A Progressive Model of an Instrumental Music Class
Abstract: The intent of this article is to examine how an instrumental music class would look if it were established on progressive ideologies and philosophies. This is a hypothetical description of a curriculum that aims to articulate the effectiveness of juxtaposing music and student-centered learning--in a democratic setting–albeit, conservative progressivism. The article is segmented into sections that break down elements of implementation and concludes with comparisons of various learning theories.
Program Goals for an Instrumental Course
The goal of an instrumental music program is to provide opportunities for students to experience music as a source of inner enrichment, as a mode for the constructive expression of human emotions, and as a unique intellectual discipline. This goal will be attained through a structured, sequential program of study. Students will develop an intellectual understanding of music through experiences in singing, moving, listening, and playing instruments. They will learn to read and notate music, and to create compositions that transcribe their thoughts and emotions into concrete, musical forms of human expression. Students will exercise their critical thinking skills by investigating and analyzing all facets of the music discipline, employing both progressive modes of instruction and the latest technological advancements. Through active involvement in music, students of this program will build a foundation for a lifetime of participation in and enjoyment of music (RCPS, 2010).
Description of Curriculum
Winds and Percussion (9-12)
This curriculum is based of the progressive model of learning. There are ample opportunities for students to work collaboratively, share and exchange ideas, make appropriate autonomous decisions. Attention to the whole child will be observed in efforts to develop good learners and well-rounded individuals who are constructive entities in a society. A caring community will be established where the exchange of ideas between individuals will help create strong moral and academic development. A strong commitment to diversity and improving the lives of others will allow students to reach beyond their selves, friends and ethnic groups. Facts and talents will matter--however, only in a context and for a purpose. Musical concepts will inevitably be taught in a manner that is appealing to the students, as to prolong the enjoyment and comprehension of the subject matter. This will take creative efforts on the part of the teacher to reach beyond a conventional method of distributing information. Students will be actively engaged in the learning process through group participation and self-discovery.
The progressive model of education does not account for every aspect of the methods of learning. A complete swing of the pendulum from traditional to radical progressivism empowers too much freedom as the rule of the classroom, disconnecting the relationship between the teacher and the student by allowing the students to be unconstrained by the educator. Considered by many to be the greatest educational thinker of the 20th century, John Dewey continues to strongly influence the design of innovative educational approaches, such as a child-centered education, collaborative communities and experiential therapies. Nonetheless, even he had key reservations about a total reliance of extreme progressivism. Dewey (1902) stated the following:
The problem with progressive education is that freedom alone is no solution. Learning needs a structure and order, and must be based on a clear theory of experience, not simply the whim of teachers or students.
Dewey proposed that education be designed on the basis of a theory of experience. We must keep in mind the nature of how humans have the experiences they do in order to design effective education. A teacher develops an experience-based set of lessons in conjunction with their ideas of what is to be learned, how it will be learned and who is to learn it. It is this principle of channeled freedom that is vital in refuting the misunderstood ideologies of the progressive model— a lack of authoritarian, strict, preordained control yielding results of an unstructured classroom without standards (Kohn, 1999). It is up to the teacher who must be patient, creative, determined and energetic to establish an environment that treads the fine line of student empowerment directed by a guided presence of an educator.
In the instrumental class, the characteristics of learning and teaching - as mentioned above will be implemented through a developmental approach. A true democracy will be established. Students’ ideas will be welcomed in tandem with the teacher’s objectives and goals for each lesson, unit, performance and overall goals of the program. A spiral curriculum will be adhered to, as to build upon and accentuate prior knowledge. The teacher will establish the parameters of what musical concepts the students are to learn and set up activities (aside from the conventional rehearsal setting) that engage students in full throttle learning. Such activities include movement games, compositional and improvisational based projects, small group performances of musical material and personal reflections of the music. The latter activity is crucially vital to the over design of the program and goals clearly stated above. The teacher will guide students in meaningful conversations about the emotional and aesthetic values of particular music and music in general, as to add meaning of what is being taught to the students lives.
Rationale
The heart of this fastidious curriculum focuses on the individual and accommodates their abilities to learn utilizing a community that has a significant interest in their achievement. Therefore, the effects of this curriculum will lead to a prolonged interest and sincere appreciation to music. With all of the group activities, individual development and meaningful learning, there is potential for a restoration of hope in genuine compassion for the arts, education and humanity on a large scale. In this instrumental program there are attempts to pull from the child’s own ideas, thoughts and personal expression through their creative work. Here students are respected as capable, contributing human beings that are constructive in their endeavors to better themselves, students around them and the program at large. A quality music education that utilizes the whole-child, focused on their developmental abilities, while promoting self-reliance to better the group, will prevail in successfully reaching students in a noticeable and profound way. I believe in the nine national standards for music education. This approach is a philosophical basis for why the standards are important.
Instructional Strategies
In order to effectively teach high school band several strategies will be necessary. While rehearsing a large ensemble on selected quality literature, the teacher will use methods of modeling, ear training exercises, critical reflections (including personal, historical and cultural) of musical passages and literature, analyzing performances and recorded music, compositional and improvisational projects and singing and performing on instruments. Technologies such as computer-based learning, keyboards, PowerPoint lectures and accompaniment CD’s will supplement the learning strategies.
Content Sequencing
In the instrumental music class, a student can learn basic concepts that make up the general structure of all types of music. Students are typically expected to have participated in a middle school band program that introduces the fundamentals of music and paves the path for future musical growth. The sequential model that fits the best in a high school band is one that introduces a concept and then builds off it by using previously learned ideas and expands in a more complex manner. All along the students are discovering how a concept exists and is used in a more complex fashion of critical-thinking and problem solving.
We use scales as the basis for tonality and establishing a key center for a piece of music. The students are relying of previous (existing) knowledge and then relating that information to the key signature of the music—coming to typically definitive conclusions on the tonality of the piece, based on what notes will be systematically present in relation to a congruent outline that forms the foundation of music tonality—the diatonic scale. Thus, this is the path in which instructional devices take in order to achieve deeper understanding of subject matter. Put more simply, start basic and continue on towards complexity through diplomatic sessions of guided instruction that promotes discovery learning and critical reflections.
Physical Layout of the Classroom
The room should reflect that of a typical band room full of instruments, chairs and stands and music technology. There should be a sufficient amount of space ideal for maximal learning in a rehearsal or musical games and activities in which movement is necessary (Walker, 1998). The typical chair/stand setup will comprise of 3-4 rows, progressively getting large as the setup moves away from the podium. Behind the last row will be the percussion instrument. Keyboards for students to use are placed along the walls with a piano available for the teacher.
This room should be a welcoming environment full of student achievement in the form of projects and assignments displayed all over the room. I strongly caution against the display of trophies as the overwhelming promotion of student achievement. They can certainly be present, but not to overshadow true educational outcomes that accurately show off achievement in the journey of an educational experience (Rideout, 1990).
Accommodating Individual Differences
Individual needs are met due to the curricular mode of educating. With a child at the center of the learning process, it is easier to adapt to their distinctions This model is not rooted in the “one size fits all” paradigm, thus, by virtue or sheer existence, allows for individual development to be celebrated. The natural process by which these students learn is the essential factor in determining the pace of acquiring knowledge of concepts (Tunks, 1990). Furthermore, the collaboration of the community can expedite the individual learning process as the exchanging of ideas occurs. There is room to utilize the theory of multiple intelligences as a prescription of recognizing different ways in which people learn. A teacher who implements the progressive model has significant room to accommodate any learner with a multitude of differences.
Student Evaluation
Students will engage in self-evaluation and peer evaluation and a teacher evaluation will take place. Through-out the process of in-class performances, composition-sharing or presentations, there will be opportunities for class discussion. Students will also contribute to their individual portfolios every assignment they complete, that will be checked by the instructor on a continuous basis, so positive feedback can be administered to the student. Students will always have a chance to improve their work before the final grade deadline is reached.
Comparison of Learning Theories
The nature of this curricular design sets a practical basis to implement a comprehensive musicianship approach to teaching musicianship. There several common characteristics between the underlying philosophical idea of teaching and the practical approach that is administered in a comprehensive manner. The focus on the student and their appreciation and knowledge of the aesthetics of music, is a key aspect that bounds the two together. Of course, both seek to direct students in deep understanding of the material using methods of critical thinking and higher level understanding. The literature-based approach is a fantastic way of establishing a way to engage students in activities, self-directed learning and personal reflection.
There are also many learning theories that share similar attributes of the developmental approach. Jean Piaget believed that the developmental stages of a child’s life dictates how they learn and what they are capable of learning. This is a clear depiction of attending to the child’s needs and not coercively throwing content at them based on what they should know. Jerome Bruner also shared a common belief with Piaget and Dewey of developmental stages. On the side of experiential learning, Carl Rodgers, most notably, gives a description of a teacher as one who facilitates learning. His Humanism approach, debunks the traditional way of teaching in a liberal education model, where the teacher is the center of transmission (Kearsley, 2001).
Perhaps one of the largest adversaries to the learning and discipline strategies of progressive education are the behaviorists. In this particular model, student behavior is controlled through means of external factors. Really, the root of controlling a student’s behavior stems from the infamous studies and research of Pavlov and his dogs—classical and operant conditioning. There has been an incarnation from classical behaviorism into what we use in a contemporary setting of eliciting human responses, and that is “pop” behaviorism. The core belief of this revived theory is reward “do this and you’ll get that” or punishment, “if you don’t do this, I’ll do this to you,” (Kohn, 1999).
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