Music 1800: Intro to Music Education (annotated bibliographies)
Kratus Article
Kratus, J. (2007). Music education at the tipping point. Music Educators Journal, 94(2), 42-48. Doi: 10.1177/002743210709400209
This was a great article about the change and “tipping point” in music education. I feel that it focused on all of the key elements of this situation and had thoughtful reasonings on why music education should stay as a part of the standard curriculum in both elementary and high schools. It interested me to know that music was not the only subject that the board and people wanted to pull out of the curriculum and that it wasn’t the only subject or area of study that people wanted removed. Wanting a language removed, Spanish, from the curriculum was a bit ridiculous as it is a strong second language for anyone to have and looks good on a resume for a job application. I was very surprised that people would want a second language to be removed from schools when knowing another tongue would be beneficial to ones learning. I feel that music is a big part of children and teenagers lives as the articles proves to show and it needs to be kept in the curriculum, fought for and kept as a strong part of education. I think that I was frustrated with the fact that music has become more of an electrical based object. Live performances and shows don’t have the same affect that they used to, now that everything can be done on a computer and online. The feel of a live performance is now seen through the screens of others as they try and capture every second of it on their phones or iPods to record it. The feeling of coming together to enjoy a show as a whole in person and not through screen isn’t the same anymore. I do have to say that the positive side to this, as the article greatly states, is that more people can connect through the technology of music. It can bring people together by having them connect online, view different types of music and different genres and look at others performances and compositions online. By giving feedback to people in this type of a positive way, it is helping the music community to grow and expand to something much bigger. It is helping to develop the music scene and produce developed and intuitive musicians who have had the ability to have feedback from people all across the world with large and small backgrounds in music helping them along the way (pg 46). It was interesting to see how much of an effect that music has on people and students in school and it makes you realize how much students really do need music in their lives it is a great aid and can help quite a bit in their learning. I think that I would like to tell the author to give more information on how music helps children learn in math and other subject areas. I think it would help make more of a point to show that it really is beneficial to students and their learning.
Kratus, J. (2007). Music education at the tipping point. Music Educators Journal, 94(2), 42-48. Doi: 10.1177/002743210709400209
This was a great article about the change and “tipping point” in music education. I feel that it focused on all of the key elements of this situation and had thoughtful reasonings on why music education should stay as a part of the standard curriculum in both elementary and high schools. It interested me to know that music was not the only subject that the board and people wanted to pull out of the curriculum and that it wasn’t the only subject or area of study that people wanted removed. Wanting a language removed, Spanish, from the curriculum was a bit ridiculous as it is a strong second language for anyone to have and looks good on a resume for a job application. I was very surprised that people would want a second language to be removed from schools when knowing another tongue would be beneficial to ones learning. I feel that music is a big part of children and teenagers lives as the articles proves to show and it needs to be kept in the curriculum, fought for and kept as a strong part of education. I think that I was frustrated with the fact that music has become more of an electrical based object. Live performances and shows don’t have the same affect that they used to, now that everything can be done on a computer and online. The feel of a live performance is now seen through the screens of others as they try and capture every second of it on their phones or iPods to record it. The feeling of coming together to enjoy a show as a whole in person and not through screen isn’t the same anymore. I do have to say that the positive side to this, as the article greatly states, is that more people can connect through the technology of music. It can bring people together by having them connect online, view different types of music and different genres and look at others performances and compositions online. By giving feedback to people in this type of a positive way, it is helping the music community to grow and expand to something much bigger. It is helping to develop the music scene and produce developed and intuitive musicians who have had the ability to have feedback from people all across the world with large and small backgrounds in music helping them along the way (pg 46). It was interesting to see how much of an effect that music has on people and students in school and it makes you realize how much students really do need music in their lives it is a great aid and can help quite a bit in their learning. I think that I would like to tell the author to give more information on how music helps children learn in math and other subject areas. I think it would help make more of a point to show that it really is beneficial to students and their learning.
Bowman Article
Bowman, W. D. (2004). "Pop" goes . . . ? Taking popular music seriously “ In Rodrigues, C. (Ed.). Bridging the gap: Popular music and music education. US: MENC.
Pop music and music education in schools may not seem as though they would go hand in hand, and indeed there is a fine line between what to teach about pop music to children and maybe also what we shouldn’t teach. This article illuminates the many aspects in education in North America and how both conventional and classical music takes part in children’s lives. What interested me most about this article was how jazz music was added to the curriculum and I enjoyed how the author added that to the essay. The author makes important points about how jazz was beneficial to the students learning music. It helps children grow and gain a better ear for music. They are allowed to play around on their instrument and explore different sounds on a saxophone or trumpet and other jazz instruments, this gives them more freedom to play what they want to gain more of a connection with the music itself. Once they have something that they can relate to and connect with, a music teacher has done their job in teaching at that point for the student. This gives the student confidence within his or her playing abilities and makes them happy and proud with what it is that they have done. It was interesting to know that the author wrote about how “jazz practices paid a steep price for admission to the academy.” (pg . 30, Bowman) and “Because adding jazz to the curriculum did little to transform the way music educators conceptualized music, or curriculum, or the nature of education,” (pg. 30, Bowman) it felt as though he was going against what he was arguing, that popular music is not the best for students and jazz hasn’t done much for them either. This to me did not make much sense as jazz is only a younger form of music after classical and has still impacted the world in tremendous ways, it is one form like classical music that cannot be changed and should definitely be taught in schools to children and teenagers as it is something many of them may be able to connect with more than classical music. Another point that interested me was where it said from the chart “By these criteria, “classical” music and jazz once were, but no longer are, popular.” (pg. 36, Bowman). The person or people who created the chart may or may not have been educated in music or had only taken statistics of people as a survey type of question to see what they thought of classical and jazz music, whereas if you asked a musician of this day they may have responded differently and said that to them classical music and jazz is just as popular to them as pop music is. To them it may seem popular in their mindset since they themselves listen to it so much, even though in the “real world” not many people do. It surprised me that someone would have created a chart like this to point such things out. I feel that obviously popular music is “popular” in this day and age but it is such a normal thing for people and society to hear on a daily basis that that is what they expect and once and when they do hear either classical music or jazz music they find it odd. But wouldn’t that then be the same for a person who only listens to classical or jazz music and has no interest in pop music? If they don’t listen to any pop music and all they know is jazz and classical? Or what if all society knew was classical and jazz music, I’m sure they then would consider that as “popular” and would not find it “abnormal” since that is the type of music that would be fed to them on a daily basis. It does frustrate me that only popular music is fed through to students and adults in society, it doesn’t open their ears up to much more that is around in music and that then tends to be the end of their musical library, only pop music and nothing else. To me, I feel that the most frustrating part is that since not everyone can get a taste of classical or jazz, they are less open to that type of music when others bring it up for them to listen to. I think that I would like to tell the author that they could have had more of a clearer basis on what they were going to talk about, it felt as though they were just putting out points of what popular music is. I think that it would be more of a stronger essay if they added in statistics of how classical music maybe enhances learning in children or more on a study that tries to prove how classical music makes children smarter, it would have given the author more evidence to back up his points on classical music and how pop music is effecting children. He did switch back to say that teenagers do connect more with pop music, but thinking about it, if they were exposed to classical or jazz music from a younger age, wouldn’t they be able to connect with it just as easily?
Bowman, W. D. (2004). "Pop" goes . . . ? Taking popular music seriously “ In Rodrigues, C. (Ed.). Bridging the gap: Popular music and music education. US: MENC.
Pop music and music education in schools may not seem as though they would go hand in hand, and indeed there is a fine line between what to teach about pop music to children and maybe also what we shouldn’t teach. This article illuminates the many aspects in education in North America and how both conventional and classical music takes part in children’s lives. What interested me most about this article was how jazz music was added to the curriculum and I enjoyed how the author added that to the essay. The author makes important points about how jazz was beneficial to the students learning music. It helps children grow and gain a better ear for music. They are allowed to play around on their instrument and explore different sounds on a saxophone or trumpet and other jazz instruments, this gives them more freedom to play what they want to gain more of a connection with the music itself. Once they have something that they can relate to and connect with, a music teacher has done their job in teaching at that point for the student. This gives the student confidence within his or her playing abilities and makes them happy and proud with what it is that they have done. It was interesting to know that the author wrote about how “jazz practices paid a steep price for admission to the academy.” (pg . 30, Bowman) and “Because adding jazz to the curriculum did little to transform the way music educators conceptualized music, or curriculum, or the nature of education,” (pg. 30, Bowman) it felt as though he was going against what he was arguing, that popular music is not the best for students and jazz hasn’t done much for them either. This to me did not make much sense as jazz is only a younger form of music after classical and has still impacted the world in tremendous ways, it is one form like classical music that cannot be changed and should definitely be taught in schools to children and teenagers as it is something many of them may be able to connect with more than classical music. Another point that interested me was where it said from the chart “By these criteria, “classical” music and jazz once were, but no longer are, popular.” (pg. 36, Bowman). The person or people who created the chart may or may not have been educated in music or had only taken statistics of people as a survey type of question to see what they thought of classical and jazz music, whereas if you asked a musician of this day they may have responded differently and said that to them classical music and jazz is just as popular to them as pop music is. To them it may seem popular in their mindset since they themselves listen to it so much, even though in the “real world” not many people do. It surprised me that someone would have created a chart like this to point such things out. I feel that obviously popular music is “popular” in this day and age but it is such a normal thing for people and society to hear on a daily basis that that is what they expect and once and when they do hear either classical music or jazz music they find it odd. But wouldn’t that then be the same for a person who only listens to classical or jazz music and has no interest in pop music? If they don’t listen to any pop music and all they know is jazz and classical? Or what if all society knew was classical and jazz music, I’m sure they then would consider that as “popular” and would not find it “abnormal” since that is the type of music that would be fed to them on a daily basis. It does frustrate me that only popular music is fed through to students and adults in society, it doesn’t open their ears up to much more that is around in music and that then tends to be the end of their musical library, only pop music and nothing else. To me, I feel that the most frustrating part is that since not everyone can get a taste of classical or jazz, they are less open to that type of music when others bring it up for them to listen to. I think that I would like to tell the author that they could have had more of a clearer basis on what they were going to talk about, it felt as though they were just putting out points of what popular music is. I think that it would be more of a stronger essay if they added in statistics of how classical music maybe enhances learning in children or more on a study that tries to prove how classical music makes children smarter, it would have given the author more evidence to back up his points on classical music and how pop music is effecting children. He did switch back to say that teenagers do connect more with pop music, but thinking about it, if they were exposed to classical or jazz music from a younger age, wouldn’t they be able to connect with it just as easily?
Veblen Article
Veblen, K.K. (2012). Community music making: Challenging the stereotypes of traditional music education. In C.A. Beynon & K.K. Veblen (Eds.). Critical perspectives in Canadian music education. Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press.
I was extremely interested in this article since I have been a part of many community bands and organizations within my home city. I am from Pickering, near Toronto. I was a part of; the Durham Youth Honor Choir, Pickering Community Concert Band, Durham Youth Orchestra, University of Toronto Scarborough Community Band, and I have helped out quite a lot with the bands in the elementary schools and high schools in my surrounding community. It is great to begin networking and getting to know all of these people in the music community in your own home town especially if you are a music major. I feel that it helps you make more connections and share your passion with people from all ages in your area.
I was interested and surprised by all of the different types of community music opportunities that there are. I never had thought too much about what types of community music there was and how much there actually was all over Canada. It blew my mind to know that there are so many different types and styles of community bands within cities and local areas, there is such a variety and so much to be involved in no matter what age, race or musical background. There literally are hundreds of opportunities for musicians of all ages to come together and participate in something great that shares their passion. It is great for people who have known how to play instruments but over the years have not played as much, or are in a different field of work where they don’t always have the opportunity to be a part of music or band. To know that there are organizations like Ethnic/Preservation Groups, Outreach Programs and just smaller bands and orchestras in communities for people to participate in is great. It really hits all of the cultures, age groups and interests of people in a community and helps to get them more involved all doing something together that they enjoy. It brings people of a community together and makes relationships tighter of those who spend time together with these type of events such as music festivals and concerts too!
I did not find anything particularly frustrating within this article. I do feel that the author could show more benefits to community music and how it helps to develop a community and its understanding about music education. I feel that more could have been said on how these programs can run and how everyone can benefit from them in a structured way. The author also could have spoken about what types of people have started community based music programs and why they have chosen to do something like that. They could talk about how children are affected by the community music programs and how they help children in music and aspiring musicians.
Veblen, K.K. (2012). Community music making: Challenging the stereotypes of traditional music education. In C.A. Beynon & K.K. Veblen (Eds.). Critical perspectives in Canadian music education. Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press.
I was extremely interested in this article since I have been a part of many community bands and organizations within my home city. I am from Pickering, near Toronto. I was a part of; the Durham Youth Honor Choir, Pickering Community Concert Band, Durham Youth Orchestra, University of Toronto Scarborough Community Band, and I have helped out quite a lot with the bands in the elementary schools and high schools in my surrounding community. It is great to begin networking and getting to know all of these people in the music community in your own home town especially if you are a music major. I feel that it helps you make more connections and share your passion with people from all ages in your area.
I was interested and surprised by all of the different types of community music opportunities that there are. I never had thought too much about what types of community music there was and how much there actually was all over Canada. It blew my mind to know that there are so many different types and styles of community bands within cities and local areas, there is such a variety and so much to be involved in no matter what age, race or musical background. There literally are hundreds of opportunities for musicians of all ages to come together and participate in something great that shares their passion. It is great for people who have known how to play instruments but over the years have not played as much, or are in a different field of work where they don’t always have the opportunity to be a part of music or band. To know that there are organizations like Ethnic/Preservation Groups, Outreach Programs and just smaller bands and orchestras in communities for people to participate in is great. It really hits all of the cultures, age groups and interests of people in a community and helps to get them more involved all doing something together that they enjoy. It brings people of a community together and makes relationships tighter of those who spend time together with these type of events such as music festivals and concerts too!
I did not find anything particularly frustrating within this article. I do feel that the author could show more benefits to community music and how it helps to develop a community and its understanding about music education. I feel that more could have been said on how these programs can run and how everyone can benefit from them in a structured way. The author also could have spoken about what types of people have started community based music programs and why they have chosen to do something like that. They could talk about how children are affected by the community music programs and how they help children in music and aspiring musicians.
Eisner Article
Eisner, E. (1998). The kind of schools we need: Personal essays. Portsmouth NH: Heinemann
I found it interesting that they (the author or who had come up with this idea) had created the four important educational functions. These I feel help to categorize and summarize the forms and show how each of the forms are interesting in their own way. I liked that they had been sorted into smaller groups; they were things that I had not thought of much at all in having a part in education. I liked that they noticed how easy it is for a child to lose a thought. I agree with the fact that they need to constantly be writing down what they are thinking and then going over it and revising constantly. Deadlines are put very strictly by some teachers and at times they need to understand that if they have deadlines to revise work and not only hand in, by a certain time, students will progress much more and gain more knowledge as they edit and revise their own thoughts. This allows them to shape and mould their thoughts in a longer period, making their statements stronger and more professional, helping them to grow as a thinker and writer. It is great that this article gives us more knowledge on how to give students credit and opportunities to grow and learn and to celebrate their own thoughts. It is hard in a school curriculum to know what the “correct” answers are to something and to make sure that you come up with the “right” answers to a question, especially knowing that your marks may be in jeopardy. It makes it more stressful on the students, whereas they need to learn how to express their thoughts and thinking, and that their thoughts are not necessarily wrong. They need to know that even if they are not necessarily “correct” there are steps that they can take to strengthen their arguments and statements. Since all students learn differently, we need to make sure that not all of them are taught the same, since of course not everyone learns the same way. These aspects are so important in classroom settings and in everyday settings; I feel that they need to be enforced more to help students of all learning backgrounds grow. I was surprised by the fact that even today, society is still so very close minded towards the arts especially since so much pride is taken in being yourself and expressing your own thoughts and feelings. This subject/field is one that helps students progress the most and learn the most about themselves and society. It helps them to develop stronger and better-rounded thoughts and opinions and to think critically about certain elements. It is sad to know that it is still something that is neglected in our schooling system. I think that this may have overlapped as something that was also frustrating for me, not about the article but about society and the curriculum. As I stated before, the arts are just as important as other subject fields and should be seen as equal. As someone who is entering music education this is something that would frustrate people alike. This is a subject that can challenge students just as much as the sciences and maths can. There is not too much for me to want to say to the author, I think that they portrayed this form of understanding very well. They have helped bring another form of thinking and learning into the light for early music educators to think about to help make the classroom more of a well-rounded learning space and atmosphere. I thought that adding more about how music educators can directly apply this to music would be good as well, or how in any other subfields of art they can apply certain techniques to help expand their learning environment and classroom to help students progress to a greater standard.
Eisner, E. (1998). The kind of schools we need: Personal essays. Portsmouth NH: Heinemann
I found it interesting that they (the author or who had come up with this idea) had created the four important educational functions. These I feel help to categorize and summarize the forms and show how each of the forms are interesting in their own way. I liked that they had been sorted into smaller groups; they were things that I had not thought of much at all in having a part in education. I liked that they noticed how easy it is for a child to lose a thought. I agree with the fact that they need to constantly be writing down what they are thinking and then going over it and revising constantly. Deadlines are put very strictly by some teachers and at times they need to understand that if they have deadlines to revise work and not only hand in, by a certain time, students will progress much more and gain more knowledge as they edit and revise their own thoughts. This allows them to shape and mould their thoughts in a longer period, making their statements stronger and more professional, helping them to grow as a thinker and writer. It is great that this article gives us more knowledge on how to give students credit and opportunities to grow and learn and to celebrate their own thoughts. It is hard in a school curriculum to know what the “correct” answers are to something and to make sure that you come up with the “right” answers to a question, especially knowing that your marks may be in jeopardy. It makes it more stressful on the students, whereas they need to learn how to express their thoughts and thinking, and that their thoughts are not necessarily wrong. They need to know that even if they are not necessarily “correct” there are steps that they can take to strengthen their arguments and statements. Since all students learn differently, we need to make sure that not all of them are taught the same, since of course not everyone learns the same way. These aspects are so important in classroom settings and in everyday settings; I feel that they need to be enforced more to help students of all learning backgrounds grow. I was surprised by the fact that even today, society is still so very close minded towards the arts especially since so much pride is taken in being yourself and expressing your own thoughts and feelings. This subject/field is one that helps students progress the most and learn the most about themselves and society. It helps them to develop stronger and better-rounded thoughts and opinions and to think critically about certain elements. It is sad to know that it is still something that is neglected in our schooling system. I think that this may have overlapped as something that was also frustrating for me, not about the article but about society and the curriculum. As I stated before, the arts are just as important as other subject fields and should be seen as equal. As someone who is entering music education this is something that would frustrate people alike. This is a subject that can challenge students just as much as the sciences and maths can. There is not too much for me to want to say to the author, I think that they portrayed this form of understanding very well. They have helped bring another form of thinking and learning into the light for early music educators to think about to help make the classroom more of a well-rounded learning space and atmosphere. I thought that adding more about how music educators can directly apply this to music would be good as well, or how in any other subfields of art they can apply certain techniques to help expand their learning environment and classroom to help students progress to a greater standard.
Hickey Article
Hickey, M. (2009) Can improvisation be 'taught'?: A call for free improvisation in our schools International Journal of Music Education 27:285 DOI: 10.1177/0255761409345442
I found it extremely interesting that this is a very popular topic amongst music educators. As an up and coming educator things like these strike me as bizarre and I myself do not how I would go about “teaching” improvisation (if you can actually teach it, that is). This is a very interesting article that picks upon the main points of how “teaching” improvisation in jazz can be done. As a flute player and a saxophone player in jazz I have come across many difficulties, flute being a classical instrument I have not come across improvisation within the classical music world. Once I had first begun to play saxophone the freedom that was given in soloing was a big and scary transition and step for me to make. I had to “teach” myself how to listen even more and let creativity do its job in that aspect. I think that as a teacher you have to find your own way to instruct students on how to go about this particular work of music and they have to find how they themselves are capable of creating something along the lines of a “solo”. I think something that came as a surprise to me were the three prompts that led the author to write the article. I really liked the fact that the author wrote about how “true” improvisation cannot be taught. This is a very strong statement that I feel all music educators can agree with it. As an educator you are expected to teach students how to do something, whether that be understanding math, learning history or teaching an instrument. In this case, it is to “teach” them to be creative. It is such a difficult topic as how does one know how to “teach” creativity, you can’t get inside a students head and show them how to be creative. This poses many problems within this type of learning and in jazz. I feel it is more of them learning from experience and how things and small melodies sound when they hear them. Then again how do you grade and mark a solo? Is it supposed to be creative to you or to the student? What if the student has a different grasp and thought on creativity than you? I feel that the whole essence of “teaching” soloing and creativity is something that is frustrating towards me. I would like to become the best that I can be at teaching and if I cannot teach a complex content like that, then I do feel that I cannot fulfill my job. I want to be able to one day teach a student the steps in order to improvise and solo, but I also do not want to teach them how to be creative, that is a lesson learnt by yourself. I can’t mold their thinking and creative process since we all have different views on creativity. I think that to the author I would want to say to add more information about the brain and creativity, maybe give educators more steps and guidelines to go about how to teach students solo’s but not necessarily what creativity is, since then it wouldn’t be considered an individual solo with a students own creativity.
Hickey, M. (2009) Can improvisation be 'taught'?: A call for free improvisation in our schools International Journal of Music Education 27:285 DOI: 10.1177/0255761409345442
I found it extremely interesting that this is a very popular topic amongst music educators. As an up and coming educator things like these strike me as bizarre and I myself do not how I would go about “teaching” improvisation (if you can actually teach it, that is). This is a very interesting article that picks upon the main points of how “teaching” improvisation in jazz can be done. As a flute player and a saxophone player in jazz I have come across many difficulties, flute being a classical instrument I have not come across improvisation within the classical music world. Once I had first begun to play saxophone the freedom that was given in soloing was a big and scary transition and step for me to make. I had to “teach” myself how to listen even more and let creativity do its job in that aspect. I think that as a teacher you have to find your own way to instruct students on how to go about this particular work of music and they have to find how they themselves are capable of creating something along the lines of a “solo”. I think something that came as a surprise to me were the three prompts that led the author to write the article. I really liked the fact that the author wrote about how “true” improvisation cannot be taught. This is a very strong statement that I feel all music educators can agree with it. As an educator you are expected to teach students how to do something, whether that be understanding math, learning history or teaching an instrument. In this case, it is to “teach” them to be creative. It is such a difficult topic as how does one know how to “teach” creativity, you can’t get inside a students head and show them how to be creative. This poses many problems within this type of learning and in jazz. I feel it is more of them learning from experience and how things and small melodies sound when they hear them. Then again how do you grade and mark a solo? Is it supposed to be creative to you or to the student? What if the student has a different grasp and thought on creativity than you? I feel that the whole essence of “teaching” soloing and creativity is something that is frustrating towards me. I would like to become the best that I can be at teaching and if I cannot teach a complex content like that, then I do feel that I cannot fulfill my job. I want to be able to one day teach a student the steps in order to improvise and solo, but I also do not want to teach them how to be creative, that is a lesson learnt by yourself. I can’t mold their thinking and creative process since we all have different views on creativity. I think that to the author I would want to say to add more information about the brain and creativity, maybe give educators more steps and guidelines to go about how to teach students solo’s but not necessarily what creativity is, since then it wouldn’t be considered an individual solo with a students own creativity.
Problematizing Assignment
Problematizing:
· “I had a good music teacher.”
-what is the definition of a “good” music “teacher”
· “That passage in the music didn’t sound that good.”
-what is the definition of “a good sounding passage” how would you make it sound better
· “I didn’t think that the article was written that well.”
-how could the article have been written better, what is “well” and how can it be better, this is one person’s opinions and standards
· “That was a good musical.”
-what is the definition of “a good musical” as opposed to a bad one
· “You have such good taste in music.”
-what is “good” taste, what is “bad” taste
· “Our performance went very well.”
-what is “well” can it be better?
· “They did not perform as well as they should have.”
-how should they have performed? What are the standards and whose standards are they?
Problematizing:
· “I had a good music teacher.”
-what is the definition of a “good” music “teacher”
· “That passage in the music didn’t sound that good.”
-what is the definition of “a good sounding passage” how would you make it sound better
· “I didn’t think that the article was written that well.”
-how could the article have been written better, what is “well” and how can it be better, this is one person’s opinions and standards
· “That was a good musical.”
-what is the definition of “a good musical” as opposed to a bad one
· “You have such good taste in music.”
-what is “good” taste, what is “bad” taste
· “Our performance went very well.”
-what is “well” can it be better?
· “They did not perform as well as they should have.”
-how should they have performed? What are the standards and whose standards are they?
Tobias Article
Tobias, E. S. (2013). Toward convergence: Adapting music education to contemporary society and participatory culture. Music Educators Journal, 99(4), 29-36. doi: 10.1177/0027432113483318
I think that throughout this article I found two things very interesting. One was that due to all of the technology that we have, students are able to create their own music and mash-up already created music. This allows room for creativity and for them to implement their knowledge of what they have learnt in music. It is a great way to reflect what they know and an easy way for teachers to see what it is that they understand and what they don’t understand in music. I have seen this sort of technique used in elementary schools, I had an assignment for it in grade 8. We had to choose bars here and there from pieces in our method books and put them together with random bars from different songs in the book. It is easy to see here how much the student knows about fluidity in music and can also show their creativity and understanding of a piece of music. For example, if a student thinks through the music and places bars together that flow well to create a smooth and musical line and passage, then it shows that they have a clear understanding of what a piece of music should be composed of. If it has the proper elements, motifs and themes that work well together then they have done their job to work out and create music on an intermediate level. If a student creates something that is very choppy and shows no creativity or structure, then it is clear that they have very vague to little understanding of the structure of music. The second interesting point for me in this article was that now music is being put online as it is being created and producers, composers and writers are asking from feedback from the public about what they think, how things can be changed and what they feel sounds good or bad. This can be both a bad and good thing. For one you may receive negative comments about the music if it sounds “different” to what society is used to hearing, if the producer wants to please society then they will do what they can to make it something that everyone wants to listen to. Doing this, stops music from evolving and changing into something new, creative and personal. They are not able to express what they feel is music to them and show people what they are capable of creating. This produces a standstill in the music industry and keeps music from evolving. On the other hand, if people really do enjoy the music and can help someone create something even better and stronger, helping to put their ideas to create something that is really good, then that is a job well done that has helped the producer create something wonderful. Something that surprised me was that this was being done with classical music. Mahler and Beethoven’s Symphonies were being put online for people to edit and change. This is something I personally do not agree with as classical music is something that I feel should not change. It was the basis for music today and was something that used to evolve through the years long ago. I think that remixing classical music now would not allow for it to have the same historical and musical meaning that it did in the past. Though if people can edit and change classical music to have something more evolved added to it then that can be seen as good for someone’s creativity. I think at the same time that was something that had frustrated me, like I had stated before, I do not feel that classical music should be mashed-up or changed and edited. There are ways to do it that I feel can be seen as less “disrespectful” but that is my personal opinion. I think that I would like to tell the author to place more emphasis on examples of why it is beneficial for students to have this type of creativity in music assignments. There should be more about how it is good for them to have this type of an experience doing mash-ups in music and thinking outside the box for these type of activities.
Tobias, E. S. (2013). Toward convergence: Adapting music education to contemporary society and participatory culture. Music Educators Journal, 99(4), 29-36. doi: 10.1177/0027432113483318
I think that throughout this article I found two things very interesting. One was that due to all of the technology that we have, students are able to create their own music and mash-up already created music. This allows room for creativity and for them to implement their knowledge of what they have learnt in music. It is a great way to reflect what they know and an easy way for teachers to see what it is that they understand and what they don’t understand in music. I have seen this sort of technique used in elementary schools, I had an assignment for it in grade 8. We had to choose bars here and there from pieces in our method books and put them together with random bars from different songs in the book. It is easy to see here how much the student knows about fluidity in music and can also show their creativity and understanding of a piece of music. For example, if a student thinks through the music and places bars together that flow well to create a smooth and musical line and passage, then it shows that they have a clear understanding of what a piece of music should be composed of. If it has the proper elements, motifs and themes that work well together then they have done their job to work out and create music on an intermediate level. If a student creates something that is very choppy and shows no creativity or structure, then it is clear that they have very vague to little understanding of the structure of music. The second interesting point for me in this article was that now music is being put online as it is being created and producers, composers and writers are asking from feedback from the public about what they think, how things can be changed and what they feel sounds good or bad. This can be both a bad and good thing. For one you may receive negative comments about the music if it sounds “different” to what society is used to hearing, if the producer wants to please society then they will do what they can to make it something that everyone wants to listen to. Doing this, stops music from evolving and changing into something new, creative and personal. They are not able to express what they feel is music to them and show people what they are capable of creating. This produces a standstill in the music industry and keeps music from evolving. On the other hand, if people really do enjoy the music and can help someone create something even better and stronger, helping to put their ideas to create something that is really good, then that is a job well done that has helped the producer create something wonderful. Something that surprised me was that this was being done with classical music. Mahler and Beethoven’s Symphonies were being put online for people to edit and change. This is something I personally do not agree with as classical music is something that I feel should not change. It was the basis for music today and was something that used to evolve through the years long ago. I think that remixing classical music now would not allow for it to have the same historical and musical meaning that it did in the past. Though if people can edit and change classical music to have something more evolved added to it then that can be seen as good for someone’s creativity. I think at the same time that was something that had frustrated me, like I had stated before, I do not feel that classical music should be mashed-up or changed and edited. There are ways to do it that I feel can be seen as less “disrespectful” but that is my personal opinion. I think that I would like to tell the author to place more emphasis on examples of why it is beneficial for students to have this type of creativity in music assignments. There should be more about how it is good for them to have this type of an experience doing mash-ups in music and thinking outside the box for these type of activities.
Dolloff Article
Dolloff, L. (2015) A Quallunaaq on Baffin Island: A Canadian experience of decolonizing the teacher. Forthcoming In Bartleet, B.L., Bennett, D., Power, A. & Sunderland, N. (Eds.). Arts-based service learning with First Peoples – Towards respectful and mutually beneficial educational practices. NY: Springer Publishing.
I think that one of the most interesting parts in the chapter of this book were the experiences that the two student volunteers had and how the experience changed the both of them. It was interesting to hear their side of the story and see what different outcomes and conclusions both of them came to from the trip. They had similar thoughts and questions going into the trip but came out with new and different thoughts and ideas. They were both nervous and excited at the same time going into the trip and kept very open minds, not knowing what to expect. They both did end up experiencing culture shocks and had a rough time transitioning to the lifestyle of the Inuit. In the end they came out as stronger and more knowledgeable teachers who became more educated in their field, this was a good experience for them to learn from and take part in. They were in a position that they were not necessarily used to at first but eventually grew to love. Having the experience of starting a music program from scratch in an upcoming and slow progressing community is hard, but they had people who wanted the program to progress and grow and with their support and hard work, it made the experience and program possible. What surprised me the most was that the Inuit do not have a strong sense of musical components in their community. They have many culturally musical aspects and I am surprised that they are not pushing those onto the newer generation as much as they are pushing having a community choir. I thought that they would want to influence the newer generation with their older ways and lifestyles of music instead of new French and English folk songs. I was surprised that they had also reached out for help from people outside of the community to come and help them to grow their musical culture and help everyone become more involved. They were very accepting to the newer people like Hannah and the two students, all three who came from very different and diverse backgrounds especially Reanna. The Inuit did not seem to judge her for her race (not that it was expected for them to judge her; I just thought it would be different for some of them to see a person of different race than Caucasian). I think what frustrated me was that there was no solid foundation of a music program in this community. I feel that no matter how small or large a community, some sort of music program should be established. It is within these types of small communities where programs like this are valued so much and have a good potential for surviving and growing since people feed off of something new like that. It is something that people are attracted to since it is something different from what they already have. It brings more creativity and fun to the community and benefits them by bringing people together, especially in smaller communities. It offers new jobs in the community and sparks new interesting in children and adults. I think that I would like to tell the author that they should add more about what type of positive impacts the music programs and activities that they brought to the community had on the people. How it helped children and others grow and learn and how give more evidence on how music can bring people together. The author should add more on how the experience impacted the first two students who went with her and taught, showing more specific examples on how it helped them to become more well rounded teaching professionals in the field.
Dolloff, L. (2015) A Quallunaaq on Baffin Island: A Canadian experience of decolonizing the teacher. Forthcoming In Bartleet, B.L., Bennett, D., Power, A. & Sunderland, N. (Eds.). Arts-based service learning with First Peoples – Towards respectful and mutually beneficial educational practices. NY: Springer Publishing.
I think that one of the most interesting parts in the chapter of this book were the experiences that the two student volunteers had and how the experience changed the both of them. It was interesting to hear their side of the story and see what different outcomes and conclusions both of them came to from the trip. They had similar thoughts and questions going into the trip but came out with new and different thoughts and ideas. They were both nervous and excited at the same time going into the trip and kept very open minds, not knowing what to expect. They both did end up experiencing culture shocks and had a rough time transitioning to the lifestyle of the Inuit. In the end they came out as stronger and more knowledgeable teachers who became more educated in their field, this was a good experience for them to learn from and take part in. They were in a position that they were not necessarily used to at first but eventually grew to love. Having the experience of starting a music program from scratch in an upcoming and slow progressing community is hard, but they had people who wanted the program to progress and grow and with their support and hard work, it made the experience and program possible. What surprised me the most was that the Inuit do not have a strong sense of musical components in their community. They have many culturally musical aspects and I am surprised that they are not pushing those onto the newer generation as much as they are pushing having a community choir. I thought that they would want to influence the newer generation with their older ways and lifestyles of music instead of new French and English folk songs. I was surprised that they had also reached out for help from people outside of the community to come and help them to grow their musical culture and help everyone become more involved. They were very accepting to the newer people like Hannah and the two students, all three who came from very different and diverse backgrounds especially Reanna. The Inuit did not seem to judge her for her race (not that it was expected for them to judge her; I just thought it would be different for some of them to see a person of different race than Caucasian). I think what frustrated me was that there was no solid foundation of a music program in this community. I feel that no matter how small or large a community, some sort of music program should be established. It is within these types of small communities where programs like this are valued so much and have a good potential for surviving and growing since people feed off of something new like that. It is something that people are attracted to since it is something different from what they already have. It brings more creativity and fun to the community and benefits them by bringing people together, especially in smaller communities. It offers new jobs in the community and sparks new interesting in children and adults. I think that I would like to tell the author that they should add more about what type of positive impacts the music programs and activities that they brought to the community had on the people. How it helped children and others grow and learn and how give more evidence on how music can bring people together. The author should add more on how the experience impacted the first two students who went with her and taught, showing more specific examples on how it helped them to become more well rounded teaching professionals in the field.
Serres Article
Serres, D. Think Everything’s “Normal?” Then It’s Time To Reconsider And Promote A New Narrative Of Disability. Retrieved from http://organizingchange.org/think-everythings normal-then-its-time-to-reconsider-and-promote-a-new-narrative-of-disability/
In this article it was interesting to know that subconsciously this is what us as humans are doing and saying to people who are disabled. As much as we try to make it seem as though they are “normal” in our standards, whatever normal is, we are pushing them to be that much “different” than us. We are subconsciously indirectly making comments, remarks, and gestures towards people with disabilities and making it that much harder to for them to cope with, and we ourselves do not realize it. I feel that this article is one that many people should be exposed to – it extremely eye opening, or told the truth about due to the many underlying factors in our daily lives. It really opened my eyes to the harsh reality of what we are facing, about how we treat others around us. It was also very interesting to read about how Serres talks about people and how they need to “overcome a disability” instead of changing the way society thinks of them. Society is not always inclusive about people with disabilities and that is the very thing that makes this morally wrong and a very uncomfortable situation for people with and without disabilities. I feel that is because no one talks about how to talk about dealing with disabilities. So much more pressure and thought is pushed to mental illnesses, but here people don’t seem to understand that having a disability takes that much toll on someone’s mental state as well. I think that this is surprising to me as well. They should not be forced to think that their disability makes them less of a person, Serres is right in all he says about how we need to change the way we view and look at people with disabilities, there is nothing wrong with them, we need to become more of an inclusive society. I also found it surprising that schools will set up photos in a way that they hide a child’s wheelchair. Why should they change the appearance of someone in that way, nothing would be different if the wheelchair was shown. I am also surprised that wherever that is happening, have parents not complained or said anything about it to the school or school board? It was also surprising to know that normalcy was a thing. That collectively subconsciously, we all strive to live the perfect lives – whether we realize it or not- and that is part done by media. Media was the main influence on this type of an issue with disabilities. They have done their job at making it seem as though people with disabilities are ones who are the “heroes” once they overcome this obstacle in their lives. That they always have to try to achieve that goal to become better and overcome the “problem” in their life. What frustrated me is that, in the school system, why has no one implemented this way of thinking, from a young age. People have of course thought about it and realized that we are doing something wrong as a society. This type of issue needs to be addressed right from the beginning and dealt with head on. Otherwise these generations that grow up, learn to think incorrectly about these very delicate situations causing uneducated thoughts on people with disabilities and other debilities. Society needs to become more educated on ways to treat situations like this and how to correctly address someone with a disability along with what is appropriate and what is not. I think that I would tell the author that media needs to become more aware of this and become more careful about what it is that they put out there, this is a great article to have society be aware of. People need to know more about this and it needs to become more public. The author should try putting this article out more on the internet so more people are exposed to it and aware.
Serres, D. Think Everything’s “Normal?” Then It’s Time To Reconsider And Promote A New Narrative Of Disability. Retrieved from http://organizingchange.org/think-everythings normal-then-its-time-to-reconsider-and-promote-a-new-narrative-of-disability/
In this article it was interesting to know that subconsciously this is what us as humans are doing and saying to people who are disabled. As much as we try to make it seem as though they are “normal” in our standards, whatever normal is, we are pushing them to be that much “different” than us. We are subconsciously indirectly making comments, remarks, and gestures towards people with disabilities and making it that much harder to for them to cope with, and we ourselves do not realize it. I feel that this article is one that many people should be exposed to – it extremely eye opening, or told the truth about due to the many underlying factors in our daily lives. It really opened my eyes to the harsh reality of what we are facing, about how we treat others around us. It was also very interesting to read about how Serres talks about people and how they need to “overcome a disability” instead of changing the way society thinks of them. Society is not always inclusive about people with disabilities and that is the very thing that makes this morally wrong and a very uncomfortable situation for people with and without disabilities. I feel that is because no one talks about how to talk about dealing with disabilities. So much more pressure and thought is pushed to mental illnesses, but here people don’t seem to understand that having a disability takes that much toll on someone’s mental state as well. I think that this is surprising to me as well. They should not be forced to think that their disability makes them less of a person, Serres is right in all he says about how we need to change the way we view and look at people with disabilities, there is nothing wrong with them, we need to become more of an inclusive society. I also found it surprising that schools will set up photos in a way that they hide a child’s wheelchair. Why should they change the appearance of someone in that way, nothing would be different if the wheelchair was shown. I am also surprised that wherever that is happening, have parents not complained or said anything about it to the school or school board? It was also surprising to know that normalcy was a thing. That collectively subconsciously, we all strive to live the perfect lives – whether we realize it or not- and that is part done by media. Media was the main influence on this type of an issue with disabilities. They have done their job at making it seem as though people with disabilities are ones who are the “heroes” once they overcome this obstacle in their lives. That they always have to try to achieve that goal to become better and overcome the “problem” in their life. What frustrated me is that, in the school system, why has no one implemented this way of thinking, from a young age. People have of course thought about it and realized that we are doing something wrong as a society. This type of issue needs to be addressed right from the beginning and dealt with head on. Otherwise these generations that grow up, learn to think incorrectly about these very delicate situations causing uneducated thoughts on people with disabilities and other debilities. Society needs to become more educated on ways to treat situations like this and how to correctly address someone with a disability along with what is appropriate and what is not. I think that I would tell the author that media needs to become more aware of this and become more careful about what it is that they put out there, this is a great article to have society be aware of. People need to know more about this and it needs to become more public. The author should try putting this article out more on the internet so more people are exposed to it and aware.
Hourigan Article
Hourigan, R. M. (2009). The invisible student: Understanding social identity construction within performing ensembles. Music Educators Journal, 34-38.
What surprised me the most in this article was how unnoticed these children can go. It must be very hard having a band of 20 or more students and not having enough time to get to know each of them on a personal level. There is no pre-established connection where you can talk about how things are with them and having such a busy semester and year, it can be tough to balance the education side and the communication side. Having students left out can be a very hard thing on an educators shoulder as it is something that you do not want to see. But implementing connecting and talkative activities at the beginning of the school year can help immensely and can get the kids to know one another right at the start so they can feel included and a part of something. It is your job to include children and make sure that they feel comfortable in the environment. It is hard sometimes to notice the ones who need help the most when you are preoccupied with so much in one semester. I think this is something that every band teacher needs to pay attention to, if you don’t have students who are emotionally and mentally able to connect with others in band, they will have a hard time focusing and adapting, especially if they are in first year. The transition can be hard coming into a new environment and feeling vulnerable when playing an instrument where other students can very easily criticise you. If music educators can come together and form a mutual understanding that there are children in their own band rooms who do need help and a little bit of guidance to make the year as fun and enjoyable as it can possibly be, then they have done their job as a teacher and fulfilled it deeply. I found it a very interesting idea to have older students help out the younger ones and help them to socialize and communicate with other students. It can make such a big impact on them and can set the tone for the rest of the year and the years to come. It can help them to engage more in the music program and create friends in all grades. This can help them in the long run when they may need advice from a music student or even lessons to get a bit of help. Having them there as tutors in a way can help immensely, give them the confidence to then later work on their own, and help others, thus making for a strong band and ensemble. You need a strong relationship basis in a band to help guide it and make it succeed and for everyone to work together. If not, and if there is no connection from teacher to student and student to teacher, then there can be faults, less energy and confidence to get the band going. In this article I found it frustrating that you cannot approach and force every child to become social due to other underlying problems possibly like anxiety and such. I also do not think that teachers need to go so far as to switch rooms every night and change up rooms, it is too much especially if the child has finally become comfortable with the people they were with one night and to switch it up can be just as harmful, they can’t establish a solid relationship that way. I think that the author did a great job at explaining this problem within bands, I think we have to be careful not to overstep our boundaries as music teachers and understand that if a student does not want to talk to many people we cannot force them too much due to possible problems with anxiety or other underlying issues. If it affects them too much then that can possibly be detrimental to students and therefore cause a worse experience in band for them. Other than this, I feel that the article is very beneficial for both old and new music educators and it is something that we need to constantly be paying attention to in schools and our band environments.
Hourigan, R. M. (2009). The invisible student: Understanding social identity construction within performing ensembles. Music Educators Journal, 34-38.
What surprised me the most in this article was how unnoticed these children can go. It must be very hard having a band of 20 or more students and not having enough time to get to know each of them on a personal level. There is no pre-established connection where you can talk about how things are with them and having such a busy semester and year, it can be tough to balance the education side and the communication side. Having students left out can be a very hard thing on an educators shoulder as it is something that you do not want to see. But implementing connecting and talkative activities at the beginning of the school year can help immensely and can get the kids to know one another right at the start so they can feel included and a part of something. It is your job to include children and make sure that they feel comfortable in the environment. It is hard sometimes to notice the ones who need help the most when you are preoccupied with so much in one semester. I think this is something that every band teacher needs to pay attention to, if you don’t have students who are emotionally and mentally able to connect with others in band, they will have a hard time focusing and adapting, especially if they are in first year. The transition can be hard coming into a new environment and feeling vulnerable when playing an instrument where other students can very easily criticise you. If music educators can come together and form a mutual understanding that there are children in their own band rooms who do need help and a little bit of guidance to make the year as fun and enjoyable as it can possibly be, then they have done their job as a teacher and fulfilled it deeply. I found it a very interesting idea to have older students help out the younger ones and help them to socialize and communicate with other students. It can make such a big impact on them and can set the tone for the rest of the year and the years to come. It can help them to engage more in the music program and create friends in all grades. This can help them in the long run when they may need advice from a music student or even lessons to get a bit of help. Having them there as tutors in a way can help immensely, give them the confidence to then later work on their own, and help others, thus making for a strong band and ensemble. You need a strong relationship basis in a band to help guide it and make it succeed and for everyone to work together. If not, and if there is no connection from teacher to student and student to teacher, then there can be faults, less energy and confidence to get the band going. In this article I found it frustrating that you cannot approach and force every child to become social due to other underlying problems possibly like anxiety and such. I also do not think that teachers need to go so far as to switch rooms every night and change up rooms, it is too much especially if the child has finally become comfortable with the people they were with one night and to switch it up can be just as harmful, they can’t establish a solid relationship that way. I think that the author did a great job at explaining this problem within bands, I think we have to be careful not to overstep our boundaries as music teachers and understand that if a student does not want to talk to many people we cannot force them too much due to possible problems with anxiety or other underlying issues. If it affects them too much then that can possibly be detrimental to students and therefore cause a worse experience in band for them. Other than this, I feel that the article is very beneficial for both old and new music educators and it is something that we need to constantly be paying attention to in schools and our band environments.
Myers Article
Myers, D. (2008). Freeing music education from schooling: Towards a lifespan perspective on music teaching and learning. International Journal of Community Music 1(1): 49-61.
There were a few points within this article that I found very interesting, the point that revolved around following the two adult piano classes. Adults too, grow frustrated with music and can have a hard time grasping it. People were becoming frustrated because they wanted to learn songs strictly and small technique so that they would be able to play song for the satisfaction of themselves and for the entertainment for those around them. While this was their goal, the classes were teaching them proper beginning technique to ensure that they played with quality and correct form. This is similar to students in classes; they want to learn pop music and strictly, how to play something cool, they do not want to know the technique or work that goes behind it. While the basics behind both of these forms of music and performance are important to the understanding and musicianship that goes with it, it is something that needs to be understood in order to perform and play with accuracy and is good to have an overall understanding and knowledge of.
In this article the point that came up about how students can be involved with bands and ensembles, but still not achieve a fulfilling and educational musical experience really surprised me. I think that this is an important point in which music educators need to understand that although students may be involved with music as an extracurricular, they still need to have a musical experience that can benefit them in both the present time and long run. The music may just be something that they are learning because they are told to learn it from the teacher, not something that they feel they are developing as musicians with, only something that they have to play for others. They need to gain some sort of a learning experience from it and it should give them the confidence to play more, something that can inspire them to continue to play music and be involved with it outside of school and even in their future as non-musicians, depending what field they are going into. Band and ensembles should give the same amount of musical knowledge as a classroom, giving them ideas on how to teach a simple concept to others or even giving them opportunities to work in groups and work together to learn their parts, can help them learn from one another, helping them to develop social and teaching skills. Challenging students with the music that they are playing is something that can help them to develop their technique and overall aid them in becoming stronger musicians, this way they are still learning while in band and ensembles.
There were some things in this article that did frustrate me, the point towards the middle of the article that stated that students are more interested in popular music, and that the curriculum has to change to fit the student’s needs. Although I do agree in some aspects the curriculum can shift here and there to fit the needs and likes of students, there are still some parts that I feel should remain the same. Classical music and band arrangements of pieces should stay a stable and prominent part of the curriculum; students still should have to learn about classical music and the aspects of it, as it is the basis and fundamental part of music and their music education. It is very important as it is one genre that can help develop the student’s technique and musical background the most. I do believe that it is ok from time to time to implement pop music into the course, possibly by playing band charts or creating mash ups and covers of pop songs, to help with creativity and still implement aspects of the written curriculum. The whole curriculum does not need to change around and have a strict guideline of only learning and exploring pop music, which is not teaching children the basics and fundamentals of the roots of music that they should have the knowledge of.
I think that I would tell the author to organize the article more, it feels as though it jumps around quite a lot from different topics, it does not really stay consistent in the point that it is trying to prove. The points that the author is trying to prove seem to be going in different directions, not really going anywhere clear that the reader can see or understand thoroughly. It was hard to focus on one main point when it felt that half way through the point another one was being brought in. it was hard to follow on what exactly the author was attempting to get across to the reader. If the article was separated into smaller sub categories and sections with titles, I feel that it would be easier to know exactly what the author was trying to prove, thus making for a stronger argument in all of the topics. Then concluding with one strong argument that brought them together would help the reader come to a consensus about both their thoughts and opinions and the authors. The different topics do somewhat revolve around the same idea, but if they were narrowed down and then backed up with similar evidence as to what and why, it would lead for a stronger argument and point that would have a connection between all of the topics, therefore making it easier to understand.
Myers, D. (2008). Freeing music education from schooling: Towards a lifespan perspective on music teaching and learning. International Journal of Community Music 1(1): 49-61.
There were a few points within this article that I found very interesting, the point that revolved around following the two adult piano classes. Adults too, grow frustrated with music and can have a hard time grasping it. People were becoming frustrated because they wanted to learn songs strictly and small technique so that they would be able to play song for the satisfaction of themselves and for the entertainment for those around them. While this was their goal, the classes were teaching them proper beginning technique to ensure that they played with quality and correct form. This is similar to students in classes; they want to learn pop music and strictly, how to play something cool, they do not want to know the technique or work that goes behind it. While the basics behind both of these forms of music and performance are important to the understanding and musicianship that goes with it, it is something that needs to be understood in order to perform and play with accuracy and is good to have an overall understanding and knowledge of.
In this article the point that came up about how students can be involved with bands and ensembles, but still not achieve a fulfilling and educational musical experience really surprised me. I think that this is an important point in which music educators need to understand that although students may be involved with music as an extracurricular, they still need to have a musical experience that can benefit them in both the present time and long run. The music may just be something that they are learning because they are told to learn it from the teacher, not something that they feel they are developing as musicians with, only something that they have to play for others. They need to gain some sort of a learning experience from it and it should give them the confidence to play more, something that can inspire them to continue to play music and be involved with it outside of school and even in their future as non-musicians, depending what field they are going into. Band and ensembles should give the same amount of musical knowledge as a classroom, giving them ideas on how to teach a simple concept to others or even giving them opportunities to work in groups and work together to learn their parts, can help them learn from one another, helping them to develop social and teaching skills. Challenging students with the music that they are playing is something that can help them to develop their technique and overall aid them in becoming stronger musicians, this way they are still learning while in band and ensembles.
There were some things in this article that did frustrate me, the point towards the middle of the article that stated that students are more interested in popular music, and that the curriculum has to change to fit the student’s needs. Although I do agree in some aspects the curriculum can shift here and there to fit the needs and likes of students, there are still some parts that I feel should remain the same. Classical music and band arrangements of pieces should stay a stable and prominent part of the curriculum; students still should have to learn about classical music and the aspects of it, as it is the basis and fundamental part of music and their music education. It is very important as it is one genre that can help develop the student’s technique and musical background the most. I do believe that it is ok from time to time to implement pop music into the course, possibly by playing band charts or creating mash ups and covers of pop songs, to help with creativity and still implement aspects of the written curriculum. The whole curriculum does not need to change around and have a strict guideline of only learning and exploring pop music, which is not teaching children the basics and fundamentals of the roots of music that they should have the knowledge of.
I think that I would tell the author to organize the article more, it feels as though it jumps around quite a lot from different topics, it does not really stay consistent in the point that it is trying to prove. The points that the author is trying to prove seem to be going in different directions, not really going anywhere clear that the reader can see or understand thoroughly. It was hard to focus on one main point when it felt that half way through the point another one was being brought in. it was hard to follow on what exactly the author was attempting to get across to the reader. If the article was separated into smaller sub categories and sections with titles, I feel that it would be easier to know exactly what the author was trying to prove, thus making for a stronger argument in all of the topics. Then concluding with one strong argument that brought them together would help the reader come to a consensus about both their thoughts and opinions and the authors. The different topics do somewhat revolve around the same idea, but if they were narrowed down and then backed up with similar evidence as to what and why, it would lead for a stronger argument and point that would have a connection between all of the topics, therefore making it easier to understand.