Music Education articles on observations and suggestions for the classroom

Menu Primary Music Education in the Absence of Specialists (slides 3-5)

Robert A. Wiggins and Jackie Wiggins http://www.ijea.org/v9n12/v9n12.pdf

Software Development as Music Education Research (slides 6-8)

Andrew R. Brown http://www.ijea.org/v8n6/v8n6.pdf

Musical Maps as Narrative Inquiry (slides 9-11)

Deborah V. Blair http://www.ijea.org/v8n15/v8n15.pdf

Primary Music Education in the Absence of Specialists

Many schools throughout the world count on generalist teachers to teach music in their schools.

Unfortunately we know little about how these teachers prepare their lessons and what they actually do in the classroom

This article reported on the results of an investigation of music teaching in a national school system that had almost no specialist teachers at the primary level.

Primary Music Education in the Absence of Specialists continued

The investigation found that: The teachers had had no personal experience studying the

substance of music They had not learned to cherish music for its intrinsic

aesthetic/cognitive value they were unable to implement with disciplinary integrity the

lesson ideas they found in curricular materials or learned in methods courses or workshops.

At best, they taught isolated musical tidbits devoid of context.

The politics of school reform and the economics of school funding may lead to fewer music specialists and more instruction by generalists at the primary level.

ReflectionAfter reading this article I was surprised to

know that so many teachers of music at the primary level were inexperienced. It is unfortunate that so many teachers have little to no personal experience in studying the substance of music.

A-ha: “More recently, Indiana declared all certified elementary classroom teachers qualified to teach music. This may be a reflection of the negative effect that economic issues are having on overall school funding and arts education in particular.”

Software Development as Music Education ResearchThis article shows how

software development can be used as a method for music education research.

The paper includes examples from the use of developing the jam2jam software to facilitate networked music improvisation experiences for young children.

jam2jam software is designed for computer-assisted music improvisation over a network

The jam2jam software.

Software Development as Music Education Research continued

Overall the evidence presented in this article suggests that software development as research(SoDaR) provides a good opportunity for the educational researcher.

Software development can be a useful research method because it involves the learning theories and assumptions, and makes them available for experimentation and reflection.

The software development as research has three stages according to the article:1. identification of the learning opportunity for which software

development is required and establishing an appropriate approach to take advantage of that opportunity,

2. design and production of the software,3. implementation and refinement of the software via application

in an educational setting.

ReflectionI enjoyed this article. I thought that the

jam2jam software sounded really interesting, especially the idea of jamming with others on the internet. I think that music improvisation experiences for young children is important when teaching music and would usually be fun for the students.

A-ha: “In this way software acts as a mirror on researcher understanding, an embodiment of the learning theories, and a facilitator of domain activities.”

Musical Maps as Narrative InquiryThis article explores the metaphorical

relationship between the process of narrative inquiry and the process of “musical mapping.”

The creation of musical maps was used as a classroom tool for enabling students’ musical understanding while listening to music.

The project began as a way to study the ways in which students make meaning during listening experiences in the classroom.

Musical Maps as Narrative Inquiry continued

The article explains the use of the music maps: “These maps become a frame for the experience, a tool which enables each listener a way of allowing others into their experience, much like a literary narrative enables the reader to enter into the writer’s experience.”

ReflectionI really liked the idea

of having children visually interpret music through art. I think that this idea could inspire a lot of creativity in students.

A-ha: “Visual images, for example, make it possible to formulate meanings that elude linguistic description.”

I think that all of these articles were interesting and helpful for me as a prospective elementary teacher. Although I will probably not teach elementary music, I am interested in music and have considered majoring in some kind of music field. Out of all three articles I think that the musical maps was the most interesting. I think that that activity would get students thinking analytically about music and evoke lots of creativity.