Responding to Music

            “A primary goal of music listening activities should be to develop lifelong music listeners” (Bauer 2014). This sentence is something that I aim for as a music teacher. My first year teaching sounded just like Elizabeth’s story at the beginning of chapter 5. Like all undergrads, I took classes to prepare for my future teaching career. My first year ended up being a wakeup call. I wanted to teach lessons about classical music, music theory, and music eras. I taught in a school district that had a new music teacher every year. These types of lessons were not effective and interesting to the students. I got advice from some of my colleagues who told me to teach about things the kids know and can relate to. I did some research and came up with lessons where the students can listen to their favorite music but also compare it with other styles they may not be familiar with. My goal was for the students to listen to the lyrics of the songs and identify what makes both of them similar. I continue to do this lesson today because of how successful it has been. At the beginning of it, I tell the students that the objective is to appreciate some of these music styles; no matter their opinion at the start of it.

Songs tell stories about the lives of the singers and performers. Every song we listen to in class, I ask the students to give me their opinion about the story of it and what the emotion is. Another lesson I do with students involves music from the Romantic era. We first go over who Beethoven was and they learn the background of his life. Then the students listen to a piece composed by him called Fur Elise. This piece is Beethoven’s version of a love letter; written to a woman named Elise. After the lesson, I have the students write what they think the words are in this instrumental piece as a letter format. They have to give me their opinion about what he would have said if this were a real letter. Some students have a hard time writing this because they have trouble picturing the words in the song. Many students only listen to one type of music genre. They have difficulty opening up to other kinds of music and hearing the meaning of the song. This lesson gives them the chance to open up to music they are not used to.

I am very familiar with Spotify. I use it constantly and enjoy that I can hear my favorite music for free. The only problem is that it is a free three day trial before they begin to air commercials and stop replaying your music. On the basic, you can still download your music for free but you have to pay in order to repeat music you want to hear consistently. You can share music on the basic plan; which would be a great teaching opportunity in class when discussing music genres. The only issue I see with this is sharing music that is not school appropriate. Some students also may be embarrassed to display their music with others as well.

Bauer (2014) discussed formalized listening which takes place in schools and is structured by the teacher. They make the decisions about what to listen to and how to listen to it. Many students have come to me and said they do not like music class because of the kind of music they hear. Besides my lessons with comparing music genres, I do a fun activity called favorite music Friday. If there is time available, the students have an opportunity to listen to their favorite music during class on Fridays and sit to talk with their friends. The guidelines for it are school appropriate songs must be played and they cannot ask who picked the song. I use myself as an example on how I would not like it if others heard my music because of judgement. If it does happen, then the activity is over and we do school work. The students have liked this because they listen to their music and they get some free time off. Some do not participate because of their songs not being appropriate but I give them the chance to listen to not only music they like, but songs their classmates like. I see many good vibes from this and I love seeing attitudes change due to the music they are listening to.

We encounter music in everyday life. How we perceive it is up to the person listening to it. Music teachers have a difficult job to get others to appreciate different types of music. Using connections is helpful as well as getting the students to see the story in the song. “Music educators strive to develop students’ abilities to listen to and describe music, analyze and evaluate it” (Bauer, 2014). As long as students see music as pure enjoyment, the music educator has done their job.

 

Bauer, W. I. (2014). Music learning today: Digital pedagogy for creating, performing, and responding to music.