Tag: Music Education

A Reflection on Music Coursework

Posted on by blhaskett

I presented a paper this weekend at the New Directions in Music Education Conference at Michigan State University. Throughout the sessions, presenters discussed approaches to student-centered opportunities that addressed such issues as popular music, world music, composition, improvisation, digital media, among others. While collaboration was brought up within music education programs, it is also important that we reach outside of our departments to collaborate with ethnomusicologists, jazz faculty, and composers. This raises several issues including differing discourses (both in the classroom and in research practice) and the ability to bring others “to the table” as partners in towards the same goals (life-long musicians and educators, in the broadest sense).

Ultimately, team-taught courses that are inter-disciplinary would be ideal; the time of adding a course for each competency has long outlasted its usefulness (if one could ever say that approach was beneficial). I realize the notion of programs giving up FTE to address common goals between programs cuts against the grain of most programs in higher education and requires large systemic change. This is exactly what I propose is necessary for programs to be proactive instead of reactive and flexibility instead of static in the 21st century.

Thoughts on the Rationale for Non-Western Ensembles

Posted on by blhaskett

Recently, I’ve been critically examining a common defense of “world music” in our schools. Music educators frequently cite multiculturalism and globalization as the impetus for including such ensembles. While I don’t disagree with this line of reasoning, it is not  a fully reasoned argument for such inclusions.

If we extended the same argument to history, we would be unable to cover all of the histories intertwined with our students’ ethnic and cultural backgrounds. The same is true of music and our ensemble offerings.

Non-western music is often created based on different values, meanings, functions, and musical hierarchies than Western art music. These components are the essential concepts being added to the music curriculum when such ensembles are added to a curriculum. These concepts are obviously not mutually exclusive from the multiculturalism/globalization argument, but instead provide depth to the argument that allows us to justify the ensemble through curricular standards for music. More along these lines to come . . .