Music as a Social Practice - in a few words

Posts : 2 Join date : 2008-01-18

This section is extremely relevant with the things we have been talking about recently - especially when considering the context, content AND processes of music. And when talking about music as a social practice, it is ironic that what happens in the music classroom has little to do with what students are involved in outside the classroom. Crying or Very sad

The direction research is currently taking is based on students' musical interests and pursuits - with the article giving special mention to popular music and world/global music. scratch

For popular music, there has been resistance in accepting it in the curriculum and would require a redefinition of musicality. Yet, positive changes have been reported from the Australians after popular music was included. tongue

For world music, it has been making inroads into school curriculums recently, making recordings and pedagogical literature more accessible.

Twisted Evil

For music teachers, informal social contexts of music making should be taken into consideration to further students' engagement in music. For the curriculum planner, developing appropriate pedagogy and learning strategies for the teaching of popular music and world music is crucial. Yet, at the end of the day, balance must be sought between being "directive and liberative, didactic and dialogical, subject-centered and student-centered".

Admin Posts : 11 Join date : 2008-01-04

MUS4 wrote:: This section is extremely relevant with the things we have been talking about recently - especially when considering the context, content AND processes of music. And when talking about music as a social practice, it is ironic that what happens in the music classroom has little to do with what students are involved in outside the classroom.

We should take heart that there are some teachers who do make an attempt to connect the "school"-"outside school" divide. I also think there is a difference between "not-knowing the social practice and hence teaching from ignorance" and "knowing that social-context is important but not sure how to go changing the way we teach".

The direction research is currently taking is based on students' musical interests and pursuits - with the article giving special mention to popular music and world/global music. For popular music, there has been resistance in accepting it in the curriculum and would require a redefinition of musicality. Yet, positive changes have been reported from the Australians after popular music was included. For world music, it has been making inroads into school curriculums recently, making recordings and pedagogical literature more accessible.

Undoubtedly, with the advent of IT and popularising of music, this trend will continue to prevail. E.g. the canonised western masterpieces would increasingly be distant whereas other more recent music emerges to become note-worthy-to-learn-about pieces. And of course "preferences" and "musical trends" can only change. It is therefore important that we are able to ask ourselves what are the critical/foundation processes of learning that will encourage our teachers/students to maintain an open view of learning about music without compromising the good work of what we have discovered in the past about musical learning.

For music teachers, informal social contexts of music making should be taken into consideration to further students' engagement in music. For the curriculum planner, developing appropriate pedagogy and learning strategies for the teaching of popular music and world music is crucial. Yet, at the end of the day, balance must be sought between being "directive and liberative, didactic and dialogical, subject-centered and student-centered".

Balance is a good word. How would you seek to move forward from this understanding?

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