Annotated Bibliographies

Article #4-

Powell, Bryan, and Scott Burstein. “Popular Music and Modern Band Principles.” 2017.

I thought that overall the article was an interesting read. It had a lot of information that is quite relevant for us as future music educators. First assumptions of the article as I started to read was that I wasn’t really a huge fan of the whole modern band idea I think that popular music is an important aspect of music education, but I’m not entirely convinced of the whole idea. I will discuss this more in detail later. I really thought that the Music as a second language part was very interesting and I appreciated the approach it took linking music to other area of study such as language. I still don’t entirely understand MSL and I also do think that music although similar in some senses to language does still have to be treated differently from it. I started off someone who didn’t learn a lot of the fundamentals of my instrument/music and I think it caused some injury and that my be one of the reasons as to why I feel strongly about starting off teaching music through a “traditional” and “classical” style however that doesn’t mean I don’t think teaching popular music is important. If we look at a lot of the modern popular music artist a large amount of them started off with classical training and I don’t necessarily think that is a coincidence. It is unfortunate but upon finishing the article I wasn’t entirely convinced of the whole Modern Band in a class room as a full-time thing. It may be because I’m a little stubborn, but I also think that taking a different approach can work just as well. For me I have also wanted to teach music in a classroom band type setting one that is similar or the same to the one that I was taught in high school. Now that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t incorporate modern band into my classroom at all it just means that I may do it as a few projects through out the year but not as a full-time thing. My High School music teacher came to my high school about 3 years before I arrived. The school’s music program was small with a senior band of only about 20-25 people however through the time that he was there and when I came in he grew the music program to one of the biggest in the Brantford area. The band went from having around 20 people to having almost 80 members at its peak. He also achieved an 8 out of the possible 8 music sections that are school could have and eventually we had to bring in another music teacher. The music teachers approach to teaching music was by being funny and charismatic but also through approaching teaching music traditionally but also heavily incorporating the use of popular music ( in the sense playing popular music on traditional band instruments but also popular music history example: Buddy Holly and Richie Valens). I will have to do more research on the ideas outlined in the article because I still feel that they do have some beneficial aspects that could be really helpful to have in a classroom I may just have to see it in action more and do more research. To the author I would say I’m not trying to be rude or close minded because I do really think that what they have outlined is really awesome and helpful to music education however at this point I don’t feel like it would be right for me. However, this does not mean that my mind can’t be changed.

 

Article #3-

Burwell, Kim, et al. “Isolation in Studio Music Teaching: The Secret Garden.” Arts and Humanities in Higher Education, Oct. 2017, doi:10.1177/1474022217736581.

I found that this article had some very stimulating and thought-provoking points. I felt like it was fairly well written with lots proof and examples of what they ere talking about. I found that it was at times a little challenging to read however in the end I think it proved to be beneficial. For me personally I came from a setting in which I had both private studio lessons with teachers (one with Saxophone and one with Piano) and lessons with a large ensemble through music classes at school. My Piano teacher Amelia Yates often use to talk about trying to incorporate masterclasses in her studios where the older students could help the younger students unfortunately this never happened while I was still her in studio however I still though this was a cool connection. In the article when it talked about isolation it made me think back to when I use to teach music lesson and I would always try to tell my students to either get involved in their school music program or even join a community band. Brantford has a great selection of community bands they are always very inclusive with a wide range of age and experience some of them I believe coming from studio teaching (at least what I knew from the few that I was in). A quite that I liked from the article is when it said “the value of studio practices will not be demonstrated without opening them to scrutiny, negotiation and responsiveness” I think this important for any institution/establishment to keep in mind as nothing is ever perfect and can always use improving. I would like to speak about how in the article it spoke somewhat to the point of the community atmosphere of larger ensembles/teaching environments. I know for me part of the joy of learning music was doing it with friends and people that I really got to know. I also believe that it makes playing music together much easier when the band likes each other. Similarly, this year one of my favourite things about coming to study music at western was the Saxophone studio. They are really a great group of people and having masterclass where upper year students can perform and also hear me perform is something that is truly awesome and exciting to be able to participate in.

 

Annotated Bibliography #2 Veblen 2018

Veblen, K. K. (2018). Adult Music Learning in Formal, Nonformal, and Informal Contexts. Pgs. 243-245. Retrieved September 29, 2018.

Overall I really enjoyed this article, I thought that it was scholarly and presented facts and evidence instead of opinions.  Something that I am always curious about is the way in which people learn. The information provided in the article is a lot of stuff that I relate too and enjoy. The article mostly spoke about Formal, non-formal, and Informal learning and provided some evidence into some learning habits of adults compared to children. The article did not say anything that really challenged any assumptions that I have but it did give me some insight into some new information. As someone who came to music when I was a teenager, I was always afraid that I would be too far behind in music. In some cases, I am behind, but I liked how the article brought out the fact that sometimes older people learn quicker and develop certain traits more than other leaners. An example of this is playing musically. When I play the saxophone I’m not very good a playing fast and technical but I believe something that I excel at is playing a piece of music musically and with emotion. The article states that this is a result of being an older learner. Although the article itself did not frustrate me some of the stuff talked about made me think of certain things that irritate me when it comes to learning. Sometimes formally trained people believe that they have some kind of superiority especially in music over other musicians is something that really frustrates me because sometimes it is simply not true. Another thing that this article brought out that I found interesting and enjoyed was the information about less formal learning environments. For example, the author spoke about community bands and choirs and chamber music groups who are in less formal learning styles still learn music and create some wonderful music despite not having a conductor or being in a formal environment.  I already touched on this a bit above but I also really like how the article looks at how different learning styles produce different skills. An example of this in my own life is my brother-in-law is really good at just going to an instrument and playing it by ear or even improvising. That is something that I struggle with but it is something that is an important skill in music. He learned all this from informal learning. However, something that I exceed at in music more than him is music theory and reading music itself and this is something that I learned formally. One learning method is not better than the other and I think this is something that the author was trying to get at. They each have benefits but they also each have flaws. If I were to ever speak to the author I would honestly just thank her for writing this article. I have always been a little anxious about being such a late learner of music, I appreciate that she took the time to write this article and provide facts and evidence about being an adult learner.

 

Annotated Bibliography #1- Shelemay 2017

Shelemay, K. K. (2017). Soundscapes- exploring music in a changing world. (3rd ed.). New York/ London: W.W. Norton and Company.

South African Venda Music

In the first recording that I listened to (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8XBg16tahk) I really liked it, it had the feeling of some feel-good music. The rhythm and instrumentation used made me want to dance along with the recording. It also made me want to join in with them and at the same time, it made me feel very happy. I think I liked this music because it did have some form and structure something that I am used to within Western music but it is also something that I enjoy listening to. The second recording I listened to this type of music had a totally different effect on me. ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47zBe9QI6o0) While although it looked like they were having lots of fun in the video as soon as the music started I wanted it to stop. While you could sometimes feel a steady beat with the music it kind of just felt like everyone was playing at random times. I do respect the quote from the reading where it says that they believe the music is “founded not on melody but on a rhythmical stirring of the body, of which singing is one extension”. I think this is an awesome way for them to look at their music but unfortunately for me when I heard the music from the second clip I didn’t like it at all. This doesn’t mean I don’t respect their culture or the music it just means that I don’t really want to listen to it.

SHAKUHACHI (A musical instrument)

I decided to choose I musical instrument to try and gain a different perspective on the music of different cultures. This is an instrument that was often played by wandering priest in a time period called the Edo (1608-1868) and was commonly played up until the time of the Meiji restoration. I listened to two different audio recordings for this instrument.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmRPECd9Yig

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miUKO5g0ONk

Something that I did find about this music is that it was very relaxing and calming. It definitely had different sounds from a lot of the instruments in western civilization but it was a sound that I enjoyed very much at least from the recordings. The text spoke about how it was deeply connected to the priest that played these instruments and you can tell from listening to them that they do really sound like something religious or spiritual. Overall I really enjoyed listening to this musical instrument.

Response to questions from Laura:

Laura: Are there some ways in formal music education that we could expose younger students to music from other communities and cultures without as much of a sense of form/structure?
Seth: I mean one solution would be to not teach form/structure but then that would also eliminate some important aspects of Western Music. Also, we could maybe try to explain that these pieces of music have structure/form too but are just found and shown in different ways.
Laura: Do you think this could help students become more comfortable in different aspects of their music learning?
Seth: It may eliminate some of the elitist attitudes that so many western musicians have developed and make it possible for them to explore different genres and cultures of music.
Laura: How else do you think we could become more comfortable in these contexts?
Seth: Just make it more known that there is more music out there that doesn’t necessarily follow the traditional form/structure of western music.
Laura: Is this something we should actually address as educators here in North America?
Seth: I’m a little on the fence about this, but I think it may be up to the educator or curriculum to teach different cultures of music themselves not a whole problem for all Music educators in North America to solve. I think that sometimes we put to much strain on ourselves as North Americans to try to capture every culture of the world in our teaching and while I think that is important it is also not necessarily our own culture. We have developed our own cultures as North Americans. In no way I am saying that other cultures aren’t important. However, when people travel around the world to different music programs I bet that they don’t focus their entire music programs based on trying to include a North American style music into their studies. I’m sure they have some courses in North American music but honestly, they probably focus more on the culture and study of their own music that they have created.