As a scholar, I love learning more about music education, as well as making connections with it to other content. I enjoy reading and intaking new information, and then summarizing the content to share with others beneficially. For example, I searched the web for useful apps to use and wrote descriptions, pros, and cons for them so that music teachers could easily choose which resources they wanted to use without having to shuffle through superfluous information (http://davinamiaw.weebly.com/scholarship/app-hunt). I also like to reflect and ponder on my research and readings, which helps me understand the content and form meaningful questions that will further my scholarship. I have engaged in reflection through books (http://davinamiaw.weebly.com/scholarship/chapter-1-hammel-and-hourigan), as well as through interactions and discussions on Twitter (http://davinamiaw.weebly.com/scholarship/reflect-on-twitter-discussion).
Since coming to JMU, I’ve learned how to better find and use resources that are available to me. I know how to obtain books from the libraries, as well as through the Interlibrary Loan, and am more effective in how I use key words in my searches. I am comfortable asking the librarians at JMU about different resources too; they provide so much good information because they are librarians with a specific subject concentration. By the time I start student teaching, my hope is that I will have spent even more time exploring and reflecting on all the material I have read. Another hope is that I can find thought provoking articles on my own, rather than being given them, and form my own questions and reflections from them and even write my own articles and opinions. I wish to engage my future students in stimulating conversations about what I have read and what they are reading. I can practice engagement with others by presenting my research in conferences, like VMEA, and creating my own informational posters. Allsup, R. (2016). Remixing the Classroom: Toward an Open Philosophy of Music Education. Bloomington; Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
In the state of Virginia, the Department of Education has listed several mandates and obligations that must be met by students so that they are up to the standards for each grade level. In my music education classes, specifically in middle school and high school, teachers are required to put some of these objectives into their syllabi. However, as I was searching for these objectives, I came across a sample music education curriculum by VDOE (Virginia Department of Education) that contained objectives that I had never seen before in my school syllabi! I am impressed by the all-encompassing objectives this curriculum contained. It did not just focus on music theory and ability to play a musical instrument, like what my original view of how band classes should be was; instead, it included the ability to improvise, compose, connect musical knowledge with other areas of education, exploring nontraditional music making with different technologies, and much more. These objectives went beyond what I experienced growing up in my music classes. I have seen some of the core, traditional objectives of music classes, such as understanding key signatures and playing certain repertoire being accomplished, but there’s so much more in the obligations that I did not come in contact with. They also list different ways of assessments than playing tests, such as listening journals and visual representations that are simple, refreshing ways to assess a student’s learning. If I had been exposed to a broader variety of these objectives when I was younger, I cannot imagine how much more I could be doing and researching now. It’s interesting for me to step outside of the codes of tradition of music making and learning because I enjoyed the traditional way I learned to play the flute and participate in a wind ensemble. I think that teaching students the codes of tradition is an empowering act when it is done with love and support, and is seen as passing down a legacy and tradition of music making that has been going on for a long time. I think it’s also empowering when students learn grit and build good skills that will help them in the future. However, it is not empowering when there is only one way to learn and there are no other options to explore different genres and interpretations of music, and different kinds of music making. One cost of how I currently conceptualize music education is that I can become close minded to other ideas because “this is how I learned it” and I know that it worked for me. Another cost is that I the way I conceptualize music education may not be as engaging and relatable to students today. A benefit is that I get to hand down a wonderful tradition of music and share something that I love with my students. Knowing that there is no guarantee that my students will love what I love is absolutely understandable, and it helps me to become a better teacher knowing and reminding myself of this fact. I can appreciate the fact that we both share a love for music, but it will also push me to become a better educator by striving to get out of my own music bubble and explore different ways to teach music that incorporates what my students love with a passion. As long as my students can enjoy music and relate it back to what they are learning, I will be satisfied because I know that everyone has different interests. A lot of what Allsup discusses relates to outcomes and the key question, “What achieves the best short and long term outcomes for me and others?” Allsup talks about this question in both closed and open forms. He highlights the effectiveness of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, “an institution that claims democracy as a constituting element” (2016, p.26) and how even in their closed form of a classical European orchestra, they are able to thrive and explore music making in a different way---without a conductor. By highlighting this story, Allsup describes how the best long term outcomes come from remaking and redefining traditional practices. In contrast, he also shows another example of Jiro Ono and how his “severe routine of expertise may have stunted his growth as an innovator” (2016, p.26), which is a negative outcome that is not the best for us. Another question is “What duties and/or obligations apply?”. Allsup begins by answering this question based on the context of the situation; he states that in the nineteenth century, “the texture of social relationships were secure: there were listeners, composers, and performers” (2016, p.21), while today’s music and its roles are “activity destabilizing categories and moving beyond explication” (2016, p.22). Allsup would say that our duties and obligations are first and foremost based on what the time period is focused on and states is best, but he would also this is not the best way to go about music educating. He would rather music education be about giving meaning and direction to lives rather than tradition, and for educators to explore the messier part of education that will hopefully remain an open form. Character would also be extremely important to Allsup, including the question, “What action best reflects who I am and the person I want to become?” Allsup discusses the Master-apprentice relationship a lot and how taxing that relationship can play on the learner. He states that because of so much standardization and assessment “one can detect a kind of category fatigue in the field of music education” (2016, p.27). Allsup pushes the reader to consider his perspective of revival for music education and what he hopes it will become: a reformation and hijacking of fundamental terms so that music can become alive and fresh once again. Lastly, “How does freedom, personal autonomy, or consent apply?” deals with liberty. Allsup asks a lot of questions like, “What would it mean for music educators to relinquish the constant need to resolve, explain, and contain?” and “What would it mean to misread the notes on the page?” (2016, p.29). He wonders what would happen if we allowed much more freedom in our music making. His answer to how does freedom apply is that by allowing this to occur, music can evolve into some of the most beautiful forms it has ever been; it may be a bit messy, but it will be beautiful. |
Davina MiawOn this page, I will present examples of my scholarship in the form of reflective essays and philosophical assignments. Archives
November 2019
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