Assignments/Readings
I am interested in what Tobias mentioned emerging contempory musical practices, such as a capella or remixing, into the classroom, as those are things that I would love to learn even now. However, learning to remix or to create your own a capella cover is usually self taught through YouTube and that can only help so much. I am curious as to how the technological side to our world will evolve compared to music, and if they will be in unison or not. I could see my self trying to implement a capella or remixing as a short unit when I become a music educator because by the time that happens I believe that my students would prefer to have more diversity in the classroom.
Overall, I think that Tobias's idea of incorporating these methods of creating music into the school curriculum will work in the future and I fully support this, however there will always be a handful of educators that prefer to stick to the 'old' way and I am curious as to how he will handle or persuade them if he so choses. I would like to ask and here Tobias's opinion on how students will be taught 'the basics' of music. Such as note names, which way the stems go etc., or if he would incorporate more learning by ear with his use of technology.
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Community Music Making: Challenging the Stereotypes of Conventional Music Education by Kari Veblen10/2/2016 I'm interested in the comunity bands as a whole. I've known about them in my town but never joined one. I would like to join one because of the amount of diversity they have in the repretoire aswell as the musicians themselves. As the author mentioned, there are ethnic/preservation groups that I believe would be interesting to experience as opposed to the traditional 'band' music that I worked on in high school.
I am surprised about how much you can do in a community ensemble. The author mentioned that community bands go out and have non-profit events or that there are commnity music schools. I've never given them much thought, in fact I felt like they were below me in a sense because I assumed that they were not structured well enough, or that they don't play music that meets my standards as a music. But, after hearing my friends talk about it in class, as well as reading this article, I came to realise that I missed a lot about community music. I'm frustrated that these groups don't get as much attention as high school groups. I know that specifically my high school music program was able to get more than enough money from the government/school board as well as from student fundraising but, Dr. Veblen mentions that certain organisations are not funded by the government and depend entirely on fundrasing. I appreciate that Dr. Veblen was able to bring community bands into persvective for me as now I am very curious about them and I plan to join one either in London or in my home town over the summer to keep up my practicing! Dr. Gould introduced her theory of “Teaching is impossible” to our class. I enjoyed her overall lecture, it got me to think as well as connecting with my own personal experiences with teaching. I learned her interpretation of progressive education and pedagogy as well as the difference between an opinion and theory.
This lecture reminded me of a book we read in music class in high school called The Music Lesson: A Spiritual Search for Growth Through Music Book by Victor Wooten. My music teacher took many ideas and theories from this book and applied them to our class. One of them being: “I cannot teach you anything, I can only show you.”. In other words, he can’t physically make us learn something from him, although he can show us things that we may chose to learn. To me, this connects to Dr. Gould’s theory that “Teaching is impossible” because it is similar to Victor’s “I cannot teach you anything, I can only show you.”, they both have the same general idea. Furthermore, Dr. Gould explained that progressive education is a created environment where students are able to learn without pedagogy, which is a fancy term that really means teaching. So in other words, an environment where students learn without interpersonal exchange. “Teacher’s Pet” by A. W. Strouse is evidence that supports Dr. Gould’s theory. The narrator attempts to teach their feline to use a human toilet but ends up rethinking pedagogy. The cat eventually learns how to use the human toilet, but did the cat really learn? Or was it due to repetition? Finally, I learned that theories are based on evidence, whereas opinions are biased based on the unique lives that everyone lives and they have no real reason. This lead to me thinking after class… Isn’t everything an opinion then? Are facts actually facts or in our collective opinion are they facts? Is everything we say an opinion that others can chose to agree to? In my opinion, everything is an opinion! The following is my narrative of the article above:
I found the whole article to be very interesting. From what is an ‘invisible student’ to how to work with them. I enjoyed that the article was a similar to a how-to guide for music teachers (or teachers in general) how to deal with ‘outsiders’ and bring them from outside the circle to within. At first I was shocked that invisible students exist, because I have never seen them. In my personal experience, band was a reunion of sorts, where different social groups or friend circles are reunited through one big thing: music. The further I went through the article I remembered how through my four years of band, there were ‘invisible students’(students who are challenged socially within music programs and have become overlooked in daily classes and rehearsals). However, they soon became visible through our band director’s idea that band is one collective community. Breathe together, play together! The author mentions that the majority of interactions with ‘normal’ and ‘invisible’ students tend to be awkward, short, and often don’t occur again. Furthermore,the article mentions that teens tend to separate themselves from those who are different. Which, in my opinion, is similar to how animals separate or leave weaker members behind. Are people who are different weaker than ‘us’? Are ‘we’ the strong ones? I don’t think society is open minded enough to see past the barrier which visible and invisible individuals are separated. This disappoints me because we, as humans, should know better! Unfortunately, I believe this is due to the normalcy created by our ever changing society. I understand that possibly the biggest reason this article was written is because ‘invisible students’ actually exist somewhere and the fact that they might never enjoy band as much as I do frustrates me. I believe that band was had one of the biggest and most positive impact on me as a being and without it I wouldn’t be the man I am today. The author even says “Music is an interactive, social experience for many who participate. Many make relationships that last a lifetime.”(Hourigan, page 35). This is a fact! I to this day, am in contact with possibly my best friends for life that I would probably have never met if it weren’t for band! I would like to thank this author for writing this article as it can open doors for not only educators but individuals in general. Also, if the author isn’t doing this already, I think it would be a great idea to present their thoughts to others through workshops, or making it to a school and teaching a class or to with the educator that is already there. Hourigan, R. M. (2009). The invisible student: Understanding social identity construction within performing ensembles. Music Educators Journal, 34-38. The following is my narrative of the above reading:
What I found appealing and interesting about this article was that it touched on a subject that isn’t mentioned as often as it should be. It’s interesting because the fact that it isn’t talked about much is because of social norms, just like the text is demonstrating. The topic of individuals with ‘disabilities’ isn’t talked about because it’s not normal to talk or worry about it. I was surprised by how blind I was to how other human beings are being treated. I never really noticed that they are being put down and demoralized. Which is funny because in school, don’t we learn not to put others down? Yet here we are, separating those who are not part of the norm from the rest. I was surprised to realise that not only is the social norm separating humanity, but it is also trying to encourage one specific style of being. Specifically, I learned from the article that the U.S. society has forced the Deaf to discontinue using or learning sign language and are making them communicate ‘normally’. The text compares this to when the U.S. forced Native Americans to speak English rather than learning the tribe’s language themselves. I’m frustrated that there are so many groups of individuals that are taking part in creating this ‘normalcy’. More specifically, I’m frustrated about the lengths one group goes to in order to establish these boundaries between ‘us’ and ‘them’. Such as when I discovered that the education system has such a big impact in this. When disabled individuals do something ‘wrong’ they are scolded, but when they do something that society deems ‘normal’ they are rewarded. The thing that frustrates me most, is that that they are being treated more or less like wild animals: being put into locked ‘time-out’ rooms is similar to cages, teachers almost never make eye contact with them, and they are occasionally disciplined by use of physical restraints and/or drugs. I would like to thank the author for being brave enough to face the media and going against all theses groups by shedding light on this topic! Not only that, but the author made this article so well because there are solutions included, not only the problems, and thus giving others the chance to work it out and possibly start a change for the better. All in all, this topic brings to mind a quote I heard that goes like: “The greatest threat to mankind, is mankind itself”. This really speaks to me because it find it to be terrifyingly true, as seen in this article. 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/ Notes:
Critical Race Theory - Critical analysis or examination of race/racism/culture from a legal point of view Cookie Lyon - Fictional character: Ex-wife of former drug dealer from the musical drama 'Empire' New School - Emphasis on social sciences learned by philosophical and historical inquiries Frankfurt School - School focusing on philosophy as well as social theory Hannah Arendt - Political theorist (1906-1975) Progressive education - Pedagogical movement that focuses on ideas such as "learning by doing" Aristotle - Teacher of Alexander the Great, well known philosopher, made a big impact on Western philosophy Saint Augustine - Early Christian philosopher who influenced the growth of Christianity and philosophy in Western culture |
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