can only the "elite" appreciate the music that dominates our high school/university curriculums?
-Erina
When we teach music in the schools, is it with the expectation that we are preparing our students for a musical career? Are we trying to accomplish more/less than that when we teach music?
-Erina
Labels: Erina and Ed
posted by ejames @ 9:43 PM
4 Comments:
It is suggested for teachers to be careful with the music their students hear because it can be used for good or torture. Is it really possible to predict how music will affect someone? That almost implies that students do not have the ability to be personally or emotionally touched by music.
It is important that we're careful what we share with our students, especially now that we're in the midst of the 'being politically correct' era. it would be presumptuous of us to believe that we could predict how our students would react to the music we share with them. I have experience with that in the Hebrew school i teach on sunday mornings. I teach 4 classes of k-6, and i can almost never predict when my students will love and hate the music i teach them, so i try to provide the most diverse set of songs each week that i can.
a big part of the democracy that woodford speaks of in his book is that of the democracy of choice. the student has a right to decide what the do and do not like, and the teacher has the right to choose what and what not to teach. by trying to choose music based on what we think the students will like, we are limiting ourselves. if we don't know what they don't know, and because of that stick to music we think they do know and like, we will never be able to give them the experience of something new.
I'm not sure that predicting how people will react to music relates to whether or not they become emotionally attached. if we are predicting how music will affect our students, we are in fact implying that they will have an emotional attachment to the music, and it will be either positive or negative. there is always a possibility for emotional attachment to music, which is why it is so universal. everyone can understand it, and everyone can relate to it in one way or another. it is, in and of itself, very democratic, i think.
I think that teaching students with the mind set of preparing them for a musical career is a great idea. I am not saying that all students should consider the career path but this focus creates a good atmosphere for the classroom. If everyone is treated as if they want to be musicians then they are getting a full education. Not to confuse level of difficulty with professionalism. Treating the class professionally makes the classroom more rounded.
i believe this issue sort of centers around that whole problem with teaching to a performance. if we put too much emphasis on the student moving forward to a career in music we may hinder them by taking away from other aspects in music.
i'm not sure if you attended Dr. Barret's lecture on friday morning, but she spoke of the nine standards and the relationship they have within us and the relationship we would like within our students. By focusing on the music industry, we leave out the "relationship" standards as Barret called them (8 and 9). These are just as important, however, i understand that it can be difficult when planning your curriculum, especially if you have someone to please, to include all the things that should be included in a lesson or a unit. but i guess that's why i asked =)
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