My semester in MUED 273 (Spring of 2017) has given me a couple of few newer perspectives on

how to teach music and what material to teach to students. The biggest change in my philosophy is the
matter of what literature we choose to teach students. Ive always been open minded to teaching
students whatever they wish to learn from me, however, in the back of my head Ive always had a bias
to convince them to learn the literature that Ive learned from since Ive been in college. This angle of
teaching doesnt offer consent to your students. It is, of course, our job to teach students the skills they
need that are applicable to lifelong musicianship, and the choice of literature you use for students is less
important than the skills. What Ive learned from Bach doesnt have to be different from what I learn by
watching a rock band perform. There may be some skills that are specific to genres, but I dont believe
that those skills transfer to every form of musicianship and practice. It is our foremost obligation to
teach students skills that transfer to every kind of music making, and then it is our job to help them
advance in the musical direction of their choosing. The tools we use to accomplish these things (wind
band, orchestra, chamber ensembles, pop groups, choral activities, jazz groups, etc.), are not as
important as the skills themselves.

It is difficult to bring this perspective to public school music, especially at the level at which I
want to teach. I find myself more effective with the high school age as I know how to communicate with
them better than I do with younger ages. Most, if not all, high school music programs are band and
orchestra. This is the literature that we have been so afraid to stray from. I know that I will not be able
to immediately change an establish program, and I will gladly continue to work with the direction that
the students were aiming for before I became their teacher, however, I am not afraid to teach the
transfer skills that students need for lifelong music. There are many more methods of composing,
performing, and learning to explore other than wind and string ensembles. The difficult part is to make
sure that the skills that I teach them are just as challenging as the literature that they are used to, if not
more challenging. Even further, it will be a challenge to show them why music is important to their
lives, and why they should continue after public school. Music is not an accompaniment to core
subjects; it is just as much of an area of study as anything else.

A largely impactful experience I had was the JMUke event that some members of my class and I
organized at an on-campus library. I worked with a young girl who was maybe around the age of 8-10. I
faced the challenge of getting her interested in making music with the group. It appeared that one of
her parents asked her to come to the event, not that it was necessarily her choice. I could get her
interested by teaching her one or two simple tasks, such as banging on a drum and playing a few notes
on the Ukulele. Then, as she watched me do more complex tasks (I was still seeking her attention), she
decided that she also wanted to learn how to do them. I found it very challenging to implement what I
discussed above, that being making these relevant to her ongoing life. We were able to give her a
Ukulele to take home that she was very excited about, but I have no idea if she has been using it or not.
Children spread themselves out a lot with different interests and she certainly did not seem to be in a
stage of her life where she was making commitments to activities without her parents encouragement.
Nonetheless, I gained some very valuable insight into how children communicate with adults, especially
unfamiliar ones.
There are some basic principles that I have discovered for music teaching this semester:

The tools are not as important. The skills are more important than the tools we use to teach
them. Listening to other musicians in an ensemble is not a skill specific to wind ensembles.
Improvisation is not a skill specific to instruments that are found in jazz settings. These kinds of
skills can transfer across all forms of music, and the tool does not need to be traditional or
popular, but rather whatever works for the student the best.
Music teaching should have consent. Most students would not mind giving consent to being
better at music, however, not all students would consent to having their musical experiences in
a wind band. It is not always best to assume thats how music learning will take place.
The skills we teach in music class should not have limited application to the classroom.
Learning how to access altissimo on a saxophone is a skill with limited application. If the student
wants to be a saxophonist after they leave the music class, it would not at all be unfair to teach
it to them. However, if my goal as an educator is just to make a student into a good saxophone
player, Im only doing part of my job.
Democratizing the classroom does not mean we are sacrificing structure and teaching
confidence. Teaching is not a process of having students know more information. Teaching
should be showing students the process by which we learn things and making sure those skills
transfer elsewhere. Students should have consent, be philosophically challenging for the
students, and apply the skills we give to them.
Traditional teaching styles are not to be abandoned. Although we are constantly developing
our pedagogical philosophies, it would be difficult to say that past teaching philosophies are
ineffective. We wouldnt be here without them! It is best to explore many different
philosophies and decide which contexts are most applicable for them. A teacher who only
teaches in one way will reach a very limited number of students.
Get to know your students. Weve done plenty with making adaptation for students this
semester. However, its difficult to make adaptations for a student that you arent familiar with.
The only way to sequence teaching for a student is to know their limitations (zone of proximal
development), and develop adaptations or better teaching styles through this. Every student is
an individual. We dont just teach classes; we also teach the students.
Let your students have the reigns sometimes. Have your students try teaching you sometime.
If your student can learn to teach you something, they may learn to teach themselves.
Education is both learning and teaching, and everyone should have experience with both sides.