wisconsin advocates for music education
We’re in This Together…Talking the Walk! Leyla Sanyer, WMEA President-Elect and WAME Chair
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The field of cognitive linguistics presents a discussion on topics that investigate the interaction between language and cognition. Researchers are interested in how the words we choose represent our understandings and ultimately the
understandings of those who receive our messages.
We often hear that music is a language. But how often do we think about how we speak about music and music education?
How does our choice of words affect the way our profession is perceived?
Each of us must create our own vocabu- lary list. Instead of taking on what we see as traditional comfort in the music classrooms, we must continue to speak to the best of our current practice. By thoughtfully changing our words to better represent the academic nature of music study we will also create more meaningful support for music study.
Consider the familiarity of the following statement:
UW-Whitewater’s music camps provide middle school and high school musicians with a week-long, concentrated music experience.
JUNE 12-17 – Choir
19-24 – String Orchestra JULY
10-15 – Flute
10-15 – Collaborative Piano 17-22 – Middle School Band 24-29 – High School Band 31-Aug. 5 – Solo Vocal 31-Aug. 5 – Percussion
My orchestra room provides a great space in which to play music and it really helps me to conduct the ensemble, teach lessons and prepare for concerts. The activi- ties and lessons that I plan for the kids will give them a competitive edge over their peers from other schools.
If we were talking to decision makers in our district what would happen if we con- sidered the following statement instead?:
The orchestra room is a great environment for music study and the students are able to perfect their technique, work on perfor- mance outcomes and enjoy a col- laborative atmosphere that will help them to discover the value of intrinsic motivation as they work toward long-term goals.
Go to
camps.uww.edu for more information and click on “Music Camps”
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It’s true that the linguistic choices in the second statement more closely represent my student-centered and academic phi- losophy about teaching music. I think it can be argued that anyone can create a list that will just as easily align with one’s own philosophy.
However, I also think that, in this time of globalization, we need to bring music edu- cation into the lead by using language that
April 2011
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