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Philosophical Perspectives

Developing the debate for “Assessment on our own Terms” and contributing to related discourse

The article Assessment on Our Own Terms by Samuel Hope and Mark Wait is an important read for music educators and anyone who deals with arts education, assessment, or policy connected to arts assessment or evaluation. The article makes a strong case for staying true to assessment that makes the most sense for music education and leads to improvement and learning. Towards the end of the article, Hope and Wait (2013) address the importance of having a strong foundation in… Read More »Developing the debate for “Assessment on our own Terms” and contributing to related discourse

Toward Convergence: Adapting Music Education to Contemporary Society and Participatory Culture

Tobias, E. S. (2013). Toward convergence: Adapting music education to contemporary society and participatory culture. Music Educators Journal, 99(4), 29–36. doi:10.1177/0027432113483318 The digital supplement providing examples of the varied musical practices I discuss in the article. (Also available on the NAfME Bonus Content website). Also included in the same issue of the MEJ is: A thoughtful and nuanced response written by Thomas Regelski. My condensed response to Regelski’s response as published in the MEJ. A complete response is available on… Read More »Toward Convergence: Adapting Music Education to Contemporary Society and Participatory Culture

A warning on moving from complex goals to discrete and disconnected tasks

Grant Wiggins (of Wiggins & McTighe’s Understanding by Design) recently highlighted the issue of breaking things into little bits in education. new post on the error of breaking complex goals into itty bitty pieces & marching thru them, & the warning on c core: http://t.co/hwLHJAYgmk — Grant Wiggins (@grantwiggins) April 20, 2013 He focuses on the following excerpt from the High School Publishers’ Criteria for the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics Fragmenting the Standards into individual standards, or individual… Read More »A warning on moving from complex goals to discrete and disconnected tasks

Perspectives on Marching Band and School Music Programs: Frank Deford’s commentary

Frank Deford’s recent commentary on Marching band  titled “School Bands Should not be Entertainment Adjunct for Sports” (on NPR) generated some very interesting dialogue on the comment section of the NPR website. Deford’s key point is that students should not be required to be members of the school marching band. He frames marching bands as primarily a means of entertainment for people at football games. While Deford could flesh out the social and cultural aspects of marching bands and use… Read More »Perspectives on Marching Band and School Music Programs: Frank Deford’s commentary

Has music education changed since 1970? On students who rock. . .

David Bornstein recently wrote two opinion pieces for the New York times regarding music education. The first “Beyond Baby Mozart, Students Who Rock” focuses on Bornstein’s perspective on the state of music education and the Little Kids Rock organization. The second “Rock is Not the Enemy,” does a nice job of integrating a wide range of reader comments from the first opinion piece. In the first opinion piece Bornstein writes: Music education hasn’t changed fundamentally since the 1970s. Students are… Read More »Has music education changed since 1970? On students who rock. . .