To Rote or To Note?   The debate of rote vs. note has been written about copiously since the advent of music education, and in particular, Western music education. While the debate is less applicable within instrumental music classes due to the nature of the western canon, general music and early childhood music classes balance the use of rote and note to accommodate for student learning. As I reach the halfway point of my first year as a high school general music teacher, I continue to struggle to find the right balance between rote v. note teaching. The question of rote vs. note within my curriculum surrounds teaching popular music. As I teach students in my modern band class the guitar, piano, and drums, I am in constant negotiation between rote and note strategies. On the one hand, I’ve found there to be more independence and student centered learning when students are taught by note. As a facilitator, I am able to demonstrate to students how to read tabs or [...]

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Musical ‘Expertise’ and the High School Experience   Common Characteristics of Expert Performance within their Domain - Perceive large meaningful patterns (reading music) - - Process material fast - - Superior short- and long-term memory - - See and represent problems at a deep level - - Strong self monitoring skills - - Inflexibility and rigidity outside their domain - (Glaser & Chi, 1998) It’s fair to say that becoming an ‘expert’ in any discipline before graduating high school is extremely rare. Those who do achieve such ‘expertise’ at a young age are often aided by highly unique circumstances (e.g. cognitive or physical anomalies). In other words, young children that have both nature/nurture on their side are more likely to achieve a high level of expertise. The essential question becomes: Why should we concern ourselves with expertise in child/adolescent development when the circumstances are unachievable for most? The benefits of expertise, [...]

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Musical Manipulation and the Droopy Eyed Teenager   The Monday morning after a long winter break just might be the least motivating moment for a high school student all year. The refreshed yet droopy-eyed high school student wakes up in the dark to walk to school in single digit temperatures to stand in a stretched out line to place a backpack on a conveyer belt to walk through screeching metal detectors to finally sit down in a stiff chair under glaring fluorescent lights to learn about some seemingly irrelevant information. Unsurprisingly, the mood of many students on these days are that of a recently bathed cat; irritable, glum, and perhaps revengeful. All three moods play out to be a less than desirable learning “state of mind.” Unlike the face emojis students text each other, their actual mood and emotions are nuanced, and without much control for what is sent and received. But it’s understandable that students struggle at this age to self-regulate as it is [...]

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Mindfulness, Ambiguity, and Aesthetic Hierarchy: A Philosophy for Music Education   The purpose of philosophy in education is to examine the fundamental values of what and how we teach. Sandra Stauffer (2012) suggests that music education philosophy should reflect a particular time, space, and experience. More precisely, the philosophy for music education is responsive to the environment in which is being taught. Therefore, the philosophy for music education put forth represents a particular time, space, and experience. As time, space, and experiences are fluid entities within themselves, the (1) act of mindfulness, the (2) acceptance of ambiguity, and the (3) deconstruction of aesthetic hierarchy represents current cultural changes with the purpose for preparing students to responsibly participate from within. Mindfulness To be aware means to be cognitively critical of our senses and thoughts. Mindfulness is the active process of being aware. Given this, there are [...]

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Deborah Bradley's Decolonizing Music Education Philosophy The effect of colonialism within education has been the marginalization of students of color and the dismissal of ‘indigenous’ forms of knowledge and knowledge production. Bradley argues that colonial thinking has influenced music education philosophies. To ‘decolonize’ these philosophies, binary constructs must be challenged or dismissed. Examples of binary constructs include the colonizer vs. the colonized, and the “West and the rest” mentalities. Further, Bradley suggests, to decolonize philosophies there must be “critical insight into the underlying assumptions, motivations, and values that inform epistemological practices, and by interrogating “the age old dilemmas about authenticity, originality, indigently, and autonomy of cultural, scientific, literary values and aesthetic creations” (p. 411) In more broad terms, the role of music education philosophy is to act as critical examination of a belief, [...]

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'Place' Philosophy in the Music Classroom Place theory education is based on a philosophy that suggests places represent a particular time, space, and experience. Places shape behavior and identity. Our identity is represented as a place we see our selves in. Identity is shaped by the places in which we identify with. All places within our identity are interconnected. “Place” education is contradictory to standardized education in which regardless the time or pace, the place is the “same”. I imagine ‘place’ education as culturally responsive teaching; teaching that reflects the ‘time and space’. Stauffer suggests that today’s music education is ‘place-bound’, meaning that music education is only imagined in center places, which in turn impedes transformation. Stauffer addresses music education transformation and its importance to the students we teach. I find the term ‘transformation’ is troublesome for two reasons. First, for the established [...]

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Strange Humors By: John Mackey   Background        As a graduate student at Julliard, John Mackey composed Strange Humors for string quartet and djembe. The piece was soon adapted and performed by Parsons Dance Company and later was commissioned by the American Bandmasters Association and premiered in 2006. The purpose of the piece is to represent two African cultures, that of Egyptian (melodic) and West African (rhythmic). Jake Wallace goes on to describe the composition:         “The piece opens with a sultry English horn solo, a line laced with Phrygian influence representing the “typical” melodies of the most northeastern parts of the African continent—most notably Egypt, but also parts of the Arabia peninsula. Later, the saxophones emulate the snaking lines of the English horn. The addition of brass and auxiliary percussion to the original orchestration makes for particular impact during the shout sections of the piece, and the groove of the [...]

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Africa: Ceremony, Song and Ritual By Robert W. Smith   Background Robert W. Smith is perhaps one of the most prolific composers and arrangers for concert band music. Many of his works are suited for younger bands and cover a wide range of genres. Smith has also composed larger works including a symphony called The Divine Comedy. Smith is currently the director of bands at his alma mater Troy State University. Africa: Ceremony, Song and Ritual was commissioned by New Trier High School (Winnetka Illinois) and later published by Belwin Mills in 1994. Smith used the recordings (Nonesuch Explorer Series) and research of Stephen Jay, a bassist and composer who spent two year in West African studying various cultures. The piece presents 4 folk songs that hold historical significance in different parts of Africa. “The work features traditional ceremonial music for dance and entertainment, as well as dynamic percussive invocations and historical songs. Folk songs used [...]

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History of Jazz Education: A Survey of Modern Discourse As with jazz itself, defining jazz education brings about a multitude of issues and raises both philosophical and cultural implications in it’s attempt to find meaning and place within shared discourse. In many respects this becomes the crux of assessing the history of jazz education; the emergence of jazz education being vital to its understanding. Jazz education has come to be accepted as “an institutionalized movement which began in the mid-to late 1940’s and which focused on teaching jazz performance, particularly in big bands, in bop-oriented groups, and in choirs” (Kennedy, New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, 2nd ed.) When comparing the history of jazz education, a defined subdivision of traditional or classical music education, a marked distinction between both disciplines becomes apparent. Grove Music Online defines classical music education from its early Greek and Roman origins. A history marked by both mythical [...]

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Reflection: Challenging exclusionary paradigms in the traditional musical canon: Implications for music education practice Summary The purpose of this study is too address culturally responsive teaching “based on a perspective of social justice and equitable access for all students” (Kindall-Smith M., McKoy C.L., Mills S.W., 2011, p. 374). The article presents two cases, one being historical and the other being pedagogically, in examining culturally responsive teaching. Western European culture has largely shaped music education in the United States as outside cultures have been misrepresented or ignored. As Johnson (2000) suggests, by ignoring other cultural influences, stereotypes become the prevailing view of non-Western European Cultures. The examples presented are (1) the history and cultures that shape Appalachian music and (2) the preparation of music teachers in regards to diversity. The authors suggest that the solutions to these issues are found through the [...]

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