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Music in Lessons

Posted By Doug Belshaw On 3rd January 2006 @ 10:59 In Classroom-based | Comments Disabled

WARNING! This website is no longer actively maintained. It is an archive of 2 years work by Doug Belshaw who now blogs at [1] dougbelshaw.com... [2] Classroom-based

I play music in every lesson right from the start. The type of music obviously depends on the class, activity and mood of the pupils, but I always begin with some type of theme tune whilst pupils write down the date, title and aims of the lesson (see the [3] audio page).

Over the last year or so I have found that there are a number of albums which not only go down well with the pupils but are conducive to them working well. Fortunately, these are albums which I enjoy listening to, so it’s the best of both worlds! On a more pedagogical note, we are trying to create safe yet challenging learning environments for pupils. We have all heard of the [4] Mozart Effect, yet this can be reduced to the more simple statement that some (even most) pupils work well to unobtrusive music with minimal lyrical content.

Here are some which I have found to be especially effective:
[5] Toccatas & Fugues Bach - Toccatas & Fugues [import]
[6] Eine Kleine Nachtmusik Mozart - Eine Kleine Nachtmusik

[7] The Campfire Headphase Boards of Canada - The Campfire Headphase

[8] The Peace Orchestra Peace Orchestra - The Peace Orchestra

[9] Sakura Susumu Yokota - Sakura
[10] Dial 'M' For Monkey Bonobo - Dial ‘M’ For Monkey

[11] Ambient 1: Music For Airports Brian Eno - Ambient 1: Music For Airports

Plastyc Buddha - [12] Throwing Stones in Placid Pools [import]

[13] A Special Album Ralph Myerz and the Jack Herren Band - A Special Album [import]
[14] Dreamland Robert Miles - Dreamland

While these are available in CD format from Amazon (click on image) and other retailers, I get all of my music now from the download site, [15] AllofMP3.com. Using a loophole in Russian copyright legislation they manage to avoid giving the money to the ‘middlemen’, meaning that artists get royalties and you get albums in MP3 format for around $1.20 per album! I’ve used it for the last few months and highly recommend it - in fact my iPod is now too small for my digital library… :-(

I’d be interested to hear from other people albums/tracks which work particularly well in enhancing the classroom environment! :-)

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#1 Pingback By 20 Ideas: Using sound effects in your lessons at teaching.mrbelshaw.co.uk On 4th March 2007 @ 21:43

[…] Boards of Canada, Susumu Yokota, Brian Eno as well as the rest of the music I’ve mentioned in this post are useful whilst students are working. I really don’t like a silent classroom unless […]

#2 Pingback By Flux » Articles » networked discovery On 22nd May 2007 @ 16:33

[…] sent to a Futurelab ‘cool stuff’ space by Tash Lee which prompted to me to re-find a post by Doug […]

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