音乐及其对可迁移技能的影响 Music and its impact on transferrable skills

文章分享自诺德安达教育集团香港国际学校音乐课程总监 - NAOMI ROWAN

音乐会对孩子的教育产生深远的影响。无论是学习即兴创作，还是理解乐谱和作曲，孩子们通过练习键盘乐器即可接触一系列的可迁移技能。香港诺德安达国际学校音乐总监将与大家分享音乐在思维转变方面对学生的影响。

回想起大概 25 年前，我还在读小学，当时非常幸运地遇到一位优秀的音乐老师。我们有管乐队和录音组，会定期举办合唱，但课程主要围绕音乐和舞蹈，并穿插一些打击乐器作为补充课程。

作为一名中学音乐教育人士，我经常外出教授音乐课程，单独演奏某个作品片段 - 并不属于协作或有效的多层次教学！Stravinsky 是大学入学考试的核心作品，但作为一名萨克斯管演奏者，我在上大学之前并没有接触过即兴表演。当时，大众尚未意识到艺术具有的广泛而深远的积极影响，自然也就未将其放在教育的首位。

与如今强制放弃艺术教育的英国学校不同，诺德安达教育集团将音乐、舞蹈和戏剧作为全面教育的关键要素，增加教育的广度和深度、提升期望值并培养文化素养。

通过茱莉亚学院 - 诺德安达学校表演艺术课程，我们的学生在六岁时就开始探索学习键盘乐器技能。键盘是一种极好的媒介，可通过动手的方式直观地探索音高、旋律以及和声的整体概念。

通过学习键盘调节，现在 6 岁的孩子能够以 C 大调演奏 12 小节布鲁斯乐句并在一个乐谱上进行即兴演奏，而 7 岁的孩子则完全可以通过音乐的形式进行四小节的即兴演奏交流。这与我自己的音乐教育经历相去甚远！

我听说 1 年级学生就能演唱贝多芬第五交响曲的开头部分，父母们也谈到过他们的孩子在家非常喜欢练习，并且从中汲取灵感，利用自己的时间进行创作。

作为表演艺术项目的一部分，会安排目前专业从事艺术工作的茱莉亚学院校友去每所学校访问。通过研讨会、演奏会表演以及有关探讨音乐重要意义的采访，这些访问艺术家拓宽了学校的艺术教育视野。这些访问活动对学生、家长以及老师都起到了极大的鼓舞作用，为整个社区带来了深远影响。在世界级长笛演奏家崔娜静的活动结束后，其中两位家长表达了同样的观点。

“对孩子们来说，能够在舒服自在的环境中聆听如此精彩的音乐是多么好的机会啊。看到崔娜静对长笛的热爱以及她的长笛演奏技巧令人备受鼓舞，并且她的生活方式和追逐梦想的决心也让孩子们受益匪浅。除了令人难以置信的音乐之外，我们认为听到如此顶尖的音乐家以这样诚实和谦逊的方式谈论她的生活也是一种非常特别的体验。这意味着孩子们可以实实在在地近距离接触她本人，并对她的故事有更深刻的体会”。

--Kerry Merrill，香港诺德安达国际学校的学生家长

或许艺术最振奋人心的作用就在于其对跨学科学习技能的影响。我们的学生不断探索实现个人全面发展的各种方式。他们独自旅行、将音乐作品与自己联系在一起、通过其作品中的音乐理念培养自信、诠释他人的作品，并以各种方式表达复杂的想法。通过侧重于提高深度和广度的包容性课堂方法，学生们越来越能够清楚地说明如何迁移这些技能。在技术的推动下，现有职业的许多方面正在逐步实现自动化，而我们需要教育孩子去面对未知的未来。在音乐和艺术方面获得的技能，不仅可以帮助他们学习其他学科，还可以在未来派上用场，使他们成为自信、善于表达、具有协作精神和文化意识的终身学习者。

Music can have a profound impact on your child's education. Whether it is learning to improvise or understanding music notes and composition, children experience a range of transferable skills just by practicing the keyboard. Music Director of Nord Anglia International School Hong Kong shares the transformative effect that music has had on her students.

Thinking back 25 years or so, I was incredibly lucky that my primary school had a very musical staff.  We had a wind band and recorder group with regular singing assemblies, but lessons were predominantly focused on music and movement, with some percussion thrown in for good measure.  As a musician in secondary school, I was often sent out of the room for music lessons to work on a separate performance piece – not exactly collaborative or effective differentiation!  Stravinsky was a core work at A-Level, and improvisation, despite being a saxophonist, was something I didn’t touch on until university.  The wide-reaching benefits of the arts were widely unknown and certainly not a priority.  Unlike UK schools which are now being forced to abandon the arts, Nord Anglia Education has embraced music, dance and drama as key elements of a rounded education, adding breadth and depth, raising expectations and developing cultural literacy.

Through the Juilliard-Nord Anglia Performing Arts Programme, our young minds begin to explore keyboard skills at the age of six. This keyboard is a fantastic medium for exploring integral concepts of pitch, melody, harmony in a very visual, hands-on way. Thanks to keyboard conditioning, I now have 6 year olds who can play the 12-bar blues bassline in C and improvise on one note, and 7 year olds who can competently and musically exchange improvisation over four bar phrases.  This is a far cry from my own experience of music education!

I hear stories of year 1 students singing the opening phrase of Beethoven’s Fifth and parents talking about how their children love to practice at home and are inspired to compose in their own time.

As part of the programme, each school receives visits from Juilliard alumni now working professionally in the arts. Through workshops, concert performances and interviews about why music is important to them, these visiting artists bring an extra dimension to the arts in our schools.  These inspirational visits impact the whole community as highlighted in these quotes from two of our parents following an event with world class flautist, Jasmine Choi.

"What a fantastic opportunity for the children to hear amazing music in a small and casual setting. It was inspiring to see the joy and skill that Jasmine has for the flute and it was great for the children to learn more about her approach to life and the determination she needed to achieve her dream. Aside from the incredible music, we thought it was very special to hear a musician of such quality talking about her life in an honest and humble way. It meant the children could relate to her as a real person and engage with her story at a deeper level."

--Kerry Merrill, Parent at Nord Anglia International School Hong Kong

Perhaps the most exciting outcome of the arts, is the impact on interdisciplinary skills. Our students are constantly exploring ways in which they can develop as rounded individuals. They undertake individual journeys, make personal connections to pieces of music, develop confidence by using musical concepts in their own work, interpret the work of others and communicate complex ideas in a variety of ways. Through an inclusive classroom approach that focuses on enhancing both depth and breadth, students are increasingly able to articulate how these skills can be transferred. We educate our young people for an unknown future, where technology is automating many aspects of existing careers.  The skills gained in music and the arts, not only aid them in other subjects, but futureproof their skills, equipping them as confident, expressive, collaborative and culturally aware life-long learners.