Composition in the Ensemble Classroom: Ideas From Eight Researcher-Designed Methods

2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-33
Author(s):  
Seth A. Taft
Keyword(s):  
Elementary School ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Human Activity ◽  
Music Instruction ◽  
Composition Instruction ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Music Standards

Composition is a natural human activity that can both support other music instruction and help students develop creativity that is applicable to their extramusical endeavors. It also constitutes a major strand within national and state music standards. However, it is not consistently taught in ensemble classrooms, which are often students’ only form of music education past elementary school. In this article, I briefly summarize arguments in favor of composition instruction, then describe and analyze eight composition units and activities developed by researchers for use in the ensemble classroom. I conclude the article with a synthesis of the implications of the methods, along with other research on composition, into eight key ideas to help ensemble directors implement composition instruction in their classrooms. This article serves as a starting point for ensemble directors hoping to implement composition while also directing them to several other resources they might use.

Accountability Concerns

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jay Dorfman
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Music Educators ◽  
Music Instruction ◽  
National Standards ◽  
Music Listening ◽  
Educational Culture ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Music Educators National Conference ◽  
Music Standards ◽  
Teachers And Students

With the advent of technology-based music instruction, we are at an important juncture in terms of standards and accountability. To date, there are no sets of standards that directly address the ways in which TBMI teachers and students work, and therefore there is a lack of clarity as to how we are accountable to the larger educational culture. Several sets of standards exist that come close; they address either the musical or the technological portions of TBMI, but not both. Others address teachers’ roles or students’ roles, but not both. In this chapter, we will examine relevant sets of standards and explore how they imply accountability for TBMI teachers and students. In 1994, the Music Educators National Conference (now the National Association for Music Education) released a document outlining the National Standards for Music Education, in coordination with similar standards in theater, art, and dance. The nine music standards from 1994 were the following: Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music. Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music. Improvising melodies, variations, and accompaniments. Composing and arranging music within specified guidelines. Reading and notating music. Listening to, analyzing, and describing music. Evaluating music and music performances. Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts. Understanding music in relation to history and culture. The NAfME standards suggest curricula that are distributed among performance, musical creativity, and connections between music and context. These are noble goals for which teachers should strive. The NAfME standards are widely accepted, and many teachers refer to them as benchmarks to assess the completeness of curriculum. In no way do the NAfME standards suggest that musical learning should be achieved through technology, nor do they contain suggestions about how students should meet any of them. In this way, the shapers of the NAfME standards are to be commended because the standards are flexible enough that they can be addressed in ways teachers see fit. Therefore, the standards passively suggest that technology-based music instruction is as valid a means of music learning as are other forms.

Developing 21st-Century Musicianship: Tablet-based Music Production in the General Music Classroom

2021 ◽  
pp. 104837132110344
Author(s):  
Jason Fick ◽  
Chris Bulgren
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Contemporary Music ◽  
Music Instruction ◽  
Technology Skills ◽  
General Music ◽  
Music Classroom ◽  
Music Production ◽  
Essential Skills

Increased availability of tablets at home and in classrooms provides educators access to a powerful tool for music instruction. Music production lessons on tablets offer alternate approaches to developing music literacies while teaching valuable technology skills. These activities are ideal for general music education because they align with contemporary music practices and are adaptable to a variety of learning environments (in person, remote, and hybrid). This article will present a model for tablet-based music production instruction in the general music classroom that aligns with the National Core Arts Standards and accompanying process components grounded in five essential skills: sequencing, recording, editing, effects processing, and mixing.

Classroom Music Experiences of U.S. Elementary School Children

2014 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Miksza ◽  
Brent M. Gault
Keyword(s):  
Elementary School ◽  
School Children ◽  
Students Of Color ◽  
Elementary School Children ◽  
Underserved Populations ◽  
The United States ◽  
Music Instruction ◽  
School Year ◽  
Representative Study ◽  
Nationally Representative

The primary purpose of this study was to describe the music experiences elementary school children in the United States receive in the academic classroom setting. The data were drawn from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study of the Kindergarten Class of 1998–1999 (ECLS-K), a nationally representative study that followed kindergarteners through to their eighth-grade school year with the last data collection wave in 2006–2007. The variables pertaining to music experiences in the academic classroom that were available in the ECLS-K were (a) the frequency and duration with which children received music instruction, (b) the frequency that music was used to teach math, and (c) the percentage of children receiving formal music instruction outside of school. Each of these variables also was analyzed as a function of child urbanicity, socioeconomic status (SES), and race. Statistically significant ( p < .001) disparities among children based on urbanicity, SES, and race were found on each of the music experience variables. Overall, White suburban students of high levels of SES tended to receive significantly more music experiences than students of color from urban and rural settings and of low SES. The findings support the need to advocate for high-quality music programs for all students and particularly for those from traditionally underserved populations.

Scott Joplin: A Guide for Music Educators Part III—Ragtime Spaces

2021 ◽  
pp. 104837132110344
Author(s):  
Kendra Kay Friar
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Music Educators ◽  
General Music ◽  
Racial Uplift ◽  
Student Activities ◽  
Cultural Contexts ◽  
Cultural Globalization ◽  
Music Standards ◽  
Entrepreneurial Activities ◽  
K 12

Scott Joplin was an African American composer and pianist of singular merit and influence. This article is the final entry in a three-part series considering the biographical, artistic, and cultural contexts of Joplin’s life and work and their use in K–12 general music education. “Ragtime Spaces” focuses on cultural globalization and the modernist entertainment aesthetic which supported Joplin’s work. Scott Joplin’s creative and entrepreneurial activities embodied humanism, racial uplift, and craftsmanship at a time when society became increasingly racially segregated and dehumanized. The discussion is followed by suggested student activities written in accordance with National Association for Music Education’s 2014 National Music Standards.

scholarly journals The Extent of Practicing Social Interaction Skills by Jordanian Elementary School Students in accordance with Carl Orff’s Approach to Music Education

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 95
Author(s):  
Tariq William Odeh ◽  
Mohammad Saleem Al Zboon
Keyword(s):  
Elementary School ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
Social Interaction ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Elementary School Students ◽  
School Students ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Social Interaction Skills ◽  
Interaction Skills

The present study aimed at identifying the extent of practicing social interaction skills by Jordanian elementary school students in accordance with Carl Orff’s approach to music education. The study’s population consists from all the male and female music teachers who teach at primary levels in public and private Jordanian schools (i.e. 350 female and male teachers). In order to collect the required data, the researchers developed a questionnaire that consists from 50 statements.It was concluded that the level of practicing the social interaction skills by Jordanian elementary school students is low from the perspective of the sampled teachers. That is because the total arithmetic mean is 1.80. As for the total standard deviation, it is 0.71. In addition, the means of all the questionnaire statements are within the moderate and low levels. In the light of the study’s results, the researchers recommend the following:Promoting the role of the music education at private and public schools. The researchers also recommend providing all the necessary means and instruments for facilitating and improving the educational processHolding more training courses for teachers regularly by the ministry of education about the music education strategies and methods.

scholarly journals Trabalho Docente com Estatística nos Primeiros Anos de Escolarização: um Estudo de Caso

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 196-202
Author(s):  
Cíntia Poffo ◽  
Janaína Poffo Possamai ◽  
Viviane Clotilde Da Silva
Keyword(s):  
Elementary School ◽  
Elementary Education ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
First Year ◽  
Statistical Literacy ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Organizational Perspective ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Practice Problem ◽  
New Ideas

ResumoO letramento estatístico pode ser desenvolvido desde os primeiros anos de escolarização, envolvendo o contexto de brincadeira e de vida. Também, a análise e apresentação de dados que pode tomar como base a perspectiva de organização que as crianças já têm em mente. Nesse contexto, esse trabalho tem como objetivo analisar como é realizado o trabalho com estatística no pré-escolar e no primeiro ano do Ensino Fundamental em um município do interior de SC, com o intuito de, na continuação da pesquisa, desenvolver uma proposta de intervenção do no que se refere ao ensino de estatística, no primeiro ano do Ensino Fundamental. Esse é um estudo do tipo descritivo de análise qualitativa, sendo todos os professores da pré escola e do primeiro ano do ensino fundamental que atuam na rede municipal em questão, entrevistados por meio de um questionário semiestruturado. A análise das entrevistas indica que os professores identificam a necessidade de desenvolver um trabalho que tenha como ponto de partida temáticas de interesse e do cotidiano das crianças. Também evidencia a importância de se conhecer verticalmente o currículo da Educação Infantil e do Ensino Fundamental, de modo a resgatar os conhecimentos prévios e então construir novos, com base nas conexões que as crianças conseguem estabelecer.Palavras-chave: Letramento Estatístico. Prática Docente. Resolução de Problemas.AbstractStatistical literacy can be developed from the first years of schooling, involving the context of play and life, and,the analysis and presentation of data can be based on the organizational perspective that children already have in mind. In this context, this work aims to analyze how work with statistics is carried out in pre-school and in the first year of elementary school in a city in the interior of SC, with the intention of, in the continuation of the research, developing an intervention proposal regarding the teaching of statistics, in the first year of elementary school. This is a descriptive type study of qualitative analysis, with all pre-school and first-year elementary school teachers working in the municipal network in question, interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. The analysis of the interviews indicates that the teachers identify the need to develop a work that has as a starting point themes of interest and the daily lives of children. It also highlights the importance of vertically learning the curriculum for Early Childhood Education and Elementary Education, in order to rescue previous knowledge and then build new ideas based on the connections that children are able to establish.Keywords: Statistical Literacy. Teaching Practice. Problem Solving

Thinking skills in music education

1996 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Naughton
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Music Teacher ◽  
Value System ◽  
Knowledge And Skills ◽  
Common Value ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Reuven Feuerstein ◽  
The Holocaust

After working with many groups that have been culturally displaced, from victims of the holocaust to black teenagers from the ghetto, Reuven Feuerstein, an Israeli psychologist, has come to the conclusion that we learn everything through cultural transmission. Without a common value system young people do not have the necessary tools to connect with mainstream education. From this starting point Feuerstein believes learning has to be ‘modelled’ and mediated by the teacher to ensure understanding and progression. Above all, Feuerstein sees knowledge and skills as transferable, so that children who develop skills in one activity should be able to examine what they've accomplished and apply this in other areas of activity. Feuerstein's ideas have been seen to be universally applicable in education as a whole, and these principles have much to offer the class music teacher.

Talent development in Chinese and Swiss music students

2017 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 230-243
Author(s):  
Suse Petersen
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Talent Development ◽  
External Factors ◽  
Music Students ◽  
Childhood And Adolescence ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Chinese Music ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Internal And External Factors

Musical talent development and the factors that influence it—such as family or peers—have been widely researched, especially in a Western setting. Despite the growing body of research in non-Western cultures and regions, there is still a lack of research comparing the factors and perceptions of musical talent development between Western and Asian settings. This interview study compared Swiss and Chinese music students’ ( N = 19) musical talent development and the factors influencing musical talent during childhood and adolescence, their professional aims, and their perception of internal and external factors affecting talent development. The students had similar opinions regarding the role of their teachers, the roles of internal and external factors in talent development, and their career goals. However, the students from China and Switzerland differed in their experiences of making and discussing music with peers, in the difficulties experienced during their music education, and in their relationship with their families. The results are a starting point for further comparative research on the perception and development of musical talent, and offer material for a mutual understanding of music students’ backgrounds in countries with differing music education traditions.

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