Tell them to teach all the kids as they are.
Are music educators teaching “all the kids as they are”? If not, why not?
We teach what we know. What is it that music teachers know?
What is the musicianship that teachers are learning?
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Requirements for the B.M. in Music Education: Michigan State University 3 1/2 years of applied lessons (piano, strings, brass, woodwinds, percussion, voice)
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3 1/2 years of major ensemble
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1 year class piano 2 1/2 years theory/aural skills
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1 1/2 years history/ literature
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1 year conducting intro to music education
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3 tracks: instrumental, strings, choral/general
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methods classes (dependent on track): elementary general, secondary general, instrumental, choral
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class instruments/voice (dependent on track)
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education classes: ed psych, school and society, classroom methods
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1/2 year student teaching
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Requirements for the B.M. in Music Education: Michigan State University 3 1/2 years of applied lessons (piano, strings, brass, woodwinds, percussion, voice)
•
3 tracks: instrumental, strings, choral/general
•
methods classes (dependent on track): elementary general, secondary general, instrumental, choral
•
class instruments/voice (dependent on track)
•
education classes: ed psych, school and society, classroom methods
•
1/2 year student teaching
1959
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3 1/2 years of major ensemble
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1 year class piano
2 1/2 years theory/aural skills
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1 1/2 years history/ literature
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1 year conducting intro to music education
Should we be teaching music educators the same musicianship that teachers in 1959 learned?
A New Kind of Musicianship for a New Era in Music Education John Kratus Modern Band Colloquium Fort Collins, Colorado • July 8, 2018
Outline •
How has musicianship been taught in academic settings?
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Two eras of American music education
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A new era in American music education
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What’s past is prologue?
Outline •
How has musicianship been taught in academic settings?
•
Two eras of American music education
•
A new era in American music education
•
What’s past is prologue?
If we teach what we know, what are colleges teaching pre-service music teachers about music?
1795
First secular music conservatory – Conservatoire National de Musique et d’Art Dramatique – opened in Paris to replace the apprenticeship model of educating professional musicians
The Apprenticeship System
Beethoven
Mozart
conservatorio – an orphanage, usually attached to a hospital conservati – orphans orphans given music instruction at state expense to provide musicians for church and state functions
Opera de Paris (1875) Classical music was a growth industry
1807 - Milan 1808 - Naples 1811 - Prague 1817 - Vienna 1822 - London 1843 - Leipzig 1866 - Oberlin 1867 - New England 1867 - Boston 1868 - Peabody
These conservatories are largely a 19thcentury invention, designed in an era obsessed with the child protégé, whose principal raison d’être was the fostering of solo as well as rank-and-file talent for the burgeoning orchestras and opera houses at the mainstay of European musical life a century ago. (Bruno, 2006)
Course of • Study
• 19th C. Conservatory •
extensive small group instruction focusing on a single instrument or voice in the classic tradition
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extensive conductor-led large ensemble or opera experience with 19th C. repertoire
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some piano study
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multiple years of theory emphasizing written notation and solfege
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historical study of European music literature
Course of Study • 21st C. School of Music • 19th C. Conservatory • •
extensive small group instruction focusing on a single instrument or voice in the classic tradition extensive conductor-led large ensemble or opera experience with 19th C. repertoire
•
some piano study
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multiple years of theory emphasizing written notation and solfege
•
historical study of European music literature
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extensive private instruction focusing on a single instrument or voice in the classic tradition
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extensive conductor-led large ensemble or opera experience with primarily 19th C. repertoire
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some piano study
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multiple years of theory emphasizing written notation and solfege
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historical study of primarily European music literature
What musical values are taught in a conservatory?
• The only REAL music is classical music. • The function of rehearsals and practice is to learn to perform pieces flawlessly.
• Music is learned from a page. • The director’s job is to make musical decisions and enforce them.
• The ultimate goal is a perfect performance.
Should the musical training of 21st-century music educators be nearly identical to that of 19thcentury performers preparing to join orchestras and opera companies?
no
Outline •
How has musicianship been taught in academic settings?
•
Two eras of American music education
•
A new era in American music education
•
What’s past is prologue?
Singing School Era (1840-1930) Large Ensemble Era (1930-2020)
Music Education is strongest when it meets societal needs.
Lowell Mason
• Both previous eras of music education
were, in essence, popular music education. The definition of “popular music” was different in each era.
• The popular music of the “singing school
era” was primarily religious, patriotic, and folk music. What we think of today as American folk songs (e.g., “Clementine,” “Camptown Races”) were popular songs back then.
Singing hymns in the street, San Francisco, 1894
They sang not to prepare for a performance but for the pure pleasure of singing together.
The twin goals of music literacy and improvement in singing were employed in the musical experience of the day: religious services and community sings. Music concerts were rare. Musical experience was primarily vocal and participatory. Music was learned by rote or through music notation.
The singing school approach was first used in grades 4-8, and later in the 19th century primary grades were added. Music as a part of the high school curriculum came much more slowly.
Although techniques varied, music literacy and singing development remained the two primary goals of vocal music education on into the 20th century with the methods
of Kodaly, Orff, and Gordon. A case can be made that the singing school era exists to this day, in the form of elementary general music.
The Large Ensemble Era supplanted the Singing School Era as the dominant form
of music education in American schools.
Instrumental ensembles began appearing in public schools at the end of the 19th century as after-school activities.
In 1921 approximately 10% of the high school students in the Los Angeles Public Schools performed in a school orchestra, half of which were taught as school subjects during the school day.
What did these orchestras look like?
In 1919 a survey by Edward Bailey Birge of instrumental ensembles in schools in 26 states found that the ratio of orchestras to bands was 3 to 1. Ten years later this ratio was reversed. What happened?
The traveling professional bands of John Philip Sousa and Patrick Gilmore helped to popularize the band. Although they performed some high-quality music, they were master showmen, interested in entertaining their audiences.
Outdoor band concert in New Jersey, 1907
Community bands reached the peak of their popularity in 1890. At that time, there was one community band for every 5,000 people in the United States. Today, there is one community band for every 120,000 people in the U.S.
THAT’S how pervasive band music was in America at the end of the 19th century.
Band music was THE popular music of its day.
Why was band music so popular? One reason:
it was LOUD, suitable for outdoor performances in an era before amplification.
Some instruments were suitable for outdoor performance. Others were not. Scene from Woody Allen’s “Take the Money and Run”
Between 1910 and 1920
the popularity of band music faded rapidly. Possible reasons: the phonograph shrinking number of outdoor performance venues the emergence of jazz as a new form of popular music
• • •
The shrinking number of community bands adversely affected the fortunes of the American companies that made band instruments. The Band Instrument Manufacturers Association went looking for a new market.
The Schools Band Contest of America Chicago, 1923
• Organized by Carl Greenleaf, president of C.G. Conn and president of the Band Instrument Manufacturers Association.
• Advertised to schools across the United States.
• Promotional materials said that 200 bands would compete. Only 30 showed up.
Big, big publicity for school bands
• But reporters couldn’t figure out why
BAND music, a style of music that was no longer popular, was being promoted. They guessed that the instrument manufacturers were using the contest to “make jazzier jazz bands” (Chicago Daily News, June 6, 1923).
• One African-American jazz band did
compete, and a student from another school band was quoted as saying, “If only we could play jazz.”
The contest was a public relations bonanza, and future contests were planned. The instrument manufacturers did not want the contests to appear to have a commercial motive, so they paid NAfME to organize and promote annual band contests nationally and in every state.
And so a genre of school music was created from the popular music of a bygone era. Many schools created school bands as a means to compete (and win!) against other schools. Soon orchestras, choirs, and even general music classes developed their own contests to emulate the success of the band contests.
Alumni Band, Michigan State University, 1987
Large ensembles have provided an excellent music education for thousands of students. But has the Large Ensemble Era overstayed its welcome?
Between 1999 and 2004 in California student enrollment in elective music classes decreased by 50%. During the same period, student enrollment in art, dance, and theater INCREASED. In 1985 19% of high school students in Florida were enrolled in ensembles. By 2005 this figure had dropped to less than 10%.
Why are we hanging onto the large ensemble system that was developed in the industrialized America? It made sense when we were a highly industrialized manufacturing society. It made a lot of sense that music evolved to help large groups of unrelated people learn to work in tandem under the direction of one leader. . . But now we are a culture that groups and regroups ourselves, one that supports independence and fluidity among groups. And music, of course, has evolved through small and independent ensembles that create their own music, like garage bands and self-directed ensembles. ~Composer Libby Larson, 2011
New York Times September 8, 2011
Beyond Baby Mozart, Students Who Rock By David Bornstein “Music education hasn’t changed fundamentally since the 1970s. Students are still taught to read notation so they can recite compositions that they would never listen to on their MP3 players or play with friends.”
USAToday October 2, 2011
How to Enliven and Save School Music By David Sall “The primary reason for the dwindling number of students is very likely an ever-increasing disconnect between the traditional bandorchestra-choir conservatory method of teaching — largely geared toward helping students to become professional musicians in classical ensembles — and the way that high school students listen to and experience music today.”
Many high school students are satisfied by the procedural rigors and limited choices of marching band or mixed choir. However, humanistic music educators understand that the children in their care are not “sopranos” or “saxophones” producing a concert product. They are individuals with unique needs and ideas and desires.
Are we “teaching all the kids as they are”?
Outline •
How has musicianship been taught in academic settings?
•
Two eras of American music education
•
A new era in American music education
•
What’s past is prologue?
Apple iPod Poster, 2005
Music Education 3.0 ???
Popular Music Education • Engages students with music that is familiar and meaningful to them.
• Employs instruments and vocal styles congruent with contemporary music.
• Enhances students’ performing, listening, creating (arranging, songwriting, and composing), and cultural/historical understandings.
• Is unique to each school setting and not dependent on a uniform set of standards, procedures, and repertoire.
• Is popular, meaning that it changes over time.
Music Education 3.0
• • • • • • •
Sustainable Socially responsible Global and local Safe Individually expressive Collaborative Life-affirming
In Higher Education • Open the doors to enable popular musicians to become music education majors.
• Eliminate tracking to allow students with any performance backgrounds to take popular music methods courses.
• Teach vernacular musicianship in all music methods courses.You know that the performance faculty won’t do it!
In Elementary Schools • Introduce students to vernacular musicianship, not just notational literacy.
• Teach students that creating music is more important than technical perfection.
• Use contemporary song repertoire.Young children like popular music, too.
• Follow your own musicianship and your students’ interests.
In Secondary Schools • Supplement or replace traditional ensembles with
performing groups with varied instrumentation/voices.
• Offer classes based in creativity (e.g. songwriting), listening/
culture (e.g. history of film music), and technology (e.g. audio recording).
• Provide pathways for students of any grade or proficiency level to participate in music.
• Get off the contest/festival track for your students’ sake. • Follow your own musicianship and your students’ interests.
Outline •
How has musicianship been taught in academic settings?
•
Two eras of American music education
•
A new era in American music education
•
What’s past is prologue?
Warning!!! Popular music education should NOT replicate the Large Ensemble Era, with its uniform standards, teaching procedures, instrumentation, emphasis on public concerts, and repertoire. Popular music education is not simply traditional music education with contemporary instruments and repertoire. Popular music education should change over time to keep up with changing musical styles, technology, student interests, and the social needs of our communities.
Consider the school orchestras of the early 20th century • The instrumentation of the ensemble varied from school to school. The ensembles accommodated whatever instrumental interests students had.
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The music had to fit the kids, instead of the kids having to fit the music.
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The aim was to make music together, not put on shows and earn high ratings.
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Teachers and students would have had to arrange the music for their own unique ensemble.
Are the music teachers graduating from our colleges and universities ready to do that?
The musicianship required is really a very old musicianship and also a musicianship used by most of the world’s musicians.
• • • • •
Learn music by ear
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Understand the musical uses of contemporary technology.
Improvise music Arrange music Compose music Possess a thorough knowledge of contemporary music.
Bach and Mozart possessed this type of musicianship, even regarding a knowledge of contemporary technology. Bach was a master organist, which was the most technologically advanced instrument of its time. Mozart composed for the glass harmonica, an instrument invented by his contemporary, Benjamin Franklin.
On college campuses, we need to take back the teaching of musicianship from those who are preparing our students for phantom musical worlds that no longer exist.
Three Musicianship Projects in a Music Methods Class
• Perform a cover song • Perform an arrangement of a song in a different style
• Perform an original song
Musicianship Project 1: Perform a cover song In a team of four to five class members, prepare a performance of a cover version of a popular song that is learned entirely by ear. You may use any combination of instruments and voices. The timbres may be different from the original version, but performers should try to copy exactly the notes in the recording.
Musicianship Project 2: Perform an arrangement of a song in a different style In a team of four to five class members, choose a popular song to perform. Then arrange the song in a style that is completely different from the style in the original recording. The style you select should enhance the song, not simply be weird. The original song should still be recognizable in your performance.
Musicianship Project 3: Perform an original song In a team of four to five class members, compose an original song. Each group member should have some input into the music and/or lyrics of the song. Then arrange the song for performance.
Arrange a Song U2’s “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” Secondary Classroom Music Methods Michigan State University
Student Responses
The only way teachers can really understand this way of learning, creating, and performing music is through firsthand experience in as authentic a context as possible.
Our group created a trusting environment and I felt very encouraged to just explore on my instrument. I had never had that feeling before.
Enhancing my abilities in vernacular musicianship not only gave me countless more opportunities as a music educator, but as an overall musician. I feel lucky to have had these experiences.
In working on these projects it was wonderful to see how much personal ownership and pride and sheer joy were present, aspects that are sadly missing from many students’ large ensemble experiences.
I cannot begin to express how much I have learned from doing just three projects with my band.
Students rediscovered a joy and passion for music making that eluded them in much of their formal music study. After doing the projects, the pre-service teachers were much more receptive to teaching their own students vernacular musicianship.
These are the teachers who will have a chance to teach “all the kids as they are.”
Thank you for your kind attention. For a pdf copy of this presentation, please write to:
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