The article Think Everything's "Normal"? written by Drew Serres talks about the problematic word normal. He says that the culture of normalcy is build upon the unrealistic expectations and demands of people. There is the idea that being different from most people seems like a disability in a negative way. People sympathize these "different" people although for them, their life is normal because that is how they have lived and will live for the rest of their lives.
When first reading this article, it came to mind that this is a topic most of us must have thought about in one way or another during our social interactions with people. When talking to someone and their way of speech is different from yours, the person begins to believe that, that's not normal. And in relation to disabilities, many find it odd, unnatural and uncomfortable. Yes every helping hand hurts and support is needed but not much more than another person without a disability. To the person with the disability it is their daily lives and how they have been living. Living with some sort of physical disability, this person may not do things the same way as most would but they still have their own way of getting through everyday without a helping hand.
0 Comments
Music has the power to create friendships, memories, a positive atmosphere and to comfort people. The invisible student: Understanding social identity construction within performing ensembles written by Ryan Hourigan, talks about the influence of a bands social setting on “invisible students”. Hourigan calls students who have a small presence and minimal relationship with his or her band members and band director “invisible students”. There is value in one’s social identity which also affects their identity as a musician.
Reading this article made me reflect on my past band experiences; especially the experience in my high school band that I have been part of for 4 years. Remembering the first day of grade 9 lunch credit band, there were a sea of people interacting with each other. From different school and different musical backgrounds, with a few information about our outline for the year, we were split into either the intermediate or advanced group. With the amount of people in the program and the work load handed to 2 music educators, it must have been a challenge for them to know all of the musicians personally. By grade 10 music class, the numbers decrease enough for a band of 30 people. The first day of class, our teacher sat us down in a circle and we played games. The whole period, we had played games that at first seemed like a waste of time. I was eager to play my clarinet but instead we were running around finding empty chairs, finding groups of 3 and making shapes with our bodies. By the end of class, I was walking out with no improvement of my technical abilities for my clarinet but with 2 new friends to make music with for my next 3 years. Our band community was friendly, caring and positive through the efforts of 2 amazing music educators who knew the importance of the social aspect in making music. Playing music in band is not only individual playing, you have to learn to play together as one unit. Being able to talk about your musical interpretations and expressing your opinions is a big part of the process. This becomes difficult when you do not have a voice within the group. There are many lessons learnt from reading Hourigan’s article and I believe there is still a lot to change in bands that only focus on the music that is written on the pages in front of them. A Qallunaaq on Baffin Island: A Canadian Experience of Decolonizing a Teacher - Lori-Anne Dolloff11/8/2015 Lori-Anne Dolloffs article A Qallunaaq on Baffin Island: A Canadian Experience of Decolonizing a Teacher outlines the experiences of a trip taken by teachers and herself to Iqaluit on Baffin Island in Northern Canada. During her travels and teaching in the Iqaluit there are stereotypes towards the Inuit’s that are brought by our own bias. Challenging our experiences against the experiences of their adventure, Dolloff writes her book to open our eyes to further possibilities in education.
With the slow loss in population, it becomes difficult to transfer their own culture to younger generations. Through this, most often, tradition fades away with the memories. Dolloff’s experience of working with the Inuktitut Anglican Cathedral Choir caught my interest because of the way she had approached the situation. When Dolloff arrived to help the choir, there was a chorister calling a number and the members seeing if they remember the hymn or enjoy the lyrics. Dolloff was asked to help them remember tunes as they cannot read music. With only parts of the hymn in the minds of the choir members, she was faced with a challenge to help this choir to choose several tunes for Sunday mass. Working together with the choir, they were able to recall tunes which Dolloff would be familiar with and she taught them the hymns without the use of sheet music. Reading the experiences of the teachers who had to break free of their regular Southern Canadian lifestyles also came of interest to me. Their first encounter with the offer to go on this adventure to their thoughts throughout their travels, it comes to your attention how they fall in love with this place. What also caught my attention is the stereotypes that most of have of the Inuit’s and how much we can learn from travelling to a place which we call home yet we know so little about. The words of this book allows the reader to connect to the text emotionally and helps us reflect to throw away our bias’s existing without us realizing. Evan Tobias author of Toward convergence: Adapting music education to contemporary society and participatory culture writes about the diverse way to engage students by bringing technology and media into the classroom. Through the use of new media and connections to old media, students will be more engaged in the curriculum. Tobias introduces new teaching methods; also encourages students to participate and advocates for students with different experiences in music.
Reading Tobias charts for teaching challenged my thoughts as music student. Although there were many classes and activities that were outside of the typical music lesson, it mostly consisted of playing our band instruments and class discussions. What Tobias has to offer to our music classes is often seen outside of the classroom but rarely in school. These activities include covering, arranging, parodying, remixing, mashups, etc. Having these elements as part of the curriculum in music classes would certainly help engage students to learn in new ways, there are some things to consider before doing so. For example, the typical music class from JK-12 includes learning note names, basic rhythms, new instruments, theory, and eventually to repertoire. Teachers start from the fundamentals of music which is note names and basic rhythms and build up to students playing music on their instruments. It is structured and is a step by step process. And with this comes my question of whether students would require a basic knowledge and skill for music before they do these activities or if through covering and arranging, students learn musical elements. Also is it possible for students to cover, parody, arrange, etc. without any prior experience? If so how would they be prepared to do all of these given tasks? Can improvisation be 'taught'? : A call for free improvisation in our schools - Maud Hickey10/25/2015 Can improvisation be ‘taught’? : A call for free improvisation in our schools written by Maud Hickey problematizes the current school’s curriculum in regards to teaching improvisational music. Hickey writes that, “…teaching improvisation, in the traditional sense, is not possible.” (p. 285) Keeping in mind, this statement is not to generalizing teaching improvisation in a broad sense but specifically in a school setting where teachers set up strict rules which limits the students to learn.
Trying to build a structure for students to follow while learning to improvise in music defeats the whole purpose of improvisation. A simple dictionary definition of improvisation in music would be “The act of inventing music; not planning in advance.” I believe there is much more to improvisation than just the act of inventing. It is to express your emotions freely, show the audience your musical individuality, to be unique, and it is a step closer to finding your identity as a musician. The most common place to find improvisation in music is jazz. Many students enjoy playing in jazz bands as it is a place for soloistic playing with a different experience from playing in a concert band. Seeking the opportunity for more freedom of interpretation students play jazz music yet they are once again confined by the structure and influence set by their educators. Some may believe that improvisation can be taught, but what should really be taught is the practice of improvisation not the actual performance. Once again mentioned by Hickey, “, it is an improvisation that cannot be taught in the traditional sense, but experienced, facilitated, coached and stimulated.” Although there are the fundamentals to learning improvisation if an educator goes as far to show them their own interpretation and ideas, it leaves no space for the student to have their own creative mind. You teach them the fundamentals and from there the student has to learn how to expand through their own experiences. It is important for educators to resist telling their students “no” so often. This only leaves students to stop asking questions and limits them to think creatively. There are now so many rules for these students to follow because of the academic standards created by schools that it confines creative thinking. Without creativity we would not have the ability to evolve as a society. Elliot Eisner’s article The Celebration of Thinking outlines the importance of creativity within schools and how to encourage it. “…but they have been building the same honeycombs year, after year, after year. Bees build what they build because they must… They have no imagination that enables them to do other than what they have done from the beginning.” (1998, p. 25) This part of Eisner’s article influenced my mind to think more about this topic and ask questions. Could it also be that these bees do not have the physical ability to build more magnificent honey combs? Maybe the structure of the honeycombs now is the most efficient therefore they do not need to improve. That would mean that they do not need creativity to survive. All they need is the basic skills to live off and they would live a regular cycle of life. And then I realized, humans are not bees. As obvious as that may be we humans cannot live without creativity because we would find no meaning in life. Life without creativity would mean constant repetition all for the purpose of surviving. This would leave no space for individuality and without creativity music would not exist.
As a child many of us have had the experience of tidying up our kindergarten classroom as our teacher counts us down to finish. Children are rushing to throw toys into boxes, coats on racks and tucking chairs in. Through this the students learn to literally throw toys into any empty box, hang jackets on any hook they see and shove chairs into whatever space is empty. They have learned to tidy up their space within seconds but they have not been shown to properly place the toys in the right boxes, neatly place the jackets on the right hooks and place chairs where they are supposed to go. “, but rather to recognize that speed is no necessary virtue. Getting through the curriculum in the shortest possible time is a virtue when the program is noxious.” (1998, p. 22) Speed is no necessary virtue. This is something that I will always keep in my mind as someone who wants to become and educator. There is no need in rushing a student to learn and to cram information in their heads within a short period of time. As much as being time efficient is important, it should never be prioritized over the amount of knowledge they are gaining. Community music making: Challenging the stereotypes of traditional music education - Kari Veblen10/12/2015 The article Community music making: Challenging the stereotypes of traditional music education written by Kari Veblen addresses the importance of community music to music educators and their relationship. In the article, community music is defined as socialized music. Without community music, music education will further be devalued and question; as a result there would be more limits for expansion.
Reading this article, it came to mind that through the examples shown from music education and community music there is not much to differ. Both are to provide the participant to enjoy and expand their knowledge of music by being involved and practicing. The difference is the process and environment. It seems that music education is more structured and the focus towards constant improvement in the knowledge of music rather than the pure enjoyment. Personally I was fortunate to have a teacher who found value in diversity within the classroom setting. Through this we were able to incorporate community music in our daily lessons. There were students constantly walking through the door to move along to the music, have a jam session with anyone who has an instrument, practice, or even to talk about how they are progressing as a musician. Anything that were possible outside the classroom setting was permit able with the circumstance that it should be meaningful and somehow guide you into being better musician. The strong sense of community within the students improved their performance levels and interest for music. They were closer to finding their identity as a musician. However there was a lack of structure for the purpose of assessment. As Kari Veblen mentions, it is never a true solid assessment with this form of education. The amount a student’s musical abilities have improved is not measureable. It is subjective to put a number to the growth of a person. And as a result it also becomes difficult for the student to see the improvement. So I would like to ask Kari Veblen, is it possible to assess? And if it is how so? What would he say to a music educator that wants to add community music yet wants structure within the classroom? "Pop" Goes...? Taking Popular Music Seriously written by Wayne Bowman is about the problems with the way popular music is being used within the classrooms. Digging deep into the personal life styles of the youth, Bowman thinks it makes sense to teach students what is relevant to them. Although many may disagree because of the traditional western music and band music programs that have become the common classroom teachers focus of teaching.
It is true that most high school students experience the classroom of kids that are playing notes on a page, creating a familiar song "Hot Cross Buns" and playing an instrument wondering why is what they're doing relevant to what they should be learning. Music class should not be a space for the students to wonder why they are doing something that seems totally irrelevant but they should be curious about music and with that, the music educators should be able to expand their curiosity and solve through their curiosity with different activities and music. There's a lot of valuable lessons from the most common of songs. In the end it is all music and is created through someones personal story or even plain enjoyment. In the article “Music Education at the Tipping Point” written by John Kratus, the constant social change seems to be effecting the in-school music programs negatively because of the lack of acceptance music educators has towards change. Highlighting moments of change within music educators, the author emphasizes the positive cause and effect of such results.
John Kratus addresses several flaws within the music educator’s way of teaching. The most stressed issue being that these educators are not keeping up with the dramatic societal changes therefore the lack of interest students have in taking music as an in-school class credit. Facing the reality of the statistics shown by John Kratus concerning the decrease of students taking music, it is interesting to see this in the perspective of a music student whose been in a very successful music program in high school. Successful meaning that there are always students coming in and out of the music room, curious to learn more about music. It never occurred to me that there might be a one in a million chance of music classes having the same fate as Latin class used to be part of a classical education. Although even with these factual points the author may have pointed out, there are parts of disagreement that I feel. As there are constantly changes made being to music culturally, the fundamentals do not change. The elements of music are always constant. John Kratus mentions that music is at a tipping point because of the “changes in the ways music is experience and changes in educational practice.” Further adding “In both cases, music education has become disconnected from the prevailing culture.” Certainly music education has not become disconnected for there are always similar elements of music everywhere and as the world changes, the experience of music and music itself does not change. Also, the topic of teaching solfege is mentioned in this article and it has been addressed in a way where the author does not see the importance of teaching solfege because it is not directly used in an outside of school setting. Although it is not of direct importance, it is essential to learn solfege to have a greater understanding of notes and intervals. It is another part of music and an important element so why not teach young musicians of its importance? There are many valid points that John Kratus has brought to our attention that should be taken into account but personally, there are certain point where I do not agree to the reasoning behind it. In relation, I would also like to thank the author for a newly thought perspective. |
Series, 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/
Hourigan, R. M. (2009). The invisible student: Understanding social identity construction within performing ensembles. Music Educators Journal, 34-38. Dolloff, L. A Qallunaaq on Baffin Island: A Canadian Experience of Decolonizing a Teacher. ArtsBased
Service Learning with First Peoples- Towards Respectful and Mutually Beneficial Educational Practices. Bartleet, B.L., Bennett, D., Power, A. & Sunderland N.: Springer Fall 2015 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
Hickey, Maud. Can improvisation be 'taught'? : A call for free improvisation in our schools. International Journal of Music Education. DOI: 10.1177/02557614093454422009 27: 285
Eisner, E. (1998). The kind of schools we need: Personal essays. Portsmouth NH: Heinemann
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. Bowman, W. D. (2004). "Pop" goes . . . ? Taking popular music seriously “ In Rodrigues, C. (Ed.). Bridging the gap: Popular music and music education. US: MENC.
Kratus, J. (2007). Music education at the tipping point. Music Educators Journal, 94(2), 42-48. |