President Elect’s Message Music Well-Rounded . . .


Years ago, when I was in graduate school, our professor assigned us a topic to discuss in our chat room. The topic was “What is the most important thing that gets taught in schools?”


We took the question to mean “What is the most important subject that gets taught in schools?” We dove into the chat room with enthusiasm, each ready to defend our chosen content areas.


The posts and resulting discussion


were lengthy and heated. By the end of about the 3rd day, they were even mean spirited ... “your mother dresses you funny!” Our professor waited until the discussion had pretty much run its course, and then chimed in, claiming that we were all wrong. The most important thing that gets taught in schools, he said, was not content, but rather habits. Wait, what?!


He called them habits – here at Hulett


School we now call them 21st Century Skills – but they are behaviors we all strive to develop in our students through our chosen contents. He added that of course not all schools are able to offer the same courses, so curriculum must vary, but these habits do not.


The four habits he spoke of were:


Time Management, Creative Thinking, Leadership, and Collaboration. Qualities that we hope all students develop over the course of our time with them, and taught in every content area.


Ok, the professor had a point, and the


discussion in the chat room immediately became much more civil. We were assigned a different discussion topic and we moved on with class. If I were to be involved in the discussion again, however, I would circle back around and argue that I do agree that the most important thing we teach is habits, but I would follow that a music classroom is the BEST place to develop these habits.


Time Management. The life of a musician is one immovable deadline after another. In my music classroom, many of our


10


performance commitments revolve around holidays or sporting events that are not flexible, date-wise. Couple that with audition deadlines and you get a perfect situation for teaching students that the world is full of deadlines, and they must be observed Tax Day, the renewal of your driver’s license, mailing the house payment, sending flowers to your significant other before your actual anniversary ... all very important deadlines! Musicians must be aware and observant of deadlines and make sure they lay the preparations for those deadlines in a timely manner.


Creative Thinking. There is a plethora of research out there about the role music plays in the development of critical thinking skills. While note-reading and performances are central to our “deadline centered curricula,” many music instructors take this one step further and enhance this with the teaching of improvisation, composition, and arranging music.


Leadership. Section leaders, librarians, and drum majors are all critical leadership roles in the music ensemble, but being in a music group, in itself, is a leadership role. Students who are involved in music performances develop confidence and are willing to step “out of the box” – definite qualities one looks for in a leader. I’ve often looked over my own music ensembles, and found more often than not that the membership includes the student council officers, the FFA officers, and the FBLA officers – all leadership organizations in our school. And I wonder, “Are the leaders in our school drawn to music?” Or does being involved in music develop those leadership skills that those students apply in other settings? Which comes first – the chicken or the egg? I don’t know, and I don’t know that it matters, but I’ve found it to be true enough times in my career to know that it is no


Lila Kennah WMEA President Elect


coincidence that those strong leaders are almost always in my music groups.


Collaboration. If a music ensemble isn’t the perfect example of teamwork, I don’t know what is. I use sports examples with my students all of the time. Learning your music before the group rehearsal starts is no different than pre-season conditioning. Regular maintenance on your instrument is no different than purchasing new cleats before soccer season. Making sure you are balanced and listening for how your part fits within the ensemble is no different than blocking so a back can come through the line in a football game, or putting up a perfect set so your outside hitter can deliver a kill in a volleyball game. It all fits together. And the icing on the cake is, when it all fits together in a music classroom – you don’t win a game – you make magic!!


A music classroom isn’t just a good place to develop 21st Century Skills – it is THE BEST PLACE. And those skills are certainly central to a well-rounded education.


Lila Kennah is in her 26th year in the classroom where she currently


teaches


music and science in Hulett. She obtained her Bachelors degree in Music Education from the University of Wyoming in 1990 and a Masters Degree


in Curriculum


and Instruction from Black Hills State University in 2004. She has taught K-12 music in Big Horn, Upton, and Hulett. Lila is a member of WMEA, WEA, and ACDA. She previously served as the membership chair for the WMEA.


Wyoming Windsong


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  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64