Annotated Bibliography
Music Education Reading Responses
1. Repositioning ‘The Elements’: How Students Talk about Music
Rose, L. S., & Countryman, J. (2013). Repositioning ‘The Elements’: How Students Talk about
Music. Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education 12(3): 45–64.
This article discusses the continuing role and usefulness of the elements of music in the current music curriculum.
This article caught my interest by discussing in-depth opinions and examples on how future generations of music students should be taught in a more diverse way. Being a student who has had music instruction from various educators, I appreciate the authors’ interest in wanting to change and improve the pedagogical system. A pedagogical paradigm shift is exactly what needs occur in our education systems today. It is crucial that we implement, and are open to, all styles of musical interpretation. A lot of the ideas in this report point out what most students think of when deciding whether or not to pursue music education.
It is concerning that a group of precise elements exist to persuade current and future educators of music to teach in a specific and conventional way. These elements consist of “…pitch, rhythm, harmony, texture, form, melody, and dynamics”, and although these topics are important, they are most definitely not the only aspects of music that should be taught. Students should be able to connect to the music they listen to, learn, and perform on a personal and intimate level with their educators, their peers, and themselves. I was lured into this article further when the author wrote about how a large number of adolescents feel incompetent in the music education stream because the elements intimidate and may not appeal to them at first glance. When I was a young student at music school I remember feeling like I would be more interested in my music lessons if they incorporated more contemporary music studies and less theory.
It was very surprising to learn that only 5.7% of Ontario secondary school students enrol in their school’s music program. This statistic stated in the article is not even close to matching the percentage of students who listen to, enjoy, and have very positive experiences with music every day of their lives.
What frustrates me about this article is that most teachers find the basic elements of teaching music difficult to resist. Too difficult in fact that very little of them decide to speak out on this subject and start to change traditional ways of teaching. As our classrooms develop, everyone who has a voice in the music education field must step forward, and speak up about discontinuing this distinct and narrow way of teaching.
I would like to thank the author for writing such an important article that consists of such compelling arguments and thought-provoking content, not only for current music educators but for future music educators and future students.
2. The invisible student: Understanding social identity construction within performing ensembles.
Hourigan, R. M. (2009). The invisible student: Understanding social identity construction within performing ensembles. Music Educators Journal, 34-38.
The ‘invisible’ student is a common type of student within all educational institutions. Unfortunately, the students who enter their classrooms with the inability to be confident and social are unnoticed by not only their peers but by the classroom instructors as well.
While I attended elementary school and high school, I was placed in many different classes throughout the years. My peers and I always dreaded the “icebreaker” activities that took place at the beginning of each year because we already had a strong friend group and assumed that every other student did as well.
What interested me about this article was the deeper meaning explained about these activities. These activities are essential to help introduce students to each other, gain information off of one another, and to promote acceptance to create future friendships. It was interesting to read that these social activities not only promote socialization within the classroom but lingers outside of the classroom as well. Although they seem meaningless at the time for some students, for others, these "icebreaker" activities constitute for most of our childhood friendships.
Surprisingly, ‘invisible’ students can suffer from situations that other socially superior students and oblivious teachers do not notice as a matter of contention. The article acknowledges that the following rules should always be considered when preparing for field trips. Inviting the students to choose who they want to sit with on the bus can be very stressful for an ‘invisible’ students, as they can experience anxiety and insecurity when they have no one choose. I agree with the idea that teachers should always produce a prepared seating list to avoid that stressful experience for the ‘invisible’ student and perhaps spark new friendships by pairing them up with a friendly peer.
It is heartwarming to realize that the experience of being a musician in However, it is frustrating to know that a child’s musical experience could be enhanced so much more simply by making friends. It is important for teachers and socially confident peers to understand that their assistance in helping an ‘invisible’ student form relationships could change the student’s life for the better.
Ryan M. Hourigan shed light on an issue that takes place every day in every single School. His article should be read in not only music classrooms, but all classrooms to ensure that all teachers and students understand how his article could enhance a child’s academic and musical career.
3. Think Everything's "Normal?" Than Its Time To Reconsider And Promote A New Narrative Of Disability
Serres, D. Think Everything's "Normal?" Than Its Time To Reconsider And Promote A New Narrative Of Disability. Retrieved September 23, 2017, from https://organizingchange.org/think-everythings-normal-then-its-time-to-reconsider-and-promote-a-new-narrative-of-disability/
This article discusses the “culture of normalcy” and what we are doing wrong as a society when viewing people with disabilities.
The author discussed an array of interesting points but what stood out to me the most was the point made about how the deaf community does not view themselves as being ‘disabled’ but rather, a people who speak a different language. Communicating through sign language rather than being able to speak and hear is not considered an ailment that will cut them off from the world. This point provides ‘normal’ people with the knowledge that disabled people do not feel inferior to them.
I was surprised when the author made a connection about disability shaming to a school’s picture day. The article explained that photographers tend to put students in wheelchairs in specific positions in photos so that they’re able to crop or cut out the wheelchair entirely to make the disabled student appear “normal”. I find it surprising that the photographers and other people who support this approach to photography, feel as though it could help the individual feel more ‘normal’ or better about their disability by it being unnoticed. Attempting to subtract the wheelchair from the student will not comfort the student at all, but rather would comfort the other ‘normal’ people in the room. A situation like this can worsen a child’s confidence and make the disabled individual extremely uncomfortable and insecure about themselves.
I find it frustrating that people view disabled people as being less fortunate than those who are not disabled. I disagree that labeling bathrooms with handicapped signs and having teachers that specialize in special education curriculum is “troubling”. Disabled students should be able to choose whether or not they would like to participate in regular classrooms without any sort of special attention but they most definitely should have access to special education teachers and handicapped friendly washrooms, ramps, and other conveniences that make everything accessible to the disabled.
Although I do not agree with every point made within the article I do appreciate the honest opinion appropriate examples elucidated by the author. I comply with the author's overall point that being ‘normal’ is not the only way to live a full and beautiful life. No one should ever assume that disabled people, although they may have unique attributes, are in any way less than anyone else.
4. Fumbling Towards Vulnerability
Dawe, L. (2016). Fumbling Towards Vulnerability: Moving Out of the Familiar for Music Education’s Sake, Canadian Music Educator, (57)2, pp. 22-24
In this article, I was able to understand from the perspective of a music educator what it is like to try to change and implement creative teaching techniques into the music classroom.
What I found alluring about this article was the personal examples the author added in her writing. I always enjoy reading personal experiences with in the text because I obtain an honest understanding of the authors main points and arguments. The lack of creative teaching she received as a child, gave her and anxiety later on in her educational studies when it came to being creative. She admits that when she was younger she only did what she was instructed and was never open or told to do otherwise. Her personal examples show that this pedagogy lead her to be unsuccessful in her later years of schooling when teachers would ask her to do something creative. These experiences drove the author to change how she thought the next generation should be taught.
When the author revealed that it would be difficult to introduce a new pedagogy, it concerned me because no educator should ever shy away from improving curriculum. Her brain was molded as a child to learn and teach a specific curriculum which made her very uncomfortable when attempting to implement new strategies based on her professional opinion. It is important that teachers understand that it is beneficial to add personal experiences into their teaching abilities so their students can relate to the teacher on a personal level and feel comfortable knowing that the teacher was once a moldable student too.
Something I found frustrating about this article was when the author noted that “we are programmed to shy away from cognitive dissonance, or anything that threatens our comfort…” Students tend to think that teachers know everything and students confide in their teachers’ intelligence and finds comfort with in their knowledge. To realize that teachers are only teaching what is familiar to them and not what they find important is creating a negative and almost useless curriculum. All teachers should know that their personal opinions and experiences are important to implement in their classes because students need more than just traditional teaching to help them become more successful.
I would like to commend the author on being able to make that critical decision to not only teach students but to become their guide and role model.
5. Can we talk?
Bradley, D. (2006) “Music education, multiculturalism, and anti-racism: ‘Can we talk?” Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education, 5/2:
I found the basis of this article to be very interesting but I experienced difficulty while reading it because of the extremely advanced language. Unfortunately, I do not feel as though I understood Bradley’s main concepts as well as I could have because of the language used. Something I did find of interest was the section that discussed coded language and how it is used in the way our society communicates. This was an issue I did not know of until reading this article. I was genuinely shocked to realize that a lot of the words that we use on a daily basis can be considered coded language for racist terminology or an association with type of race.
I was surprised by the responses of the children who were interviewed by the author. These children really have a sense of what coded language and passive racism is which is a knowledge I would not expect a child to have. Diana’s response to what she noticed in African music versus Mozart was a right and wrong response that really had me thinking about what children categorize as “primal” and “sophisticated” music.
I found it frustrating that the interviewee, Diane, assumed that classical music was not a genre of music that you could sing along to and find immediate enjoyment from rather something only to “listen” to. It frustrates me to know that her opinion was most likely taught to her through her music education system. Music is a language that no one should be afraid to speak. I hope that our youth can feel as comfortable around classical music as they are to the African styles of song.
I would feel privileged to be able to have a one on one with the author to thoroughly discuss her views on this issue and to go through her paper paying attention to detail so I could fully understand her writing.
6. Another Perspective The iPad Is a REAL Musical Instrument
Williams, D. A. (2014). Another Perspective The iPad Is a REAL Musical Instrument. Music Educators Journal, 101(1), 93-98.
Williams talks a lot about how educators are ignoring the phenomenon of implementing new technology in the music education stream and how ignoring this is what is lessening the enrolment of students in our music programs
I find it interesting that the author thinks that “iPadists” are instrumentalists and that playing an iPad is what schools need to attract more students to want to be involved in music. He claims that new technology is what we need to create a new pedagogy rather than frighten students away with a strict traditional one.
Usually, at classical concerts or performances it is inappropriate to sing along, film, speak or add to the performance in your own way as an audience member. I was surprised to read that “Touch” encourages their audience members to take videos, use flash photography, upload to social media and talk with each other during the performance. It takes away from the tradition of classical music etiquette and gives a more modern feel which can be fun in certain circumstances.
I disagree with more points in this article than I agree with. The main one being that iPads are being considered musical instruments. An iPad is absolutely not a musical instrument regardless of whether its inanimate, can only be played by a human, or needs the practice to sound good. It is a piece of technology with a screen. Not a physical instrument with strings, valves, or keys etc. By only touching a screen, we sacrifice cognitive abilities gained through muscle movement and motions used by your entire body to produce sound out of an instrument.
I do not fully agree with Williams regarding his point that iPads are something we need to implement in our schools to appeal to a broader range of children. I do think that it is an interesting approach to an evolution of the use of technology in music. However, I enjoy the tradition of classical music and performance and we should continue to keep the tradition going rather than changing it by adding iPads and calling them instruments when they are not. The exploration and implementation of technology can be introduced in other ways that don’t taint the beauty of playing an authentic instrument.
7. Toward Convergence Adapting Music Education to Contemporary Society and Participatory Culture
Tobias, E. S. (2013). Toward Convergence Adapting Music Education to Contemporary Society and Participatory Culture. Music Educators Journal, 99(4), 29-36
Rather than just speaking out about how music education is taught differently to encourage more students to join, this article actually discusses what the possibilities are to change and improve our music education system. I found Table 1 very interesting and important because it outlined most of the different activities that people do to produce music. A lot of what was on the list is not currently incorporated in our music education classes today. I think it is very important for current and future music educators to understand that the activities on this chart (table 1) can heavily influence incoming students.
Performing covers of songs are one of the most common ways that people share their musical talent and if we were to incorporate this activity Insert musical pedagogy we would have to take into consideration the issue of copyright. Informing students on how to properly credit artists that they are covering needs to be incorporated into the curriculum.
What frustrates me about this entire article is not the article itself but the fact that the content of this article has not already been implemented in more music education programs already. Classical music and it's “elements” are very important to teach but should not be the only exception to what is considered music education. Many students in the high schools that I have attended have been more interested in participating in activities outlined in this article such as covers, arranging, remixing, etc. These activities should be either included into our current music classes or should be given a class of their own because it is important that all students who are interested in all types of music to be able to learn what they like in their schools.
Evan S. Tobias seems to have a very strong understanding of what needs to be improved in order to keep more students interested in music. I really appreciate that he took the time to write an article about how it is not as effective to just think about what students want and need in their music pedagogy but instead to observe how they enjoy music and then incorporate that observation into how we are to evolve our music programs. I also appreciate how he notes that a blend of the old way and the new way of producing music can be combined to allow all music students to connect with each other in a modern way.
Bradley, D. (2006) “Music education, multiculturalism, and anti-racism: ‘Can we talk?” Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education, 5/2:
I found the basis of this article to be very interesting but I experienced difficulty while reading it because of the extremely advanced language. Unfortunately, I do not feel as though I understood Bradley’s main concepts as well as I could have because of the language used. Something I did find of interest was the section that discussed coded language and how it is used in the way our society communicates. This was an issue I did not know of until reading this article. I was genuinely shocked to realize that a lot of the words that we use on a daily basis can be considered coded language for racist terminology or an association with type of race.
I was surprised by the responses of the children who were interviewed by the author. These children really have a sense of what coded language and passive racism is which is a knowledge I would not expect a child to have. Diana’s response to what she noticed in African music versus Mozart was a right and wrong response that really had me thinking about what children categorize as “primal” and “sophisticated” music.
I found it frustrating that the interviewee, Diane, assumed that classical music was not a genre of music that you could sing along to and find immediate enjoyment from rather something only to “listen” to. It frustrates me to know that her opinion was most likely taught to her through her music education system. Music is a language that no one should be afraid to speak. I hope that our youth can feel as comfortable around classical music as they are to the African styles of song.
I would feel privileged to be able to have a one on one with the author to thoroughly discuss her views on this issue and to go through her paper paying attention to detail so I could fully understand her writing.
6. Another Perspective The iPad Is a REAL Musical Instrument
Williams, D. A. (2014). Another Perspective The iPad Is a REAL Musical Instrument. Music Educators Journal, 101(1), 93-98.
Williams talks a lot about how educators are ignoring the phenomenon of implementing new technology in the music education stream and how ignoring this is what is lessening the enrolment of students in our music programs
I find it interesting that the author thinks that “iPadists” are instrumentalists and that playing an iPad is what schools need to attract more students to want to be involved in music. He claims that new technology is what we need to create a new pedagogy rather than frighten students away with a strict traditional one.
Usually, at classical concerts or performances it is inappropriate to sing along, film, speak or add to the performance in your own way as an audience member. I was surprised to read that “Touch” encourages their audience members to take videos, use flash photography, upload to social media and talk with each other during the performance. It takes away from the tradition of classical music etiquette and gives a more modern feel which can be fun in certain circumstances.
I disagree with more points in this article than I agree with. The main one being that iPads are being considered musical instruments. An iPad is absolutely not a musical instrument regardless of whether its inanimate, can only be played by a human, or needs the practice to sound good. It is a piece of technology with a screen. Not a physical instrument with strings, valves, or keys etc. By only touching a screen, we sacrifice cognitive abilities gained through muscle movement and motions used by your entire body to produce sound out of an instrument.
I do not fully agree with Williams regarding his point that iPads are something we need to implement in our schools to appeal to a broader range of children. I do think that it is an interesting approach to an evolution of the use of technology in music. However, I enjoy the tradition of classical music and performance and we should continue to keep the tradition going rather than changing it by adding iPads and calling them instruments when they are not. The exploration and implementation of technology can be introduced in other ways that don’t taint the beauty of playing an authentic instrument.
7. Toward Convergence Adapting Music Education to Contemporary Society and Participatory Culture
Tobias, E. S. (2013). Toward Convergence Adapting Music Education to Contemporary Society and Participatory Culture. Music Educators Journal, 99(4), 29-36
Rather than just speaking out about how music education is taught differently to encourage more students to join, this article actually discusses what the possibilities are to change and improve our music education system. I found Table 1 very interesting and important because it outlined most of the different activities that people do to produce music. A lot of what was on the list is not currently incorporated in our music education classes today. I think it is very important for current and future music educators to understand that the activities on this chart (table 1) can heavily influence incoming students.
Performing covers of songs are one of the most common ways that people share their musical talent and if we were to incorporate this activity Insert musical pedagogy we would have to take into consideration the issue of copyright. Informing students on how to properly credit artists that they are covering needs to be incorporated into the curriculum.
What frustrates me about this entire article is not the article itself but the fact that the content of this article has not already been implemented in more music education programs already. Classical music and it's “elements” are very important to teach but should not be the only exception to what is considered music education. Many students in the high schools that I have attended have been more interested in participating in activities outlined in this article such as covers, arranging, remixing, etc. These activities should be either included into our current music classes or should be given a class of their own because it is important that all students who are interested in all types of music to be able to learn what they like in their schools.
Evan S. Tobias seems to have a very strong understanding of what needs to be improved in order to keep more students interested in music. I really appreciate that he took the time to write an article about how it is not as effective to just think about what students want and need in their music pedagogy but instead to observe how they enjoy music and then incorporate that observation into how we are to evolve our music programs. I also appreciate how he notes that a blend of the old way and the new way of producing music can be combined to allow all music students to connect with each other in a modern way.