About (addendum)

I would very much appreciate any and all comments related to my posts. Meaningful conversation is what leads us toward greater understanding, and that’s the whole point….right?

What I learned…

Many people ask me, “So what did you learn in graduate school?” I find this to be an interesting question…mainly because I think that the people that have asked it expect some list of knowledge to come flowing out. Many who ask that question are colleagues who may or may not have attended what I consider to be a “vocational” graduate school. By that, I mean that they wanted a less than rigorous means toward improving their careers, and found a school that offered them the opportunity to do so within a curriculum that was essentially an elevated version of their undergraduate degrees. I must be honest, there were a few classes that I took that made me feel this way. But for the most part, these classes were easily in the minority. I don’t mean to criticize anyone’s choice to advance themselves professionally, but to do so without having ideas related to the outcome; or to do so without growing your own philosophy of music education is inexcusable.

Therein lies the point where I can say I have grown the most as a music educator. It’s hard for me to comment on how I’ve grown as a teacher in the past two years, because the teacher I am now, and the teacher I was then are two different people. I would consider myself somewhat well-read now in terms of research. Many people do not see the value in research, but these people are those who, in general, have not read or done a lot of research.

I am not, however, going to say that simply reading publications is the key to professional growth. Rather, it is the ability to implement the knowledge gained from the research into practice. Some may choose to do this within the context of the classroom, and some may choose to write about it. It all boils down to having a sound philosophy, and putting it into action; all the while remaining flexible enough to realize that your beliefs and philosophies will change. So, for those who are new to the profession (and I include myself in this directive), do your reading, write a lot, and be open to a lot of change.

Catching up

So, I haven’t written anything on this blog for some time. Being as how I don’t think anyone reads it, I’ll assume that very few, if any, are disappointed. So it goes. In the time since my last post, I have accepted a teaching position for the fall in Lake Forest, finished my master’s degree in music education, and toured the lovely scenery in Costa Rica. I suppose I have been enjoying my post-graduation time…perhaps a bit too much. Perhaps not.

Anyhow, let’s bring it back to the purpose of what I’m doing here: making a difference in music teaching. I was having a conversation with someone recently regarding the Super-State Concert Band Festival held here at the University of Illinois, where bands from around the state submit recordings and are selected to come and perform at our outstanding facility. For many schools, this is the pinnacle of achievement for their music program. This year, after the “honor band” was selected (best band in each class), I read an article in the newspaper from that area drawing a comparison to winning a state championship in sports. Now, our conversation centered around this idea of “winning” at a music festival. My colleague argued that this competitive activity was a necessity for a lot of schools in order to gain support for their programs. Any administrator loves to see trophies added to their school’s collection, and are more willing to support the programs that achieve this. While I cannot argue with this, as I believe it to be an irrefutable fact, I cannot help but point out how ridiculous this phenomenon is in education.

This, in my opinion, has created a culture of obsession with high stakes, high quality products that are demanded at a very young age. It is analogous to the current demands put on schools by the No Child Left Behind Act. There is a certain standard that must be met in order to receive support. The problem (with NCLB and music education evaluation standards) is that both are quite arbitrary. Performance at a competition is about as valid at measuring a student’s music education as a standardized test is at measuring how well a school educates its population.

It should be known that I believe contests and festivals to be legitimate sources of motivation for student achievement in performance. But I also believe there should be a much larger scope for measuring success related to our school music programs. Any school that “wins” at these activities should be complimented for having an outstanding standard for performance, but I would hope that students, in addition to the performance opportunities, have the chance to be creative in music as well.

More on this topic and others to come.