A Music Education Blog Collective

I’ve played Guitar Hero a few times in the past month, and it makes me wonder, how do we music educators compete with the instant “guitar hero” fantasy that this game provides? Players can choose to be anything from a Jimmie Hendrix- to a Courtney Love-type rock star with virtual crowds getting pumped or looking bored based on how many notes are played correctly. You only need some familiarity with playing video games to play Santana’s “Black Magic Woman” and hear that YOU are the rock star, with a band backing you up. In my (albeit limited) Guitar Hero playing experience, however, an understanding of beat, meter, and duration in music and their reflection in the iconic notation that comes flying across the screen is helpful to making the game “click” and become a truly musical experience, at least from my perspective as a trained Western classical musician. Maybe we music educators are necessary after all. Could we be preparing our students to have a more musical experience playing Guitar Hero, rather than a strictly gaming experience? Perhaps future versions of Guitar Hero will allow one to control volume and timbre, begging the question, is playing Guitar Hero playing a musical instrument (or could it be) and will we, and should we, offer it in our music classes?

September is such a busy month for all educators. As an elementary instrumental music teacher I find myself struggling this month with issues around the following two themes:

1. Inclusion/Exclusion: I have spent more energy than every before in creating an inclusive performance program. Although my program is optional for students, I am doing my best to not let any child “fall through the cracks.” It makes me sad when I hear from adults that they never played an instrument because they missed the sign-up day. I view my position in the school building as an advocacy position. If I don’t advocate that participation in music is for all students, who will? To that effect, I have given classroom presentations, sent home letters, and met with each child that played an instrument last year or signed up to learn one this year individually. I have made more parent phone calls in the beginning of this year than ever before. I have scheduled an evening band parent meeting. At the same time, I realize that participation in my program might look different for different children. How do you deal with the part of your job that expects you to select and sort students?

 2. Goals and Professional Development: My district requires that we write our professional goals each year. As I ponder mine, I am stuck with a sinking feeling in my gut that the resources and training is not going to be available to me to support the goals I would like to write. First, I think schools do a poor job of continuing education to begin with. Our one-day professional development days (Superintendent days) have had little or no affect on my teaching practices. While state and national conferences in music education are available, my district is unable to fund my participation in anything outside our local area. In what ways can we as music educators supplement our own continuing education? What role can online resources and community blogging play in that endeavor?

As I ponder the fact that the Music Educator’s Network - musiced.net has reached an all-time record of over 70,000 unique visits each month this summer, and that this collective is the second link from a google search for “music education blog,” I am left with my own “Catalysts and Connections”:

- Blogging fever is alive in music education. Look no further than our own two most prolific bloggers Evan Tobias and James Frankel for inspiration and hours of great ‘networking’ (following their webs).
-I wonder about the transformative power of blogging. How can we use it professionally for reflection and collaborating as well as in our instructional practices for communicating with communities.

In light of this I invite every reader to join me in my challenge to myself: I WILL BLOG! I will write at least one post per month. With each school year comes new ideas, new challenges, and a new ‘to do’ list. Won’t you join me in harnessing the power of a blogging community of music educators?

Bob Morrison over at Music For All has recently proposed that the National Standards be revised. There have been several research studies and countless articles and workshops regarding the National Standards since their formation over 10 years ago. It seems there is a general assumption in our field that the existence of articulated National Standards are positive. I do remember, during a panel discussion several years ago that I took part in, Eunice Boardman predicting and warning attendees that many teachers would use the standards as a simple check list. It is also interesting to note that many people coming out of a critical theory or feminist theory perspective, problematize the notion of “Standardization” given that teachers must adapt their curriculum and pedagogy for the context in which they and their students are in.

Cathy Benedict’s recent MER article “Chasing Legitimacy: the US National Music Standards viewed through a critical theorist framework“, raises some very interesting and important points to consider when thinking about the national standards.

If standards in music education continue to be nationalized and are indeed revised, we should definitely be interested in Who would be doing the revising. What would they be and would they be applicable to all students in all situations?
We should also consider how the standards  are currently being used, thought about and implemented. In what way are they helping or hurting students?

I think it is essential that these discussions take place at all levels of music education, most importantly with constant input from teachers and researchers.

Why not start a dialogue at your next music faculty meeting or with you colleagues in your department. Perhaps local regional and state music organizations can begin discussing how the standards are currently being used and if the national standards apply to their local concerns. Take a look at some articles including Benedict’s recent contribution to MER and maybe use them as a starting point to add to your own experiences. If you could give input to a national discussion on standards what would your contribution be?

I came across this video entitled Amateur (Thanks to my colleague Steve Austin for bringing it to my attention) .  It is created by Lasse Gjertsen, a professional video editor, but an amateur musician that doesn’t play the instruments he is depicted playing in the video.  Can this video teach us something about the musical interaction in the technology-mediated classroom?  If we were to get students to cut and paste video or audio to create an original composition—as in this video—do students need “traditional” technique and skill on “traditional” instruments to make music?  If we can get students to make music without learning an instrument does this mean the end of scales and etudes in music education?  Or will there always be a need for “old-school” skill building on “old-school” instruments?  And if so, would it be appropriate for every student?

For those readers interested in addressing issues of misogyny and homophobia in popular music, specifically in the world of hip hop consider taking a look at the new documentary “Beyond Beats and Rhymes: Masculinity in Hip Hop Culture.” The documentary by Byron Hurt takes a look at hip hop culture and the music industry and problematizes issues such as violence, misogyny, homophobia and other negative aspects of much of the mainstream commercial hip hop world while promoting more conscious groups.

If you live near the NYC area you can attend a screening of this documentary on August 5th. Doors open @ 6pm and the film starts promptly @ 7pm at The New York Society for Ethical Culture 2 West 64th Street at Central Park West, New York, NY (map).

The screening is hosted by the Rise Up Radio Collective   (a group of young people who produce a radio program that deals with youth issues) and will benefit radio station WBAI 99.5fm. For more information on the documentary and the event check out their website.

If you can’t make the screening, get your hands on the documentary when it comes out on dvd and consider addressing some of these issues in your class!

For those of you who know me, you know that this is a central topic to my soon to be embarked on dissertation.  I’ll try not to be verbose as I blog about this: Can popular music in school ever be a site of counterhegemony?  Popular musicologists write about rebel music like the Riot Grrls (Warning, there are some expletives on this site, but nonetheless cool) movement of the 1990, Protest songs of the 1960s, some forms of Hip-hop, etc., but to what extent can these practices ever find a place in the music classroom when it comes to students creating their own work?  Does the cooption of “rebellious�? music by the “establishment�? (school) immediately render it conformist?  Was it rebellious in the first place?  Is it the teacher’s right to expect students to make political statements in their music?  Is that just as repressive? 

The musical background and experience of most music educators is in the traditions, history, theory and performance of Western “art” music.  The use of traditional music notation, which dominates this canon, often goes unquestioned as we set out to develop goals, curriculum, standards and pedagogies.  As Jen H posted in her use of the box method, a form of graphic notation, there are many alternatives to the traditional notation system that is often a stumbling block for young students.  Where traditional notation has its place, and purpose for young students - particularly those studying the Western canon - that music is only a small part of what exists in our wider society. 

Exploring other forms of music notation, and asking students to create their own notation, can deepen their understanding of the role of notation, and help them construct personal meaning and connections in relation to music notation across various genres and cultures.  Clive Jonathan Grogono created software to translate NotaBene notation into traditional notation.  In Remix Magazine Robin Smith discusses notation systems for turntables and scratch DJing.  The Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University has a fantastic site called Pictures of Music that explores nontraditional notation in Western “art” music.  

I might go as far to say that most students don’t even need to learn traditional music notation to experience music, unless their particular interests create a need for it.  With advances in technology, students can create, record, and produce their own music without a bit of traditional notation training.  Any other thoughts on this issue?  Should we be rethinking the role of traditional notation in our classrooms? 

Dr. James Frankel has asked his Technology in Music Education class at Teachers College, Columbia University to post comments to the blog.  We welcome you and hope that you return and contribute many more times in the future. 

I intend to be provocative here: With music creation and performance rapidly changing with introduction of new technologies, the question must be asked: Are band, chorus and orchestras in the school a relic of the past and should be put to rest?  I know this is a difficult question to address, but as we look at new-technology mediated ensembles like the books, DJ Spooky, Aphex Twin, and many, many more, can we continue to ignore this type of music?  The saxophone, voice, violin, percussion or any other instrument in traditional ensembles is limited to only a few timbres, but the sounds in a computer are virtually infinite.  Therefore, I call for the end of tradtional performance ensemble and the institution of new ensembles like PLOrK (Princeton Laptop Orchestra).  I’m not looking to add these types of ensembles, I’m saying they should replace the traditional ensemble.  Does anyone disagree?