Introduction
Currently, most schools offer music to all students from kindergarten through elementary school, and even middle school. (Some schools do not offer music in entire grade levels, which is a topic for a later blog and must be addressed by state and national leadership.) In high school, music often becomes an elective, and those students most committed to music continue their musical studies. There is widespread concern about the decline in enrollment in elective ensemble classes at the secondary level, including concert and marching bands, choruses, and orchestras. This blog suggests a new approach for increasing participation in secondary instrumental music ensembles.
Adapting to Today’s Students
We could blame society for the lack of cultural emphasis and commitment to the Arts, but that is not the emphasis in this writing. Society is what it is, and we have to adapt to survive. People always have to adapt to changes in the culture and the environment. As we analyze the research and practices in music education, it is possible to draw some conclusions that suggest that change is needed, but change is always difficult to be embraced.
Addressing Student Engagement
Let’s start with some basics. Students spend more time on their phones than they do in the classroom at school. Students participate in a variety of social media platforms. Short media content attracts attention, and then they move on. Long content can attract attention only if there is a keen interest in the topic. We need to attract attention in music education and then sustain interest in music making, while avoiding some of the barriers that are preventing success and achievement in music classes.
Learning from General Music
There is much to learn from the outstanding research and practices in the elementary general music classroom where all students learn songs from around the world; all students of all abilities sing and play songs and develop skills in solfege and rhythm syllables. All students participate, and all students achieve. Students then transfer their ability to sing to playing songs on the recorder, the bells and many other instruments.
Sight Before Sound
When students reach the age of their late elementary and secondary instrumental studies, we use traditional methods that were successful in the golden age of performing ensembles when kids were not distracted by social media, and parents enforced standards of participation. Fifty years ago (and still today), we emphasized reading notation in beginning instrumental ensembles before playing songs - sight before sound. The students stuck with it then and played in successful performing ensembles. However, today, it is a different story as students leave their instruments for other activities and subjects, either because they are unsuccessful in music or because something else is more effective at grabbing their attention.
Addressing the Notation Barrier
Technique on an instrument is not a barrier for most students. Every student eventually makes a sound on the head joint of a flute or gets the reed to vibrate with a good sound or gets a good buzz for a brass instrument. The hang-up is with notation. We have an unwritten understanding that if a student cannot read a song, they have no right to play it. The author of this blog believes that if they cannot sing it, they have no right to play it. Our emphasis should be sound before sight, even with older students. However, literacy is vital and develops best with the sound before sight approach, especially with younger students.
Expanding Our Repertoire to Include All Ethnicities
Here is another issue keeping students from participation in our instrumental ensembles. We are working with a narrow collection of folk songs in traditional method books, and our band literature is also narrow with a limited repertoire of world music. If we are truly teaching all students, we need to sing and play the music of all ethnicities. In today's global world, understanding another culture is best achieved through music, art, and literature. Our band classes should teach songs in multiple languages and then play those songs because we want to make sure that everyone belongs, both in our ensembles and in our society today.
The Barriers Preventing Achievement
We have presented two barriers in this blog: a primary focus on notation and a narrow song collection. These barriers keep many young students from achieving and continuing in secondary music. Along the way, many students feel as though it is a struggle to read notation and should not participate because the experience is not enjoyable or musical for them; the barrier of notation keeps them from experiencing the joy and beauty of music. Other students feel as though they do not belong because all ethnicities are not represented in the songs and literature being played.
Transitioning for Success
This blog suggests a transition between singing songs in elementary music classes and participating in instrumental ensembles. With a sound before sight approach songs, a variety of songs from around the world are sung with joy and then literacy is added to the musicality. Traditional methods are not the problem; in fact they are essential to success in musical ensembles. The suggestion here is for a transition between singing (including solfege) and playing an instrument, adding literacy to playing after students successfully transfer the joy of singing songs to the ever increasing joy of playing songs on an instruments – songs that they already are familiar with using skills that they have already mastered, including solfege.
Singing and Playing through Life
It is also suggested that we utilize a song collection in music ensembles today in addition to band literature. Songs accompany us throughout life as we sing to our children and in our community. We are teaching our students to play for life. Each community should develop a list of songs that students sing and play throughout the school curriculum and which build out into the surrounding community.
Fostering Creativity and Problem Solving
And one more suggestion is that we create music and improvise in our ensembles just as students do in their elementary music classes. Yes, it is being suggested that we take rehearsal time to learn songs and create music, and our students will be better musicians for it. We are not just preparing our students for the next concert, but we are preparing our students to create music and art in the future, as well as becoming creative problem solvers who think outside the box. We are nurturing a creative society, and no one does this better than those who teach Arts classes. Even creating the technology that guides the future will be accomplished by creative people.
Recognizing a Different Generation
This generation is different, and that is OK. Treating them the same is foolish. We do not need to throw away old methods which are proven to produce results. We need to transition students from the joy of singing a diverse repertoire of songs to the challenge of notation with the steps that are necessary to bring success to every student. As we capture the attention of our younger students, we will help them to find the joy in music that will last a lifetime. If we do not capture their attention and imagination, then some other art form, subject or activity will capture their attention, or they will be lost in a bombardment of information without the ability or creativity to sort through it.
Conclusion
There is a new frontier ahead. We cannot live in the past but rather transcend our current challenges and prepare a vibrant musical future for our students.
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