Velblen, K., Elisha Jo, H., & Messenger, S.J. (2016). Teaching the Supreme Art: Pre-Service Teacher Perceptions of Creative Opportunities in the Higher Education Music Class. Retrieved from https://owl.uwo.ca/portal/site/e3740f86-3f74-47bf-ae8c-dc0003a3ff54/ tool/efa1f8c5-1f9c-4e92-9558-d5ccdf7694c8?panel=Main
The article being discussed had many interesting points. For example, in a 2014 study it was found that when an elementary music teacher was going to introduce improvisation it would be through three main ways; 1) spontaneous rhythm patterns 2) melodic improvisation on pitched percussion 3) call and response singing. According to the author, “These teachers stated they were most interested in the quality of the improvisational process rather than with the product and indicated that sequencing was crucial in the instruction of improvisation”. I found this rather interesting because in a gig you’re not always going to figure out a cool solo, write it down, then perform it the same every time. Those great musical moments come from players who improvise on the spot. It’s good to see them focusing on that fundamental process because once it is second nature a whole new set of musical doors will open. I found it quite surprising that classical music majors disagreed with formal teaching of improvisation. The article said, “Previous studies have found that music majors questioned the value of creative work in formal schooling”. This is hard to believe because in my opinion improvisation is one of the main aspects that makes us musicians. If you are at a tavern and a spontaneous jam pops up you do not want to be that person who pulls out their sheet music. As a percussionist I find these scenarios the perfect opportunity to try out new ideas and have fun musically. Whether that’s on my cajòn, bodhran, or drum set (when we can fit it in!). This leads into a passage from page 9. It talked about a musician who practices their principle instrument rigorously but when they go home it is the guitar or ukulele that the love to play for fun. Why can’t this be the case with our principle instrument too? If we practice improvisation and completely new skills but with a ‘jumping in’ and a 'having fun with it’ kind of attitude we could develop a brand new excitement about it! (not that doing this on guitar or ukulele isn’t fantastic). Something I found frustrating was it never discussed long term goals. The main goal/point mentioned was to gain the child’s interest, hopefully they’ll stick with music classes because it is fun. But what about using this as a transferable skill? In grade 1 and 2 we learn about adding and subtracting, so why can’t we have this as our baseline for future musical studies. If I wanted to say anything to the author it would be on page 14 it says creativity in the classroom is directly related to intelligence. I feel like this is too broad of a statement. I would love to see it discuss more about which type of improvisation we should encourage in the classroom. There needs to be certain guidelines that will foster a young students mind, therefore leading to independent thinking, being able to self reflect, or be creative in other areas of their lives as well as many other academic strengths.
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Brinkman, D. J. (2010). Teaching creatively and teaching for creativity. Arts Education Policy Review, 111(2), 48-50. doi:10.1080/10632910903455785
Teaching creatively for creativity. That’s something you don’t hear too often. Too many times I’ve had a teacher say, “be more creative” but provided the class with zero tools to do so. It was interesting that they went into a bit of depth on different ways of labeling creators. Big C and little c creators. Big C being the composers, movie writers, the Mozarts, and Beethovens. Little c creators are the ones who come up with a new analogy, or a new interpretation of a piece of music. I appreciated the three part model; Expertise, Motivation, Creative thinking skills. It is a model for helping educators think about the tools for creativity. One paragraph discussed how band directors want us to have the same sound, same march, same vowel sounds but on the contrary if we’re striving for creativity shouldn’t we embrace that everyone is different? This surprised me because I’ve never thought about it before. It’s one of those situations where you need to weigh both ends. You do want a tight, great sounding ensemble but how can we do that as well as expressing each individuals unique style/sound. This needs to be brought out more in instrumental ensembles. It can take many years of playing before you find ‘your’ sound. But once it’s there we should highlight it. Something that frustrated me about this article is it said they’re scared for the next generation of teachers and how they will handle the future. The next generation of teachers is a product of the current one, so you’re actually partly responsible for your faith. Something all teachers have to keep in mind, as cheesy as it sounds your students really are the leaders of tomorrow. If I could talk to the author I’d ask about having how much is too much. Like anything you need a healthy balance. Some things in life are the way they are, not much else too it. So at what point do you say 1+1=2 and that’s it. Does everything have to be a revolutionary method of creativity? Tobias, E. S. (2013). Toward Convergence Adapting Music Education to Contemporary Society and Participatory Culture. Music Educators Journal, 99(4), 29-36.
I’ll start off by saying this article was really cool! I’ve never thought of putting a label on participatory culture. It seems like a great way to get a group of students engaged with music. I found it really interesting how the author directed this article towards music educators. Providing different scenario’s and questions you should ask yourself. I feel like this article would make a great follow up to Repositioning ‘The Elements’: How Students Talk about Music. An article that talks about early stages of music education regarding method books. This is a great way to include some classical techniques but revitalize the sound. I probably would have appreciated classical music much earlier if we made rock songs out of a Beethoven sonata. When reflecting back on my high school music experience I was pleasantly surprised about how much of this I have experienced already. In grade 11 my school offered a course called, Music for Creating. At first I thought it would be a lot of sitting down and trying to write song after song. Fortunately it wasn’t! Each assignment was writing a song but she always had a theme. One week it was writing a jingle for a product, one week it was writing about a villain, or re-writing a Canadian folk song. During this process we used a variety of different recording technology. That class is something I would consider a first hand experience of participatory culture. An ideology that expanded my musical thought process. The only thing that frustrated me (not even frustration, more of something that could have been expanded more) was it didn’t expand on post secondary music education. I’d like to see how participatory culture can fit into a university music classroom, a place that is dominated by classical music. That leads into what I would ask the author. How would you incorporate this into a university classroom? At this stage of our education most of us are mature enough to sit down and learn the content needed, nothing needs to be sugar coated. Also I feel like we’re learning from an outside perspective. In this class for example, we frequently talk about different pedagogies and why a teacher does what they do. There is lots of open communication compared to high school where students are still treated like children (not in every case, but defiantly the majority). If any of that doesn’t make sense I was trying to say there is defiantly a big difference between high school and university. It seems like we’re finally being treated like adults and that changes our learning in the classroom. Thibeault, M. D. (2012). The power of limits and the pleasure of games: An easy and fun piano duo improvisation. General Music Today, 1048371311435523.
It is so great to more and more people discuss improvisation in the classroom, and not just telling a student to solo but giving them the tools/resources to do so with ease and confidence. In my music education class we had a full lecture given by Dr. Kevin Watson on how to teach improvisation. It interested me how the author kept it within the scale, ‘playing with the scale’ as Thibeault said. Some of the best musicians in the world start off their day with scales. They’re a great tool for intonation, technique, productive practicing, and new to my knowledge, improvisation games. I never had a good education when it came to improvisation and when I did they said to play any notes within the scale. The activity shown is similar but it’s working with a bass line. One of the more difficult tricks to improvisation is you should still play notes surrounding the current chord, just as a melody would. It surprised me that the author didn’t dive into the topic more and explaining to the students why this is so important. Dr. Watson’s lecture covered this concept in an interesting way. He said your solo needs to complement the melody. He would play the melody and students would respond in a call/repeat method, while always keeping the underlying theme. Something that did frustrate me was how the author put limits on the students, and frequently used the words limit. While in a lecture from Dr. Randall Allsup he said, “never model what you’re looking for because that way, the world is their limit”. Young musicians can really surprise you. It’s true when people say their minds are like sponges, they absorb so much more than expected. I don’t like the idea of putting limits on a child’s creativity, they will almost always surpass your expectations. I would love to see where the students are now. I’d love to talk with the author about where the students are now with their musicality. I wonder if some are in a genre of music with lots of improvisation, were they satisfied with this education? Did this provide them with confidence? Did this leave limitations with their soloing ability in later years? Despite everything said I really admire this activity and would love to see where it could go further. Soloing/improvisation is something that seems to be so simple in western music but is very prevalent around the world. So, let’s catch up. Williams, D. A. (2014). Another Perspective The iPad Is a REAL Musical Instrument. Music Educators Journal, 101(1), 93-98.
This was defiantly an interesting article. I had no idea people are trying to make iPads known as a musical instrument. It’s fascinating that there are now iPad ensembles, something that could be very beneficial towards student engagement. I appreciated how the author made a note towards educators and how this could be used in the classroom. In my experience with elementary education, once you bring in technology you immediately have student engagement toward that educational tool. I admire their use of classical music in the ensemble. They took something that many children tend to find ‘boring’ and made it cool by making rock, or dance renditions. It surprised me that they are so lax on certain things. For example, they encouraged all types of photography including flash. I’ve always seen not using a flash as a sign of respect because it can be very distracting while on stage. I also found it surprising that they allow people to talk during their performances. I’m still uncertain on why. When I go to a concert my full attention is on the music being performed. One as a sign of respect for the amount of work put into the performance. Second you can’t truly appreciate the music if you're having a conversation with someone else. When at a concert that is what deserves your full and undivided attention. Something that did frustrate me about the article was the assumptions made about other forms of music. When referring to the traditional concert band the author claimed it is the director who makes all the decisions regarding musicality and repertoire. This is completely false. Although this might be the case in some ensembles in my high school the music council would sight read different pieces and had a big influence on the following year’s repertoire. Even in a university ensemble our director would have open discussions about the musical ideas and will openly admit we will often play something in a way she never thought and will encourage us to always think outside the box in circumstances like that. I would be interested in asking the author how their students will obtain certain musical skills like dynamic contrast (something that’s very limited when playing thought garage band) intonation, or getting the feel for a real instrument. Any pianist will tell you the feeling between a real piano and electric keyboard is night and day. Some teachers will only teach their students if they have a real piano, nothing electric. As compelling as the argument was you can’t deny there are many features to a real instrument that cannot be replicated. Hourigan, R. M. (2009). The invisible student: Understanding social identity construction within performing ensembles. Music Educators Journal, 34-38. Retrieved from http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/002743210933
This article really grabbed my attention because this is defiantly something I will see in the future as an educator. In my high school we didn’t have a lot of cases like this. There was always a student who did not quite fit in but my teacher made sure that would not last. She always encouraged the students to really go outside their comfort zone and try new things, make new friends, or experiencing something they didn’t think was possible. There were many times where invisible students would end the year with a group of friends because of our music program and the environment it set up. The end of the article really surprised me, I didn't expect to hear this student still enjoyed band. Looking back at my high school band experience I’m not sure if it would be the same if it were not for the lifelong friendships I made. This situation gave me a new look on things, knowing that he kept coming back year, after year, despite not making any friends was really interesting. It showed that he has that drive to play music and be apart of something and everyone should have worked much harder to provide a better experience. It frustrated me how the teacher never did anything to change this. I’m surprised how he gave suggestions for other teachers to avoid something like this happening in their classroom but never elaborated on any methods he tried, leading me to the belief that he never made any attempts to resolve the situation. Relating back to my high school experience, it was our band trips that really helped us come together as an ensemble/make great friends, not just band friends. We would often have a trip early in the year that had no playing involved but was oriented towards bonding and team building. Those trips didn’t just help our friendships but improved our playing as an ensemble. I’m curious to why the teacher didn’t attempt anything like this, or why didn’t he have a conversation with the students, asking them to try and include Jason more. I found this article left me with a lot of questions about the teacher, not the other students. Serres, D. Think Everything’s “Normal?” Then It’s Time To Reconsider And Promote A New Narrative Of Disability. Organizing Change, Retrieved, January 27, 2017, from http://organizingchange.org/think-everythings-normal-then-its-time-to-reconsider-and-promote-a-new-narrative-of-disability/
The article started off by questioning ‘the culture of normalcy’ and what it entails. It talks about a frequently used term, ‘fitting in’. I found this very interesting because it continues to discuss whether or not this is forcing conformity/exclusion. I was able to relate to some of the points in a small way. The author mentioned how students in wheelchairs are often put in a way that will hide their wheelchair during school pictures (making the kid seem normal). At my high school they would frequently photoshop school pictures to either take away acne, freckles, or other features considered “imperfections”. I was quite surprised by the list of common ways the education system controls students with disabilities and how it refers to certain students as, “mentally retarted” this term is offensive, completely outdated, and no student should ever be referred to by such a derogatory term. The overall point that was made reminded me of the education system in the state of Michigan. Their education system divides students up based on their grades from the year before. For example if your average was over 80% you were placed in the advanced class, between 70-80% would be the intermediate class, etc. This system is used starting in elementary school, a place where all students should be together and learn from their diversities. Something that frustrated me about this article is the author made some strong points but as soon as evidence was presented they would move to the next point before elaborating more. This could have been a much stronger article if it focused more on the quality of evidence rather than volume of facts presented. It also frustrated me that the author would use a lot of personal opinion’s when referring to an article or a certain educator. Saying something like “this fantastic article”. I found that the author often jumped to conclusions without showing any sources. At one point he said the deaf community doesn’t see their hearing impairment as a disability, speaking on behalf of all deaf people. As someone who personally knows people with hearing impairments some people are not ashamed to admit they have a disability, that’s who they are and nothing is stopping them. I would like to see the author clean up the article and make it less personal. The fact of the matter is when standing up to authority one has to be clear, concise, and has to state the facts. Dawe, L. (2016). Fumbling Towards Vulnerability: Moving Out of the Familiar for Music Education’s Sake, Canadian Music Educator, (57)2. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/iimp/docview/1780088106
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