The authors first talk about how important it is that we strive to help students develop conceptual understanding. They discuss that students will have schemas, which can simply be described as preconceived images and ideas that students have towards certain topics, simply due to experiences and prior learning. The authors state, "While it is essential for students to develop schematic representation, conceptual learning pinpoints the characteristics of the learning at hand and helps alleviate misconceptions" (Hansen, Bernstorf, and Stuber 75). Essentially, they are saying that students should develop schemas, but with many subjects, students will need break away from their preconceived notions in order to truly comprehend different texts - both musical and non-musical.
The text gives the example of not only teaching Mexican music through learning how to perform it, but by learning about the culture and interacting with Mexican art and dance. This way, students do not read the text, learn the music, and apply their already developed ideas towards Mexican music. By actively interacting in Mexican culture, they can form a new schema that helps them to understand Mexican music so much better and break any misconceptions about it. This was an idea I appreciated reading about. I have often simply thought that learning to perform certain types of music was enough interaction, but I never thought to have the students interact further with the culture of pieces. I eventually hope to work with an orchestra, and I think it would be a wonderful idea to find ways for them to interact in the cultures of different musical eras, since we will certainly encounter that in our repertoire. This way, they are not simply learning the techniques needed to play different types of music, but they are developing a deep understanding of the history of music, which will eventually lead them to be able to play the given music with more musicality. I would also say that a deep understanding of musical context would lead them to enjoy learning the music more.
The authors state at the very beginning of the chapter, "It is important that students experience a concept or topic in multiple ways to reinforce and solidify their understanding" (Hansen, Bernstorf, and Stuber 73). After discussing the importance of teaching conceptual understanding, the authors further discuss the idea of teaching music in diverse ways. They state, "By studying the music in context with its history, culture, musical concepts and elements, artistic expression, and composer intent, we are able to approach the learning in all related disciplines with integrity" (Hansen, Bernstorf, and Stuber 77). Once again, they are essentially telling us to strive to teach students to understand music through more than just performance and knowledge of technique and theory. They even give the idea of collaborating with other teachers. This was another thing I had never considered before. They give the idea of talking with the history teacher and asking to coordinate your lessons. Going back to my desire to teach orchestra, if I was teaching them a piece by Bach, I could ask my history teacher if he/she would consider taking some time to cover the Baroque period and the way of life that was prevalent in that era. If students had this knowledge, I truly believe they would learn the piece better, play it with the musicality that Baroque music calls for, as well as simply enjoy learning this piece, since they would have specific cultural images in their head as they learned it.
One of the last things that the authors discussed was pre-reading exercises and questioning strategies. They state, "But having students actively involved in the pre-reading exercise is usually more effective" (Hansen, Bernstorf, and Stuber 79). This was good for me to read. I had always assumed that simply teaching different musical techniques was all the students needed to know before learning a piece of music or reading about music. However, I realized how incredibly wrong this mindset was. This chapter encouraged me to develop other teaching strategies that have my students more involved with the music and its meaning before they learn to play or sing it. The example given in the text was to have one's students actively dissect the meaning of a choral piece by learning about the culture of the lyrics prior to learning how to sing it.
The authors further discuss that one of the best ways to get students actively involved with the text is through questioning. They say, "Questioning is a very important skill for teachers to master in order to help students construct meaning" (Hansen, Bernstorf, and Stuber 80). They use the "Question-Answer-Responses" approach, which has four levels of questions that students should work through in relation to the text prior to learning it. Level 1 asks literal questions with answers found in the lyrics. Level 2 involves answers that are found in the story, but the reader needs to put together different parts of the story to find the information. Level 3 involves answers that are not in the story, but rather in what they know and other texts they have read that relate to the piece. Level 4 requires answers that are based on one's experiences. I had never before heard of this method or considered doing something this extensive with my students prior to learning a piece of music. However, I am very inspired and encouraged to incorporate this into my future curriculum.
While the strategies given in this chapter were specific to choral music and texts about music, I found the ideas and strategies to be very helpful, and I anticipate still being able to use them as I teach instrumental music. Before reading this chapter, I was unaware of how teaching students about a piece's historical and cultural context could affect how they learn and play the piece. However, I am now fully convinced of the effectiveness of doing this, and I will strive to make this an integral part of my future curriculum, no matter what type of classroom I teach.
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