Assignments
Annotated Bibliography 1
Rose, L. S., & Countryman, J. (2013). Repositioning ‘the elements’: How students talk about music. Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education 12(3): 45–64.
Repositioning ‘the elements’: How students talk about music; reminded me of what it was exactly that kept me away from continuing my music education beyond high school. This article truly interested me because I related my experiences to many of the arguments made in the article. I received basic piano training from when I was five or six until my teenage years and instead of taking advantage of the opportunities I was given I squandered them. I found it significantly more satisfying to be able to hear a melody of a song I liked on the radio and sit down at the piano and use my ear to recreate the melody and build the song up with big chords. Instead of reading sheet music and agonizing over notes on a page I was able to find success and contentment significantly sooner. It became nearly impossible for me to go back to the conventional ways of trying to learn music. The same thing happened when I tried singing for the first time. I understood what a melody was and I may not have known what the note was that was being sung but if you sang me a line I was able to repeat it note for note more or less without flaw. This brings me to the point on page 44, where Elliot (1995) makes the assumption that knowing is different from doing” when it comes to the elements of music in a curriculum. It is valuable to accept that yes they are two different concepts for a student, however they are very much so intertwined and connected. If one is able to “know” and regurgitate what timbre, colour, and pitch are verbatim from a textbook but not able to put them into practice with whatever their own instrument is, then do they really know? This disconnect frustrates me. It isolated me to being someone who didn’t pursue music because I could do however I did not “know”.
I was truly surprised when reading this article to find that still after so many years of arts education being threatened and wiped out with budget cuts due to an increased focus on math and literacy, that instead of being a more inclusive environment for all to learn, “know”, and “do”, we have continued to allow these programs to be selective and isolating. If we continue down this path it will make the choice very easy for school board administration and provincial legislatures to take music education away from all children who attend a publicly funded school. Leaving music education to once again simply be taught to the elite or those who are willing to pay the price for it.
I truly would love to say to the authors of this article you have highlighted many faults and various opinions about music education, from the educators to the students. Now, what can we do to find uniformity and success for all whom wish to participate?