Teaching instrumental music with CMP techniques seems like a really good way to help students realize what they are supposed to be learning in an instrumental music classroom. After all, keeping learning goals a secret doesn't help students attain them. Providing explicit knowledge in a variety of ways will help students gather and use information for their own benefit and transfer into other areas. If the teacher knows as much as possible about the pieces he or she is teaching, it will enhance student learning. The teacher owes it to his or her students to do score analysis and perspective study to enhance the music education experience. Music is an active entryway into a variety of historical time periods and cultures. I think that studying and experiencing music can shed light on a variety of traits, from feelings to values, that all humans share, regardless of time, ethnicity, or location.
Making these connections through logical and sequenced activities over time will help students retain old ideas and learn new ones. Giving students opportunities to share ideas and knowledge will help them make the most personally meaningful connections, which will lead to transfer to the bigger understandings and ideas of history, culture, and the arts. One way to help students make these connections would be to have students create journals as they learn and play a specific piece of music. Doing this might help students ponder questions which will lead to active and meaningful discussion in class. These kinds of meaningful discussions will lead to active synthesis and evaluation.
I believe that using a CMP approach (at least to a certain degree) is what true music education is about for ensembles at the secondary level. Without it we are just teaching technical skills without a context in which to place them. CMP-based teaching has the potentail to develop students who will be engaged with music in some form or another for a lifetime. Isn't that what we want as teachers?
ReplyDeleteHi Becky! I like your idea of videotaping the students to create a record of growth for you students. I've thought about doing the same for my students as well. I teach K-5 General Music and 5th Grade Choir. I know the Choir teachers at the middle school and high school record their students each year in order to assess progress and to keep a record of growth. I am currently updating my music assessments at the elementary level. I test students on note values and the lines and spaces of the treble clef staff. Students also create an original composition at each grade level. Do you feel that videotaping students would be an effective assessment tool at the elementary level? As an ensemble director, what is your vision of elementary school assessment in preparing students for your programs in the future?
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