Challenges Faced by Schools Developing Music Curriculum With A Look At Philosophy by David Elliot and Bennet Reimer

This is a response to Music Matters by David Elliot and A Philosophy of Music Education Advancing the Vision by Bennett Reimer on the subject of the challenges schools face when developing music curriculum.

The two aforementioned authors pose many challenges in developing a curriculum for music education that fulfills its responsibility for every student. As Reimer puts it there are different levels of “engagement” of students of music. Not everyone seeks to be “professional”, or immerses themselves in music so much as to make it a career. Likewise, not everyone sits on the back burner as a music “aficionado”, being content to study music from the side and contemplate its facets.

Both authors are very clear that our 9 National Standards of Music Education are musically sound. They provide clear direction into what makes up music and what benchmarks there should be in order to gain a comprehensive music education.

One challenge we face in music education is applying these 9 standards throughout a student’s time in our schools. Typically what ends up happening is a focus in the elementary on “general music” (more academic) and the middle and high school levels are left for “performance” (band, orchestra, other performance ensembles).

            If you think about an entire school system, you will have 3 major types of music students: 1. Aficionados are enthusiasts who eagerly, delightedly, and intelligently seek musical experiences in their lives. 2. Amateurs and 3. Professionals. The latter two seek to partake in music as amateur or professional musicians.

I can certainly speak about the school where I teach. It is a middle school (5-8) and I teach the instrumental music students (band and strings). I get students in every grade every year that want to try to be in a performance ensemble, but find out that it’s not the direction they want to go with music. They would much prefer to be in the aficionado set of students, but in a performance class, everyone is expected to be an amateur musician at least.

I’m sure this is repeated everywhere, but it’s typically the model that after the elementary, it’s time to join an ensemble or say goodbye to music in school. There is nothing wrong with a performance ensemble! You gain so many skills and there is no better place to perform with peers who love to do the same thing you love to do. A huge challenge is to provide those students in this ensemble the opportunities to utilize the other standards of music education: compose, notate, listen, analyze, describe, evaluate, and understand.

David Elliot brings up a very interesting component of curriculum that I agree with and see great insight into. He spends quite a bit of his book discussing lesson plans. Elliot stands that ultra-specific verbal plans or scripts run contrary to the nature and value of teaching. This can be a challenge to get around when higher-ups are required that each teacher provide these ultra-specific plans as proof of their teaching and preparation.

I know that as a teacher I come up with dozens of new ideas and ways of bringing concepts to students every class that I teach. Even the logistics of presenting an experience can be done better, and no amount of planning is going to be better than thinking on your feet. Flexibility is key for great lessons. Adjustment to the flow of the class shows good planning, so why do schools propose such strict requirements for lessons?

I have been told by administration that in the event that I am gone, lesson plans will provide the district with a seamless pickup from where I left off! This is laughable since in the event that I am gone, students will need to be oriented to a new teacher with new styles and they might not even be able to continue or agree with the way things were done. As a long-term substitute, I was always prepared to present experiences based on my background and expertise to provide the students with special musical experiences. In the event that I am gone, I have other lessons prepared that are separate from the curriculum we are working on anyway. They are more community and team-building activities and work well with someone the students aren’t used to.

So then what else do these scripts accomplish? If a parent or administrator wishes to know what is happing on a given day or what is coming up, they need only talk to the students who are responsible for their learning. Another music teacher taking over will establish their own protocols and procedures, as they are comfortable with teaching them. It’s very labor-intensive to have predicted outcomes that don’t come out the way you expect and serve no purpose since their justification is only valid if the students can be observed doing these activities.

I like to record what has happened and plan on experiences for students to experience to get a comprehensive music education. I am constantly asking myself, “Have we done this activity? Should we try it this way next time?” I make notes as needed and we go for it! It’s very spontaneous, collaborative, and relevant. It helps that students, parents, and teachers are all on the same page.

These are some of the challenges that I have personally faced as well as some that are brought up by Elliot and Reimer. I was happy to agree with their findings as well as have a few experiences of my own to correlate to their philosophies.