Taking the Digital Plunge

Meant to serve as a teachers’ guide, this chapter is a result of first-hand experience from a school music teacher whose philosophies, teaching style, and job roles have all evolved over time. Drawing on philosophies such as informal music learning and praxial music education, suggestions for different programs, apps, and websites, sample lesson plans and their implementation for optimal student music engagement are presented. The ideas provided can help support a fully digital lesson or unit with ways to combine these technologies with instruments in the general music classroom and with performance ensembles. Practical insights that will help teachers successfully incorporate technology into the music classroom are given. The results of successfully using technology in the classroom can be seen by increased student engagement and enjoyment while offering the teacher more ways to teach the curriculum.

Introduction

The chapter gives an overview of the main discoveries of the research and a summary of the book containing brief discussions of solfeggio manuscripts, apprenticeships, eighteenth-century solmization, plainchant and score-reading, vocalization and embellishment, melodic structure and form, and the importance of practice rather than theory. The procedure of re-creating the lessons contained in the old manuscripts, and the insights into the pedagogical system they embodied, are discussed. The pre-industrial method of learning to make music—to improvise or compose—is compared to the classroom model adopted by later institutions and still in use today. It relied on informal music learning practices that developed creative skills through listening and copying. The chapter concludes by suggesting potential applications of the historical method to contemporary music pedagogy, performance, composition, and musicianship.

Cultivating Meaningful Personal Learning Networks in an Era of Multimodal and Globalized Music Learning and Education

A continual ebb and flow of technological progressions provide diverse contexts in which music learning, participation, and education can occur. Youth are deeply immersed within a culture of globalized and multimodal knowledge-sharing, through which music learning occurs within formal, nonformal, and informal contexts, both in the physical and online worlds. These interconnected environments provide learners with a diverse collection of tools and resources that enable them to take charge of their own musical learning. Further, they can connect and share with other learners, educators, and experts through their own digitally mediated personal learning networks (PLNs). In these PLNs, extensive repertoires of formal music education combined with informal music learning practices that provide self-directed forums for musical experiences can enable music learners to flourish and adapt to globalized and diverse contexts. Learners cultivate, in their own personally relevant ways, networks of musical knowledge by drawing on the resources and tools available both on- and offline. By examining PLNs supported by multimodal social media resources as well as online forums for sharing and exploring music knowledge, this chapter presents practical examples and applications to inform music educators and classroom practices.

Modern Band and Special Learners

For the greater part of the past 50 years, music educators have advocated for contemporary approaches to music education that reflect the interests of students. This has recently manifested in an approach to music education that scholars call Modern Band. Though the term lacks any one definition, Modern Band classes typically involve popular music making with guitars, drum set, electric bass, and keyboard. Among the features of this approach is a student-centered orientation that is focused on the individual learner. Additionally, Modern Band is rooted in informal music-learning theory, which easily lends itself to the inclusive principles of universal design for learning and differentiated instruction. Because of this, Modern Band may be a perfect fit for inclusive music classrooms.

Finding the “both/and”: Balancing informal and formal music learning

This article explores the informal and formal learning experiences of 20 activist-musicians. Multiple activist-musicians utilized the informal learning strategies Green identifies. More than half of the participants, however, bemoaned the lack of more formal music education. They noted that they valued informal musical learning practices and also wished that they had experienced more of a balance between formal and informal music learning strategies in their music education. Many of the participants identified as being self-taught. In interviews, they shared ideas about teaching themselves and “figuring things out” musically. They discussed both wanting to move away from theory and needing theory. They further preferred a structured approach to education before moving to a more “free” pedagogy. Ultimately, they noted that the human relationships intrinsic to musicking may transcend the need for “training.” This article concludes by exploring implications of implementing a balance between formal and informal learning for K-12 schooling and teacher education.

Learning through praise: How Christian worship band musicians learn

Popular music education continues to increase in North American educational settings. While popular music teaching and learning are recognized in a variety of contexts, contemporary Christian church praise bands have not been significantly addressed in music education literature. In addressing this gap, the purpose of this study is to examine the musicking practices occurring in the contemporary worship music (CWM) context and how these lead contemporary Christian musicians to acquire and develop their musical skills. Green’s five principles of informal music learning were found to apply in part, yet other distinctive features were also present in study findings. Themes such as elitism, excellence, hierarchies of musical engagement, and inclusion/exclusion of worshippers and the congregation also arose, providing interesting areas for future research.

Listen to the tastemakers: Building an urban arts high school music curriculum

In partnership with academics from McGill University and community arts partners, a high school in Montreal faced with significant challenges became an “urban arts school,” offering music and visual art programs centered in youth culture, as well as integrating arts into several academic subjects. The initiative was inspired by the school’s popular extra-curricular activities, which included a Hip Hop literacy club that ran beat making and rap writing workshops. Considering the popularity of these activities, the school decided to offer a music education program focused on musical skills through real-life music making activities that resemble those employed by popular musicians. This article chronicles the development of this music education program from the perspective of the music teacher, including the experience of continual adaptation to the needs and interests of students. The program is one of the first to combine Musical Futures, an approach to music education that promotes the combination of non-formal music teaching, informal music learning, and students’ interest in a formal school setting, with Hip Hop Based Music Education, predominantly located in community settings. This case study showed that students benefited from having an open-minded and committed educator with experience in popular musics. The co-teaching by professional Hip Hop artists also supported student progress and engagement by adding authenticity to the music making process. Furthermore, the alignment of the music program with the general school ethos contributed to its success. The paper also highlights the need to balance the development of musical skills with student engagement, and the informal music learning philosophy of Musical Futures with direct instruction associated with formal school settings.

Integrating popular music and informal music learning practices: A multiple case study of secondary school music teachers enacting change in music education

The purpose of this multiple case study was to examine the practices and perspectives of four music teachers who integrated popular music and informal music learning practices into their secondary school music programs in the United States. A primary goal was to understand music teachers’ process of enacting change. Data included 16 semi-structured interviews, eight school site visits and observations, documents, and a researcher journal. Findings revealed that teachers enacted change within micro-contexts—their classrooms. Teachers had an internal locus for change; they developed rationales for change and initiated curricular changes in response to a lack of student engagement, which seemed to stem from students feeling insecure in their musical abilities and disconnected from the content and pedagogy used in music classes. For the teachers in this study, the solution was integrating popular music and informal music learning practices. Thematic analysis revealed eight characteristics of effective teacher-initiated change in secondary music education: (1) holistic and gradual change processes, (2) teacher reflection and inquiry, (3) teacher autonomy, (4) enabling institutional factors, (5) use of a variety of supportive networks, (6) student-centered pedagogy, (7) teacher-selected professional development, and (8) a balance of structure and chaos and formal and informal learning.

Healing bruises: Identity tensions in a beginning teacher’s use of formal and informal music learning

The purpose of this narrative case study was to describe the developing teacher identity of Nicole Downing, a first-year teacher in the US, in her use of both formal and informal learning processes. As music education continues embracing approaches like informal music learning, it should also reflect on the voices of teachers in the field. Data collection included interviews, observations, and participant writings. Findings revealed that Nicole (a) questioned and eventually accepted her music teacher identity, (b) exhibited a dualism between her use of formal and informal music learning processes, and (c) broadened her community’s definition of school music. Nicole used the metaphor of a bruise to describe how she believed some in her undergraduate studies would judge her interest in popular music and creative musicianship, but as she became a music teacher she had agency to incorporate the informal learning she valued. Nicole exhibited a duality in her use of formal and informal learning processes, which were not integrated in her teaching. Ultimately, she developed a broadened definition of school music that she believed was beneficial for students but perceived negatively by other music teachers. Music teacher education should support teachers’ diverse identities and continue to explore the teaching strategies used in facilitating informal music learning experiences.

Constructing Informal Experiences in the Elementary General Music Classroom

Children often spontaneously yet purposefully sing songs or create rhythms outside the formal classroom setting to reflect the ways in which they naturally engage with music. Researchers have studied these informal music learning practices to incorporate these experiences into the classroom to offer lessons that are engaging and better reflective of children’s out-of-school musical worlds. This article offers strategies for teachers to incorporate these practices into an upper elementary general music classroom through combining elements of constructivism and the research of Lucy Green on informal music learning and popular musicians. Informal music learning offers another way of thinking about music learning and providing joyful and meaningful music-making experiences in the classroom.