How learning is experienced - the arts/music education
Friday, 22 Oct 2021, 16:08
Visible to anyone in the world
Arts
education is perhaps unique in the breadth and range of teaching and learning
styles and environments where children can experience the arts. Think of other
curriculum areas and the mind may tend towards recollecting formal teaching
styles within a traditional classroom – ‘chalk and talk’ (Schweisfurth, 2011) along
with an occasional practical activity – a style which is still an everyday
experience for many.
Good
quality arts education is, at its heart, a ‘doing’, practical experience. In
music education, many teachers aim to make curriculum lessons as musical as
possible. Participatory and experiential learning is essential for the learning
to be musical. Progress can be witnessed through performances or a series of
recordings over time reflecting progress.
The
many elements discussed about learner-centred education, and in debates around different
teaching and learning styles, are already commonly demonstrated across the
various settings and learning environments in which music education takes
place. Non-formal music settings (for example music ensembles) are predominantly
hands-on practical group music making activities with many associated benefits
through participation. Informal music making happens in many homes, for example
with friends showing each other how to play instruments or creating music together.
Formal settings, with their set curriculum to follow, have to balance the
skills already acquired by children in their class with the necessity of
teaching new knowledge (knowledge about, knowledge of how, knowledge of music –
Philpott 2007) in a variety of ways.
Focussing
on one teaching and learning method may well lead to a narrowing of experience
or even an unmusical one. Even with a good motivation, aiming to incorporate
the power of pupil voice, like Learner-Centred Education (Schweisfurth, 2015),
does have the danger of, albeit sounding good in theory, leading to an
unmusical non-learning experience. ‘Let’s all let the children choose what
music they want to learn, create a band, work in groups then perform to each
other’. This may sound idealistic and relevant to the children’s experience
but, if not handled very carefully, can, for example, lead to children singing
songs completely inappropriate to their vocal range, potentially damaging their
voice or simply sung badly, or a group working together to form a band without
the relevant experience to play it well therefore not making musical progress
through the experience and become disheartened.
There
is not one right or wrong teaching and learning style that is suitable in music
education but to ensure the experience is positive, musical and meaningful some
key questions should be asked: Will this be a musical experience? What musical
learning is taking place through this process? Is this helping the children
make music progress? Is the experience helping the children gain key skills
useful for their future?
A
couple of questions that are worth exploring:
In
what ways can the student voice be heard in a meaningful way in formal
curriculum music education?
How
can arts education help develop a ‘world-centred education’ (Biesta, 2021) for
the children?
References
Biesta,
G. (2017) ‘Letting Art Teach – Art Education ‘After’ Joseph Beuys’. Art EZ
Press, Amsterdam.
Biesta,
G. (2021) ‘World-Centred Education. A View for the Present.’ Abingdon, Routledge.
Philpott,
C. (2007) ‘Musical Learning and Musical Development’ in Philpott, C. and
Spruce, G. Learning to Teach Music in The Secondary School. A Companion to
School Experience, Abingdon, Routledge.
Schweisfurth,
M. (2011) ‘Learner-centred education in developing country contexts: from
solution to problem?’, International Journal of Education and Development,
vol. 31, no. 5, pp. 419–26.
How learning is experienced - the arts/music education
Arts education is perhaps unique in the breadth and range of teaching and learning styles and environments where children can experience the arts. Think of other curriculum areas and the mind may tend towards recollecting formal teaching styles within a traditional classroom – ‘chalk and talk’ (Schweisfurth, 2011) along with an occasional practical activity – a style which is still an everyday experience for many.
Good quality arts education is, at its heart, a ‘doing’, practical experience. In music education, many teachers aim to make curriculum lessons as musical as possible. Participatory and experiential learning is essential for the learning to be musical. Progress can be witnessed through performances or a series of recordings over time reflecting progress.
The many elements discussed about learner-centred education, and in debates around different teaching and learning styles, are already commonly demonstrated across the various settings and learning environments in which music education takes place. Non-formal music settings (for example music ensembles) are predominantly hands-on practical group music making activities with many associated benefits through participation. Informal music making happens in many homes, for example with friends showing each other how to play instruments or creating music together. Formal settings, with their set curriculum to follow, have to balance the skills already acquired by children in their class with the necessity of teaching new knowledge (knowledge about, knowledge of how, knowledge of music – Philpott 2007) in a variety of ways.
Focussing on one teaching and learning method may well lead to a narrowing of experience or even an unmusical one. Even with a good motivation, aiming to incorporate the power of pupil voice, like Learner-Centred Education (Schweisfurth, 2015), does have the danger of, albeit sounding good in theory, leading to an unmusical non-learning experience. ‘Let’s all let the children choose what music they want to learn, create a band, work in groups then perform to each other’. This may sound idealistic and relevant to the children’s experience but, if not handled very carefully, can, for example, lead to children singing songs completely inappropriate to their vocal range, potentially damaging their voice or simply sung badly, or a group working together to form a band without the relevant experience to play it well therefore not making musical progress through the experience and become disheartened.
There is not one right or wrong teaching and learning style that is suitable in music education but to ensure the experience is positive, musical and meaningful some key questions should be asked: Will this be a musical experience? What musical learning is taking place through this process? Is this helping the children make music progress? Is the experience helping the children gain key skills useful for their future?
A couple of questions that are worth exploring:
In what ways can the student voice be heard in a meaningful way in formal curriculum music education?
How can arts education help develop a ‘world-centred education’ (Biesta, 2021) for the children?
References
Biesta, G. (2017) ‘Letting Art Teach – Art Education ‘After’ Joseph Beuys’. Art EZ Press, Amsterdam.
Biesta, G. (2021) ‘World-Centred Education. A View for the Present.’ Abingdon, Routledge.
Philpott, C. (2007) ‘Musical Learning and Musical Development’ in Philpott, C. and Spruce, G. Learning to Teach Music in The Secondary School. A Companion to School Experience, Abingdon, Routledge.
Schweisfurth, M. (2011) ‘Learner-centred education in developing country contexts: from solution to problem?’, International Journal of Education and Development, vol. 31, no. 5, pp. 419–26.
Schweisfurth, M. (2015) ‘Learner-centred pedagogy: towards a post-2015 agenda for teaching and learning’, International Journal of Educational Development, vol. 40, pp. 259–66. Available at: https://www-sciencedirect-com.libezproxy.open.ac.uk/ science/ article/ pii/ S0738059314001084 (Accessed: 22 October 2021).