanxi Province. This was Pat’s impression of Guan Ai:

“The feeling at the school is warm and friendly, and it is apparent that the children are treated well and are very comfortable in their learning environment. I found the children at the Guan Ai Primary School to be more outgoing than other children that I have worked with in China, and this surprised me. The Guan Ai children readily developed and shared their individual ideas – musical and otherwise – and participated in an easy and engaged way. I believe that this is a reflection of the progressive educational methods being promoted at the Guan Ai Primary School and to the frequency of student interactions with a variety of visitors.”

Students got to pick their own instruments to keep rhythm.

Pat engaged Guan Ai teachers at every stage of her demonstrations. After teaching a model lesson, she debriefed with the teachers about the lesson design and pedagogical methods. Building on songs from the textbook, she wrote lesson plans that incorporated hands-on learning, group work, differentiated instruction, and constructivist theory.

In addition to singing, children engaged in keeping rhythm, listening, moving, improvising, and composing. Musical elements addressed in the particular lessons that Pat demonstrated included rhythm, meter, and form; and specific concepts included steady beat, quarter notes, eighth notes, duple meter, triple meter, and binary form.

Once the teachers understood the lesson, they taught it themselves while Pat observed. Afterward, Pat and the

After demonstrating the lesson, Pat mentored Guan Ai teachers to teach it themselves.

teachers (with the help of Sara Lam’s translating) discussed how it went. Everything was videotaped by Ben Frankel to become part of a library of support materials for rural teachers. The teachers were interested in these new methods of teaching music, which allowed children to express their individuality and participate in different ways.

This is what Pat had to say about the experience:

“I thought that the experience at the Guan Ai Primary School was extraordinarily positive. The children seemed to really enjoy the hands-on, constructivist music activities, and demonstrated their understanding of the concepts addressed. They particularly seemed captivated by the movement activities and playing the musical instruments.

The teachers seemed genuinely interested in learning this new way of thinking about and delivering music instruction, and I was very impressed by how quickly and easily they adjusted to the new ideas and techniques. I was encouraged by the upbeat attitudes of all involved, and very thankful that everyone was so open-minded and accommodating.

I look forward to continuing my collaboration with The Rural China Education Foundation, and the teachers, administrators, and children at the Guan Ai Primary School. I believe it to be a very special place, and hope to return again soon.”

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