It has been a while...

Since graduating from Westminster Choir College in December 2011, I have found myself all around the country. I was a long-term middle school choir and general music teacher in Pennsylvania, and then I made a permanent move to Oklahoma to teach middle and high school choir. This year, I will be embarking on my second year of full-time teaching. I learned and experienced so much in my first year, and I will be posting a series regarding some of that wisdom. 

National Standards in Education

I have finally decided that my thesis will cover an historical perspective of anti-intellectualism in education and music education. I'm going to research trends in education from the past 50 years, focusing on one major trend in each decade. These "themes" will then allow me to develop questions to interview retired music teachers about their experiences in the field. The result will be an historical account of anti-intellectualism--the flux of creativity and critical thinking--in education.

I have started reading literature about the National Standards movement that began in the late 1980's and gained strength in the 1990's. Support and dissent for National Standards was very divided. Those advocating national standards thought that they would be the most effective way to ensure that all students had the opportunity to a "world-class" education. On the other hand, establishing national standards would limit many of the ideals American's tout about our educational system.

From the perspective of anti-intellectualism the national standards movement could be interpreted as superficially positive. More rigorous standards for all students seems like an intellectual endeavor. However, when looking deeper into the implications of the National Standards there are many anti-intellectual issues: elimination of school/community autonomy to decide culture/intellectual environment, lack of trust in teachers' creativity and ingenuity, elimination of high-level thinking (such as creativity and critical thinking) due to high-stakes testing, and others.

I define anti-intellectualism (along with others such as Hofstadter and Bestor) as movement away from creativity, critical thinking, and reason. The intellect, after all, is the function of the mind that compares, contrasts, creates, analyzes, and thinks critically about the world. For the regulators of our education system to put so much focus on remembering facts and figures--by placing high stakes on standardized testing (which is largely multiple choice regurgitation)--they are devaluing the important functions of the mind. Attracting quality teachers has always been a concern of schools, and as the education system continues to erode its trust of teachers, the innovative and creative teachers will disappear.

Just some thoughts.

Music and Blindness Education

A recent article from the Chronicle of Higher Education gives us, for lack of a better term, an inside look at the voice lessons and opera production of a blind soprano at the Catholic University of America. As a music teacher, we take for granted the sighted skills that we use every day in music making. It is a challenge to begin to think about giving a blind music student the same quality music education as her/his sighted peers. What may be even more daunting than thinking of ways to teach the music is thinking of ways to ease the logistical burdens. In what ways can a blind student be integrated into the choral concert or the musical? Reading this article sparked my imagination. Among the ways the opera directors at CUA helped the blind student function on stage was to use thick stage tape to mark positions for the blind student to feel through her shoes.

Read the article and you can also watch a video of a voice lesson!

The State of Music Education

There is just so much animosity toward music these days. The Detroit Symphony musicians will begin their strike on October 4th. A recent article in the Detroit Free Press detailed the musicians' decision, but what is more disheartening than the destruction of a fine orchestra is the attitude of the general public. The quotes below are taken from the comments on an article from the Detroit Free Press on September 27, 2010:

"Musicians: Get a grip. Your skills have limited appeal. Wakeup; if the strike lasts, you will find that out for real. Your compensation package until now has been rather rich. Set aside your arrogance. The economy cannot continue to support your package. Strikes do not make for nice music. The symphony is not a primary need. Now is the time to bite the bullit."

"Go ahead and go on strike. Then you can go out into the real world and do music gigs and give lessons and find out what the real world market value of your skills are."

"They [the musicians] will find out how little anyone cares"

"ART IS DEAD!!!!! Time to wake up and get with the real world. Maybe the DSO can go on Americas Got Talent and see what Hasselhoff and Mrs. Ozzy thinks."

This goes hand-in-hand with the ideal that Mr. Klein (the chancellor of the New York City public schools) was conveying earlier today on The View. Music educators and gym teachers should be paid less than math and science teachers because art and fitness are less important than math and science. There is a very vocal (see above) group of people that do not truly appreciate music, a group that is anti-intellectual in nature, a group that values pragmatism over critical thinking . What can we do as music educators to bridge the gap, if we still have a chance? What can we do to educate our students and our peers about the significance of all music--classical, popular, jazz, RAP, and etc. . .?

Laura Dunbar, a dear friend and wonderful educator and advocate for music, works for the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra. She tirelessly commits herself to education and community outreach. The preparation and distribution of an entire curriculum for teachers (music teachers and classroom teachers alike) to use during the school year does lots of good. The document puts a stamp on the orchestra. It says, "This orchestra cares about reaching our young listeners to educate and inspire them to love music." This curriculum and all the other programs that come from the A2SO really define what ought to be happening at each orchestra around the world. If our officials and administrators in the education field do not think that music education is important, we must make sure that music education does not stop. It will change radically, but it can not stop.

Amidst the animosity and talk of the demise of music education and musical establishments, I am proud to call myself a musician and a music educator. I think that the first step all of us must take to fight this battle is to realize how special and important music is to society and find small ways to teach our students, our friends, and our families. Whether it be through the lens of critical pedagogy, Orff, outreach, or by simply talking about the joy of music, we all must start fighting back.

The Power of Music

Since the beginning of the war in Iraq, I had often wondered what about the atmosphere of the musical scene. It was easy to see that the Islamic fundamentalists in Iraq had no or little tolerance for Western "classical" music, and I remember reading an article about classical musicians in Iraq that were forced to stop playing or flee the country to pursue their talents.

Now my curiosity is piqued again because an 18-year-old woman, Zuhal Sultan, has founded a youth orchestra in Iraq. The story is very uplifting, and the courage and resourcefulness of this teenager proves that there is still beauty that flourishes in a war-torn country. She contacted a high-ranking Iraqi government official for a donation to the orchestra and received 50,000 dollars! She sent out email messages and posts on Twitter looking for conductors and musicians. In three languages, Sultan recruited Iraqi youth to play in the orchestra, and got more than 50 responses.

The most innovative and astounding aspect of this groundbreaking orchestra is that each of the selected (33 players) youth received online instruction in their instrument from a teacher in the United States or the UK. To me, someone who has taken many online courses, is appreciative of the ability to learn from someone who is potentially on the other side of the world. Sultan and her orchestra are an inspiration.

Read the article here:

Is it Brainwashing or Education?

There has been discouraging news from Texas this week. The Texas Board of Education has voted 10-5 (along party lines) to approve conservative curriculum changes across the state. The resolution will impact history, economics, and social studies curricula. Surprisingly, the science curriculum was left untouched--luckily no creationist theories will be 'taught' to Texas children in the public schools. The changes to curricula will be largely to dictate conservative political ideals upon students.

The curriculum change will impact millions of Texas students, but the scope of change could possibly become a National issue. Texas, due to its size, is one of the largest buyers from textbook companies. Publishers will be forced to produce textbooks to meet the Texas curriculum. Depending on the publisher, this demand for such specialized textbooks could impact their entire production. Schools all across America may be forced to adopt the Texas conservative curriculum without choice.

The Texas Board of Education is made up of "lawyers, a dentist and a weekly newspaper publisher." No educators or education reform professionals have voted on the reform. The changes, from what I can tell, are not grounded in educational theory and are not keyed to improving student understanding. The changes, in my opinion, are simply to brainwash and implement political partisanship instead of political choice.

Read these various articles and decide for yourself:

From the Huffington Post

From the New York Times

From the Dallas Morning News

"Classical" Punishment

After a long hiatus, I am back to the blog!

I recently found this article (http://www.cbc.ca/arts/music/story/2010/03/04/classical-music-punishment.html?ref=rss#ixzz0hWr49Mrx) that is a MUST read for all educators, not just music educators. The article explains one school administrator's decision to use classical music as a means of punishment. Apparently, the headmaster decided to pipe "classical" music into the detention hall. He reports that the number of infractions that violate school rules "[has] dropped by about 60 percent since he began the special detentions."

The reporter likens this discouraging practice to the therapy given to the protagonist, Alex, in Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange. Some twisted musical/violence therapy makes Alex hate his beloved Beethoven much in the same subliminal way piping "classical" music into the detention hall makes students hate "classical" music.

A comment was posted about the article that read, "Mozart is good for the truants, certainly better than Rap, which is probably all they hear and is what probably incites them to cause trouble."

This practice is carving new voids between "school music" and "out-of-school music" as we know them. Students will begin to associate "classical" music with punishment and high society, the Man, authority, and they will have no interest (beyond what they do now) to learn about the great Western Canon.

The reporter references Brendan O'Neill's article Weaponizing Mozart. (http://reason.com/archives/2010/02/24/weoponizing-mozart)