Integrating Music into the Curriculum

One goal of the teacher is for students to achieve mastery of a skill or concept. This

requires long-term retention of information, and integrating the arts can help teachers work

toward this goal (Rinne et al, 2011). Since students do not normally master the unit of sequences

and series, I chose this unit because of its many connections between Music and Art. “Students

who cannot see meaningful connections across content or skills are unlikely to be able to use

their knowledge and skills to solve problems” (Lipson et al, 1993).

I chose to integrate Music and Art into the curriculum, through thematic integration.

Students actively construct their own knowledge in thematic teaching, as advocated by Piaget

and Vygotsky (Loughran, 2005). The biggest reason to teach through themes is that it promotes

teaching and learning as a meaningful enterprise (Lipson et al, 1993). Each student of the class

has had musical training for three years from Form 1 through Form 3. The students also did Art

from Form 1 through Form 3. When I questioned the students on whether they thought Music

was Mathematical there was a resounding “No Way!” So, I embarked on a mission to help the

students see that Music was also related to Mathematics.

I consulted with my Head of Department and other members and put forth my idea. I

explained the link between the subjects and how I intended to integrate the subjects. They

encouraged me to pursue it and also confer with the relevant subject teachers.

I had an engaging conversation with the previous Music teacher, who has migrated now,

and I remember talking about Goedel, Escher and Bach and how Mathematics, Music and Art

were wonderfully intertwined. I left the Music room with more resolve. When the time came to

plan the lessons, I consulted the new Music teacher about the accuracy of the note frequencies
and the Harmonic Series. She played some notes of the Harmonic Series for A and explained the

concepts. She agreed to allow me to borrow a keyboard for my class as well.

I spent many long nights developing lesson plans, researching the links between the

subjects and creating my own patterns in art. The calculations were done three maybe four times

to ensure that the students did not have difficulties when doing the worksheets and activities.

I introduced the first topic of Arithmetic Sequences by presenting patterns in Art, and

making the links to Mathematics. I even showed them a Kinetic Sculpture that followed an

Arithmetic pattern, which we had made in Math Club for the Math Fair. The students measured

the circular discs and realized the pattern used. The students’ reaction to the sculpture was one of

awe, since they were experiencing the connection first hand and not in pictures. We discussed

other places they may have seen sequences and we spoke about the Fibonacci sequence and its

occurrence in nature. The students said that they never knew there were sequences in nature as

well, and started to discuss other possible examples that they may have seen, like fern leaves.

When I gave the first practical assignment, the students were motivated to create their own

artwork related to Arithmetic Sequences. The activities planned for this topic followed the art

theme. The examples used were art related also.

I introduced the second topic of Geometric Sequences by showing students the link

between the Harmonic Series and a geometric sequence. The students looked at a video that

explained how music was created by Pythagoras and a video on how musicians use sequences

when creating songs. They thoroughly enjoyed listening to music and making the mathematical

connections. I ended the lesson by showing the students another video on how Bach used

mathematics to create his masterpieces. They were astonished that he was going deaf, but he was
able to use Mathematics to create outstanding works. They also appreciated that I used music

they were accustomed too, besides classical music.

The activities planned for this lesson were music themed and I even played classical

music in the background and used the duration of the musical pieces as timers for each activity.

By doing this the lesson was perfectly timed and ended at the specified time.

My experience gained through this venture has led to a greater appreciation and

motivation to integrate Mathematics and other subjects. I think that the Integration of Music and

Art into this unit uncovered many hidden talents in the students. The students were eager to

express their creativity and they grasped the concepts more readily since it was relevant to

something they knew and liked. There is no denying that Curriculum Integration has major

benefits to the students as well as the teacher and I plan to continue to explore this is my future

lessons.
 References

Lipson, M., Valencia, S., Wixson, K., & Peters, C. (1993). Integration and Thematic Teaching:

Integration to Improve Teaching and Learning. Language Arts, 70(4), 252-263. Retrieved

April 6, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/41482091

Sandra B. Loughran (2005) Thematic Teaching in Action. Kappa Delta Pi Record, 41:3, 112-117,

DOI: 10.1080/00228958.2005.10518819

Rinne, L., Gregory, E., Yarmolinskaya, J., & Hardiman, M. (2011). Why Arts Integration Improves

Long-Term Retention of Content. Mind, Brain, and Education, 5(2), 89–

96. doi:10.1111/j.1751-228x.2011.01114.x