XIII and XIV Colloquiums: June 19 - 22, 2003:
The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
"Music Curriculum Challenges in Elementary and Secondary Schools
and Taking Stock after Ten Years: Next Actions for the MayDay Group"
Action for Change: Acting on our Ideals MayDay Group Colloquium XIV:
The Next Ten Years for the MayDay Group
Patrick M Jones, PhD
The University of The Arts
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
INTRODUCTION
What I will outline in this paper is a critique of the hegemony of the large performing ensemble in the US music curriculum, provide a vision of a potential music program for the 21st Century, discuss the parameters that need to happen in order to implement it and, finally, outline how the MayDay Group can position itself to be the intellectual leader of this new revolution in music education. While the references are all regarding the USA, as that’s my personal experience, my thoughts are intended for an international movement.
IT’S THE MUSIC, STUPID
The Music
Discussions concerning issues as varied as teacher recruitment and retention, student enrollment figures in music offerings, and public support for music in the schools often avoid the most basic issue, the music! While important issues such as salary and working conditions, which often seem to be the sole foci of discussions around these issues, are definitely factors for teacher recruitment and retention, they do not address the low enrollment figures for students in secondary education music, nor do they have anything to do with public support for music in the schools. Perhaps a motto from the first Clinton campaign needs to be adapted: "It’s the Music, Stupid". The music to be studied, and the performing experiences offered students, seem to go widely unexamined and unquestioned, as if they are the only possible musical experiences we are capable of offering.
Most school based performing experiences tend to be large performing ensembles centered on a conductor, who makes most (if not all) the musical decisions. This is in spite of the fact that musicians, in my experience, tend to universally agree that their most valuable musical and music education experiences have been in small ensemble settings, where they have been individually responsible for their part, and were able to participate in the musical decision making of the group.
The predominant musical ensembles offered to American students are Western European ensembles: Symphony Orchestras, Concert Bands, and Choirs performing Western European art music or music based in the Western European art music tradition, arrangements of American popular music, and perhaps some American spirituals. The only indigenous American ensembles widely offered are Football Marching Bands, Big Band Jazz Ensembles, Show Choirs, and annual productions of Broadway styled musicals. Some schools offer experiences in world music groups, such African drum ensembles, but these are rare. It must also be noted that the opportunities to perform in all but the symphony orchestra, concert and marching bands, and choir are generally limited to a select few students. And, even these large ensembles serve a small minority of the greater high school student population.
School based musical offerings tend to be disconnected from the students’ musical lives outside of school, and have failed to develop graduates who continue to perform music throughout their lives or become audience members for art music concerts. Instead, my observation has been that most students who perform in high school tend to put their instruments away upon graduation and continue to enjoy the music they listened to outside of school all along. My guess is they view their school music experiences as having been great activities, but not as having profoundly affected their musical choices in life.
It is important to note that some teachers, primarily in general music settings, have embraced a repertoire representing what has come to be known as multicultural music. Exactly which cultures they emphasize is primarily a personal choice and might not necessarily reflect the community in which the school is situated. At all levels, there seems to be little attention given to programming music that will connect students with the musical lives of the communities in which they live. This is an historical departure from the original purpose of school music education in the USA, which was directly connected to community ensembles – to improve singing in the local church choirs. Perhaps it is time to step outside of the school and see what music is going on "out there" today.
Let’s use my city of Philadelphia as a case study. Philadelphia, with just over 1,500,000 residents in the city proper, is the 5th largest city in the USA. It is a traditional East Coast city of neighborhoods. Like all former industrial cities, it has had difficult times, has lost approximately 500,000 residents to the expanding suburbs, and most of its industry to non-unionized Southern States and Mexico. It is ringed by ever expanding suburbs filled with office campuses, housing developments of bland formulaic neighborhoods, country clubs, and the shopping malls that replace a vibrant main street with a synthetic one - climate controlled, and pre-programmed with audio and visual stimuli that replace interaction for its own sake with consumption as life’s raison d’etre. Situated between New York and Washington, Philadelphia is often overlooked. But it is still a vibrant community. Philadelphia boasts professional sports teams in all major leagues except the WNBA (but we do have 2 professional women’s football teams and a professional women’s soccer team). The Philadelphia area is home to over 40 institutions of higher education, including two Ivy League universities and the Curtis Institute of Music in the city itself. And it has a lively arts culture. It is a vacation destination for its historic sites, a visual art center, home to many museums, and has a performing arts community that includes professional resident theater, dance, opera and ballet companies, several professional ensembles that range in repertoire from early music to the most recent compositions, and is home to the Philadelphia Orchestra. That all having been said, what is actually happening musically at the street level on a daily basis? A musical tour of Philadelphia might reveal the following music occurring simultaneously on any given day:
* Piffaro a professional Renaissance band performing in the Perelman Theater
* show tunes being performed on The Spirit of Philadelphia cruise ship
* several radio stations playing various types of rock, one playing Country, one playing a Sinatra program,
one playing smooth jazz, one playing “world music”, and one playing classical pieces from a classical “top 40” play list
* amateur chamber musicians performing at the Settlement Music School
* a salsa band performing at the Asociación de Músicos Latino Americanos (AMLA)
* a reggae band performing in Mount Airy
* The Wolfe Tones Irish rebel band playing at Finnegan’s Wake
* Bluegrass & Folk performed at the Mermaid Inn in Chestnut Hill
* Minas, a Brazilian ensemble performing at The Trust
* a mariachi band at the Mexican Cultural Center
* The Wistar Quartet, a professional string quartet at the German Society of PA
* a square dance band at a community hall in Roxborough
* a church choir singing Gospel in North Philadelphia
* waiters singing opera arias at Dante & Luigi’s restaurant in South Philadelphia
* a child playing a keyboard at home
* Jimmy Bruno’s jazz trio at Chris’ Jazz Café in Center City
* someone playing guitar in a Manayunk coffee house
* The Philadelphia Orchestra performing in Verizon Hall
* muzak piped into the Gallery shopping mall
* a sound track to a movie
* a Chinese folk music CD being played in China Town
* 2 Broadway musical shows – Evita at the Walnut St Theater and Mamma Mia at the Forrest
* a polka band playing in Northeast Philadelphia
* the Opera Company of Philadelphia at the Academy of Music
* an Indian tabla player on WXPN’s World Café in University City
* an Afro-Cuban ensemble performing in the Graduate Hospital area
* a big band performing at the Clef Club for Jazz
* the Pennsylvania Ballet at the Merriam Theater
* a balalaika ensemble performing in West Philadelphia
* Yes performing at the First Union Center
Some of these musical offerings are Western European Art music styles and ensembles, and some are from non-Western cultures, but the overwhelming majority are musical ensembles and styles from the Americas, indigenous music that developed from the clash and convergence of cultures unique to the Western Hemisphere: jazz, bluegrass, rock, Cuban, Brazilian, Latin American, Mexican, and salsa-a New York Puerto Rican community phenomenon. And yet the average school music program in Philadelphia ignores almost all of them.
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A Vision for the 21st Century Music Program
A 21st Century music program must be designed to invigorate musical learning and to musically empower students by connecting them with their musical environment. The goal of this program is to graduate students who will continue performing and enjoying a wide range of musical offerings within their communities throughout their lives. In order to connect students’ in-school music education with their out-of-school musical lives, music offerings emphasize music they will find in their communities. While instruction is divided into specialized courses of study, most courses incorporate performing, analyzing and creating music, thus helping students develop musical performance and decision-making skills. Instruction in all courses utilizes technology to assist students in composing, performing, recording, playing back and editing music of their own and of other composers.
Philosophical Basis. The role of general education is to empower students to be independent, critical and productive members of society. A general education in music provides graduates with the skills necessary to make music at an amateur level, and enrich their own lives and their communities with musical experiences for the rest of their lives. Thus, the philosophical basis of the 21st Century music program is a pragmatic PRAXIAL one, which holds that music is an essential human practice that all humans need in order to live healthy and fulfilling lives. Therefore, the music program is a performance-oriented program in which students develop performance, analytical, critical, and compositional skills they can use outside of school independently of any musical “expert” directing them.
Physical Plant. The physical plant of the music suite is that of a recording, production and editing studio. The main room is a recording studio large enough to accommodate larger ensembles and also double as a small recital hall. Satellite rooms include a recording booth and editing laboratory, a music computer/keyboard center, a music library, instrument/equipment storage rooms, and several small ensemble rehearsal and individual practice rooms.
Courses of Study. The courses of study include private and group lessons, performing ensembles, music theory (aural and written), composition and arranging, improvisation, amplification/live sound reinforcement, recording/production/editing, music criticism (artistic/sociological issues and uses of music), music history, and music industry/business.
Ensembles and Repertoire. The ensembles and repertoire studied are diverse, oriented to the musical lives of the school’s community and, in this Philadelphia situation, decidedly Pan-American. Ensembles include homogenous ensembles such as: electric guitar ensemble, percussion & drum set ensemble, flute choir, men’s chorus etc; heterogeneous ensembles such as brass, woodwind and string ensembles, and mixed choir; and ensembles devoted to performing folk & bluegrass, jazz, Caribbean, Cuban, Brazilian, Latin American, pop/rock and art music. Large ensembles requiring a conductor may be organized periodically from students performing in the regularly offered smaller ensembles, but are not the focus of the program.
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EFFECTING CHANGE
What will it take to put such a music program into place?
1. teachers competent to teach these evolving styles and a wide variety of courses
2. resources
3. administrative support
These three ingredients for educational change have one thing in common. They are reactive to education policy set by governmental bodies and interpreted by education department bureaucrats. Thus, to have an impact on all three, we must get our ideas on the policy table. MayDay should position itself as the "go to" organization for intellectually sound policy positions on music education. This is a void in our profession that MayDay, among all music education organizations, is uniquely qualified to fill.
While we academics are already in positions to personally have an impact on preservice teachers, and provide continuing education to in-service teachers, they are only one link in the music education chain: teachers. Other critical links are policy makers, school administrators, and the general public.
These form an interdependent educational loop. The general public elects policymakers who determine policy, which is interpreted by bureaucrats and administrators, and taught by teachers. Policy determines the priorities of administrators, who do the hiring and set the expectations for the music program.
Academia exists outside of the k12 educational loop and should serve three purposes:
1. setting vision for policymakers, administrators and teachers
2. providing research, intellectual bases, and pedagogies for the profession
3. producing music educators for the marketplace, and helping to reequip those already in practice
If we want to stop the cycle of producing band-choir-orchestra and general music teachers, with the narrow focus each brings to music education, because that’s what schools are hiring, then we must change the demands of the educational marketplace. In order to effectively do this we must be involved in continuous dialogue with practitioners in the field, who keep us informed of the current realities and their needs, and with administrators and policy makers, so we can influence the parameters in which teachers work. Only then can we change the marketplace to one that demands music teachers who are general practitioners instead of narrowly focused specialists, and music programs that are diverse and tailored to the needs of their individual communities, instead of mirroring all other music programs and simply doing it either “better or worse” than their neighboring districts.
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STAKEHOLDERS
What do each of the educational stakeholders need from us?
Policy Makers. Policy makers make the laws that “govern” education. We must reach the policymakers with sound and reasoned arguments for music education based on MayDay’s “Action Ideals”. We should provide them with “white papers” and “executive summaries” of longer in-depth articles and papers, in clear language they can understand that clearly demonstrate why the MayDay position is best for the students and communities in their constituencies.
Administrators. Administrators set the priorities for musical instruction within their areas of responsibility. They too often have no understanding of music and set as their sole expectations large quantities of students, and public relations opportunities. Therefore, changing music education requires changing the expectations of administrators to be more aligned with MayDay’s “Action Ideals”. We must provide models for administrators, that they can understand, and sound arguments why our models of programs and teachers are best for them, their schools, and their students.
Teachers. Teachers, must be educated differently, but we must also mentor those in the field, provide workshops and in-service opportunities, and rewards systems for going against the grain. Currently, a High School ensemble conductor can take her/his ensemble to “festival” and receive not only ratings and a workshop but, politically, extrinsic verification of what s/he is doing in the classroom. This is usually symbolized by a trophy, plaque, or certificate that is displayed publicly in the school. Administrators, parents and students all view this as “evidence” that their teacher is competent and their program is good and doing the right things. A music teacher who chooses to emphasize a different area, such as recording & production, composition, or Brazilian drumming, lacks that same external support. We, as higher education professors, can organize festivals/workshops for these teachers’ students at our universities, give them certificates to display at home, and thus provide the same type of verification for those who are daring to do something different. As an organization, we must influence the decision makers who evaluate such teachers, provide vision, and publicize success stories. In short, we must enter the policy arena.
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ENTERING THE POLICY ARENA
MENC has been active in the policy arena, and has had success within the current bizarre left-right bipartisan alliance in the USA that wants to control the curriculum through government imposed “standards”. What is criminal is that this has occurred absent any debate in the public square offering alternative viewpoints. When have you seen a music education professor discussing the role of music in the schools on one of those talking-head news programs? Have opposing viewpoints been heard from experts within our own ranks? And, should an elected official want to find an expert in music education, where would s/he turn other than to MENC? Is there another competing organization with their level of visibility in Washington? Where would Chris Matthews, George Stephanopolous, Larry King, or Bill O’Reilly turn to find experts on music education? My guess is that, if they were even interested, they would go to MENC. Thus, we must make them interested, and provide the materials and speakers for them.
I often think of Patricia Costa Kim’s presentation at MayDay’s 7th Colloquium, where she told us about her successful program in an inner city Seattle public school, and her article “Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti…Yo”, in which MENC was not interested. If MENC is not going to put her success story into the public square, who else is capable of doing it? MayDay should tell her story and the success stories of others like her.
The MayDay Group is positioned to move into the policy arena and make an impact. Not in an MENC advocacy style but, rather, with a policy think-tank approach. What would it take to remold MayDay into a policy think-tank? First a study of some policy think tanks, their characteristics and operations, is in order. A cursory review of several policy think tank websites from a broad array of political perspectives reveals these common attributes. Policy Think Tanks are communities of scholars who:
1. subscribe to a similar perspective on policy issues
2. organize themselves into areas of expertise on policy issues (economics, security, education, etc)
3. publish articles on their internet sites geared toward policy makers and the general public on current topics
4. write articles and op-ed pieces in widely circulated newspapers and magazines as well as special interest publications
5. serve as speakers on policy issues in various forums, including broadcast media
6. publish scholarly works and position papers on current topics
7. publicize the work of their scholars
8. hold colloquia and conferences open to the public on policy issues of current relevance
9. publish their proceedings
10. present awards to policy makers who embody their views
11. have some level of full-time staff
12. seek financial resources through sale of publications, donations, and other means
13. some are affiliated with universities, such as the Hoover Institution at Stanford and the Baker Institute at Rice University, while most appear to be organized as independent institutes.
Based on this review, MayDay already operates much like a policy think-tank, has a stated set of ideals for music education that have been discussed and debated internationally, holds colloquia, publishes a journal, has published some of its proceedings, and contains the intellectual capital to position itself as music education’s idea-making organization for policymakers. We must become a resource for policymakers and for the media, we must petition to appear before education committees, we must make ourselves available to media outlets, and we must write op-eds for influential newspapers. And we need the structure, leadership, discipline, and resources to operate as a policy think-tank.
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MAYDAY 2013:
The MayDay Institute for the Study of Music Education Policy
Molding MayDay into a policy think-tank will provide the impetus and guidance for continued growth of our organization to grow in a focused manner. It will require us to develop a research agenda that is complementary of our Action Ideals, and guide the types of resultant products we produce/present, such as:
* internet site oriented to the various educational stake holders
* scholarly papers
* executive summaries
* op-ed articles
* interviews/speaking engagements
* colloquia geared toward various audiences:
      o scholars
      o teacher educators
      o in-service teachers
      o administrators
      o policy makers
RESEARCH AGENDA
The MayDay Institute for the Study of Music Education Policy could serve as a clearing house for studies published elsewhere, and could also promote and publish research in areas such as:
* government mandated standards
* curriculum
* musical instrument and style choices of music education majors as opposed to the general public
* musical styles enjoyed by music education majors in their free time
* retention rates of students involved in music
* academic progress of students involved in music
* surveys of musical offerings in schools
* comparison of school musical offerings and the musical offerings of their communities at large
* impact of standards on musical offerings and enrollment
* testing musical learning
* impact of various types of music program offerings on the post-secondary musical habits and activities of graduates
* impact of various types of music program offerings on the musical lives of their communities
FIRST STEPS FORWARD
If we decide to go this route, the following first steps to be taken include:
* determining the organizational structure of the institute
* drafting bylaws to govern it
* selecting the individuals to fill the various leadership roles
CLOSING
If this proposal sounds provocative to some, it is because if you ask a carpenter, you’ll get a carpentry answer. You’ve asked a policy wonk to speak, so you’ve gotten a policy answer.
My childhood trombone teacher used to say "while you’re not practicing, someone else is ... and he’ll get the gig." We need to consider that if we are not engaging the policy makers, someone else is, and their influence, not ours, is what we all live with.
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