Silence Exercises with Tibetan Singing Bowls

Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject Pedagogy - Job Education, Occupational Training, Further Education, grade: A, , language: English, abstract: Silence is something many adults yearn for, especially in times in which the environment is getting increasingly louder. It is something precious as it benefits our body, spirit, and soul. A big problem at home, in kindergarten, and at school, however, are noisy, disruptive, aggressive, and unfocused children who cannot come to rest and find themselves any more. These children cannot sit still for five minutes, let alone concentrate on something for a longer period of time. To react with a loud scream, 'Silence - damn it!', is certainly not the right way. Relaxation and concentration programs for children are popular like never before. But in addition to that, maybe the children themselves yearn for silence and it is not that difficult to get them on the right track. I would first like to take a look at the pedagogical theory by Maria Montessori followed by introducing my own ideas and experiences with Tibetan Singing Bowls. The practical exercises were developed in the music workshop in Bad Bergzabern in collaboration with Uta Karen Mempel; there are hardly any publications available with regard to this topic. In this music workshop I worked with small groups of five children and larger groups of up to 25 children. The age of the children was between four and 15 years.