The Adventures of Miss P: Student Teaching in Ireland By: Natassia Perrine


During my years as an undergraduate in vocal performance at the University of Alabama, I became convinced that two of my life’s passions were music and travel. This realization occurred while training and performing in Bruges, Belgium as a young artist with the Intermezzo Opera Festival. But after two summers in Bruges and one year in New York City, I found a third passion, teaching music. This discovery brought me back to Alabama to pursue a Masters in Music Education. However, I still found myself yearning for my next adventure.


At the beginning of my graduate studies I learned about the University of Alabama College of Education Consortium for Overseas Teaching (COST), which places pre- service teachers in various parts of the world


Certification Exam. The fourth year, or


Transition Year, is a one-year program, which affords students the opportunity to explore life outside of the typical classroom. For example, in addition to core subjects, fourth-year students must participate in the arts, experience internships, and study various community and social issues. The senior cycle includes the fifth and sixth year and culminates with the Leaving Certification Exam (most closely related to our SAT or


ACT). It is


comprehensive for all subjects studied during the fifth and sixth years. Students’ “Leaving Cert” scores determine college admission, which, if they are accepted and are an Irish citizen, is free.


Natassia Perrine, choir director Anne Dunphy and composer Marian Ingoldsby after the world premiere of Fuinneamh


for their student teaching internships. After reading only the first few lines on the COST website, I knew it would be a perfect opportunity for me to combine all three of my passions. After a lengthy application process, tireless work from the COST staff, and support from the University of Alabama Music Education Department, I was placed in Cork, Ireland for the 2012 spring semester. Although admittedly nervous about my upcoming adventure, as the plane left the runway for Ireland, I decided to leave my anxieties at home and do my best to be open to all this new adventure could offer.


I soon found my optimistic mindset to be crucial, because secondary education in Ireland is considerably different from a typical high school in the states. First, secondary school, the equivalent of grades seven through twelve, is called first through sixth years. During this time, students must take the core subjects of Irish, English, and Mathematics. The junior cycle includes years one through three and culminates with the Junior


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The most obvious difference between schools in the United States and Ireland is that music is an academic subject in Ireland. Students who enroll in music are assessed on a national level and their music leaving cert exam scores become part of college admission criteria. First and fourth- year students are required to take music (how different the state of music education would be if music was mandatory in American public schools!). Secondary music education in Ireland is more closely related to the structure of American collegiate music schools, where music theory and history make up the core of the curriculum. All students are required to learn recorder: a majority of the practical music curriculum. Choir is supplementary to their music program and is not taken for credit. Students who wish to participate must be willing to give up their fifteen-minute morning break and forty-five minute lunch break for daily rehearsal. To say I was shocked on my first day at Presentation Secondary School, Ballyphehane is an understatement. I was prepared to spend my days in choir rehearsal, not teaching music academics—especially music theory! As my fellow undergraduate classmates can attest, music theory was not my forte. But there I was with a schedule full of music academics, no lunch break, and one hour per day of choir. And even more unsettling, unlike interns in the states, I was given my own schedule for which I was responsible. I taught first, second, and fourth-year music on my own, and team-taught first-year choir, senior choir, and fourth-year music theatre. I also helped prepare the Junior and Leaving Cert students for the practical parts of their exams: rhythm reading, sight singing or playing, group and


solo recorder, voice, violin, and flute. Students who enroll in music for second-year also commit to studying music during their third-year and to taking the Junior Cert exam. Therefore, the Junior Certification Music Course follows a two-year, sequential curriculum. Its objectives are performing, composing and listening. Much of the curriculum revolves around score study and practical performance. A typical lesson from my second-year class began with five minutes of ear training and/or dictation, then twenty- five minutes of score study, and ten minutes of recorder practice. I also created weekly quizzes based on the pieces or works that we had studied the previous week. Finding new and inventive ways of studying the score was always a challenge but also very fun. My favorite score activity was the dance I choreographed to Copland’s Hoedown to teach my students its form. I was fortunate to have second-year music on my schedule for many reasons; one of which was that it informed my curriculum choices for my first-year music class.


First-year music is an exploratory


course. It bridges the gap from primary music (which students may or may not have experienced) to preparing for the Junior Cert. Therefore, there was a wide range of ability and, because it was mandatory, also a wide range of interest. When I asked the music teacher in charge of first-years what to teach, she said, “whatever you want!” First-year music thus became my “internship-gauntlet.” Not only was I required to create a diverse, exploratory music course, but I also was faced with preparing those interested to be successful in second-year music. With that in mind, I organized the course into the following five objectives: 1) Students will acquire a basic knowledge of music theory through score study and musicianship training. 2) Students will explore difference genres and composers through the study of music history and by


Staging the opening scene of Grease! August/September 2012


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