This article was written for Paducah Parenting magazine.
It's a Group Thing - for Teachers AND Students!
Recently, the Music Teachers National Association Board of Directors developed a list of ten
"Essential Skills for Promoting a Lifelong Love of Music and Music Making." This list was not
designed as a set of standards for music students, or as a group of suggestions for parents
on ways they can facilitate their child's music instruction. Rather, it is a list of skills for music
teachers to use in creating curriculum and programs of study. What would you guess would
be important for teachers to teach? Music reading? Rhythmic playing? Playing expressively?
As you read through these skills, notice they describe musicians who are well-rounded and
capable of doing much more than just learning to play pieces. The skills are as follows:
Ability to internalize basic rhythms and pulse
Ability to read - musical literacy
Ability to perform with physical ease and technical
efficiency
Ability to see printed music and hear it in the mind
before it is played - audiation
Ability to work creatively - improvise, compose,
harmonize and play by ear
Ability to understand basic elements of theory,
form harmony, etc.
Ability to respond to the interpretive elements of the
composition to express the emotional character of the
music
Ability to conceptualize and transfer musical ideas
Ability to work independently and to problem-solve
Ability to perform comfortably individually and with
others in a variety of settings or ensembles.
Wow! That's a tall order, and in today's world with our busy schedules and compacted lesson
and practice sessions, we often fall into the trap of thinking that music instruction time can
best be used for learning repertoire only. We think we don't have the time for experiences in
creating music, whether through improvisation or written compositions; or for arranging our
own harmonies to go with favorite folk, hymn or pop melodies; or for learning music theory for
the functional purpose of working independently on projects of interest to the student.
But these are the very experiences that speak to the creative spirit within all of us. These
are the skills that will often keep a music learner motivated to continue learning and making
music for life. So much to do and so little time!! What to do??
The best way I have found to include all of these skills in my teaching is through a
comprehensive, carefully-layered curriculum taught in a group setting. Peer interaction and
the dynamics of group learning provide for excellent opportunities to use music functionally -
i.e. taking the knowledge of how to read notes and rhythm and expanding upon it to
compose a class song or choose chords to harmonize a melody. Creativity is encouraged
through group interaction as ideas and concepts are shared, practiced and reinforced.
Listening is greatly enhanced through group ensemble playing and group singing activities.
Students in groups learn to perform comfortably in front of others because they do it during
every lesson. Understanding musical form is strengthened by a group discovery project
such as harmonic analysis of a piece that the group is learning to play. The ability to
conceptualize and transfer musical ideas from one activity to another is also stimulated by
peers working together. Learning to read music and internalize rhythm and pulse are skills
as easily taught in groups as in private settings, and the group setting gives additional
opportunities to use games and activities to reinforce note-reading and rhythm concepts.
These are just a few examples of the way group instruction is an ideal avenue for teaching.
There are many more.
As a teacher who has had experience both in private teaching and in group instruction, I
believe the group setting is truly the best way to provide all-around musicianship skills
development such as the ones listed above as "essential for promoting a lifelong love of
music and music making." And not only is it an excellent way for me as a teacher to be able
to teach these skills more thoroughly and completely, it is also a wonderful setting for the
students who find it inspiring and motivating - just plain FUN.
1"Essential Skills for Promoting a Lifelong Love of Music and Music Making," by Dorothy
Payne. American Music Teacher, Volume 43, #4, p. 26.
** For a more detailed discussion of audiation, read the article in this website entitiled,
"Audiation - Music in the Mind."