International Journal of Education & the Arts | |
Volume 2 Number 5 |
November 1, 2001 |
The
Genesis of Musical Behaviour:
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The Dilemma'I gave up music at school when I was thirteen; there didn't seem any point to it. It just didn't bear any relation to the music I was interested in. I played and listened to music outside school. The teacher didn't care about my music. I was there with my mates drumming and mixing but it was totally unrelated to the music at school. So I gave it up at thirteen.' 'standards in music at Key Stage 3 have improved, but remain lower than those in most other subjects..' 'pupils who enter a secondary school at the age of 11 years are often taught by a music teacher who expects less of them than their primary teachers.' 'In primary schools and particularly in Key Stage 2 of primary schools, the percentage of class lessons for which the quality of teaching is satisfactory or better is higher in music than any other subject of the National Curriculum. In Key Stage 3 of secondary school the percentage of class lessons for which the quality of teaching is satisfactory or better is lower than that for any other subject of the National Curriculum. The relative success of music in primary schools results from the teaching of class teachers as well as music specialists.' 'And yet--and here's the most painful point--as everyone knows, most kids are crazy about music. Countless numbers of teenagers have their own bands; many more live for the music charts, local gigs, discos and parties. No problem with music in their lives outside school, as the world of commercial music knows very well.' |
The Secondary Music Curriculum'In addition, it stimulates the acquisition of the those skills, attitudes and attributes needed for employment and life such as listening skills, concentration, aural memory, presentation and teamwork. It also develops creativity and risk taking, intuition, aesthetic sensitivity, perseverance and a sense of satisfaction.' The Curriculum and Adolescent Musical Behaviour'Despite its capitalistic orientation, popular music is the defining element of youth sub-cultures' 'The role of music in reinforcing the generation gap between young people and people of their parents' generation suggests possible limitations on the influences of family and school on the musical tastes of children.' |
Singing Activity and the Adolescent'pupils should be taught how to sing songs developing vocal timbre and range' 'evidence of a communal reluctance to sing, it being a very personal and exposing experience for most kids. I have to think about material carefully and tend to go down the pop route'. '... boys have a tougher time. They have an identity crisis... much more a problem. They become self-conscious. For those whose voices have not yet changed it becomes problematic. Those with early changes just won't sing. There is a degree of anxiety therefore within boys' groups; boys lose their anonymity whereas girls don't. Girls can feel part of a group... choral singing is a group activity.' 'Many teenagers feel embarrassed when asked to sing.... Other than at football matches and on school journeys, people sing less spontaneously than in previous generations.' 'Many young people see choral singing as less glamorous and challenging than playing in an ensemble.'
Some Solutionsproject and control classes all show a decline in attitude towards music in school, though the project classes significantly less so;
... in the townships everyone joined in singing and dancing and all that seemed to matter was the music--a huge contrast to the musical experiences we had in places like Pretoria where it was a struggle to enthuse the audience... Notes1 Compulsory schooling in England and Wales is organised in four key stages; key stage 3 is the secondary school stage for 11-14 year olds; key stage 1 is for 5-6 year olds, key stage 2 for 7-10 year olds, whole key stage 4 is for 15-16 year olds. 2 Ofsted (Office for Standards in Education) is the government’s school inspection organ. 3 Year7 – the first year of secondary schooling at key stage 3 for 11 year olds. 4 Further information on the International Baccalaureate curriculum can be found on its web-site: www.ibo.org ReferencesAlmeida, C. (2000). 'Study on Motivation in the Teaching and Learning of Music in Compulsory Teaching.' Unpublished MA dissertation, University of Surrey Roehampton. Andreasen, M. (1994). 'Patterns of family life and television consumption from 1945 to the 1990s. In Media, Children and the Family: Social scientific, psychodynamic and clinical perspectives (ed D. Zillmann, J. Bryant & A. Hudson) pp.19-36 Hillsdale, New Jersey: Erlbaum. Archbishop's Commission on Church Music Report (1992). In Tune with Heaven London: Hodder & Stoughton. Cooksey, J. (1992). Working with the Adolescent Voice St Louis, Missouri: Concordia. Cooksey, J. & Welch, G. (1998). 'Adolescence, singing development and National Curricula design.' British Journal of Music Education 15 (1) 99-119. Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1992). Flow: the psychology of happiness London: Rider. Durkheim, E. (1897). Suicide. New York: Free Press. Durrant, C. & Himonides, E. (1998). 'What makes People Sing Together? Socio-Psychological and Cross-Cultural Perspectives on the Choral Phenomenon' International Journal of Music Education 32, 61-70. Durrant, C, Hibbard, T., Hill, J. (2000). 'Report and Evaluation of the Choral Animation Schemes in London Boroughs.' University of Surrey Roehampton, British Federation of Young Choirs. Epstein, J. (Ed.) (1994). Adolescence and Their Music. New York: Garland Publishing Inc. Everett, A. (1997). Joining In: an investigation into participatory music. London: Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. Finnegan, R. (1989). The Hidden Musicians. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Frith, S. (1981). Sound Effects: Youth, leisure and the politics of rock 'n' roll. New York: Pantheon. Frith, S. (1987). 'The Industrialisation of Popular Music' in Popular music and communication. (Ed. J. Lull) pp.53-77 Newbury park, CA: SAGE Publications. Fuller, A (1999). 'A study into teachers' perceptions of the circumstances and constraints affecting singing in secondary school.' Unpublished MA dissertation, University of Surrey Roehampton. Gibson, R et al. (1995). Implications of adolescent loneliness for he enjoyment of love-lamenting and love-celebrating popular music. Paper presented at the annual convention of the Speech Communication Association, San Antonio, Texas, November 1995. Harland, J. et al., (2000). Arts Education in Secondary Schools: Effects and Effectiveness. Slough, UK: National Foundation for Educational Research. Lansdale, S (1998). 'Getting them Singing, Keeping them Singing,' Classical Music June 1998. Larson, R. & Kubey, R. (1983). 'Television and music: Contrasting media in adolescent life,' Youth and Society 15, 13-31. Leong, S. (Ed.) (1997). Music in Schools and Teacher Education: a Global Perspective. Western Australia: International Society for Music Education (ISME) & Callaway International Resource Centre for Music Education (CIRCME). Mertz, M. (1998). 'Some Thoughts on Music Education in a Global Culture,' International Journal of Music Education 32, 72-77. Mills, J. (1996). 'Starting at secondary school,' British Journal of Music Education, 13, (1) 5-14. Moffat, M. (1989). Coming of Age in New Jersey: College and American Culture. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. Ofsted (1997). The Annual Report of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools, 1995/96. London: HMSO. Ofsted (1999). Standards in the secondary curriculum, 1997/98. London: HMSO. Pinto, A. (2000) 'Teachers Views on Music Education in the Curriculum.' Unpublished MA dissertation. University of Surrey Roehampton. Prinsky & Rosenbaum (1987). ''Leer-ics' or Lyrics: Teenage Impressions of Rock 'n' Roll,' Youth and Society 18 (4) 384-397. Roberts, B. (1993). I, Musician: Towards a model of identity construction and maintenance by music education students as musicians. Newfoundland: Memorial University of Newfoundland. Roe, K. (1987). 'The school and music in adolescent socialization' Popular Music and Communication, (Ed. J. Lull) pp. 212-230. Newbury Park, CA: SAGE Publications. Ross, M. (1995). 'What's Wrong with School Music,' British Journal of Music Education, 12 (3) 185-201. Stevens, C. (1998). 'Voices for Life,' Classical Music June 1998. Swanwick, K. (1999). Teaching Music Musically, London: Routledge. Wells, A. & Hakanen, E. (1991). 'The emotional use of popular music by adolescents,' Journalism Quarterly 68 (3) 445-454. Zillman, D. & Gann, S. (1997). 'Musical taste in adolescence' (pp. 161-187) in D.J. Hargreaves & A.C. North (Eds.) The Social Psychology of Music. Oxford: Oxford University Press. About the AuthorColin DurrantDr Colin Durrant is Principal Lecturer in Music and Music Education at the University of Surrey Roehampton, UK. He conducts the university choir and Barnet Choral Society--a large community choir in London. He has, following research into the area of effective choral conducting, designed and developed a graduate programme in Choral Education, the first and only one of its kind in the UK. He has also been Deputy Chief Examiner in Music for the International Baccalaureate for whom he has presented papers, workshops and seminars on curriculum development and teacher training in Europe, South Africa and North America. Colin has written a number of journal articles on the subject of choral conducting and co-authored the book Making Sense of Music with Graham Welch. He has recently been guest conductor, clinician and teacher at universities in North America and South Korea as well as within the UK. Colin is on the council of the Association of British Choral Directors and is the European commissioner for the International Society for Music Education's 'Music in Schools and Teacher Education' commission. He is on the editorial board of the International Journal of Research in Choral Singing. For the 2001/2002 academic year he is Visiting Associate Professor in the School of Music at the University of Maryland, USA, where he conducts the university Chamber Singers. |