A case study of integrating visual arts elements to form 1 music lessons in a Hong Kong school

There have been discourses on teaching music with an interdisciplinary approach, but few of them address the example of secondary music lessons integrating visual arts in the context of Hong Kong. Several models have been proposed for the design of interdisciplinary curricula or the delivery of arts integration lessons, such as the Facets Model. The context of Hong Kong is analyzed, suggesting strengths and challenges of implementing integrated music lessons. The purpose of this project is to investigate how the integration of music and visual arts can be facilitated in music lessons for a selected school. As a student teacher, the researcher taught music lessons in a Hong Kong secondary school, using a music teaching package specially designed for students there. The teaching package comprises four lessons, each teaching one piece of music. Its core concept is to integrate music and visual arts based on the Facets Model. The research data contained the reflective journal for each lesson and observations of students’ worksheets and their in-class reactions. Modifications of the teaching package were made to improve students’ learning outcomes. Further research can explore the incorporation of music with other art forms, such as dance and drama, to expand the scope of arts integration.