Examining the Music Teacher’s Role in Classroom Culture
Culture can be tricky to define. In its most narrow conception, one might imagine culture in terms of “becoming cultured” through increased exposure to and mastery of the fine arts. While the arts inarguably play an important cultural role, a broader cultural perspective includes numerous elements. Saville-Troike (1978) summarizes an anthropologist’s description of culture as the “rules for appropriate behavior which are learned by people as a result of being members of the same group or community, and also the values and beliefs which underlie overt behaviors and are themselves shared products of group membership” (p. 5). The music classroom is not only a
space in which culture (in a narrow sense) is experienced or attained, but the music classroom is a culture (in a broad sense) in and of itself. Through shared experiences and the creation of cultural artifacts the classroom environment reflects specific cultural beliefs and values. The classroom culture communicates to students what types of music and musical skills are valued and whose perceptions of music are valued. My experiences as a music teacher have informed my position that the role of the teacher within this culture deserves careful and critical consideration. This article examines three roles that music teachers might embody within classroom culture and the impact that these roles may have on students’ experiences.
CULTURE BEARER The first music teacher role
considered in this article is the role of the culture bearer. Morrison (2001) describes the culture bearer as “a senior practitioner who passes on accepted practices, values, and traditions to a younger generation” (p. 26). The teacher disseminates culture to learners one-dimensionally in this role. Morrison offers that older students in an ensemble setting may also act as culture bearers to younger students who have not yet acculturated into the ensemble environment.
20 In my first year of teaching guitar in
intermediate school (grades 4 and 5) general music classes, I exemplified the role of the culture bearer. I had played guitar since adolescence, always informally. I never took lessons and rarely read standard music notation when I played. My experiences playing in secondary and postsecondary formal instrumental ensembles served important musical roles in my life, but my experiences playing in garage bands served as my strongest formative musical experiences. Despite my experiences with popular music, my musical values focused on traditional Western classical music. I separated my personal life as a musician from what I felt were my responsibilities as a music teacher. Because I saw myself as responsible for “bringing music to the students,” I felt an inexplicable responsibility to bring students the “right” kind of music. I refused to teach by rote or use tablature, labeling these as shortcut methods and arguing that students needed to learn to play “real” music. Therefore, I taught beginning guitar using only a method book with standard music notation, which contained primarily folk and Western classical melodies. Instead of employing the authentic
popular music learning strategies (e.g., playing by ear, performing popular songs, gaining skills simultaneously while playing in a social group) that I had experienced myself and are considered essential for learning popular music skills (Green, 2002; Woody, 2007), I attempted to teach traditional Western conservatory musicianship through popular music instruments. I had cultivated a teacher-centered environment in which students were responsible for adopting the teacher’s definition of musicianship and the requisite skills to accompany this musicianship. The focus of skill adoption in the class treated the guitar as a means to achieving the skills of “good,” or “appropriate” music. Acting as a musical “gatekeeper,” I made decisions about quality and
Adam Kruse
appropriateness for my students, instead of with my students.
CULTURAL BROKER Expanding beyond the one-
dimensional role of the culture bearer who disseminates culture, a two- dimensional cultural role for teachers and learners would be that of the cultural broker. Teachers and learners act as “translators and transmitters” (Weiss, 1994) in the role of cultural brokers, representing their own culture while interacting with other cultures. I adopted this role following my first year teaching guitar. Recognizing the limitations of my initial attempts, I realized that the students I was teaching identified with a different musical culture than the one I was trying to teach. My steps into the role of cultural
broker involved “bridging the gap” between popular music and traditional Western classical music. Realizing that I was playing by ear and using tablature to learn songs at home and that every guitar player I knew made some meaningful use of these practices, I abandoned the method book approach (containing mostly traditional folk melodies) and employed excerpts from a tablature and notation book series called Riff Notes (containing mostly classic rock, blues, and R&B riffs) as well as lead sheets with chord symbols for many popular songs that students knew. This environment reflected a more subject- centered philosophy where the focus shifted from simple skill acquisition to authentic interactions with the curriculum promoting conceptual musical understanding. Although this teaching approach provided more positive outcomes than my previous role of culture bearer, the role of cultural broker did not address the culture of the classroom itself and treated musical beliefs and values as static constructs.
CULTURAL FACILITATOR The final role presented for
consideration here is that of the cultural facilitator. Hodge & Lester (2005)
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