I learned today that Frances Blaisdell recently passed away. The New York Times has an obituary featuring her historical accomplishments as a flutist who was one of the “early women to play a woodwind instrument with the New York Philharmonic”. I was also upset that before reading this obituary I didn’t know of Ms. Blaisdell or her career with and beyond the New York Philharmonic. Though we have come a long way in music and music education in recognizing gender inequalities and stereotypes, it seems we can do a lot more in helping our students become familiar with and learn about pioneering women throughout the history of music and the important roles they continue to play today. To what extent are women represented in the composers or performers you mention or include in your classroom and ensembles? To what extent are women included in classes that discuss music history? Lisa Hirsch’s also offers some thoughts on Frances Blaisdell’s passing on her blog “Iron Tongue of Midnight”.
If you are interested in issues of gender in music education you might want to look into the MENC Gender Research in Music Education (GRIME) Special Interest Group if you aren’t already involved with it.
Finally, the Feminist Music and Theory 10 Conference, with the theme of improvising and galvanizing, promises to offer some interesting and important perspectives on music.
Thank you to the New York Times for recognizing and sharing the important contributions of Frances Blaisdell and may she rest in peace.
Dave Douglas recently posted a thought provoking email from one of his readers raising questions about practicing, composing, and thinking creatively in music. Both the post and the comments are worth reading and thinking about. While the email deals with a university context it could easily be applied to public school music programs. The lingering questions I’m left with are: “To what extent do we provide opportunities for our students to think creatively in/with music? And for instrumental programs: How does this play out in the ways we encourage our students to practice?
The electronic music foundation is presenting a series of FREE concerts titled “The Human Voice In A New World“. (The New York Times has a review of the first one.) The strand tying the various concerts together is the way the voice can be altered, processed, modified etc. When I first found out about the series I immediately began thinking about the many ways it could serve as a springboard for lessons and forms of musical engagement in both general music classes and ensembles. The easiest ways to enter into this world would probably be through listening to and performing a variety of music that uses vocal processing and/or expanded vocal techniques. Our students, if they listen to the radio, are surely aware of vocal processing (for those of you scratching your heads - listen to some recent T-Pain to get an idea of how autotune processing and vocoders are being used in Hip Hop and R &B )
Why not bridge their experiences with autotune with other expansions and processing of voice?
One helpful resource is “The inner or deep part of an animal or plant structure” the making of Bjork’s Medulla album - an album created almost entirely with voice (of course processed and manipulated and a wide variety of ways). The documentary is fascinating in both tracing Bjork’s thinking through the creation of the music on the album and also the myriad number of ways the collaborating artists used their voices in addition to the way the voices were treated.
From there an endless variety of extensions are available, whether exploring other artists/composers who use their voices in unique ways (Meredith Monk or Theo Bleckmann come to mind) or world cultures that use voice differently than that in traditional Western classical music
(Tuvan Throat singing perhaps?)
Again, there are hundreds of directions one may go.
Whether you work with students in a chorus or general music classroom why not get out a Kaoss Pad or favorite digital effects processor and have students explore the endless possibilities of sound and music they can create with their voices?
For those of you interested in music education research, the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Conference schedule is now available. This annual conference is always full of phenomenal research sessions in a very wide array of disciplines. Here’s a quick look at the sessions sponsored by the Music Education Special Interest Group:
Monday April 13th
12:00 - 1:30 Current Issues in Music Learning and Teaching
Session Participants:
Chair: Ronald P. Kos (Boston University)
From Transfer to Transformation: A Preliminary Inquiry Into Educational Leadership and Powerful Experiences in Music Education Janet Erin Cape (Arizona State University)
Metaphorical Process and the Birth of Meaningful Musical Rationality in Beginning Instrumentalists Sharon g Davis (Cool Spring Elementary School, Oakland University)
Behind Closed Doors: Emotional Abuse in the Music Studio Linda Jean Macarthur (OISE/University of Toronto)
SoundScapes: An Interdisciplinary Music Intervention for Adolescents and Young Adults on the Autism Spectrum Gena R. Greher (University of Massachusetts - Lowell)Ashleigh Hillier (University of Massachusetts - Lowell)
Discussant: Peter Whiteman (Macquarie University)
2:15 - 3:45 Current Issues in Music Learning and Teaching
Session Participants:
Chair: Linda K. Thompson (Lee University)
Hearing the “Voice” of Students and Teachers in Music Education Research Hearing the Voice of Nonsingers Through Narrative Methodology Colleen Marie Whidden (University of Calgary)
The Effects of Children’s Choir Participation on Musical Identity DevelopmentMelissa Mills (University of Maryland)
The Experiences of Elementary Music Teachers Participating in a Collaborative Teacher Study Group Ann Marie Stanley (University of Rochester)
“To Think in the Perspective of Each Child:” A Student-Centered Music Teacher’s Beliefs and Practices Janet R. Barrett (Northwestern University)
Discussant: Mark Robin Campbell (SUNY - College at Potsdam)
4:05-5:35 Research on Music Teaching in Urban Schools
Session Participants:
Chair: Donna Brink Fox (University of Rochester)
Perceptions of Effective Teaching and Preservice Preparation for Urban Elementary General Music Classrooms Lisa J Lehmberg (University of Massachusetts - Amherst)
A Case Study of Three Urban Music Teachers in the Second Stage of Their Teaching Careers John Eros (University of Michigan)
Meanings Urban String Music Educators Attribute to Their Work Margaret Schmidt (Arizona State University)
The Process of Conducting Mixed-Methods Research in Music Education Kate Fitzpatrick (University of Michigan)
Discussant: Jacqueline H. Wiggins (Oakland University)
Tuesday April 14th
8:15 - 9:45 Research on P-12 Teaching and Learning in Music
Session Participants:
Chair: Frank Heuser (University of California - Los Angeles)
Inside/Outside: School Music on “The Line” Wesley Brewer (Arizona State University)
Gaining Footing on Shifting Sands: The Influence of the Band on Middle School Students’ Identities Adria R Hoffman (University of Maryland - College Park)
Music Education in Homeschooling: Jamie’s Story Jeananne Nichols (Olivet College)
An Exploration of After-School Popular Music Ensembles Dale E. Bazan (University of Nebraska - Lincoln)
Discussant: Mary Ellen Cavitt (Texas State University)
10:35 - 12:05 The Study of Identity in Music Education Research
Session Participants:
Chair: Sandra L. Stauffer (Arizona State University)
“And That Is Why Girls Do Not Compose Music”: A Qualitative Examination of Undergraduate Compositional Identity Bruce Allen Carter (University of Maryland - College Park)
Fostering and Sustaining Music Teacher Identity in the Student Teaching Experience Tami Draves (The University of Arizona)
An Exploration of Socialization and Occupational Identity Among Undergraduate Music Majors James R. Austin (University of Colorado) Daniel S. Isbell (Ithaca College) Joshua A. Russell (University of Arkansas)
The Performing Professor: Issues of Identity and Work of Artist/Musicians in Academe Terry Sefton (University of Windsor) Jonathan Gardner Bayley (University of Windsor)
Discussant: Janet R. Barrett (Northwestern University)
3:05-3:45 Paper Discussions 38
Planning and Assessment Processes of High School Band Directors Dale E. Bazan (University of Nebraska - Lincoln)
An Investigation of the Effect of Movable-Do and Fixed-Do Solfege Instructions on Development of the Sightsinging Skills of 7- and 8-Year-Old Children< Alena Vladimirovna Holmes (University of Wisconsin - Whitewater)
A Situated Perspective on Learning Through Teaching Klaus Nielsen (University of Aarhus)
The Effect of Computer-Mediated Observation on Preservice Music Teacher Lesson Analysis Skills in an Early Field Experience Kevin T. Shorner-Johnson (University of Georgia)
Student Musicians’ Ear-Playing Ability as a Function of Vernacular Music Experiences Robert H. Woody (University of Nebraska - Lincoln) Andreas Lehmann (Hochschule für Musik, Würzburg, Germany)
4:05-4:45 Paper Discussions 39
Strategies for Composing Educational Music Bernard W. Andrews (University of Ottawa) Murry Dineen (University of Ottawa) Robert Flynn (University of Ottawa)
The Acquisition and Importance of Functional Piano Within the Field of Music Therapy Theresa Chardos Camilli (University of Oklahoma)
Effects of Chamber Music Experience on Achievement and Attitudes of Band Students Danelle Larson (Arizona State University)
Theoretical Considerations for World Percussion Curriculum in Higher Education Robert Guy Schoville (University of Wisconsin - Madison)
Senior Adult Music Learning and Participation: A Multiple Case Study of a New Horizons Band and Orchestra Samuel Tsugawa (Arizona State University)
I just returned from the 2009 Arizona Music Educators Association In-Service (conference). I had a great time attending sessions, and meeting many wonderful people.
Be it resolved that we, the undersigned, agree that all Americans should work to enhance and support music
education in our nation’s schools. To that end, we call on the U.S. Department of Education and all American
leaders to:
• Mandate that music and the other arts be part of every child’s core curriculum;
• Ensure music and the other arts are included as a part of a balanced education addressing the whole
child, to prepare them for the creative thinking necessary for success in the work force of the future;
• Ensure qualified music teachers and sequential curricula be recognized as the basis for providing
all students with substantive education in music and the other arts;
• Ensure programs in music and the other arts provide rigorous instruction, monitor progress and
performance through meaningful assessment, and take place within a structure of accountability to
school officials, parents, and the community.
Be it therefore resolved that the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, also known
as No Child Left Behind, not only identify music as a core subject, but also recognize music education as a
mandatory component of every public education curriculum in the United States of America.
I really enjoyed presenting two different sessions at the conference. I posted handouts in the presentations section of the blog under “AMEA 09″
Four quick bits of information related to my sessions.
First related to the session “Improvisation, Exploration, & Experimentation in General Music”
Someone pointed out to me today that R. Murray Schafer’s book “A Sound Education” is not available on most online book sites.
You can purchase “A Sound Education” directly from Arcana books. The site doesn’t take advantage of an online shopping system so you’ll need to click on “order,” download and print out a form, and then mail it in.
Second, related to the same session. A couple of people were trying to remember the names of some of the electronic instruments we used. The small yellow electronic devices/instruments that were scattered around the room were Korg Kaossilators, the larger black one that was processing the signal from the microphone was a Korg KP3 (Kaoss Pad), and the large electronic drum pad in the back of the room was a Roland HPD-15. Since I adopted the spirit of improvisation, exploration, & experimentation and refrained from providing directions on how to use them - here’s a video from YouTube that outlines some basic functions and timbres available on the Kaossilator. It’s worth it to search through YouTube for additional videos to get an idea of what they are each capable of beyond the ways you used them or saw/heard them being performed in the session :
Fourth, related to the session “From bytes to beats: Popular music pedagogy through web-based technology”:
I spoke briefly about Lawrence Lessig and Creative Commons when discussing issues of copyright. I just found out that Lessig was recently “interviewed” by Stephen Colbert on the Colbert Report about his newest book “Remix”. You can watch original interview footage and a series of remixes of the footage in the spirit of his “discussion” with Colbert on Lessig’s blog.
If you end up applying any of the ideas/concepts in your classroom I’d love to hear about how it works out. Also feel free to contact me with any questions/comments about the sessions. You can find my contact information on the top of the handouts.
A fascinating “Debate on Arts Education”, hosted by ArtsJournal’s Douglas McLennan took place on an artsjournal blog from Dec 1st-5th. The entire dialogue is archived on the blog. It is especially interesting to get a sense of where each contributor is coming from and consider their perspectives within the context of the roles they play in the arts. Unfortunately it does not seem that any public school arts educators or students were involved as invited bloggers. Of course, since everything is archived and comments are still enabled the dialogue can still continue through each of the individual posts, and the blogosphere in general. Why not continue the debate with our own students?
Here is the post that started the “Debate”:
By Douglas McLennan
For decades, as teaching of the arts has been cut back in our public schools, alarms have been raised about the dire consequences for American culture. Artists and arts organizations stepped in to try to…
take up some of the slack. Foundations funded programs to take art into the schools. But producers of art aren’t primarily in the education business. Schools increasingly focused on meeting basic skills benchmarks have less and less time to make room for study of the arts. And technology has spawned a vast, crowded, and alluring marketplace of creativity competing for attention. New research Cultivating Demand for the Arts: Arts Learning, Arts Engagement, and State Arts Policy by RAND and sponsored by The Wallace Foundation [abstract here] suggests that a generation of Americans has not developed the knowledge or skills to engage with our cultural heritage. Without that engagement, the arts as we know them are unsustainable over the long run. Can anything be done?
Sam Hope, executive director, The National Office for Arts Accreditation (NOAA); Jack Lew, Global University Relations Manager for Art Talent at EA; Laura Zakaras, RAND; James Cuno, Director, Art Institute of Chicago; Richard Kessler, Executive Director, Center for Arts Education; Eric Booth, Actor; Midori, Violinist; Bau Graves, Executive director, Old Town School of Folk Music; Kiff Gallagher, Founder & CEO of the Music National Service Initiative and MusicianCorps Bennett Reimer, Founder of the Center for the Study of Education and the Musical Experience, author of A Philosophy of Music Education; Edward Pauly, the director of research and evaluation at The Wallace Foundation; Moy Eng, Program Director of the Performing Arts Program at The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation; John Rockwell, critic; Susan Sclafani, Managing Director, Chartwell Education Group; Jane Remer, Author, Educator, Researcher Michael Hinojosa, General Superintendent, Dallas Independent School District Peter Sellars, director
It’s worth the time to read through the various debate posts. After reflecting on the debate or any of the individual posts why not continue the dialogue, here, there, on your own blog, or in your own schools/classrooms?
Music has always played an integral role throughout history in dissolving barriers and bringing people together. The Lesbian and Gay Band Association , with musician members from across the country, will be the first LGBT group in the history of the United States to march as a contingent in an inaugural parade. Along with many other bands across the nation, the LGBA was invited by Barack Obama’s Presidential Inaugural Committee to march in the upcoming innaugural parade. This is not the band’s first time participating in an innauguration. During Bill Clinton’s innauguration they performed on the sidewalk but were not permitted to march in the actual parade. A web-based initiative called in the parade details the history of the LGBA’s involvement in the presidential innauguration and the effort to have the band march in Obama’s innaugural parade.
A member of the Lesbian and Gay Band Association recently announced this historic occasion on YouTube:
This news offers a potential entry point to discussing the various ways music plays a role in our society and history as well the way it can act as a powerful force that transcend barriers to equity and justice.
The creation of a collaborative orchestra project by YouTube, Michael Tilson Thomas and others is one of the most exciting classical music initiatives I’ve seen in a while.
Harnessing the power of the internet, tapping into the notions of participatory culture, and drawing on the abilities of instrumentalists across the world, YouTube’s Symphony Orchestra project has tremendous implications for music educators.
What role might music educators play in the YouTube Symphony Orchestra Project? What role might our students play?
Why not get started on integrating this project into our curricula?!
Let’s have our students learn about the music of Tan Dun, the composer of the original work at the center of the project!
Let’s have our instrumental students practicing and performing the music, possibly even submitting their auditions for the project!
Let’s have our general music and instrumental students commenting and critiquing the various performance videos submitted to the site!
Let’s have our students create Theme and Variations based on Tan Dun’s composition for school ensembles or chamber groups to play !
Let’s have our school music programs create similar projects where students compose music and various schools collaborate, creating performances with students from across the country!
Let’s have our students remixing, and re-performing these performances and music submissions, posting them on school websites or even performing them at a school concert!
Let’s treat this as an experiment in new models of collaborative musical engagement and develop ways of integrating this project into our own music programs!
These ideas are just the tip of iceberg…… Think creatively about how you might work this project into your program.
An unfortunate reality for many music educators is that school districts often block access to YouTube. Obviously a project of this nature offers possibilities and issues of privacy that must be sorted out, thought through, and discussed in the context of school music programs. Even if your school cannot participate directly with the YouTube Symphony Orchestra Project online, there are many additional ways it can be integrated, modified and/or transformed in ways most appropriate for your local context.
If you do have some ideas or plan on participating in some way make sure to leave a comment and consider collaborating with others.
Thanks to Peter Webster for bringing to my attention an article in the Chronicle regarding a new guide to using copyrighted material in the classroom. The Guide entitled ” The Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education” is free to download in pdf format. While focusing on media literacy, this guide offers extremely valuable information for music educators. While much of the public discourse on copyright focuses on violations and lawsuits, far less is discussed about fair use doctrine and students’/teachers’ rights. If you make use of media in your classroom it’s worth your time to take a look at the guide. While you’re at it -take a look at popular music scholar Philip Tagg’s perspective and experience on the use of YouTube clips in music education and how he navigated fair use in terms of takedown notices he received. We can learn much from his experiences. Finally if you haven’t taken a look at the Creative Commons project and discussed copyright alternatives with your students, now might be a great time to do so.
Today in my secondary general music methods class we discussed how one can use current events as a springboard for classroom discussion and lessons. In the spirit of that discussion I figured I’d write about a recent set of issues relating to the discourse of copyright and the presidential election. I’ve written here about copyright several times before and I always look forward to updates on James Frankel’s “Copyright or Copywrong” series because it’s an issue that I think plays a constant role in our classrooms, especially if we make use of multimedia.
The current event I think I would be addressing right now if I were back in my middle school general music classroom is the recent exchange between Senator McCain’s campaign and YouTube in reference to videos removed from their service as well as the number of musicians who have invoked their copyright to demand McCain stop using their music in his campaign. On one level it’s an interesting and concrete way to frame discourse around copyright and the Digital Millenium Copyright Act and on the other it’s a way to shift the discourse of copyright beyond the ongoing focus on the RIAA’s lawsuits over illegally downloaded music.
While a potentially tricky topic to discuss in class due to the political realities of a presidential election taking place, if facilitated skillfully, a discussion in a secondary general music class might provide students with a real life scenario to discuss copyright issues that might play a role in their own lives. As music educators we could shift the focus from the political aspect of the issue to the notion of copyright, fair use and the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. Larson & Keiper (2007) offer several approaches to having discussions in the classroom. Their “taking a stand” and “Issues/Values Continuum” approaches (pp. 236-239) could work very well with this particular set of issues.
Often the focus of copyright discourse in mainstream media locates copyright in the hands of the record industry rather than the artists themselves or the general public. In the context of McCain’s campaign several musicians began to demand their music not be used. This could lead to a discussion over who indeed has the right to use music and whether or not someone should be able to use existing music for their own purposes. Is this a financial issue? A legal issue? An ethical issue? A musical issue? A discussion of this sort could assist students in developing a sense of nuance and the ability to see the issue from a variety of perspectives. It could also provide students with an opportunity to work through a deeper understanding of what is or isn’t “Fair Use”. It may lead into questions regarding how they would like music they have composed to be used. Should you be able to use pre-existing music that fits your particular project whether it be a political campaign, film you are making, or artwork? How would students respond if someone used their music in a way that went against their own set of beliefs or values? By having students view the issue from each person’s perspective they might come to a better understanding of the multilayered complexities of copyright and fair use. If using the “Taking a Stand” approach to discussion, students are encouraged to develop an argument for a perspective with which they do not necessarily agree (p. 237). While potentially uncomfortable, this might assist students in seeing an issue from a variety of perspectives and to at the very least develop an understanding of how the world can be read in different ways.
In the case of McCain’s videos being removed from YouTube students might discuss their own perspectives after identifying each side’s position. This could assist students in moving beyond a political perspective to include issues if legality, ethics, and aesthetics. Again, besides developing a more nuanced view of the issue at hand, this type of discussion might provide students with a concrete application of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act and the notion of fair use - two issues that might be extremely important to their lives.
How might a lesson extend beyond a discussion of these issues? Can you imagine students becoming invovled in the discourse outside of the classroom? Might students contribute letters to the editor of their local newspaper weighing in on the situation and proving to adults that adolescents can indeed speak on a national issue with nuance and understanding? This discussion could also serve as a foundation for students to begin working with others’ music in the context of remixing or sample-based composing. How might they approach these types of compositional processes after discussing the complexities of copyright and fair use?
Finally, it’s exciting to think how a discussion of this sort might play a lasting role in a student’s life. We never know which of our students may someday be engaging in discourse to determine policies, voting on those policies, or hey, even playing a direct role in the shape of copyright for future generations as President.
And for any of my students reading this post (if you ended up reading all the way through!)… bonus points to the first person who emails me the outcome of the lawsuit I mentioned in class involving the Texas woman attempting to go to court instead of settling with the RIAA.
