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Lum, Chee Hoo
- PublicationOpen AccessVedic metal: issues of local practice, popular music and education(2010)
; If music of popular culture is a lived curriculum - one that has suffused young people’s lives – can popular musics’ presence in everyday space be extended to educational space? In this paper, we introduce a group of graduate serving music teachers to the musical practice of Rudra, a local Extreme metal group, and invite discussions of their practice and consideration of Extreme Metal through Rudra, among the repertory of the diversity of musical practices in their school music curriculum. This paper reports on the dynamics of these discussions as well as accounts by teachers who subsequently introduced musical excerpts by Rudra to their classes. Finally, this paper considers their responses and reflects on the practice of Vedic Metal and relationship/s with local practice, popular music with the implications for education. More importantly, the feasibility and viability of challenging curricula is very much a function of the classroom teacher as agent in and of that change.174 261 - PublicationRestrictedTeaching diverse learners: Conceptualisations and pedagogies of preschool teachers(Office of Education Research, National Institute of Education, Singapore, 2020)
; Zhou, XiaoleiThis study is relevant in the present climate of concerns about preschool quality (MOE, 2003, 2007, 2008) and supports Singapore‘s ability-driven education system within the national vision of becoming a ―global city‖ (Lim, 2005) and an inclusive society (i.e. ―Singapore 21‖ report). Despite being a private sector, preschools in Singapore have been in the spotlight since the year 2000 when the MOE began to pay greater attention to quality in preschool education by intervening in a number of ways.The key assumption underlying the series of past and ongoing MOE initiatives is that quality preschool education can play a role to equalise or ―level up‖ children from lower socio-economic groups so that they are not disadvantaged in primary school (MOE, 7 Mar 2007). And yet, the definition of quality preschool education remains vague in official discourses and teaching communities. There is much lip service being paid to trendy terms such as ―play-based and interactive‖, or ―engaging and stimulating‖ but what do these actually look like? Do all teachers have common understanding of these supposedly quality practices?
This study recognizes that Singapore society is becoming increasingly diverse in the 21st century partly due to the continued influx of foreigners, and the widening income gap within its residential population. This diversity is definitely reflected in Singapore preschools. Given the increasing diversity within the populace, this research study‘s focus on teaching diverse learners in the Singapore context is an important contribution to expanding current theoretical notions of human ―diversity‖ and speaking to local and international research on culturally relevant pedagogies for the 21st century, in view of the changing social fabric of this nation.197 27 - PublicationUnknownArts Research on Teachers and Students 2 (ARTS2): Pedagogies and practices(2013)
; 535 215 - PublicationOpen AccessMusic teacher professional development in Singapore: Mapping the landscape(National Institute of Education (Singapore), 2017)
; 185 251 - PublicationRestrictedCaging the prepared piano : aesthetics and performance aspects of the prepared piano works of John Cage(1998)Discovering the wide array of timbres and sounds created by the prepared piano pieces of John Cage was the initial motivating factor in my research. This paper explores the significance of the prepared piano in the context of musical developments in America during the early decades of the twentieth century. In placing the prepared piano pieces in context of John Cage's life and aesthetic attitudes, the paper also focuses on issues that arise from performing these works at present. Finally, the paper discusses the actual materials used for preparation, on different practical methods of creating various timbres and the requisite skill and care a performer needs for the prepared piano repertoire.
214 22 - PublicationRestrictedFostering creative thinking through group music composition in primary school pupils(2000)Thinking schools focuses on students being encouraged to developed skills that are associated with learning, communicating and creative thinking. The development of critical and creative thinking in teachers and students is established through the school curriculum and activities. In line with the educational goals of Singapore, with the emphasis on "Thinking Schools, Learning Nation", study serves to examine the effects of introducing group music composition activities as a creative and critical thinking tool in the primary music curriculum of Singapore.
The composition project provided an avenue to reaffirm musical knowledge and skills pupils have been learning and helped pupils in activity using these ideas in the music making process, also giving them a sense of ownership. Three outstanding observations that were prevalent in most groups that participated in the composition project include, 1) pupils' use of initiation as the main focus in composing, 2) the structuring of pupils' compositions were based on the initial exploration of sound and 3) pupils' group decision making process were based primarily on a leading member's decision in the group.
The scores for pupils' revised performances showed improvements as compared to their initial performances. Pupils' two main considerations during revision include, 1) the appropriateness of their sounds with regards to theme and 2) their co-ordination during the performance. Most groups had a more unified revised performance compared to their initial try. Evaluation is a process that is often left out in the current music curriculum which can prove to be an important tool in primary music education here in Singapore. - PublicationOpen AccessLearning through popular music, lessons for the general music programme syllabus in Singapore(2016)
; ; 327 230 - PublicationOpen AccessLearning through popular music, lessons for the general music programme syllabus in Singapore(Office of Education Research, National Institute of Education, Singapore, 2024)
; ; This project sought to investigate the identity, role and function of popular music within classroom-based education in Singapore.
Popular music is characterised by: (i) lnterdisclplinarity (music, dance, poetry, theatre, etc); (ii) It suffuses the lives of school-going youth in their out-of-school curriculum. (iii) Skill acquisition is frequently gained through more informal learning than is usual in institutional settings (Green, 2002). (iv) Participation in popular music by various communities seems to cut across ethnic, religious and age boundaries, which makes popular music participation an interesting study in social integration. (v) Engaging in popular music potentially provides students life-long engagement The impact of popular music in the classroom has not been fully explored.
Creating, performing and responding to popular music genres arguably act as an apt medium of and for self expression considering the complex nature of an ever-shifting demographic mix and strategies to bring about more effective social integration across communities-of-practice (Wenger 1998) engaging the later cosmopolitan society in Singapore.
The GMP (2008) document supports the value of popular music beginning with musical skills of composing, improvising and recreating extending to identity formation and multiplicity in identity negotiation in group dynamics (MOE 2008, pp. 7-10). Current broader educational aims are to develop creative, imaginative and socio-culturally well-tempered individuals and popular music has an important educational role to play in this respect. Dairianathan and Lum (2010) have discovered how popular musics re/iterate their place in the music curriculum for music as lived and living space.
Secondary factors crucial to this research are: (a) to examine the place of popular music in local public and international schools across Singapore, (b) to draw out the intrinsic and extrinsic motivations for school-going youth to be engaged in popular music and (c) to critically examine popular music immersion in relation to the objectives established in the GMP syllabus (MOE 2008).
20 115 - PublicationRestrictedTeaching diverse learners: Conceptualisations and pedagogies of preschool teachers(2011)
; Zhou, Xiaolei"Given our interest in advancing teacher inquiry, as well as in exploring preschool teachers' understandings of diverse learners and how to teach diverse learners in Singapore classrooms, the following research questions guided this study: 1. How does this group of effective preschool teachers in Singapore conceptualize and talk about diverse learners in their teaching? 2. How do these teachers' individual conceptualizations of diversity influence their classroom teaching and learning (i.e., teaching practices)?" -- p. 1.287 101 - PublicationOpen Access
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