"What might teaching and learning music look and sound like when taking into account a broad spectrum of musics and how people engage with them in contemporary society?"
(Tobias, 2012)
A main focal point of this chapter was the idea of a "hyphenated musician." In a hybrid classroom, students are encouraged to do just that. Because of these ideas, I decided to become a hyphenated musician for my hybrid presentation of what I learned through Dr. Tobias' chapter. For this assignment, I was the singer-instrumentalist-songwriter-producer-videographer-etc, etc, etc. Not only this, but I also used a backing track from Garage Band to accompany me. I tried to represent a project you would see in a hybrid classroom to express my findings in the reading.
My question for Dr. Tobias: What are some ways that we can still have a hybrid classroom on a very limited budget? Tobias, E. S. (2012). Hybrid spaces and hyphenated musicians: Secondary students' musical engagement in a songwriting and technology course. Music Education Research, 14(3), 329-346. These two articles are about participatory culture in media, and how we, as educators, should be handling it in our classrooms. While some may say that there are negative repercussions to using social media in a music classroom, the emphasis of the articles is to simply embrace the change, and utilize this tool for good. Students can learn many things through using social media and music, in fact, they already have. Teens are making music online in the form of parodies, covers, tutorials, arrangements, mixes, and more, without any sort of instruction by a music teacher. Imagine what they could do if they had this hobby turned into an activity in music class? It is essential for teachers to help students reflect on their contributions to media, and how media impacts society and the world today. Ultimately, we should be utilizing social media in music classrooms, and using one of the most ultimate forms of participatory culture we have today.
Jenkins, H., Purushotma, R., Weigel, M., Clinton, K., & Robison, A. J. (2009). Executive summary. In Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: Media education for the 21st century (pp. 3-4). Boston: MIT Press. Tobias, E. S. (2013). Toward convergence: Adapting music education to contemporary society and participatory culture. Music Educators Journal, 99(4), 29-36. ‘They wasn't makin’ my kinda music’ reflectionWhat are the key points of the article (report, rather than critique)? In our efforts as educators to include different types of music in our classrooms, we should consider that “Pop and rock music certainly are relevant for some students, but it should not be assumed that this music is relevant for all students.” p241. In this article, we read about two separate students, Terrance and Darius, who both had a strong passion for music, but never found themselves represented enough in music classrooms to pursue their interests in school. Darius quit band, and Terrance dropped out of high school all together. The author asks himself how, and what he could have done to make these students feel more included in the music making at school. Not only this, but we also take time to reflect on who is in the wrong in a situation like Terrance, where his feeling of being outcast in high school led him to drop out completely. Is anyone in the wrong? Terrance doesn’t have regrets about dropping out of school, why do we automatically assume that he should or would? Essentially, the article opens our eyes to how many “musicians” that are wandering the halls of our high school, and gives insight on how to start including them in our classrooms. Based on the article, what is secondary general music? What types of classes and activities might it involve? After reading the article, I feel that secondary general music should include anyone and everyone that is interested in music. I feel that the curriculum shouldn’t be strict, and should be constantly evolving along with time, and students’ interests. Activities like music production, pop song form and study, rap lyric writing, country music history, and more. All depending, however, on the interests of the students in the class at that time. Based on the article, what is the need/rationale for secondary general music? Flexibility. Going along with the answer to “what is secondary general music?”, in order to adhere to everyone’s interests and needs, the curriculum and activities in class should not necessarily be the same every year. The goal should be to include all music makers in the school, not just the ones who sing or play an instrument. Keeping in mind that there is an entire world of music outside of band, choir, and orchestra, would be an effective way to construct a secondary general music classroom. What additional questions do you have for the author (ask regarding gaps and when you disagree)? A question I would ask would be if the author has currently changed anything in his band classroom to include students like these. The story about Darius was heartbreaking, personally, and obviously had a strong affect on the author. I would wonder if there was anything he actively changed about his classroom following that incident. Kruse, A. J. (2016). ‘They wasn't makin’ my kinda music’: a hip-hop musician's perspective on school, schooling, and school music. Music Education Research, 18(3), 240-253. |
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