What might happen if we expand the space we give to music and its practice? In general music, we are quite good at getting outside of the “canon” by singing and listening to music from a variety of cultures and traditions. Bt, are we representing multiple genres? Are we allowing for experiences in a variety of modes and meters? Do we honor the music of our unique communities? Do we seek out new forums for composition and improvisation? Have we borrowed the great ideas that exist within methodologies outside our comfort zone? Are we entertaining students’ curiosities from the music of their own lives? Do we give them alternatives to “school music?” Certainly these are only a few ways to stretch our musical boundaries. Bt, when we expand them, the possibilities can be exciting. We could spark the interest of student who was otherwise marginally interested. We could deepen the connections our students already have with music. We can providd greater access to music, increase the relevance of music in our students’ lives, and even access unknown creative potential in individual students.
Finally, how are we expanding the boundaries we put around ourselves? During the keynote address of the 2011 Symposium of Society of Music Teacher Educators, Deborah Meier, a senior scholar at New York University’s Steinhardt School addressed the importance of self in teaching. She stated that in order to “educate the ‘whole child’, teachers themselves must be whole people.” She suggests, in order to be truly effective as teachers, our lives need to be rich, full and complete. This is easier said
than done with the weight of our professional responsibilities, a full schedule and a personal life to balance. How can we create time for ourselves? Can we take the time to give ourselves the gift of new music? How about the rare gift of leisure? Are we continuing to engage in the personal activities for which we have great passion? How are we expanding our perspectives? Do we feel like “whole people?” If not, what is missing? Consider how enriching our personal lives may have an effect on our practice, the perspective we bring to our students and the lens through which we see life.
If we were to widen our circles of possibilities—that is, to give breathing room for students, our practices and ourselves—how might that change our practices, and therefore, our personal philosophies of music education? Our embodied philosophies are determined not only by the depth, bue also the breadth of what we do. Do we give our students space to be heard and take ownership over the music so they may have a chance to be life- long music learnersIsAre the music we choose and our method of delivery fully inclusive? Do we seek out enriching, exciting and restful moments in our own lives? Rather than spreading our practice too thin, this type of purposeful “stretching” can breathe new life into the great work we already do.
Shannan Hibbard-Melkonian is currently a PhD student in music education at the University of Michigan. She taught K-5 general music in Detroit for ten years—for University Preparatory Academy, Friends School in Detroit and Detroit Public Schools. n
Be heard.
www.depauw.edu/music 13
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28