composition & improvisation
How many frequencies remain un- heard? An even more profound question might be, how likely is a student to hear the yet unheard frequencies, if they feel unheard themselves? In my classroom, daily, I see the child whose creative voice is acknowledged, valued, embraced, and truly heard, as the same child most likely to acknowledge, value, embrace and hear Greene’s yet unheard frequencies, whether those frequencies are from unfamiliar mu- sic cultures, genres, or from classmates’ own creative voices. Here, creating music becomes a fertile ground for empathy and understanding. Creating music gives each student an opportunity to bring them- selves and their diverse life experiences to their musical community. One of my favorite student reflections contains these words: “I really love when we compose and improvise, because I like that I have something to say about music.” Students like him, in turn, respect the importance of others giving unique musical voice to life experience.
In this setting, immersion in a multi-year samba-drumming curriculum is met with open curiosity and excitement. The yet unheard samba frequencies are embraced (with ear plugs), and samba’s inherently inclusive pedagogy become a new part of the students’ ever-growing creative vocabulary, as in the case with Isabella, Brady, Sophia and Owen. The students, having created their own music together, and having experienced samba over years, have a real opportunity to understand on an emotional level why this music is im- portant to the people who created it. Foun- dational inclusion on the individual level allows us to incorporate diverse music and music cultures in ways that transcend a toe- dipping approach to diversifying a music curriculum. The creative child becomes an open and generous learner, a curious and respectful ambassador, and an empathetic explorer of all kinds of music.
When we embrace diversity, we come to know our better selves: our capacity to
listen, live with compassion and learn. It seems counterintuitive to say that embrac- ing diversity can begin with those fearless creators right in front of us, but, once students realize that they themselves are valued deeply in their unique musical ex- pressions, then the universe of frequencies yet unheard will extend towards the hori- zon in every direction, just waiting to be discovered, embraced and welcomed into their community of limitless potential.
Reference:
Randall Everett Allsup, Remixing The Classroom: Toward an Open Philosophy of Music Education, Counterpoints: Music and Education (Indiana University Press, 2016), ix.
Leila Ramagopal Pertl teaches music education at Lawrence University and is the performing arts teacher at Appleton Public Montessori. Email:
leila.r.pertl@
lawrence.edu
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