How Do Our Students Music?
Think of music as a verb. A fundamental question for all music educators is whether our teaching provides a context of musicing. Why musicing? In English, music is the only art that does not employ a dynamic verb to describe its process. We have painting, dancing, and acting, but for music we usually say making music, performing music, or creating music, using music as a noun, and therefore a static object.
As the eminent scholar David Elliott has pointed out, we have too often taught music as though it is an object, an object to be revered, to be sure, but this focus diverts us from the true power of music. Young people instinctivecly understand that music is a vital, dynamic, and spontaneous process that requires the performer and creator to be deeply engaged in the moment. It is this quality that has made pop music movements so powerful. In this context, young people regard themselves as being in music. However, they also often feel that "music education" as practiced in most public schools does not relate to their passion for music.
Part of our difficulty has been the so-called canon of Western Music which has evolved as the content for many music education curricula. This focus on European music from about 1650 to 1900 has created substantial obstacles in motivating young people to explore and discover music in the context of "school music." In many instances, this Western Canon has also been adopted in Asian music education. But for many young people, music is something they create more than it is an object for listening. Too often we have substituted listening for musicing, treating music as an aesthetic object to be consumed by the ears.
It is important for us to undestand the process of music as it is unfolding today. Technology is transforming how we create, perform, and listen to music--- in short musicing is the dynamic state of creating/performing/listening--- and in our emerging world of digital technology, webmusicing can unlock new possibilities. As educators we need to be about our business of musicing, musicing for ourselves and our students.
As the eminent scholar David Elliott has pointed out, we have too often taught music as though it is an object, an object to be revered, to be sure, but this focus diverts us from the true power of music. Young people instinctivecly understand that music is a vital, dynamic, and spontaneous process that requires the performer and creator to be deeply engaged in the moment. It is this quality that has made pop music movements so powerful. In this context, young people regard themselves as being in music. However, they also often feel that "music education" as practiced in most public schools does not relate to their passion for music.
Part of our difficulty has been the so-called canon of Western Music which has evolved as the content for many music education curricula. This focus on European music from about 1650 to 1900 has created substantial obstacles in motivating young people to explore and discover music in the context of "school music." In many instances, this Western Canon has also been adopted in Asian music education. But for many young people, music is something they create more than it is an object for listening. Too often we have substituted listening for musicing, treating music as an aesthetic object to be consumed by the ears.
It is important for us to undestand the process of music as it is unfolding today. Technology is transforming how we create, perform, and listen to music--- in short musicing is the dynamic state of creating/performing/listening--- and in our emerging world of digital technology, webmusicing can unlock new possibilities. As educators we need to be about our business of musicing, musicing for ourselves and our students.
posted by Wyzard at
3:53 PM
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