Music: a Vehicle for Learning

When writing an academic journal, there are three essential components: Report, React, and Reflect. These three  levels help by accessing the information, forming one's own opinion of the information and compiling into a journal that clearly reflects the information and the personal opinion in a ____ manner.

These first few weeks of the FSEM have been focused on addressing the Beatles as a vehicle to assist college freshman in understanding their academic responsibilities. To understand the subject material, the students have been introduced to the music of the Beatles through Tim Riley's discography Tell Me Why. Riley writes out the music on each track, noting chord changes, key changes, drum fills and lyrics to write out the music on paper. However, one can't actually hear the music from reading Riley's book. To hear these different components Riley sites in Tell Me Why, the students listen to the songs while reading the material corresponding to each song. 

The interesting part about this method is how it works both sides of the brain through visual and auditory learning. The right side of the brain is primarily dominant in language: reading, writing, and speaking. The left side of the brain processes recognition and music. In this type of assignment, reading and listening to the accompanying music allows both sides of the brain to be actively processing the information for better understanding and comprehension.  

Since the FSEM is focused on assisting students to develop speaking, writing and technology to be better equipped for academic studies, each assignment focuses on taking a subject of interest, in this case the Beatles' music, and applying the information to an area of study. One of the assignments this past week was to write a short in-class essay on their favorite Beatles' song from their first album and first five singles, with an explanation of why it was their favorite. The responses of what made a particular Beatles' song their favorite ranged from subject content and harmony to historical value and voice. 

Although discussing the components of one's favorite pop song may seem unimportant, there is an underlying factor: the argument of value. By compiling a list of reasons as to why this particular song was their favorite, the students established criteria (stating which song they felt was the best of these particular songs) and reasons showing how the subject met the stated criteria through a list of sound reasons. 

I consider these methods to be successful in helping students to acquire writing skills necessary for collegiate level courses. By introducing these skills through a subject that the student already finds interesting, they will adopt these skills more easily than through a challenging academic subject. After acquire these writing skills, the student will be able to successfully adapt them to upper level research and writing projects.