Classroom instruction for younger grades can continue to be defined by singing and moving but must also include attention to composition, improvisation, and creative listening. Certainly, some of the technological advances with digital technology have affected how teachers administer programs and record and reproduce music, but the kind of music taught, what is actually done creatively with students, and teachers’ approach to top-down instruction of music all remain relatively unchanged.īands, orchestras, and choirs performing tonal Western concert music is important but must be blended with more formal attention to popular, folk, and world music. The troubling truth is that school music teaching for the classroom and performance teachers in many K-12 schools and in colleges has really not changed much in fundamental ways for a hundred years. I have come to believe that this kind of pedagogy may require a transformation in how we prepare future music teachers. This in turn might lead to more interesting intersections between performance, theory, and music history. Creative approaches to music listening might add new dimensions to music history instruction I have in mind here the more creative use of personal imagination when dealing with historical information. For example the study of music theory wedded intimately with personal composition and improvisation might lead to more effective understanding of theory. More musical styles could be explored as well as more non-traditional ensembles.Īll of this might be applied to advanced study of music theory and music history. Traditional band, orchestral and choir ensembles would be augmented by chamber ensembles of various types. Students would learn much earlier about forming their own music ensembles. Parents would be treated not only to the performance of the music of others but also children’s own music. Imagine how this might change the public face of the music teaching and learning. Students asked to analyze their own musical performances, perhaps their own music, become more intrinsically engaged. Listening to one’s recorded performances focuses attention on the need to improve sound. Instead, there is added a personal investment in improving one’s playing or singing. Practice time is not based only on a teacher-directed and teacher-centered set of technical challenges, devoid of any student engagement. With the rich opportunities to create music comes an inherent desire to learn more about technique. From the very start, creative exploration of music listening should be a big part of our work with students and include a wide variety of musical styles.Ĭonsider for a moment how this might affect motivation.
#Listening music teacher how to#
For example, from the moment we begin teaching a young trumpet player how to play the most basic sounds, we should encourage improvisation and some prototypical composition. Certainly we want to provide solid technical and conceptual understanding for playing and singing, but this is only part of the musical experience.
In addition, parents of young artists, drama students, and poets see the result almost immediately of their children’s art making in the hallways of schools, refrigerator doors at home, and school assemblies.Ĭhildren studying music in performance venues, however, may go for months and even years before they have any opportunity to perform music of their own. Often teachers of poetry in language classes ask students to create their own poetic structures while experiencing others’ poetry. Drama teachers work the same way when helping young performers work on dramatic roles. Drawing, painting, and working with clay is a personal experience as one learns about technique.
Almost from the very beginning, students studying art learn about technique by making art. Consider how an art teacher works with children with drawing or painting. Perhaps it is time to take a lesson from our arts colleagues. The kind of music teaching that merges conceptual and technical information with opportunities to experiment with one’s own personal music making and to listen to and discuss a variety of music with one’s teacher is simply not common in my experience. I have come to think of this as a core principle of good music teaching and learning. This idea is one that has consumed me since my earliest days as a music teacher.
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