Guest Lecture Reflections
Lecture #1: Dr. Mark Hopkins
Dr. Hopkins talked about the pros and cons of using method books in a classroom setting. He went over how music might not be a language but acts like one. And he went over how he himself incorporates more creative and informal approaches to teaching music for elementary and high school grades. One thing in particular that interested me was the discussion on music as a language. Language is best learned when you are young and is learned through imitation. When looking at music from the perspective that it acts like a language it makes perfect sense that you would learn to play or sing before you learn notation since we learn to talk before we learn to read. Students can enjoy and engage in music without frustration dealing with notation which can be an intimidating system that can come across as tedious. Music should be embraced for it's creative and emotional complexity which students of any musical backgrounds can enjoy and engage with.
Dr. Hopkins talked about the pros and cons of using method books in a classroom setting. He went over how music might not be a language but acts like one. And he went over how he himself incorporates more creative and informal approaches to teaching music for elementary and high school grades. One thing in particular that interested me was the discussion on music as a language. Language is best learned when you are young and is learned through imitation. When looking at music from the perspective that it acts like a language it makes perfect sense that you would learn to play or sing before you learn notation since we learn to talk before we learn to read. Students can enjoy and engage in music without frustration dealing with notation which can be an intimidating system that can come across as tedious. Music should be embraced for it's creative and emotional complexity which students of any musical backgrounds can enjoy and engage with.
Guest Lecture #2: Randall Allsup
The thing I would like to focus on with this guest lecture is payoff for student-centered learning. We got to focus on the music making process as opposed to the meticulous construction of a product. We were given a lot of freedom in terms of how we went about the tasks we were assigned (creating an ostinato, creating a soundscape, etc.) which was quite refreshing. We were also able to accomplish quite a lot in a short span of time, learning and bringing together many interpretations and glossing to a song. The creative environment allowed us to understand and contribute to the creation of music and have agency in a musical environment. It is important to note that we still worked in a structured environment and that our focus was always on the music we were creating. We still worked toward a goal created by the teacher within a set amount of time. So then, the outcome we came to could have been reached by following a method book or other traditional structure of teaching. There are many important differences however about the way we learned the music. We were active in the direction we were to take the piece. We weren’t constricted or confined to any particular interpretation and were able to engage musically with the piece. We were able to focus on the process of creating music and engage in it (which some may not be able to do with a method book).
The thing I would like to focus on with this guest lecture is payoff for student-centered learning. We got to focus on the music making process as opposed to the meticulous construction of a product. We were given a lot of freedom in terms of how we went about the tasks we were assigned (creating an ostinato, creating a soundscape, etc.) which was quite refreshing. We were also able to accomplish quite a lot in a short span of time, learning and bringing together many interpretations and glossing to a song. The creative environment allowed us to understand and contribute to the creation of music and have agency in a musical environment. It is important to note that we still worked in a structured environment and that our focus was always on the music we were creating. We still worked toward a goal created by the teacher within a set amount of time. So then, the outcome we came to could have been reached by following a method book or other traditional structure of teaching. There are many important differences however about the way we learned the music. We were active in the direction we were to take the piece. We weren’t constricted or confined to any particular interpretation and were able to engage musically with the piece. We were able to focus on the process of creating music and engage in it (which some may not be able to do with a method book).
Guest Reflection #3: Kevin Watson
Dr. Watson built up an activity of improvisation. He started by having us look at different aspects of jazz and follow the 12 bar blues and improvise a simple section using only 3 notes. Some important things to note about this exercise is the lack of notation used. We played the notes by ear and improvised by ear as well. This helps students be comfortable with the material and enables them to come up with something musical comfortably. They're not overwhelmed by infinite possibilities and can focus on what they want to do within confines that help them focus. Having everyone take turns in a circle allows everyone to have a voice and a comforting environment that an persuade some that may otherwise have been uncomfortable with performing.
Dr. Watson built up an activity of improvisation. He started by having us look at different aspects of jazz and follow the 12 bar blues and improvise a simple section using only 3 notes. Some important things to note about this exercise is the lack of notation used. We played the notes by ear and improvised by ear as well. This helps students be comfortable with the material and enables them to come up with something musical comfortably. They're not overwhelmed by infinite possibilities and can focus on what they want to do within confines that help them focus. Having everyone take turns in a circle allows everyone to have a voice and a comforting environment that an persuade some that may otherwise have been uncomfortable with performing.
Guest Reflection #4: Kelly Bylica
We looked at interpreting abstract art (music represented by pictures). We partook in this exercise that the younger students of Kelly's class did. The exercise allows a multitude of different age groups as well as people with at any stage of music education participate. Anyone can participate in the music activity without needing to have a certain background knowledge in music notation or tonal theory. This was also important for engaging with students. Kelly found that some of her students had some pre-existing assumptions about what music education was, and decided that they wouldn't enjoy the class before experiencing it. Teaching music creatively and teaching for creativity was important to get some of the kids interested and engaged in music without relying on traditional methods. Some of the students who were most skeptical about their own enjoyment of the music class were exceptional musicians (from the lunchroom rhythm exercise).
We looked at interpreting abstract art (music represented by pictures). We partook in this exercise that the younger students of Kelly's class did. The exercise allows a multitude of different age groups as well as people with at any stage of music education participate. Anyone can participate in the music activity without needing to have a certain background knowledge in music notation or tonal theory. This was also important for engaging with students. Kelly found that some of her students had some pre-existing assumptions about what music education was, and decided that they wouldn't enjoy the class before experiencing it. Teaching music creatively and teaching for creativity was important to get some of the kids interested and engaged in music without relying on traditional methods. Some of the students who were most skeptical about their own enjoyment of the music class were exceptional musicians (from the lunchroom rhythm exercise).
Who Am I Video Responses
Brittany Marotta
You have quite the illustrious career already! Have you had any major challenges in your performance career? Was there a point where you choose to pursue music seriously as a career from a hobby/passion? When did you decide to pursue music therapy? You seem like you have a very clear path made out for yourself. Best of luck in Performance and Music Therapy!
The only real challenges that i've had is being sick; especially during the first semester here at UWO i got quite sick basically all semester. This made it really hard to do anything as i couldn't sing and even had to miss out on performances i wanted to do.
I think the point where i chose music as a career was when i was in grade 7 or so. Music was the only thing i could see myself doing and from that point on i just kept saying how that was what i wanted to do with my life.
i decided to pursue music therapy in high school. i knew that education wasn't what i was personally looking for and with the performance career not being an always stable job music therapy became an option for me. After looking into it i decided that was exactly what i wanted to do. Helping people has always been something i've loved to do, and being able to work with people and help them brings me great joy.
Thanks again,
Brittany
I'm sorry to hear that you were ill for so long. Thanks for responding and best of luck moving forward.
Marshall Lister
First of all I think it's very clear that you put a lot of time and effort into your video. It seems well thought out and the casual humour goes a long way in telling me about yourself. I am very interested in your background as a musician. Did you play percussion in high school? What was your experience like with your instrument before University? What are some of the challenges you've faced since coming here? How did you become interested in Music Education to begin with?
Hey Jordan,
Thank you for your comments on my video, I did try to make something that would represent myself.
I guess when I think about it I've been playing percussion for only about 5 years now. I went into grade 9 knowing pretty much nothing about music because I had wanted to play drums for years before that, however I lived in Bermuda so drum kits were far and few between and the closest thing I had was rock band. By the end of high school, my rhythmic theory and performance was at least good enough to get me in thanks to my drum kit teachers outside of school and having band experience from high school, but my harmonic theory was lacking a little bit, which was my whole reason for coming here. That for me is the biggest challenge being here: I understand musical concepts but it's very slow, which makes it quite hard for me for keep up with reading music and improvising on a harmonic instrument, however I can feel that getting better little by little.
I actually only recently discovered that I enjoy teaching people about music, because a lot of people don't really know enough about it to understand how interesting it is, and now that I have the ability to explain musical concepts to people, there's something really special in seeing someone who's interested in music light up when they understand something about it. I think it has to do with the fact that music is a big part of a lot of peoples lives, and understanding how something invokes emotion is a very profound thought in my opinion.
Brittany Marotta
You have quite the illustrious career already! Have you had any major challenges in your performance career? Was there a point where you choose to pursue music seriously as a career from a hobby/passion? When did you decide to pursue music therapy? You seem like you have a very clear path made out for yourself. Best of luck in Performance and Music Therapy!
The only real challenges that i've had is being sick; especially during the first semester here at UWO i got quite sick basically all semester. This made it really hard to do anything as i couldn't sing and even had to miss out on performances i wanted to do.
I think the point where i chose music as a career was when i was in grade 7 or so. Music was the only thing i could see myself doing and from that point on i just kept saying how that was what i wanted to do with my life.
i decided to pursue music therapy in high school. i knew that education wasn't what i was personally looking for and with the performance career not being an always stable job music therapy became an option for me. After looking into it i decided that was exactly what i wanted to do. Helping people has always been something i've loved to do, and being able to work with people and help them brings me great joy.
Thanks again,
Brittany
I'm sorry to hear that you were ill for so long. Thanks for responding and best of luck moving forward.
Marshall Lister
First of all I think it's very clear that you put a lot of time and effort into your video. It seems well thought out and the casual humour goes a long way in telling me about yourself. I am very interested in your background as a musician. Did you play percussion in high school? What was your experience like with your instrument before University? What are some of the challenges you've faced since coming here? How did you become interested in Music Education to begin with?
Hey Jordan,
Thank you for your comments on my video, I did try to make something that would represent myself.
I guess when I think about it I've been playing percussion for only about 5 years now. I went into grade 9 knowing pretty much nothing about music because I had wanted to play drums for years before that, however I lived in Bermuda so drum kits were far and few between and the closest thing I had was rock band. By the end of high school, my rhythmic theory and performance was at least good enough to get me in thanks to my drum kit teachers outside of school and having band experience from high school, but my harmonic theory was lacking a little bit, which was my whole reason for coming here. That for me is the biggest challenge being here: I understand musical concepts but it's very slow, which makes it quite hard for me for keep up with reading music and improvising on a harmonic instrument, however I can feel that getting better little by little.
I actually only recently discovered that I enjoy teaching people about music, because a lot of people don't really know enough about it to understand how interesting it is, and now that I have the ability to explain musical concepts to people, there's something really special in seeing someone who's interested in music light up when they understand something about it. I think it has to do with the fact that music is a big part of a lot of peoples lives, and understanding how something invokes emotion is a very profound thought in my opinion.
Music Education Reflection
Cathy Benedict
Jordan McDonald
One big thing that has stood out to me during my experience in the class so far is the interrogation of language. Student-centered learning through language is not something that seems to come easy to us, and certainly not to me looking back at my own experience as a student. During our class discussions I found it difficult not to rely on these “I” centered words that don’t facilitate a sense of agency for students (or in the case of classes our discussion partners). A natural response to my partner’s ideas on a certain topic really was “I agree” and I had to actively think about the language I was using not to rely on phrases similar to this in response. This is something that I have tried to be vigilant about because language is so important and I can see how important it is when teaching and in fact learning as well. Another thing that has interested me is the consistency of creative and student focused learning. We have seen from multiple sources the divergence from method book and traditional structures for teaching music. While none of the examples do away completely with the method book, and the process doesn’t seem to always be clean, it works for teachers. Throughout my experience as a student in public schooling, this formal structure to teaching has always been at the forefront of every class. As a result I have been rather skeptical as to the effectiveness of alternative and more creative teaching methods as the dominant way of teaching a subject. Although many of the particulars as to how everything would work out, I am far more comfortable with embracing this form of teaching than I would have been before taking this class. Something else that helped to change my perspective on the effectiveness of this teaching style is just how resourceful and creative some of the students (particularly early elementary students) were in discussing and creating music. Students are smarter than we sometimes give them credit for, and this style of teaching can really bring that out and set them up for an engaging and fulfilling musical experience.
Cathy Benedict
Jordan McDonald
One big thing that has stood out to me during my experience in the class so far is the interrogation of language. Student-centered learning through language is not something that seems to come easy to us, and certainly not to me looking back at my own experience as a student. During our class discussions I found it difficult not to rely on these “I” centered words that don’t facilitate a sense of agency for students (or in the case of classes our discussion partners). A natural response to my partner’s ideas on a certain topic really was “I agree” and I had to actively think about the language I was using not to rely on phrases similar to this in response. This is something that I have tried to be vigilant about because language is so important and I can see how important it is when teaching and in fact learning as well. Another thing that has interested me is the consistency of creative and student focused learning. We have seen from multiple sources the divergence from method book and traditional structures for teaching music. While none of the examples do away completely with the method book, and the process doesn’t seem to always be clean, it works for teachers. Throughout my experience as a student in public schooling, this formal structure to teaching has always been at the forefront of every class. As a result I have been rather skeptical as to the effectiveness of alternative and more creative teaching methods as the dominant way of teaching a subject. Although many of the particulars as to how everything would work out, I am far more comfortable with embracing this form of teaching than I would have been before taking this class. Something else that helped to change my perspective on the effectiveness of this teaching style is just how resourceful and creative some of the students (particularly early elementary students) were in discussing and creating music. Students are smarter than we sometimes give them credit for, and this style of teaching can really bring that out and set them up for an engaging and fulfilling musical experience.