Songs Music 1

7/29/2019 Songs Music 1

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MrBrianMalovany

Teaching English Through

Songs and MusicKNU Teacher Training 2013

Tuesday, January 22, 13


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Well, If I'd been a rich man's son

Pay me my money down

I'd sit on the river and watch it run


(CHORUS)

I wish I was Mr. Gates


They'd haul my money in a cratePay me my money down

Pay Me My Money Down

I thought I heard the captain sayPay me my money down

Tomorrow is our sailing day


Pay me, pay mePay me my money down

Pay me or go to jail




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Well, If I'd been a rich man's son


I'd sit on the river and watch it run


(CHORUS)

I wish I was Mr. Gates


They'd haul my money in a crate


(CHORUS)

Well, forty nights, and days at sea

Pay me my money downThat captain worked every last dollar outta me.


(CHORUS)

Pay Me My Money Down

I thought I heard the captain say


Tomorrow is our sailing dayPay me my money down

Pay me, pay me


Pay me or go to jail


As soon as the boat was clear of the bar


He knocked me down with a spar


(CHORUS)



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Reasons to Use Songs & Music

Theyre Authentic!

Music is an aspect of culture, and it is more authentic than any

material or dialogue artificially prepared for an ESL classroom

TheyreFun

Theyre Familiar to the Students

They Contain a Wide Range of Language-Skills

They lower anxiety and generate enthusiasm



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songs provide a break from classroom

routine, and that learning English through

songs develops a non-threatening

classroom atmosphere in which the four

language skills can be enhanced Lo and Li(1998)

Songs also present opportunities

for developing automaticitywhich is the main cognitive

reason for using songs in the

classroom. Gatbonton and

Segalowitz (1988, p.473) define

automaticity as "a component of

language fluency which involvesboth knowing what to say and

producing language rapidly

without pauses."

Gatbonton and Segalowitz

(1988, p.476) state that we

must "place students in an

environment in which it is

appropriate to use target

utterances in a genuinely

communicative fashion." The

nature of songs is fairly

repetitive and consistent.




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Some songs are excellent examples of colloquial English, that is, the

language of informal conversation.

Finally, two studies, Domoney and Harris (1993) and Little (1983)

investigated the prevalence of pop music in the lives of EFL students.

Both studies found that music is often the major source of English outside

of the classroom. The exposure to authentic English is an important factor

in promoting language learning. It relates directly to both the affective

filter and automaticity.

If students are exposed to songs which they enjoy, more learning is likely to

occur since they may seek out the music outside of the classroom. The

repetitive style of songs then helps to promote automatization of colloquial

language.




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Sometimes, Theyre Too Authentic

Music and songs are culture-bound; be sure to understand

and know the source material that you use!

Not all of it is Familiar to the Students

Do you use new music or older music?Will they be familiar with it, or is it from your era/

generation instead?

Reasons to Be Wary ofSongs & Music



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Reasons to Be Wary ofSongs & Music

What English does the Song Teach;

Standard, Formal English vs. Informal English

Songs vary from Standard English to extremely informal, specific and

idiomatic forms of English.

Are these forms helpful to the Students? Are you teaching them things

that they will actually use?



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Means & Methods ofPresentation

Playing The Actual Recording of the Original Musicians

Playing the Songs Yourself Live

(Singing accompanied by Guitar, Piano, etc)

A Combination of the Two?

Who Sings, the Teacher, the Students, or both?



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Music, Songs, & English

Teaching GoalsWhich songs do you like to use in class,

& what aspect of English-language learning do they

address?

Grammar-Emphasis

Vocabulary-Building

Speaking & Conversation

Pronunciation

Listening

Writing



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Elisabeth Chan

The International Center for English

Arkansas State University

Delta Symposium April 6, 2011



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}At what age did you startlistening to music as a

hobby?



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}At what age did you startlistening to music as a

hobby?

}As adults an adult, whattype of music are youmost nostalgic for? Is it

music you listened to

as a teenager or youngadult?



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(Levitin, 2006)



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}The same amount of vocabulary was acquired

from listening to a song as listening to a story.

}More words were acquired when they were

sung rather than spoken.

}But the greatest amount of vocabulary was

acquired when the stories were both sung and

illustrated! (Medina,1993)



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This Song

Is Stuck In

My Head!



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Pop songs have a high verb

count and few concrete

referents for participants,

times, and places.

Baby talk by

adults andwords in pop

songs shares

many similaraspects

(Murphey andAlber, 1985)

(Murphey, 1998)

Rhythmical

structureal

lows

ittobemore

memorable

(Sagawa,199

9)

Itistoteenagers,whatbabytalkistobabies.

Music is theMotherese ofAdolescence



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} Why do songs get inextricably stuck in our heads? Experts say the culprits are earworms

(or "ohrwurms," as they're called in Germany).

} cause a sort of "cognitive itch" or "brain itch" -- a need for the brain to fill in the gaps in a

song's rhythm.

} When we listen to a song, it triggers a part of the brain called the auditory cortex.

Researchers at Dartmouth University found that when they played part of a familiar song

to research subjects, the participants' auditory cortex automatically filled in the rest

} in other words, their brains kept "singing" long after the song had ended [source:

Prokhorov].

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2006/jun/22/popandrockhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2006/jun/22/popandrockhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2006/jun/22/popandrock


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} The only way to "scratch" brain itch is to repeat the song over and over in your mind.

Unfortunately, like with mosquito bites, the more you scratch the more you itch, and so on

until you're stuck in an unending song cycle.

} Just as there are many theories, there are many names for the phenomenon. It's been called

everything from "repetunitis" to "melodymania."

} Researchers also aren't sure why some songs are more likely to get stuck in our heads than

others, but everyone has their own tunes that drive them crazy.

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} How to Get Songs Out of Your Head:If a song is nagging you to the brink of insanity, here are a few tips to try:

1. Sing another song, or play another melody on an instrument.

2. Switch to an activity that keeps you busy, such as working out.

3. Listen to the song all the way through (this works for some people).

4. Turn on the radio or a CD to get your brain tuned in to another song.

5. Share the song with a friend (but don't be surprised if the person become an

ex-friend when he or she walks away humming the tune).

6. Picture an earworm as a real creature crawling out of your head, and imagine

stomping on it.

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http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/cd.htmhttp://electronics.howstuffworks.com/cd.htmhttp://electronics.howstuffworks.com/cd.htm


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}

Pronunciation is more than pronouncing thesound /b/ correctly for the letter B.

} Stressing the correct syllables and how you say

certain words of a sentence faster than others is

more important to increase English

comprehensibility.

} Different languages

have different stress

and timing.



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I | read a BOOK | in the LIbrary | YESterday.

} In the English example, you take the same

amount of time to say read a book as in the

library, although there are more syllables.



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} Ki/no/u/ to/sho/ka/n/ de/ ho/n/ wo/ yo/mi/ma/

shi/ta.

} In the Japanese example, each syllable receives

the same amount of time.

}Using music to teach English can help increase

comprehensibility and intelligibility by helping

students with their stress-timing!



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} Chan, E. & Beni, K. (2007). Sounds Good to Me: Using Music and Song in L2 Teaching

Workshop. Presented at DaTESL hosted at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

} Levitin, D. (2006). This is your brain on music: The science of a human obsession.

New York, NY: Dutton Adult.

} Medina, S. (1993). The effect of music on second language vocabulary acquisition.

FEES News (National Network for Early Language Learning), 6(3), 1-8.

} Murphey, T. (1990). The song stuck in my head phenomenon: A melodic din in the

LAD? System, 18(1), 53-64.

} Murphey, T. (1992). The discourse of pop songs. TESOL Quarterly, 26(4), 770-774.

} Murphey, T. (1992). Music & song. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

} Murphey, T. & Alber, J.L. (1985). A pop song register: The motherese of adolescents

as affective foreigner talk. TESOL Quarterly, 19(4), 793-795.

} Sagawa, M. (1999). TESOL: The use of arts in language teaching. Retrieved March 30,

2011, from http://homepage3.

nifty.com/mmsagawa/hooked/tesol_art.html

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Songs Music 1