ABSTRACT: In this article, I describe my affinity for improvisation in music and life, and for free improvisation in particular as a music making practice. In this self-reflective position paper, I use these practices to help locate and define an authentic sense of self as a music education professor. This paper gives an account of my introduction of free improvisation sessions into a weekly, in-person graduate class in psychology and sociology related to music education. Drawing on relevant literature and a university-wide learning initiative, I present my reflections and those of my students on the experience of doing free improvisation over the duration of one semester, that led to enjoyment, growth, and flourishing. In closing, I consider the potential for doing more free improvisation in music and music education classes.

Author: Gareth Dylan Smith

Published 9/12/2023

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ABSTRACT: Vernacular music-making continues to be a prominent topic in music education discourse. However, the degree to which school music teachers choose to implement vernacular music practices is unclear, as are the factors that inspire change in teaching practice. This four-part article highlights the complexities surrounding curricular innovation and implementation, as well as the interplay between theory and praxis in music teaching and learning. Specifically, this inquiry features the precepts of three change theories and how their tenets can be applied to vernacular teaching practices in school music settings. A college-level vernacular music class is presented as one model for preparing preservice music teachers to meet the needs of 21st-century students. Considering the ways in which music teachers apply vernacular practices to school settings could help to illuminate the intersecting paths of theory and practice in an evolving music education discourse.

Author: Nathan B. Kruse

Published 9/12/2023

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ABSTRACT: Dramaturgy, a specialization of microsociology (the study of face-to-face interactions) describes the social action of the Self impression presented to a public. The ‘teacherly’ Self, is engaged, in “social actions” with different “publics,” each of which calls for a somewhat different “role” governing relevant impressions given. Students in schools are the main public, but so are the professional impressions gained by their parents, colleagues, and administrators. Surveyed here are a range of generalized teacherly roles music teachers “script” (or accept) for their teaching praxis: for example, recipe and delivery teaching of “what works” and “best practices,” Pied Pipers, lead and push teachers, teachers as coaches (not maestros), praxicalists, and more. This application of dramaturgy to music education critiques some common ‘scripts’ as neither in the best interest of students nor of music in the lives of graduates and describes easily understood models for pre- and in-service teachers.

Author: Thomas A. Regelski

Published 4/11/2021

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ABSTRACT: The 21st century has brought new struggles to the instrumental band program, yet little has changed in wind band pedagogy (Kirchhoff, 1988). There have been alternative approaches to the traditional band rehearsal that could help support the growing diversity in schools and school band programs. World music pedagogy, typically employed in general music classrooms, can be adapted to engage students in multiple musical experiences in both traditional repertoire as well as other genres and styles. Critical pedagogy encourages students and teachers to work together to better understand their world through music, deconstructing the need for the director at the podium instructing students how to interpret the repertoire. Finally, there have been multiple studies that encourage wind band instructors to go beyond the traditional large ensemble and incorporate smaller ensembles that include chamber groups, mariachi ensembles, and steel bands. It is easy to forget that while students do not know how to play the instrument, they come to the music class steeped in their musical knowledge. By stepping away from the podium, even for a little, we can offer our students the chance to think critically and creatively that deepens their connection to music. Band directors are not just rehearsing for the next performance; we are educators supporting our students on their musical journeys.

Author: Lauren Diaz

Published 7/3/2020

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This article is a response to Jennifer Mellizo’s invitation (TOPICS, 7 January 2019) to write on global music education.

Author: J. Terry Gates

Published 1/19/2020

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Abstract: For many years, music education has followed the theory that it is rationalized in schools as aesthetic education. For many years, I have argued against this theory in numerous journal articles and books. The following is a light summary of my philosophy of music as a social praxis and form of agency. It is intended especially for pre-service students, and for those new to my ouvre, as an overview of many years of advancing praxis rather than aesthetics as the basis for music education.

Author: Thomas A. Regelski — University of Helsinki, Finland

Published 1/19/2020

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Abstract: Popular music education can ease or worsen the waste problem. Waste refers to things with “no value,” and the Global North produces a lot of waste. Not limited to material, waste can be seen as a dominant metaphor in rock music. The guiding question for this essay is, what opportunity does rock music present for cultivating eco-literacy through music? Before we can find solutions though, we need to recognize rock’s distinctive ecological challenges. Popular music is both implicated in the challenge of waste, and can help music educators explore opportunities for resistance. In music education, qualitative research suggests instrument-making increases knowledge, interest, creativity, and builds attachment to an instrument, in addition to reducing material waste. In our field’s move to incorporate popular musics, instrument-making can be a part of eco-literate music pedagogy.

Author: Daniel J. Shevock – Penn State Altoona & State College Friends School, PA, USA

Published 06/16/2019

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Note from the Editor: For our first article of 2019, we are pleased to publish this article by Jennifer Mellizo. In it, the author proposes a globalist model and includes A Call for Responses. We welcome and encourage thoughtful responses to this article. Responses are treated as articles and follow normal blind-review and editing procedures. Please adhere to our submission format and guidelines. Darryl A. Coan, Editor

Abstract: Although there have been isolated pockets of discussion about the connection between music participation and global citizenship identifications, in many ways music education has remained on the sidelines of the wider global education movement. Sociocultural understanding has been discussed as a positive byproduct of music education, but not usually as an explicit goal. Yet, as Campbell (2013) argues, the consequences of an ever-changing, increasingly diverse and connected world “are considerable for systems of music education, and for individual teachers” (16). It is imperative for practitioners and scholars to consider the ways in which learning experiences in the music classrooms can cultivate higher levels of global competency without diminishing musical learning. Through this article, I propose a developmental framework for understanding the unique potential of music education to function as global education (MEGE). My core argument is grounded by the work of scholars who contend music education cultivates a sense of belonging, releases imagination, and fosters empathy. However, the framework I propose points this work more intentionally toward globalist ends and applications. Specifically, I argue music educators have unique potential to help students extend and deepen their understanding of “community” (Greene 1995). If today’s students can develop strong in-group affiliations at multiple levels of community (e.g., local, cultural, national/governmental, and global), they can become the types of citizens who will solve problems that extend beyond geographical borders, and collectively transform our world into a more just and humane place.

Author: Jennifer M. Mellizo – University of Wyoming Laboratory School, Laramie, WY, USA

Published 01/07/2019

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Abstract: In this article, I seek to critically interrogate the field of music education’s hesitance to engage with hip-hop’s inclusion in music studies. I begin by briefly summarizing the pedagogical potential of hip-hop and then consider why much of the field­ still continues to express hesitance toward engaging with the genre and the scholarship surrounding it. To begin to answer this question, I mobilize a personal experience in a teacher education program in order to exemplify how the act of racial shaming, among myriad other forces, perpetuates a bias against music such as hip-hop and pedagogy of Whiteness in music education. To conclude, I draw theoretical and pedagogical implications for teachers and teacher educators engaged in combating a pedagogy rooted in White conceptions of art and education.

Author: Noah Karvelis – Phoenix Public Schools, Phoenix, AZ, USA. 
Published 06/29/2018.

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Abstract: Despite ongoing discussions about cultural diversity, practical progress towards a more inclusive and flexible system in music education remains slow (College Music Society, TFUMM 2014; Rampal 2015; Carson and Westvall 2016). As critical and reflective music practitioners and scholars, we should continue to explore every avenue that might promote higher levels of cultural sensitivity in our field. From the field of intercultural education, Milton Bennett (1993; 2004) proposes a framework for understanding and facilitating growth in this area, known as the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS). Through this article, the author provides suggestions for applications of this framework in music education. Specifically, the author argues the DMIS framework can help university music teacher educators better understand the ways in which their students experience cultural and musical diversity, so they will be equipped to design individualized and relevant learning experiences that will move future music teachers towards higher levels of cultural sensitivity within the context of their teacher preparation programs.

Author: Jennifer M. Mellizo – University of Wyoming Laboratory School, Laramie, WY, USA. 
Published 02/20/2018.

Click here to read to the article. If this is your first visit to TOPICS, please read the note below.