The value of musical interaction, à la Eisner
From Elliot W. Eisner’s “What Does It Mean To Say a School Is Doing Well?” (2001), published in Flinders & Thornton’s “Curriculum Studies Reader” (2004):
“As we focus on standards, rubrics, and measurement, the deep problems of schooling go unattended…We need to provide opportunities for youngsters and adolescents to engage in challenging kinds of conversation, and we need to help them learn how to do so” (pp. 299-300).
When I taught elementary music, I was sure that I had all of my ducks in a row as far as meeting the National and State Standards for Music, and assessing areas such as singing voice development, tonal and rhythm pattern achievement, and composition proficiency. Despite my efforts, it often felt like there was a wall between my students and I. I knew that there were many musical personalities in the room but I wasn’t always sure how to engage them. Sure, I could entertain them by having them imitate drum patterns or songs, and even have them improvise or create their own patterns, though this often resulted in more mathematical than musical creations. Still, my administrators and even other music educators applauded me for finding ways to meet the standards and assess efficiently.
I would have traded a majority of this efficiency for an ounce of better understanding of my students’ musicianship and more meaningful ways to interact with them musically. At that time, the standards and assessment strategies actually distracted me from developing musicianship. Even with the best intentions in mind, I had superficially placed these tools on an unsteady foundation that lacked what I have since learned to be at the core of good teaching – interaction.
Music interactions are the most powerful ways to engage musical personalities and develop students’ understanding of musical language. I recently taught an early childhood music class where the walls seemed to be ringing with purposeful responses from my students, ages 6 months to 24 months. By singing and chanting to my students and echoing their responses, I was guiding them through their understanding of music. These crawlers and toddlers were anticipating the pull of dominant to tonic, singing resting tone, and echoing patterns.
Our voluntary National Standards provide great guidelines for diversifying instruction, and my Masters thesis will focus on the use of formal assessment methods, including rubrics and measurement, to improve instruction. I think Eisner is frustrated that too much focus is being taken away from interacting with students in ways that encourage them to think at higher levels. I am thrilled that I have found many creative ways to interact with students since learning about music learning theory and teaching early childhood music, and that I can now interweave the standards and assessment types into a stronger instructional model.
