Justification

JUSTIFICATION OF LEARNING PROJECT

Research has indicated that children prefer to engage with music that is familiar to them (Roulston 2006).  For children to actively participate in Western classical music, therefore, it is important that they become familiar with this music.  For teachers, it is important to not only expose their young music students to the sounds of classical music, but also give students an understanding of how a piece is specifically working.  If students realize the history that surrounds a particular piece and the way in which the piece fits into its broader context of music (eg: whether that be Baroque or Romantic music, for example) they will feel as though they understand the language of the music and it thus becomes more familiar to them.  As is summed up in the words of Gordon (1971, p. 114):  “The more a person knows about music, the more he is able to enjoy it, and more he enjoys music, the more he is able to learn about it.”

The learning activities that form this music learning project take students through a series of information that provide the scaffolding to understanding a particular classical work.  As Vygotsky taught, with this framework in place, students can then take charge of their own learning experience (Bahr & Pendergast, 2007).  In this specific case, they use the knowledge they have learned to analyze a piece of music by listening to it.  Questions asked to stimulate thinking and aural perception include asking students to feel the metre, to listen for certain instruments and entries, to note dynamics, or to describe how the music makes them feel.  According to Piaget, students of this age are beginning to move from the Concrete Operational Stage to the Formal Operational Stage.  Students at this age still need concrete examples, athough they are beginning to become more abstract in their thinking (Bahr & Pendergast, 2007).  This learning project, therefore, provides a good combination of solid right/wrong learning with questions that will stimulate more abstract thinking and expression of creativity.

The highlight of the learning project for students is the opportunity to hear a live orchestra play the pieces they have already learned about and analyzed.  It is expected that students will find this experience more engaging having previously learned the language of the piece, so to speak.  Custodero (2010) argues that reflection on any musical experience is critical to coherantly piece the learning together.  In accordance with this, the learning project concludes with students individually answering a series of questions that are designed to provoke thinking about their learning experience during both the Web Quest and the orchestra excursion.  Students’ answers are not right or wrong, but rather a way for both the student and the teacher to reflect on the learning that took place.  In accordance with Wiggins’ (2001) musical cognitive apprenticeship, students will take their own individual responses into a small group setting where they will end the project by collectively gathering ideas and knowledge and collaboratively sharing their own musical experiences.

Works Cited

Custodero, L. (2010). Meaning and Experience: The Musical Learner. In H. F. Abeles & L. A. Custodero, Critical Issues in Music Education. Oxford: Oxford     University Press.

Gordon, E. (1971). The Psycology of Music Teaching. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, Inc.

Pendergast, N. B. (2007). The Millennial Adolescent. Camberwell: Acer Press.

Roulston, K. (2006). Qualitative Investigation of Young Children's Music Preferences. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 7 (9).

Wiggins, J. (2001). Teaching for Musical Understanding. Boston: McGraw Hill.