The Christian Science Monitor had a very interesting article a couple of days ago that raises several important things for music educators to think about.
The article discusses music school graduates and urban cultural institutions providing urban schools with music programs.While it is very positive that students are receiving music programs, one might be concerned that a trend will continue in which schools do not hire music education professionals but rather rely on musicians outside the school not necessarily educated in pedagogy, philosophy, curriculum and other elements of a music education degree. As schools continue to underfund or eliminate music programs to concentrate on raising test scores it may be convenient and budget friendly to not have music education professionals on staff. It is positive that the Carnegie Hall program has professional musicians and music educators working with each other. Hopefully as these programs develop, the relationships between the professional musicians, music educators and students will be long lasting and collaborative.
It was interesting that the “music makes you smarter in other academic areas” argument appeared in the article especially after research over the past couple of years that disputes the “Mozart Effect” has been published and articles addressing this disconnect have already started to surface. The way to advocate for music education is a huge issue in and of itself, I was just surprised to read the math and music connection in the context of this article.
The use of popular music and technology are important aspects of the article as well. As music educators, we have a long way to go in figuring out the best ways to implement both popular music and technology in our classrooms. After attending the International Association for the Study of Popular Music conference last year I wished there were more opportunities for popular music scholars and music educators to collaborate and learn from one another. There are several excellent resources existing in our field already; the books Bridging the Gap: Popular Music & Music Education edited by Carlos Xavier Rodriguez and How Popular Musicians Learn: A Way Ahead for Music Education by Lucy Green come to mind. The August 2006 issue of the International Journal of Music Education focused on issues of popular music and music education and contains excellent articles that could influence our classrooms.
The mention of a student using You Tube to learn a guitar piece is very telling for how our students may be interacting with music outside of the classroom. Technology and web 2.0 intersects in many ways with popular culture that we can take advantage of in classrooms.
As music educators we should be concerned about music education in urban schools and how our profession is addressing the many concerns that exist in this area. How can we as a profession and as individuals work with cultural institutions to address the needs of students in public schools? What should the role of cultural institutions be? Are cultural institutions and music educators speaking with each other? How might music teacher education programs address these issues?