Teaching whistle instead of recorder-public school?
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David Cooper
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Re: Teaching whistle instead of recorder-public school?
It doesn't need to be a contest. If schools were better organised there wouldn't be any compulsory music lessons, but there would instead be ones open to all children who want to take part (unless they're banned from attending) where they can learn recorder, whistle, ukulele, and a host of other instruments. Most of the time they're just sitting in classes doing "busy work" to keep them quiet rather than teaching them anything, and that's just time lost. We need a revolution in education to turn it into actual education where children are much more free to follow their interests and to learn.
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phlute626
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Re: Teaching whistle instead of recorder-public school?
Flywhistler, thanks for the info! I’ll take a look at that website. I’m working on curriculum this summer for whatever will pan out next year.Flywhistler wrote: ↑Thu Apr 13, 2023 4:50 pm I'm a retired elementary music teacher and I taught whistle to my elementary students. The late Bill Ochs was a great proponent of teaching the whistle in schools and even had a website dedicated to that purpose. It still exists here: https://pennywhistlesforschools.com/ He was very supportive of my endeavors. My group of students participated in our local summer parade. I would encourage you to teach whistle to your students. One of the best things we can do for our music students, or any students, is to share our passions with them.
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tin tin
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Re: Teaching whistle instead of recorder-public school?
I had a stint teaching whistle in an after school program, and it went reasonably well, although I’d be surprised if any of the kids are still playing.
Shrillness aside (although it is an issue!), the kids liked that they were playing music quickly. With most instruments, one spends longer just learning the instrument before playing music on it.
The use of the whistle in the Lord of the Rings soundtrack also gave the whistle some cred as more than just a classroom instrument.
As I understand it, in Canada, ukulele is the standard introductory instrument, which makes sense on a lot of levels, not least of which is that sonically, a gaggle of ukes is far nicer than a cluster of whistles.
Shrillness aside (although it is an issue!), the kids liked that they were playing music quickly. With most instruments, one spends longer just learning the instrument before playing music on it.
The use of the whistle in the Lord of the Rings soundtrack also gave the whistle some cred as more than just a classroom instrument.
As I understand it, in Canada, ukulele is the standard introductory instrument, which makes sense on a lot of levels, not least of which is that sonically, a gaggle of ukes is far nicer than a cluster of whistles.