Remix Reflection

I decided to remix the "Storytelling Through Photography" canvas. When I looked through the post I thought to myself that music in films is a trade that is seldom looked into. I thought of all the melodies and songs that almost as popular as the film itself. The first couple that came to mind were Jaws, Psycho, Harry Potter, and King Kong. Teaching music through the lens of photography, storyboards, and film was a novel idea to me. The actual unit would include lessons on listening, how music evokes emotions, performance techniques, theory lessons, and compositional techniques.

The songs that are included in the movie Toy Story work symbiotically between music, lyrics, and video. They all evoke the message that is trying to be conveyed beautifully as is the case in the video provided from Toy Story 2. The video in the original canvas I kept because it would be used as a connection between physical art and the aural art. Creating music is much like the storyboards presented, there are a lot of ideas that circle around the same idea. The same way these storyboards tell a story, the music is equal in capturing the mood, much like the movie King Kong where the composer Max Steiner perfected the mimicking of music to what is visual.  Being a composer, arranging music to fit a mood, and listening to music critically are some of the actual skills that the music practitioner uses actively.This unit would help transfer what they are learning to the real world as well.

Unit Plan Canvas

I had a fun time making this canvas using PLAY!. Through expanding the ideas of the lesson plan used in previous posts, I created a unit plan that furthers students understanding of music and emotion. The ultimate goal of the unit is for students to compose thoughtful pieces that display some sort of emotion. Thoughtful in the sense that whatever the students create will have to be supported by their ideas. I wanted to create opportunities for students to think critically about music and how it makes them feel, de-stigmatize the somewhat stately persona composing has, and for students to use instruments in a non-typical way (e.g. not in a band/orchestra setting).
I started the canvas with only a vague idea of how the site worked and what I wanted to do. As I worked through each element of the canvas (picture gallery, videos, external sources, etc.) the whole unit became a clear picture in my mind. I wanted this assignment to be as if I was really doing this unit so I looked hard for accurate videos and images that captured what I might try to teach. Each step was taken carefully, like a little side-project within the master plan. At the end, everything came together with each section supporting each other. No section stands alone but together they are a successful foundation for the unit.

Take a look at my canvas here!