Throughout reading this well written article Repositioning “the elements”: How Students Talk About Music, Action, Criticism and Theory for Music Education by Stewart Rose, Leslie, and June Countryman, I came to find that the reading really glorifies the idea of only teaching and stressing the importance of the elements (“Pitch rhythm, harmony, dynamics, timbre, texture and form (National Association for Music Education Website. Stewart Rose, Leslie and June Countryman, 2013. Repositioning “the elements”: How students talk about music. Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education 12(3):45-64) to students, which frustrated me. Although I found it rather interesting to read about the extensive research behind Music Education in Canada, I found a great deal of dissatisfaction in realizing that the Canadian Music curriculum has little to no room for musical creativity or expression for students to indulge in. Although I do agree with the author’s statement that “The elements of music have become a foundational component music education” (Stewart Rose, Leslie and June Countryman, 2013. Repositioning “the elements”: How students talk about music. Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education 12(3):45-64) because without having a knowledge of at least basic theory, one’s musicianship would be very weak. But, personally, I do not think that the elements should be given the credit for all music in time- I feel that it is crucial to teach students the importance of creativity in correlation with the elements, and what the elements are capable of doing when put towards creativity. Although the article states that “The elements of music have become a foundational curricular component of music education”, educators should also take the factors of creativity, self-expression and freedom and integrate those into the curriculum. Integrating creativity into the music curriculum will help students understand classical artists (i.e. Mozart and Beethoven) more by taking their own knowledge and understanding of musical creativity and connecting their thoughts to classical pieces. Questions for the author:
What motivated you to use this kind of academic language in this article?
Do you think that acknowledging creativity in music is irrelevant to the curriculum in Music Education?
Reading Response II 09/24/17
From reading this article, I began to realize something about our society; we have a preconceived fear of being different than everyone else, or not fitting in. But what does it mean to be normal, and how do we, as a society, decipher what is and isn’t normal? Although the author of “Think Everything’s “Normal?” Then It’s Time to Reconsider and Promote a New Narrative of Disability” makes the obvious very clear; “We must NOT deem any life “abnormal” just because they have a different way of learning, communicating, or moving” (“Think Everything’s “Normal?” Then It’s Time to Reconsider and Promote a New Narrative of Disability. (n.d.), it is still very clear that society still treats “disabled” individuals from their ideas of stereotype. There’s no real explanation why, but [1]our society has a huge fear of being different and others who are. [2]Society seems to glorify this idea of being “normal”, so when there’s a chance to hide a characteristic about someone that isn’t normal (i.e. wheelchair), most times, the opportunity is taken. “One common sign of this is for school photos that involve students in wheelchairs. Parents or staff will often set up photos to that they hide the wheelchair and, thus, makes the kid seem normal.” (“Think Everything’s “Normal?” Then It’s Time To Reconsider And Promote A New Narrative of Disability (n.d.)) How does this affect the individual with the Marsha Saxton, the author of “The Disability Studies Reader” states that “the stereotyped notions of the “tragedy” and “suffering” of the “disabled” result from the isolation of disabled people in society.” (“Think Everything’s “Normal?” Then Its Time to Reconsider and Promote a New Narrative of Disability, (n.d.)) This isolation that “disabled” individuals experience spurs out of the “discriminatory attitudes and thoughtless behaviours, and the ensuing ostracism and lack of accommodation, that makes life difficult”. (“Think Everything’s “Normal?” Then It’s Time to Reconsider and Promote a New Narrative of Disability, (n.d.)) It is disheartening to realise that out modern day society still discriminates “disabled” individuals by stereotyping them for what they seem to be, not for what they really are; people who are brave, people with potential, and people with the same rights as “non disabled” people have. When it comes down to it though, blindness, deafness, cognitive and mobility impairments aren’t disabilities, ignorance is, and as a society, ignorance should be abnormal, and acceptance and embracing diversity should be normal.
Questions for the author: 1) In your opinion, what defines "normal" in society? 2)In which ways do you think society accepts certain things as "normal"?
[1], “Think Everything’s “Normal?” Then It’s Time to Reconsider and Promote a New Narrative of Disability (n.d.). Retrieved September 20, 2017, from http://organizingchange.org/think-everythings-normal-then-its-time-to-reconsider-and-promote-a-new-narrative-of-disability/
Reading Response III 09/25/2017
I’m always taken back by the articles that we read in this course, it’s so interesting coming fresh out of high school to be put in an environment where I’m learning about the system that I once learned from. Even though I knew that Music Education lacks the finding and attention it so desperately needs, I didn’t really think about the classroom itself; how music is a “social experience”, and how this said, “social experience” can have both a negative and positive affect on others. What bothered me the most about this article was that it’s next to impossible to know how people are feeling and what type of environment they’re comfortable in and can thrive as an individual in, and for people like Jason, the study focus of Ryan M. Hourigan’s article The Invisible Student: understanding Social Identity Construction within Performing Ensembles, who have special needs to be met, and how to meet them. Fitting in and having a sense of belonging is something that everyone struggles with at some point in their lifetime, but for people like Jason, fitting in is an ongoing issue. Hourigan labeled Jason as an “Invisible Student”, the author stated that although he found Jason “to be very social… The fact that he did not fit in caused him to be secluded from the group. This contributed to his lack of self-worth within the ensemble” (Hourigan, R. M. (2009). The Invisible Student: Understanding Social Identity Construction within Performing Ensembles. Music Educators Journal.) This statement left me with questions, what disabled Jason from fitting in? Was it the inability of skill from his teachers to find a way to integrate him into the group more to effectively combat not fitting in? Was it Jason’s peers? Is it Jason’s “inability to connect with the other members of the ensemble”? (Hourigan, R. M. (2009). The Invisible Student: Understanding Social Identity Construction within Performing Ensembles. Music Educators Journal.) Regardless of what it was, it affected Jason to the extent of him not only not feeling confident in himself, but also lacking confidence in his musicianship. There are many ways to support children like Jason in an ensemble environment, which is constant support. As stated in the article, “They sometimes need assistance with their challenges. However, ensemble teachers do not need to shoulder all the responsibility. Peers can assist with these challenges if we lead them in an appropriate way. Outgoing students (socially) can be they key in making lasting connections within a classroom throughout the year.” (Hourigan, R. M. (2009). The Invisible Student: Understanding Social Identity Construction within Performing Ensembles. Music Educators Journal.). Because music is such a social experience, it is important to enable all students, like Jason, to be able to feel a sense of belonging in their passion. Questions for the Author: 1) What was the most surprising thing you noticed while conducting this study? 2)What's one thing you would have done differently in this study?
Reading Response IV 10/1/17
Dawe, L. (2016). Fumbling Towards Vulnerability: Moving Out of the Familiar for Music Education’s Sake, Canadian Music Educator, (57)2, pp. 22-24 All (except for a handful) of us can admit that sticking to a routine is much easier and comfortable than not. Completing tasks in a certain way and/or in a certain order can provide a sense of comfort to us, so when we get asked to do things differently, we feel uncomfortable, we lack confidence, and we panic. This is true in all areas of life, but for this reading response, its specifically directed towards music in the classroom. The author of MovingOutoftheFamiliarforMusicEducation’sSake vividly describes what it’s like to be a teacher who wants to integrate creativity back into music education. “I have often thought about how this absence of creativity and student autonomy in my own music education has contributed to the overwhelming feeling of vulnerability that I have experienced when presented with opportunities for creative music making with my students, with my colleagues, and on my own.” (Dawe, L. (2016). Fumbling Towards Vulnerability: Moving Out of the Familiar for Music Education’s Sake, CanadianMusicEducator, (57)2, pp. 22-24) This passage from the reading shows us that Music Education has been lacking creativity, the very thing that created music itself for a very long time, which surprised me and upset me. In this article, the author states their level of comfort with learning the “black and white” way, having a routine, and being comfortable learning in a “traditional nature”. Although there is nothing wrong with teaching traditionally, being able to integrate creativity into a “traditional” classroom is a big job, but has amazing results. The author states that “Part of the reason for doing this was to increase greater student engagement in music.” (Dawe, L. (2016). Fumbling Towards Vulnerability: Moving Out of the Familiar for Music Education’s Sake, CanadianMusicEducator, (57)2, pp. 22-24) The author found that students were more interested in the lessons that had to do with musical creativity, therefore most likely making the class more enjoyable, and the students more successful. Not only did the author of this article integrate creativity into the lessons that they were teaching, but they also integrated the personal learning goals and wants of the students in the lessons. “The philosophy behind it is that during music class, students should be able to take the musical skills they have developed and apply them to learn what they are most interested in. In addition, we have several excellent traditional ensembles, a strong music council, and a high level of student participation.” ( Dawe, L. (2016). Fumbling Towards Vulnerability: Moving Out of the Familiar for Music Education’s Sake, CanadianMusicEducator, (57)2, pp. 22-24) This idea of integrating creativity and student voice into the Music Education curriculum is so important, music is meant to be learned with passion in concoction with logistics, it’s supposed to be performed with heart and professionalism, and its about time that more music educators implemented this into their lessons. I think it is so important to let students discover their musical selves through being taught creativity for music. This gives them a space to create and communicate feeling and thought through music.
Reflection on Sandra Stauffer's Work Shop.
On Saturday, September 30th, my fellow peers and I had the privilege of learning creative skills and teqiniques for teaching music to a classroom of young children successfully. A lovely woman named Sandra Stauffer lead this workshop, she had an amazing ability to keep us all engaged while passing over valuable skills and creative ways of teaching for us future music educators to use. One of the many things that I found interesting in this workshop was the way she was able to turn musical lessons into games, i.e., learning 6:4 time through a “monkey see, monkey do” method. I enjoyed this specific method because it was so unique and well thought out, for the majority of the workshop I forgot why I was really there because I was having way too much fun. It surprised me that there were so many ways to make learning easier through creativity, and it upset me that I wasn’t able to learn this way. I realized throughout that workshop that learning should be fun, and that fun learning comes from teachers who are passionate about their subject, that teaching is more than just a job. There are a handful of lessons that have stood out to me in my academic career and I am very happy to say that this is one of them.
Reading V
Music Education, Multiculturalism, and Anti-Racism – Can We Talk? Deborah Bradley As a first-year student, I always find it really interesting reading these articles about the elementary, middle, and high school education system and curriculum. Many articles open my eyes to certain teaching philosophies and classroom environments and how we can improve them for the benefit of students, but none of them really made me think about myself as a student and the culture that I live and learn in, until I read “Music education, multiculturalism, and anti-racism: ‘Can we talk?” by Deborah Bradley. This article dives into the concept of racism, multiculturalism, and imperialism. It surprised me to realize that I am learning within a system that is afraid to talk about race. At the very beginning of the article, Bradley quotes from David Theo Goldberg (cited in Smith, 1999, pg. 45) that “one consequence of imperialism is that Western ways of viewing, talking about, and interacting with the world at large are intricately embedded in racialized discourses” (pg. 2). This got me thinking; have I ever taken part of this or witnessed this without noticing? Have any of my past teachers done this? These few questions stood out to me while I was franticly reading for some sort of answer; why was this point relevant in Bradley’s article about music education? To my surprise the answer was there, in fact, the answer has been there for hundreds of years. The author notes that “musicological writing [continues] to privilege European art music as being of “high” or “highest quality”” which means that “folk or indigenous musics” (sic) “are somehow worth [less value] on the scale of human activities” (pg.4). This specific part of the article upset me and made me wonder why European music has always been considered the “highest quality” of music? Does this have anything to do with imperialism, multiculturalism, or even racism? This article made me wonder how different music education would be if we, as students, studied any other genera other than classical religiously, how would our education be different? How would our education be different if imperialism did not exist? What would change?
Reading VI Williams, D. A. (2014). Another Perspective The iPad Is a REAL Musical Instrument. Music Educators Journal, 101(1), 93-98.
Never in my life have I considered the iPad, arguably one of the most versatile and utilized pieces of technology in society, as an instrument. It’s astonishing, really, to see a piece of technology be used in a variety of ways; as a small-scale television screen, a point of sale in a retail store, substitute as a cook book, or even a normal book for that matter, and many, many more things that I could go on for paragraphs about. Using the iPad as a tool to teach students music, I think, is needed, necessary and appropriate in this day and age. People are evolving, generations of students are being raised on technology, therefore, technology is second nature and most likely something students will gravitate to, take interest in, and learn better with, so why not utilize something new and advanced to educate music students on something as old and precise as music? I found this article very interesting because of the authors unique comparison of the iPad to the Oboe. The author watered down the definition of music to support his statement that iPads can certainly be classified as a musical instrument, “What is a musical instrument? A musical instrument, according to the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is “a device used to produce music”(94). This passage also shuts down an opinion from a survey that he conducted, saying that “Each year it seems there are more sessions and performances that do not align with what our core mission is as music educators. iPad ensambles and rock bands are not the direction that we should be heading. We need to be seeking out students and exposing them to quality art.”(94) This passage confused me, would we not be exposing students to “quality art” through the use of an iPad? I strongly agree with the author’s idea that schools should be enabling students with more access to technology, especially with music. Giving students the tools to access thousands of classical and “quality” art pieces within seconds, as well as equipping them with new skills to adapt to a new world of technology is needed is important, therefore, I strongly agree with the authors statement, The iPad is a real musical instrument.
Elementary School Visit Response
On Monday, October 30th, my class got the opportunity to visit an elementary school. Here, we engaged in multiple musical activities along side third and fourth graders. Prior to the visit, I didn’t take into account that trying to get children to pay attention and behave (for the most part) in a classroom setting would be a problem to think about; after growing as a student, this is something I dont see too often anymore, therefore, it was quite the surprise observing the way children act in a classroom setting. One of the first things I noticed when I walked into the classroom was how energetic the students were. It was clear to see that teachers can lose control of the classroom fairely easy, and getting their attention back to focusing on the lesson can be quite difficult. I realized that it is important to incorperate repetitiveness into the lesson thats being taught; students are able to pick the concept up much faster by using repitition than they could by only having it said once. I also noticed that students in this age range are extremely creative. For instance, when Cathy invited the students to participate in “The Witch Has An Itch”, I noticed how creative the students became when given the opportunity to add a body part and adjective to the game. Overall, I realized that learning is supposed to be fun, creative, and accepting of every student’s thoughts. I am gratful for this opportunity and am looking forward to more to come!
When reading this article, I realized the importance of implementing musical games into a lesson. It surprised me that the author of this article revealed that all work and no play can potentially have negative outcomes in musicians. Without the use of games to promote improvisation, young musicians may not be able to reach their full potential in their musicianship. As stated in the article, “Above all, improvisation in music education should be promoted so that students can express musical ideas. Not merely individual ideas, as can happen when a composer sits alone, but ideas that emerge in social interaction with others. “. This passage from the article also states the importance of socialization within music and improvisation; having the ability to bounce off ideas from one person to another can help integrate different cultural and textural elements into the piece that, in this case, is being composed. From personal experience, I would have loved to experience more lessons with improvisation, rather than learning the “textbook” way. I feel that if I had these opportunities more often, I would be a stronger and more confident musician.