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Category 2 Bronze award

  • Title :
    The Land of Music
  • Subject :
    Music
  • Authors :
    Kadi Härma, Maia Muldma
  • Publisher :
  • Country :
    Estonia
  • Evaluation :
    • The textbook starts with a variety of songs with texts and music notes and with a special explanation of some notes and musical expressions. It continues with a presentation of a classical orchestra with all musicians, instruments and the role of the conductor. The two parts are varied, and seem to have a clear progression.
    • The content does not seem too hard for 5th grade students, but seems to take them seriously as learners.
    • Both young and female conductors are presented.
    • Another positive feature is the presentation of famous musicians and other artists with disabilities, such as Steve Wonder, Andrea Bocelli, Evelyn Glennie, Meelis Luks and Nobuyuki Tsujii.
    • Entertaining line drawings follow the presentations and communicate with the students in a
    • humorous way. The illustrations make the background of the persons ethnically neutral.
    • The layout is clear; the pages are clean and not too full. Important musical terms are highlighted in an effective but discrete blue colour font.
    • Some songs have a special background on the spread (see e.g. 8 - 9, 16 - 17) giving a special atmosphere to the song.
    • The workbook has a good variation of exercises. It has a clear layout but without any colours.
    • Different approaches to learning music are integrated: students are invited to play on different instruments, to sing songs, to fill in tasks in the workbook, to listen to music from the textbook CD.
    • The course is made interesting for students through the variety of the tasks and in the selection of songs, by creative tasks, cartoons, and depiction of the episodes from the lives of famous musicians.
    • Theoretical part is rather demanding in content.
    • Music is related to art, literature (p 39: you will live longer than your relatives), human health (p 37: laughter therapy), history.
    • National identity is supported by using Estonian poems and songs. Using Estonian cymbals by famous musicians is mentioned in the textbook as well. In the workbook, a song about sportsmen is used to list the names of Estonian sportsmen (p 24).
    • White Russian folksongs (p 10 - 11), Finnish folk tune (p 17) contribute to international education.
    • Cartoons are entertaining and often have educational value.
    • There is wide variety of tasks in the workbook: simple and demanding ones, tasks for individual and group work, tasks on singing, solving crosswords (p 23) , filling in different blanks (p 19), writing a song (p 17).
    • Sets music in the context of the wider artistic environment.
    • Encourages sympathy for people with specific difficulties or even unusual talents.
    • Provides material for both individual and group work.
    • The design and presentation of the pupils' book is attractive and easy on the eye with an intelligent use of colour throughout.
    • The workbook is clearly set out and provides plenty of space for both the artwork and the answers to the questions.