Allsup, R. (2016). Remixing the Classroom: Toward an Open Philosophy of Music Education. Bloomington; Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
1. I envision teaching in a middle school band classroom, so I might redesign this framework by including more student interaction and engagement. Since middle schoolers are extremely active and inquisitive during this point of their life, my redesigned framework would fit their needs in allowing for movement and hands-on learning with music. It is similar to the investigation, except I want the framework to be specific and insure that investigation includes hands-on interaction, not just observation from afar. I would also adjust the framework so that it pushes students towards creating a product that (constructing) and sharing it with the community. This would help them think of others, rather than themselves, and how they can be active participants in the community through music. Another way I would redesign this framework would be to push the teacher to help facilitate empowering students to make their own creative decisions. I believe that students are often told “Don’t do this!” a lot in elementary school. So, to promote creativity, students should be encouraged to make mistakes and ask questions. Again, these ideas are similar to the framework already presented, but I just want to clarify and make it more specific so that it is relevant to middle schoolers. 2. On my first day of my first year in my ideal job, I would engage students with multiple interests and undiscovered resources by providing different engaging activities. We would begin with several different station rotations where students could experiment and tinker with different activities relating to music. Some of these stations might include the following: Makey-Makey or other instruments that require coding, chamber groups, and improvisation and jazz. Afterwards, they would jot down and brainstorm by themselves or with a group more ideas that they would want for musical stations. Simply by doing these different stations, I hope to spur more ideas for things they want to learn and get out of their music classroom. A subject matter that might be useful to help activate students’ self-interests as well as my own vision of growth would be music technology. By asking questions about what students define technology as and how that can help make music, we can start a conversation and think of all different kinds of ways to incorporate technology, from the pencil to coding, into the classroom. I want to expand their ideas of what music is and what music education looks like; I want them to realize that music does not always mean band, choir, and orchestra, but that it can look like a lot of other activities. 3. Allsup’s book has absolutely made me reimagine my role in the music educator profession. I see my role more as an open book to be explored instead of a regime to be followed; my job is to help facilitate, not dictate learning and engagement. My assumptions and former beliefs have been challenged in that I have come to recognize that in a lot of situations in life and in learning, there is no one right or wrong way to do things. It’s hard to grasp that fact because I want there to be a correct answer, an easy answer, but I’ve come to understand that anything dealing with education and people is never easy. I’ve also released my assumptions that the perfect teacher (if there is such a thing) is the one with the most credentials and best looking resume; rather, the best kinds of teachers are usually hidden and not recognized because they simply enjoy investing in their students. From the beginning of the semester, I’ve come to think differently about how I embrace my identity as a teacher and as an Asian American woman. I can bring my culture into my work and recognize that my background and experiences are different than others and do affect how I teach. This isn’t a bad thing, rather it creates a uniqueness in my story and how I teach. I will need more time to process the idea of how to be a teacher that embraces an open form classroom because I am a “cookie-cutter student”. It will take me time and a lot of thought to think about how I can implement openness and creativity that doesn’t always adhere to what is “right” in the teacher’s eyes. 4. “I’m struck by the fear-inducing environment fostered by the presentational approach. The apprentice is under determined and consistent evaluation, performing publicly as a means to demonstrate knowledge and understanding, always under the watchful eye of the Master. Sound counts more than words. Music counts more than people. As Elliott himself says, there is little need for dialogue. And forget about taking a stray path. In such an environment, how do students experience risk? How do they try out something new? What is the reward for divergent thinking?” (2016, p.100) I’m surprised by how relatable this passage by Allsup is, and I’m amazed at how he has well-articulated my thoughts about my time here in college. I have to agree that I do feel the fear from the Master-Apprentice model of learning here at JMU; I’m afraid of playing things wrong and making mistakes because university professors have so much power and so many connections that could end up ruining a lot of your career and reputation if you do something they dislike. Part of this and the stress it induces turns me off from wanting to pursue graduate studies. His statement also creates some confusion for me; I’m here at college to study music and my applied teacher teaches in the way of the Master, yet my education courses are showing me different ways of learning to better help engagement and foster music appreciation. How can I teach my students in this different way if I’ve never experienced it in my private lessons myself? This passage also challenges my own way of thinking and inspires me to take risks and try something different because the reward for divergent thinking in my mind is the excitement that comes from engaging and problem-solving by yourself. The “I did it!” after all the hard work is worth it in my mind, and that’s something no Master can teach me. Allsup, R. (2016). Remixing the Classroom: Toward an Open Philosophy of Music Education. Bloomington; Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
1. I have seen efficiency prioritized in Wind Symphony at JMU this past semester. Dr. Bolstad makes sure that we get the music a couple of days before we sightread so that we can have an effective rehearsal because we have already seen the parts and have listened to the piece beforehand. Also, while he is working individually with a section, he constantly reminds the other sections to finger and look through their parts or to be listening and critiquing the group he is working with because that section will probably appear in our own part later on. In my high school band, I saw efficiency not prioritized; the teacher would spend a lot of time talking about logistics of the day or spend too much time giving and explaining instructions. A lot of the time my band teacher would become too absorbed with correcting one section that he forgot about the other sections and forgot to tell us how we could be effectively using our time. Instead, our minds would wander off or we would go to the restroom while he worked with one section. Some affordances of prioritizing efficiency in music instruction are more academic engaged time where students are utilizing their brains and that more activities and material can be covered in a shorter amount of time. A constraint is that there is less time to build deep, meaningful relationships if all the music instruction time is constantly on the go. It also does not allow for “wait time” for students to reflect and process what they are learning and sometimes more efficiency can mean that there is less time to go in-depth with material. 2. In my personal vision statement, I emphasize that I want to facilitate my students’ learning, but I also want to be someone they can look up to and talk to about personal issues. I also want to help teach them about ethics and how to be responsible citizens in their communities. I think that Allsup’s conception of music teacher very much aligns with my professional vision because I want to fill a variety of roles for my students. I resonate with Allsup’s thinking that as a music teacher I should have multiple traditions to use, rather than being a Master-performer so that I can help better my students in the long run. However, there is dissonance between my thinking and Allsup’s thinking in that I do believe that the music teacher as Master-performer is also a very important aspect. I do not believe that being a Jack-or-Jill of many trades should replace the Master-performer role because I have experienced the benefit of receiving help from the Master-performer. I think that a melding of both is best as a music teacher because then there can be an excellence in performing and an excellence as a facilitator and role model for my students. 3. I love the way that John Dewey’s ideal school is a “circuit of life and learning” (2016, p.70) and is a mix of a museum and a laboratory where “the art work might be considered to be that of the shops, [and] passed through the alembic of library and museum into action again” (p.70). I do appreciate that Allsup does mention that museums and laboratories can both be closed and open forms, although we do see each one fitting better into one form or the other initially (ex. Easy to think of museum as a closed form). I believe that it is great and refreshing to hear these new ideas; I think it is so easy for me as a person receiving a university music education to be fully immersed in the idea of Master-performer and Master-apprentice relationships that I forget about the necessity of experimentation and circulation of ideas. It is important for students to understand the traditions and reasons behind what they are learning, but it is even more essential for them to come up with their own ideas and continue editing them through a process of experimentation and reflection. From Dewey’s sketch of an ideal school, we see that there is an appreciation for history, but a hope for future creativity, which I think is amazing and monumental. 4. On page 80, Allsup contrasts the duties of conservatories of music with the duties of the public school. He emphasizes the fact that the public school must remain an open form and accept the tensions and questions that occur from changing demographic needs (2016, p.80). Before reading this excerpt, I was a little bitter and angry towards Allsup’s ideas of the Master-performer. I have been the apprentice for the past nine years of my flute playing career and I really enjoy the technicality and precision of the Master-performer style of teaching. I enjoy the knowledge that is passed down to me on previous styles of flute playing. However, I appreciate that Allsup does not attack the Master-performer, but merely suggests that there are deficiencies in it and that another method needs to be employed. He sets apart independent institutions, like conservatories, who have the freedom to have the Master-performer method from public schools where the duty is to educate students about music in ways that are applicable to them. I appreciated that he made this distinction so that I am not so angry towards his views. I do agree that the public school needs to continue changing according to the demographic needs and that the teachers should be developing their own skills to help their students, rather than questioning what the students are doing wrong. It makes me excited to teach in the future because I can teach different, developing ideas and continue learning about new ideas myself. |
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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