Creative Music Class
I’m trying to write curriculum for a new class proposal at school. I want this class to be completely independent from our ensembles, and geared toward the school’s general population of students who have little or no experience in music. The question I keep asking myself, and now you as well, is, “What kind of music-specific knowledge should I plan to teach in the class?” Music theory is offered at the school, both as an introductory course and AP(one semester each). Should this be a prerequisite? Take the intro theory course before you’re able to enroll in the creative class? My concern with this is that it takes the opportunity away for any student to take it – as some students do not have two free semesters. If I offer the class with no prerequisite, there are still theory-related issues to be dealt with. Should these be dealt with on an as-needed basis?
My feeling right now is that a very quick introduction to theory would be appropriate, and then tackle other issues as needed. This would allow for the maximum amount of ‘constructivism’. These types of student-driven classes are starting to be prevalent in Great Britain, and I see no reason why they would not work here either. In fact, they may very well exist and I’m simply not aware of them. Have you ever experienced a class such as this? What are your feelings about having a class where the teacher acts as an advisor/facilitator rather than a supreme being of knowledge?
My assumption is that a class like this will be wildly popular – especially amongst student who are ‘amateur’ musicians (the rock dudes). Currently, the program at my school is ill-equipped to serve this group of students, and I would imagine we are not alone in this shortcoming. If you have any thoughts or suggestions on this type of curriculum, I would be happy to get your input. As it stands, this program would be highly experimental, but I am interested to observe instances of success as part of action research in implementing this class.
January 27, 2009 at 11:23 am
I think this is a great idea. Definitely leave out the theory pre-requisite.
I think, though, that you’re really going to have to market it as a “forum” type class for the students, but I wonder how the administrators will react to this. They’re probably going to want concrete accountability from what the students are doing.
I kind of think of this sort of idea like some of the ‘trade’ classes we had in my high school. In the shop classes, the teachers would teach them how to use the machines, would give them ideas of projects and then most of the class days were ‘labs’. There was also a child development class that acted as a babysitter, basically for pre-k students. For the first couple weeks, kids learned about child development theory, and then had a lecture or two about practical applications of those theories. Then, they would take care of the kids, getting specific assignments to do every week (this week, learn about colors, this week animals, etc.), and homework to design ‘lesson plans’ and they’d do some journaling about their experience.
I think this format of a class, like a trade, would translate Really well into music.
January 27, 2009 at 3:34 pm
One of the great things about the school I’m at is that ‘accountability’ in the traditional sense is less important if the class serves a glaring need. In our music department – and perhaps every music department – creativity is often completely overlooked or substituted for re-creativity. It is sort of a trade class with creativity at its core; and not some set of requisite musical knowledge.
By the way, for you assessment junkies, assessments will be a mixture of self-reflection, peer critiques, and teacher feedback in a constant loop. No high stakes tests here!