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The Preparation of Generalists Teaching Music and its Educational Practice:
An Experience at UFSM:
Cláudia Ribeiro Bellochio
Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Brazil

The focus of this paper is on the musical and pedagogical preparation of teachers in a university program, Pedagogy (equivalent to a bachelor of education degree), offered at the Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (UFSM). The UFSM is located in the central area of the state of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil. This program is an initiative in the preparation of teachers for the initial years of schooling including early childhood education (ages 0 to 6) and the first years of fundamental education (ages 7 to 10). During the course, these student-teachers study different subject areas which provide them with a foundation to establish interdisciplinary performances. This paper presents the structure and the objectives of the Music Teaching Methodology in Pedagogy Program at UFSM. It also presents the echoes on this initiative, including the practicality and limits of the student teachers’ performances.

The Pedagogy Program at UFSM and the Music Teaching Methodology

Since 1984, the Pedagogy Program at UFSM has been preparing teachers for the initial years of schooling with two qualifications: a) Teaching for first years of fundamental education, and b) Teaching for early childhood education. Graduates are also qualified to teach pedagogical matters at mid-level education. Music Teaching Methodology is compulsory. The time allocation is 90 hours, with 60 hours for theoretical activities and 30 for practical. The musical and pedagogical preparation is developed through contextualized approaches and critics, comprising teaching activities and research, as well as university extension programs which interconnect academic context with schools. The central objectives of the program seek:

a) To place music education in the general context and the educational practices of generalist teachers;

b) To articulate the process of music education in the context of school practices;

c) To develop musical understanding through performing, composing and listening activities;

d) To create methodological possibilities for music education; and

e) To build and implement music education plans in the school context.

The development of these objectives does not happen in a linear way. They worked concomitantly with the support of texts produced in various music education topics, pedagogical support materials, live or observed practices in schools, and other different contexts.

The activities are centred on reflections with regard to the limits and possibilities of pedagogical performances of a generalist in teaching music. Besides academic preparation, students are required to complete projects in music education at schools. These projects are shared among music specialists, academics of the Pedagogy Program and music education degree, teachers in initial preparation, and teachers in professional activities. The collaborative work has to be relevant in the context of music education, because it makes possible educational practices that can be shared by professionals from different levels.

At the beginning, one of the practices is for the students to reflect on the history of students' musical lives, both inside and outside of school. The reflections reveal the non-existence of music training in students’ past education. Students that possess some musical experiences usually descend from German families. They studied music in Church or other schools during childhood. However, their histories do not reveal the existence of a longitudinal process of studying music. This situation reinforces the need of studying music and its pedagogies during student-teachers’ professional preparation. In addition, verbal and written narratives from academics of the program point out that the program provides different musical perspectives but the time is short and more hours are requested.

This program integrates reflections, achievements in music and pedagogical preparation. It is not only about music, but also about the limitations in musical practices. The work integrates music activities of appreciation, creating/improvising, and performance, among others. One of the academics states, "Time is short and the preparation related to music and music teaching is a long-term process ". One student-interviewee states,

The developed contents [of this program] not only enlarge the scope of understanding about music teaching, but also stimulate the re-examination of some pre-concepts. The presentations of the contents are coherent, well-organized, and closely connected to other areas of knowledge. The theoretical and practical works are interlaced, making possible a clear apprehension of the proposed contents. All in all, theory and practice are well-defined, which made possible a critical analysis of the teaching and learning of music (Ivana in BELLOCHIO, 1999a).

Parallel to the discipline, students study other methodologies related to arts teaching (including drama expression and visual arts), and literacy in different areas, which, in a way, propitiates the understanding of the whole that impels a more global view on educational knowledge that organizes the educational practices of student-teachers.

The discipline of music teaching methodology in the Pedagogy Program at UFSM has constituted conflicts and challenges for future teachers, which countersigns the need for further discussion on the implementation of music education, in theory and practice, with regard to teacher education. In Brazil, some works related have been written: Bellochio (1999a, b; 2000; 2002); Figueiredo (2001; 2003); Souza et al. (2002); Torres & Souza (1999); Coelho de Souza & Mello (1999); Maffioletti (1998); Joly (1998); Torres (1998); Coelho de Souza (1994, 2003). These works focus on the preparation, the conceptions and the educational practices of teachers for the first years of fundamental education.

In 2004, the Pedagogy Program at UFSM implemented a new pedagogic project in accordance with the new curricular references. With this, Music Education I and II were taught in the 6th and 7th semester respectively. The aim is to extend the student's musical and pedagogical preparation to one year. Besides studying the disciplines, the students have the opportunity to attend workshops in the Music Education Laboratory. Five workshops including choral singing, percussion, guitar, recorder, and making musical instruments, were presented. The workshops were originated from a research and extension project which was run collaboratively by the Music Education Degree and Pedagogy Program.

Reflections on the Preparation of Music Teachers and its Educational Practice

Acknowledging the good experiences and the positive attempts of including music education in the Pedagogy Program, and looking at school education from a wider perspective, I found, for most of the times, the existence of musical practices disconnected and without intrinsic musical meanings. The students reproduce stereotypes in music teaching in schools even though they are aware of other possibilities to work with music. At the same time, although music is required in the school curriculum, appropriate time and investment has not been provided in music learning. Unfortunately, many schools are already satisfied with having performances conducted in commencement occasions. It is necessary to have dialogues with the management teams of the schools, explaining the functions and meanings of music education to children's development.

From the dichotomy that have been proposed in the preparation of teachers and the situation found in schools, there emerges a need for increasing possibilities for teacher preparation, and more reflective performance on the part of student-teachers. It is necessary to enlarge professional preparation critically between theory and practice, in order for the participants to learn, to plan, to accomplish, to reflect, and to reschedule a preparative process close to the condition required for the wholeness of human development (CARR; KEMMIS, 1988). Education is a human behaviour. In order to educate, it is necessary to elaborate a condition of temporariness, of dialogues and conflicts. It is important to point out that teachers need to understand the strategies of cognitive construction; and to build relationships with their students that allow them to share experiences and knowledge in order to apply the concept of teacher being the mediator as well as the student-educator (FREIRE, 1987, 1998).

On the horizon of constructing an extensive project from a critical perspective, and focussing on the relationship between theory and practice for the teaching and learning of music, it is necessary that teachers and students can work in the construction and reconstruction of activities in music classes which are free from the stereotypes that have been mining the school context for decades. I am not speaking about something pretentiously new, but of something that 'mysteriously' still needs to be instituted between the relationship that activates the preparation process and professional performance of teachers for the first years of fundamental education in the Brazilian context.

Discussions

From the experience of the Pedagogy Program at UFSM, I understand that both possibilities and limits exist in the preparation of teachers for the first years of fundamental education. With regard to possibilities, I notice that interaction among different areas of knowledge which focuses on how professionals elaborate, accomplish and evaluate educational practices. Teachers, who are concerned with their students' socio-cognitive development, search to understand the strategies and forms of accomplishment to facilitate learning and knowledge construction among students. This is rendered in how students produce their knowledge and progress in schools as well as the multiple areas of knowledge which governs professional practices in classroom. Working with the construction of students' music knowledge, teachers can make reference to readings that inter-relate and present hypotheses on the construction of musical knowledge in relation to students' cognitive development in other areas. Teachers also can potentiate dialogues and mediations using basic musical knowledge. They can also work with the production of sound-scapes, compositions/improvisations, and writing with non-conventional music notation, etc.

Teachers for the first years of fundamental education, who understand the teaching of music in schools, will be able to work collaboratively with specialists of the same area. Many generalists, however, do not understand, evaluate, and know how to use music in classes with their students. As such, collaboration and understanding between specialists and generalists is vital to the children’s education. Furthermore, is it enough to potentiate music education in schools with a 45-minute weekly music class which is disjointed from other subject areas? One of the possibilities is that schools need more conscious, critical and mature articulation among generalists in the first years of fundamental education and specialists in music teaching. Far from expecting that generalists can substitute music specialists, I believe in the construction of a more collaborative nature that can articulate better the action of the education professionals.

The existence of the limit in music education is easily understood in view of the nature of music as a subject which requires special skills and training. It is evident that music specialists are better equipped in musical knowledge than generalists. In considering the relationship among teachers, students and knowledge, what does it mean to work on the contents and to potentiate the teaching and learning of music in the context of the first years of fundamental education? It is necessary to review conceptually and to invest in the preparation of music teachers for the first years of fundamental education, and in the reflective action in and for music teaching in schools. Such transformation implies not only the need of reviewing teachers' work, but also to include a review on the management teams that coordinate school activities. The transformations should be produced collectively, but not in an isolated way or by impositions. Finally, I am not making an excuse for the formation of ‘super teachers’ for the first years of fundamental education, rather I am thinking about how generalists can also teach music effectively in their daily professional duties at schools.

References

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