Musicing Appreciation - What a Difference “ing” Makes

by Dave Fox

 

A Focus on Music-Making

Several years ago, as a research project for my doctoral studies, I decided to transform my music appreciation class into a musicing appreciation class. What is the difference? The distinction is not in the goals and objectives, because they are basically the same. Consider that, according to experts such as David Nichols (2001), Charles Hoffer (2005), and Joseph Machlis (1996), two of the most important broad objectives of a music appreciation course are to teach students about music in a general sense so that they can become better listeners and to help students develop a deeper understanding of the nature of music. A musicing appreciation course seeks to do exactly the same things. However, the teaching methods and, therefore the classroom environments, are starkly different, and all because of “ing.”

Music, as we all know, is the organization of sound. A general music course is therefore typically concerned with teaching students about how sound is organized. This includes, but is not limited to, such things as an examination of the properties of sound, an exploration of instruments that produce sound, a study of composer s who have organized sound, and musical styles and genres. On the other hand, the action-term musicing, as discussed by writers such as David Elliot (1996), Christopher Small (1998), and Donald Walhout (1986), is concerned not just with the organization of sound, but more specifically with the organizing of sound – present-tense. In other words, musicing is a view that tends to place importance on actual acts of music-making as representing the true and fundamental nature of music. The pedagogical implications are clear - a MUSIC approach teaches students about the organization of sound, while a MUSICING approach teaches students how to organize sound for themselves.

Because of their philosophical belief that music-making best represents the true nature of music, musicing teachers naturally desire to focus their curriculums on music-making activities. Other aspects are not to be ignored, but are approached through the lens of musicing. Thus a musicing teacher will agree that it is important to teach about, to take one example, Mozart and the music he composed centuries ago. But they will also stipulate that it is even MORE important to teach students that music is being made right now by people all over the world and that all humans, even non-music majors, can participate in this form of human knowledge through acts of musicing. Note: The teaching of music from a musicing standpoint does not have to be an either-or situation. Musicing educators can teach about Mozart by making music which has some of the same characteristics as Mozart’s music, and then turn the class’ attention to some of Mozart’s music.

Characteristics of a Musicing Appreciation Class

When the concept of musicing is adopted to a curriculum, the resulting day to day classroom environment will differ from that of the traditional lecture/listen class. My research was concerned with identifying and labeling these differences. While a musicing appreciation class has numerous traits, there are three important characteristics traits that I observed. A musicing appreciation class is an example of active learning, it will employ constructivism, and it will teach students about creativity. Some brief comments on each of these are appropriate.

Active Learning – Musicing allows every student to experience for themselves the same elements of music that all musicians everywhere experience. A musicing approach is an active-learning approach because students are engaged in activities. As Charles Bonwell and James Eison (1991) have pointed out, an active learning strategy such as this may be better than passive strategies, such as lecturing, for helping students to think about a topic in such a way that leads to understanding.

One advantage of active learning is that students are learning concepts directly out of their own experiences. Consider the following two ways of learning something about the related topics of scales, tonic and dominant, and Mozart. With the traditional way, the teacher might begin the class by saying, “Students, today we are going to learn about scales, the important concept of tonic and dominant, and see how Mozart was influenced by and used these in his compositions.” Then they would read, lecture, and listen. On the other hand, the musicing, active-learning teacher, would say something along the lines of: “Remember that major scale we learned last week, and the tonic and dominant pitches we played and talked about? Recall that we have done several activities where we played the tonic and dominant pitches, and we even made up some of our own songs using just those pitches? Well, now we are going to listen to some of Mozart’s music. See if you recognize his use of scales and, in particular, tonic and dominant pitches.” Both methods are valid ways of teaching. However, the musicing method may lead to a deeper understanding because students have already experienced, through direct involvement in musicing activities, the subject matter.

Constructivism – Musicing activities can be designed and implemented in a way that allows students to discover important truths for themselves, thereby constructing their own ideas about musical concepts. This type of pedagogical musicing is a perfect example of constructivism. As Alfie Kohn (1999) frames it, constructivist teachers “ …devise challenges and, if necessary, help illuminate for students what’s interesting about those challenges.” (p. 136) The ideal musicing activity is one in which students are allowed to discover important truths about music while they are engaged in some sort of challenging activity.

Creativity – Students constructed truths when they were given composition assignments with limiting parameters, such as: Compose an eight-measure melody using a fixed number of notes. Because of continuous activities such as this, it is fair to say that these students were involved with creative processes. Many of the students began to think of themselves as composers. Teachers who have written about creativity, such as Jackie Wiggins (2003), and Maud Hickey (2003) all stress that the purposeful use of creativity activities will result in students flexing their creative capabilities.

It is important for teachers to create an atmosphere that fosters creativity, if for no other reason than the humanistic viewpoint that all persons are capable of creativity and should therefore learn how to use this capacity to the fullest. Classrooms should be places where creativity is encouraged, not stifled. Musicing classes, and the research that takes place in them, share in contributing to our knowledge of the pedagogy of creativity.

Becoming a Musicing Teacher

There are four things a teacher should do if they want to become a musicing teacher. First, they need to make the irrevocable decision to engage the class in music-making activities a certain percentage of time. A good starting place might be to spend 60% of class-time on musicing, the other 40% on lecturing, listening, leading discussions, and the like.

The second thing is to decide what instruments the students should use. There are several possibilities, all of them with their own strengths and weaknesses. A short list would include recorders, melodicas, percussion instruments, or inexpensive synthesizers. I used melodicas because they allow for individual students to explore chord-making and polyphony. An ideal situation might be a classroom lab, where all of these and more are available for students to use.

Third, activities and lesson plans will need to be prepared. A crucial question facing musicing teachers is, “Should I use a text?” If a textbook is employed, the lesson plans could revolve around text headings. If no text is to be used (the ultimate musicing class) the entire semester will have to be planned out by the individual teacher. For my research, I chose to cover as many musical elements as possible, and use the elements to plan my lessons.

The fourth area of concern to become a musicing teacher is the area of assessment. Active learning classes typically use alternative assessments, such as portfolios or journals. However, tests and essay assignments are not completely out of the question. Musicing teachers are encouraged to be creative – after all, they are teaching creativity.

Appreciating Musicing

Taking these four steps is not necessarily easy, and may even be met with skepticism by some. Steps three and four especially will involve a lot of detailed planning. However, musicing is not without its rewards. My research confirmed two fundamental facts that made it worthwhile to carry through with the transformation from Music Appreciation to Musicing Appreciation. First, students were able to learn how to listen better and they also developed a deeper understanding of music – the goals of a general music course. Second, making music is not only educative, it is also a lot of fun - both for the students and the teacher. And that’s something most of us can appreciate.

 

References

• Bonwell, C. and Eison, J. Active Learning: Creating Excitement in the Classroom AIHE-ERIC Higher Education Report No. 1. Washington, D.C: Jossey-Bass, 1991.
• Elliot, D.J. Music Matters: A New Philosophy of Music Education. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.
• Hickey, Maud. In Why and How to Teach Musical Composition: A New Horizon for Music Education. Reston, Va: MENC, 2003.
• Hoffer, Charles. Music Listening Today. Belmont, Ca: Thompson Schirmer, 2005.
• Kohn, Alfie. The Schools Our Children Deserve: Moving Beyond Traditional Classrooms and “Tougher Standards”. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1999.
• Machlis, Joseph and Forney, Kristine. The Enjoyment of Music. New York: Worth Publishers, 1996.
• Nichols, David C. Musical Encounters. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 2001.
• Small, Christopher. Musicking. Middletown, Ct.: Wesleyan University Press: 1998.
• Wiggins, Jackie. In Why and How to Teach Musical Composition: A New Horizon for Music Education. Reston, Va: MENC, 2003.
• Walhout, Donald. The Nature and Function of Art. British Journal of Aesthetics. v. 26, No 1, Winter, 1986

Sign-up for Email Newsletter Email: