Abstract: The following research paper will investigate the importance of the Reggio Emilia Approach within Music Education in an International School setting. A case study from a Top Independent College in Mexico where the focus for the Daycare, Early years, Reception and Nursery classes is a combination of the International Early Years Curriculum and Reggio Emilia inspired teaching. Several prominent researchers including Burgess, 2013; Edwards et al., 1998; Herzog, 2001; Hanna, 2013; Malaguzzi, 1998; Page-Smith, 2011 and Wood et al., 2015 have researched the benefits of introducing the Reggio Emilia Approach in a school curriculum. Teachers’ assessment of their own and their learners’ musical skills and knowledge contributed to their improved practice in music education. Study findings also supported the co-constructed design of the professional development model and confirmed the importance of researcher flexibility toward participant needs, practices, and the influence of setting on the mentorship. The model holds promise for future collaborations between music and early childhood professionals and asserts the value of site-specific engagements. Teaching the Reggio Emilia Approach within an International School can be exciting for a music teacher to explore. They allow learners in early years develop their analytical and critical skills preparing them for the Primary Years Programme (PYP) or International Primary Curriculum (IPC). Learners in Day Care, Pre-School and Reception are given the opportunity to be creative by exploring their musical ideas and perceptions through the use of Orff Instruments and melodic and non- melodic percussion instruments. They will understand how chords are created by adding three notes together that forms the chords. These are good exercises to train their ears to differentiate between the major and minor chords and understand how these work within music. Through the use of music technology, learners have the opportunity to explore the various timbres available for them and how to distinguish between brass and woodwind instruments for examples. For they have listened to various examples demonstrating that there is a difference between a saxophone, which is a woodwind instrument and a trumpet, which is classified as a brass instrument. The difference between the various elements of music. Whether music that they listened to are fast or slow music. Whether it affects their emotions and how the composers use melodies to create different textures. It is an informative way to learn music in an exciting programme which the learners particularly enjoy. For International teachers exploring the Reggio Emilia Method of teaching for music education can allow learners to grow and experience new ideas and perceptions, allowing teachers to make lessons exciting and fruitful experience for learners to attend the music education classes.
Keywords: Case study, Elements of Music, Mexico, Music education, Reggio Emilia Education Approach, Reggio Emilia Inspire Education.
Title: Working with the Reggio Emilia Approach within a Music Department in an International School – A case study from Mexico
Author: Mario Maxwell Müller
International Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research
ISSN 2348-3156 (Print), ISSN 2348-3164 (online)
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