Just recently I had finished reading an amusing TED talk with Sir Ken Robinson entitled "Schools Kill Creativity" Which was, surprisingly, rather interesting, and the many stories, especially of the musical choreographer he knew was rather refreshing to watch.
Lately, I've been finding many recurring trends in my other classes, which is causing me to really struggle with myself in my beleifs of music education. This, included. One of my courses, Foundations in Music Education often features articles regarding many of the issues with current music education programs, and how they preferably "train" rather than "educate". Another, for Classroom Management, which talks about many ideas of classroom environments and discipline theories. For Classroom Management, there are many disciplines that we had looked over and discussed within that talk about accomodating to students' strengths and abilities, which is something I strongly support. I was never strong in Math or Science, and the many aspects of English I did enjoy involved creative writing of sorts...
One thing that really stood out to me was the following quote:
"Kids will take a chance. And if they don't know, they'll have a go. They're not frightened to be wong... If you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original.... By the time they get to be adults, most kids have lost that capacity. They have become frightened of being wrong."
The thing is, this can even occur within a music classroom, as I have interpreted within my Foundations class... Many of the music classrooms nowadays are strictly ensemble and performance heavy, focused intently on rehearsing for that Winter Concert, or Festival that is quickly approaching, even then, students are trained to play music with the dynamics and tempo markings they are expected to on the page, as well as the ones interpreted by the conductor. Furthermore, the heavy focus on classical music tends to turn them away from the idea of music all together. Through these performance heavy classes, you learn nothing but how to play an instrument, and nothing else... When really, music can give us so much more, such as identity development as well as the skills to develop praxis (practice and reflections) and opinions of their own. Many of the articles promoted the ideas of incorporating popular music into the classroom, as it is a part of the students' culture, as well as offering other forms of expressing yourself in music, such as composition and even the ideas of using informal learning processes, rather than the traditional Western music processes.
Through my whole transition from high school to university, I had found myself... Having... less enjoyment than I normally did... I listen less to music, focus on practicing my clarinet and fighting to sound "good", became frustrated because I thought it wasn't good enough... I used to play simple tunes on the clarinet by ear, or fragments of old band pieces and think I was on top of the world after practicing. I think I even now, I feel as though I don't laugh or smile as much... Now, less listening to music could just be because my course load has become heavier over the years... But still... I felt as though in a way, my of having fun with the clarinet had been squeezed out of me... Just this afternoon I was upset after a decent practice of Brahms (which I had been LONGING to play because I LOVED it) with my accompanist because I was slightly out of tune, or I kept making tiny mistakes/squeaks... The fun wasn't there for me anymore... I think I've even become (even more) of a boring person to people and feel like they don't want me around as much!
I didn't realize at all that the heavy focus of Classical was not for everyone, and since many of my classmates had been forced to take band, they didn't find it as satisfying or fun... I also think I maybe underestimated the power of using popular music in ensembles, and performing them if used properly can involve some form of educational purpose. I want everyone to experience similar feelings that I had felt when I had taken music in high school! I even wouldn't mind exchanging music between my students and I, and even encourage them to bring CDs of things they listen to, so we can analyze, discuss and apply to the classroom! One thing I never had in my experiences was people to jam with (insert forever alone face here)! I wouldn't mind a jam session every lunch hour, despite the fact that I'd never see an inch of quiet time in my office! I... I'm still even struggling to know if I want to be a band teacher anymore! Oh my god, I'm rambling!
Well, I see that this post got more lengthy than I had planned... But... the point is... This video has told me that I had lost a piece of myself... And I wish I had it back... But I don't know how to get it... Maybe I'm just stressed with my courseload this term... Major assignments should NOT be due in the same week. ):
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