Blog Post #2

If I were to teach the history of musicians and musical pieces, I could teach various concepts from many different angles. First, I would teach with visuals: showing a piece of music from certain time periods and comparing each with a piece from a different time period or showing pictures of composers from the same musical time period. This would then stimulate the ventral stream of the brain. Using animations would also help by making the images interact somehow. It might be possible to find a video of a director leading an ensemble in a piece from the era. Also, using emotion would trigger the limbic system of the brain. Asking students to picture being in a situation (such as being a blind musician trying to read music) could be a useful tool. However, the most effective way would be to be playing a song from the time period that they are studying and explain an emotion that the music brings out. That would in turn help the students feel the music much better and connect to the lesson with more focus and attention.