Learning through Experiencing

The quotation from Carl Orff draws attention to the mode of facilitation impacting on the degree of learning. The difference between knowledge and understanding is key.

The melodic and other artifacts from Bing Bang Bong as well as the range of activities supplied and suggested are designed to facilitate sound play. Such curious interaction whilst delivering a creative and educational by-product will bring a wide range personal, social and community benefits. Where learning is a key client objective, the B3 'instruments' provide a musically useful canvas for a child's introduction to the creative and expressive use of sound, to learn by filling in their own gaps rather than being given filler - "involve me - I understand"

Musical improvisation and ad-hoc composition starts clients on a lifetime of exploration and pleasure through personal musical experience. Learner satisfaction arises from the ability to use accumulated understanding for the purpose of creation and innovation.

"Children like to sing, chant rhymes, clap, dance, and keep a beat on anything near at hand. These instincts are directed into learning music by hearing and making music first, then reading and writing it later. This is the way we learn language." Orff Schulwerk

B3 is keen to keep its focus on user engagement and facilitation, that is the reason for the statement "to facilitate smiles and achievements", B3 is not about selling instruments, it is about developing YOUR client group collectively and individually through creative musical exploration.

There is now a body of theory which indicates that engagement and the encouragement of exploration in the learning process is critical to the development of the individual beyond goal-oriented study such as provided by many education systems worldwide. The work of Kodaly (solfa), Dalcroze (eurythmics) & Reggio Emilia (experiential socio-constructivist based learning - Piaget & Vygotsky) are all increasingly impacting on the formal and musical and creative development of our children and our adults also. Whilst I do not claim to be a studied expert on any of these theorists, I have utilised and witnessed aspects of their work and have first hand experience of benefit particularly with young children

A word on Reggio Emilia

The word education derives from the Latin "ex-ducere" that means to bring out. Children's knowledge needs to be brought out using their natural curiosity and not filled in. The Reggio Emilia approach espouses that each person constructs their own intelligence from direct interaction with the environment and in social groups. Jerome Bruner's idea that young children are capable of intuitively grasping basic concepts of science at an early age is also embraced. The approach is not a specific cognitive approach, it is a way of perceiving children, a way of working with them taking in consideration their own differences and beliefs. This demands a high level of teacher understanding, involvement and commitment