It was interesting to hear the ideas that Mark presented about the advantages and disadvantages about using a method book with introductory band class. It is true that students benefit from standardized sequences, the practice sections that they provide, as well as a method book’s ability to unify everyone’s experiences. I know that I have found several scale and studies books tremendously beneficial when improving my technical ability. However, as a teacher, especially in a school classroom setting, someone else has decided the specific content and sequence for your class. Despite the clear technical benefits of a method book, they allow very few opportunities for personal growth as a musician, and contain virtually no creative activities. I appreciated hearing his acknowledgement that learning music by ear is equally as important to reading notation and that neither one should been deemed as superior to the other. It bothers me that students who have leaned an instrument by ear are sometimes viewed as begin inferior to a student who has learned notation. Both skills complement each other so well, and to value one so highly above the other is ridiculous when they work together so effectively. I also enjoyed hearing Mark’s thought that curriculum development should include certain ideas about culture and their incorporation in classroom material.
Guest Reflection - Leslie Dawe
I enjoyed hearing Leslie’s thoughts on the elements of music and the way that she, along with other music teachers in her school construct a setting for students that instills an enjoyment for music along will an understanding of it’s basic elements. To me, it seems like she communicates well with the younger age group that she teaches and consistently looks for ways to improve the dialogue between her and the students. I thought that it was interesting that some students were exempt from participation in some music classes due to religious or cultural accommodation, and I wonder as teachers what else can be done within the classroom to foster an environment that is inclusive of all students.
Leslie’s co-learning approach to teaching allows students to collaborate with each other, experiment, and to make mistakes. She mentioned that in the beginning it was a little chaotic, and she was concerned about appearing to not have any control in her classroom. However, over time she has discovered the teaching styles that work best for her and the elementary school age group that she works with.
Guest Refelection - Randall Allsup
I really enjoyed Randall’s approach to music education. It was interesting to be in an educational environment where we were discouraged from mimicking what the teacher wanted us to do. I appreciated the thought that Randall put into this workshop. I have never worked on any repertoire from Mongolia and thought that Randall’s research and experience while learning about this culture, and performing the music associated it to be very beneficial to our class’s performance. The independence that we were allowed, while also maintaining continuity throughout the learning and rehearsing processes was an excellent way to preserve fluency within the completed piece while retaining every groups original thoughts.
The final thoughts the class discussed were much more closely associated with the processes of making music and working together. Sometimes in music education teachers can become preoccupied with competition and delivering the best performance. This workshop made me much more aware of what a classroom can look like when it is centered in the students education instead of the sounds and actions that the teacher wants the students to copy and recite.
Guest Refelection – Ruth Wright
Similar to Randall Allup’s workshop, Ruth had us split into groups. She then had us select a song to perform for the class and strongly encouraged us to turn to instruments that were unfamiliar to us when recreating our chosen pieces. I thought that it was important to note how she consistently reminded us of how this could look in an classroom setting where we are the teachers and how different age groups will have different needs when they trying to learn and perform a piece.
When we all came together to perform for each other I loved seeing the different ideas that everyone had put together. Since formal music education is frequently viewed with much more esteem than informal learning, it was interesting to see the level of entertainment that people drew from this workshop especially because it was centered in a self-taught approach to learning music. Despite being viewed as inferior, an informal approach to music could provide a student with skills that a classically trained musician may not acquire. I appreciated Ruth’s sincerity throughout this workshop, and thought that this method of music education can be is very applicable to classroom settings for all ages regardless of musical background.
Guest Reflection – Kevin Watson
I have only had training in classical music, and have never had any exposure to improvisation. I find that improvisation isn’t something that string players are as exposed to nearly as much as other instruments like brass. This is probably one of the reasons why I hadn’t fully considered improvisation to be as useful or as important as many other skills. I didn’t think that improvisation was something that you were really taught, and if it was, I definitely had no motivation to try it out. It seemed like it was something that I would be uncomfortable with.
This is part of the reason why I enjoyed Kevin Watson’s class so much. I enjoyed how he gradually introduced us to improvisation with just a few notes. It was reassuring to know that no one would be isolated in a situation where they had to improvise alone without any guidelines or structure. It was also great that everyone was encouraged to bring their own instrument to use in the class. This way we didn’t have to worry about trying to learn a new instrument while also trying to approach this new skill. I appreciated how approachable and attainable Kevin Watson made improvisation seem. It was also great to see the communication and ideas that were presented within this class as a result of this topic.
Class Reflection
The most insightful part of this class for me has been the reading ‘The Invisible Student: Understanding Social Identity Construction In Performing Ensembles’. This article was so interesting to me because it presented an unfortunate situation that was entirely preventable. In the article, Jason played in his school band and had trouble communicating with his peers, often causing him to feel completely isolated and alone. Parts of the article discuss how Jason hadn’t spoken to anyone in the ensemble in months, and how he felt inadequate as a musician. By the end of the article it was revealed that Jason had developed early symptoms of depression as a result of this. This made me aware of how some people may be experiencing rehearsals and performances in an ensemble, and made me interested in what I could do to help them. I thought that it was interesting how closely this tied to other ideas that we had already discussed in class like “its our job to make sure that everyone has a group”. The consistent awareness of creating a inclusive environment in an educational setting being the responsibility of both the students and educators is probably the most prominent idea that I taken away from this class.
I enjoyed our class discussions involving how we can choose our words to foster an educational environment that feels safe for students. I have also appreciated how respectful everyone in our class has been towards each other’s opinions in our class discussions. I have enjoyed the consistent group work that we all participated in throughout this class. In the past I found that most of the time I would prefer to work alone rather than in a group. Although in some ways that remains true, I have definitely become more interested and more understanding of the value related to the greater spectrum of ideas that can be presented in a group.