BASICS Job TER STEEGE Music teacher secondary school / Master music teaching Conservatorium Amsterdam, Music & Education Magazine Editor (NL) WORLDS OF EXPERIENCE
Scroll down to bottom or click on the desired item
Retro does it
Experience World 11 (1990) If by connecting with the world of experience we mean that we simply want to make something tasty for our students before class, learning materials are sometimes suitable to be presented to them like fat sausages. I've already talked about the video, but there's more.
For example, a school music student once brought an assortment of five such bells to a lesson on the tuba. Everyone got to try them all problem-solving and it turned out to be one of the nicest music lessons I remember. The condition for the success of this lesson with the tuba was that one should not be afraid of the neighbour's saliva.
The so-called "American" teaching aids can also make children eager. American, because these things derive their value for the perception of the world almost exclusively from their alleged financial or historical significance (after all, Americans always want to know how old it is and what it costs).
Bring the record sleeve of the first LP of the group Soft Machine and tell them that the sleeve alone is worth 100 guilders (record sleeves from the sixties sometimes fetch this), or bring a recorder and say that the thing costs 600 guilders (doesn't matter if it's true) or I'll pull out my mothballed beatle collar jacket and lie that Paul McCartney once wore it.
It is with this kind of thing like at the fair: the people are eager to be cheated and run wild.
As far as the audio equipment is concerned, the music teacher has of course finished talking. He should be happy if his classroom has the same machines as the students' homes. All you notice is a kind of regressive interest. As if they were walking in the fairytale garden of Efteling, they think it's funny how I occasionally connect my reel recorder to the mains.
At an IVO school in the heart of Amsterdam, four enormous sound boxes of hundreds of watts each hang in the music room. When you play a tape there, at least you won't be bothered by chatting students. Everyone is always apathetic out of the consumption noise.
Until one of my students came to give a listening lesson and the equipment was broken. The only thing available turned out to be an old six-watt mono recorder.
For the first time, however, the students pricked up their ears and avoided any disruptive behavior so as not to miss anything.
Mozart just died
Experience World 26 (1993)
Even if you do something about music history, it can go either way. You play some Nineteenth Century violins and kids think that music was made maybe ten years ago and Mozart just died, because you can only just rent Amadeus from the video store. As a music teacher you get it all for you.
You have to explain it all. I've known that since my fourth grade of Elementary School, when I had a frik who always differentiated his lessons by shouting: "If you're done with your math, you can do an essay!"
And I didn't know what an essay was and I didn't dare ask. In order not to "get done with math" (because I was terrified of becoming the laughingstock of the class with a question about the well-known way), I made my work teeming with mistakes and so just left with the heels over the ditch to fifth grade.
How misunderstandings can make teaching hell! My music teacher in secondary school, an excellent pianist as I later learned, often played us classical works. One of my fellow students once asked him if he could also play other music. We all understood very well that our spokeswoman wanted to squeeze some popular tune from the man's fingers. His answer was that he certainly had a different repertoire, but that it unfortunately seemed unsuitable for first graders because it involved heavy classical music. One can imagine that these prohibitions aroused our curiosity beyond measure. He had to and would show that heavy classical music. Our music teacher finally complied and our disappointment was great when none of the students noticed any difference from what we had observed all those months before. Not harder or softer, not faster or slower, just classic. Just hit all the nuts. And if you got bored, you were allowed to write an essay.
Tombola of key goals
Experience World 29 (1993)
This will be the last column before the introduction of basic education. You can play the tourist for a while or maybe you just read this again (Music & Education is not a post to send to your holiday address), but then the time has come.
Now I want to reveal that during the last course I secretly started practicing with the core objectives and the learning movements. Officially it is not until August 1, but I thought it would be a good idea to check in advance how things will work out.
That was not easy. For example, in learning movement five (assignment from me to represent the meaning of a piece of house music in motion) a student stepped on a school bag, which released some nail polish or the like in that bag and irreparably smeared the rest of the contents. Who was to pay for the damage? I almost got a bill on my pants.
The tombola of core goal number 4 turned out to be even more difficult for me. Not long ago I went there: the students can shape an extra-musical element with the help of the voice as a whole, using form principles, sound properties and associations. As an extra-musical subject, I took the subject "figuring", so as not to run any risk of taking something musical. I let the students shape this "figuring" by having each child sing a song for the class and give a number for it.
The form principle of the song and the sound quality of the child's voice were obvious, but what are you supposed to do with association?
Fortunately, the problem resolved itself when I received a call that week from two mothers that singing songs for the class had caused their children to start wetting the bed again (I'm not making that up, I can point to the students). So the association was fear.
As a diligent music teacher, I then practiced: Students indicate the relationship between music and a particular situation by referring to intra-musical aspects. They involve their own vision and that of others. The students must then substantiate their own opinion with arguments that refer to intra-musical aspects, meanings and functions of the piece of music. I played the first part of Mozart's umpteenth and a student replied: "Because I hear a main form, it means a symphony that has a function in this music lesson and they think that's important at the conservatory." Of course you don't fall for that, because there are no students who give such an answer. Nor do I hear, "Because I'm hearing a whole lot of misery, that means classical music is playing a function in this class and everyone thinks that's shit."
But I do hear: "Nice lesson master, just a pity about the classical music!"Nice and healthy, that school music!
Experience World 46 (1996) "The living habits of young people have little to do with health and everything to do with completely different things, such as the desire for autonomy. If you want to introduce healthier habits, you have to connect those kinds of feelings." According to Mrs. D. Spruijt-Metz, who obtained her PhD on 8 March (1996) at the VU University for research into everyday health behaviors (sleeping and eating habits) of Dutch young people. The aim was to develop effective and relevant teaching materials.
A dissertation about the eating behavior of young people that is difficult to influence (De Volkskrant headlined HET PATATJE WAR GIVES PUBERS PROFILE) and about the question of what is or is not healthy:
"Young people assign emotional meanings to behavior that can influence health. These meanings are not based on rational considerations and are not tied to knowledge about health. There appears to be no agreement among experts about what is everyday healthy. Is semi-skimmed milk healthier than full-fat milk? milk or how much sleep is good for a 15-year-old? That's a gray area."
I have a tip for a musicologist cum school musician who is struggling with a shortage of scientific production. Just copy that dissertation and change "healthy" to "musical", "full" to "amplified", "milk" to "guitar", and "night rest" to "listen to music", and so on. "Nice" then becomes "beautiful" of course. About like this:
Musical behavior is determined by the offer. A young person will find something "beautiful" that is lavishly offered. There is a clear correlation between what can be heard effortlessly everywhere and what is appreciated. Charlie Parker and Claudio Monteverdi (wheat fiber and raw vegetables) are less "at hand" than pop music (bags of crisps) and it should therefore not be surprising that the average young person has a clear preference for the latter genre.
There is no such thing as 'just beautiful'. You LEARN to like things because you often see the product and try it. If you try it often enough, you'll like it. Do you choose it yourself or is it easy to like it?"
The PhD student from the Department of Philosophy and Medical Ethics gave another report of a small study. This should demonstrate that behavioral change is possible by connecting it to positive meanings that are offered in the form of teaching materials. A group of young people was told: "Being kind to yourself means drinking milk and freshly squeezed orange juice." The control group lacked this significance. After two weeks, the first group drank more healthy drinks than the second.
Here the musicologist must start to have doubts in his translation to musical behavior. Unlike eating habits that can be bad for your health, measuring quantity (how many people like a certain kind of music for how long?) is the only way to qualify musical beauty. And so one will never, ever get out of that. But still, all those house freaks and the boys and girls of Ademnood, as a music teacher you have to deal with that. Surely there is so much other, perhaps much more beautiful music on earth'?
According to science, you should link meanings to this in education so that young people feel autonomous. Then they are only too happy to listen to it or want to play or sing it themselves.
Fifty years of Dutch music education have taught us that one hour of music lessons a week has hardly any influence on the musical experience of children. That is why we try to include music, which many people have listened to for a long time, but which our young people ignore to the chagrin of the musical establishment, in exam programs as much as possible.
Just look at how autonomous you feel when you have graduated from school with such a diploma and you can determine your own musical behavior all by yourself again. I myself will stick to the lyrics of Chuck Berry's "Schooldays" for now.What is entertainment music, master?
Experience World 47 (1996) Years ago in a class at 2 gymnasium I dropped the word "amusement music" a few times. Finally, a child raised his finger and asked, "Sir, what is entertainment music?"
I was quite surprised by that, because I had assumed that high school students would know that. Fortunately, the damage was limited because I only had to spend a few minutes in the methodical-didactic "back-and-forth": explaining, checking whether they understood everything and then back to full throttle towards my objectives.
As a teacher you have to be very careful with your words. For example, the term "light music". If you don't make sure that students know what is meant by that music and understand why that term came into the world, you can completely mislead children.
I've experienced it myself. In the past, when we were treated to morning gymnastics every morning on the radio from 7.10 to 7.20, AVRO then announced a program of "light music" on Tuesdays and Thursdays. That was then opened with "Happy days are here again".
As a primary school kid, I didn't understand any of this. I thought "light music" was very light music with thin violins and delicate flutes. But there broke loose a swinging gang of drums, trumpets and unreasonably cheerful singing men and women. What did that noise have to do with "light music"? For years I didn't understand and I didn't dare ask anyone.
I had the same thing with the word "composition". I didn't know what it was and that frik from the fourth grade kept shouting: "Whoever has finished his math can write an essay". I was afraid to ask what an essay was because I was terrified of asking a stupid question. So I went over my math endlessly and deliberately made countless mistakes in order not to have to write an essay. My fourth grade Easter report card ended up with a "4" for math. As a result, my parents sent me to another school because they accused the teacher of not being able to teach math properly. It became quite a riot: the inspection was added and after six months the teacher in question was still called to the mat. After all, at my new primary school I started to count as the best again. Neither the inspector, nor the principal, nor the teacher, nor my parents thought that unfamiliarity with writing an essay had been the cause of my (temporary) calculation failure. Because at my new school you didn't have to write an essay when you finished the grade assignment. And when an essay was assigned at that new school, I dared to raise my finger with a white lie: "At my last school, we never got essays. What should I do?"
A very important cause of disappointing educational results lies in something extremely simple: THE STUDENT DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO BECAUSE THE TEACHER ASSUMS THAT THE STUDENT UNDERSTANDS ITSELF. After twenty years of internship supervision, I believe that this is also the most common mistake students make. And I therefore assume that it is also the most common teacher error.
Well I don't have to chew it because it also depends on the students. The most silly sentences can lead to a forest of question marks. Say to a class, "Copy what's on the board."
Questions: "Do we have to copy everything? Does it have to be in my notebook? Does it have to be on a new page or can it go underneath? Do the notes have to be included? Does what's on the left board have to be included? Is it for an SO? What exactly does it say? Do you have a piece of paper for me? Do you have a pen? Can I get my bag because it contains my pen? When are we going to sing again? Do we need to write more ?
I am sometimes amazed that so many students are not afraid to ask a stupid question. Is that different from before? (stupid question?)More fun than music making
Experience World 49 (1996 In the magazine Uitleg (October 11, 1995) of the ministry I read about research into music education in primary school: "Research shows that the attitude of children towards music is positive. Put on music, listen to music on the radio and watch on television, however, they like more than making music."
)
A finding like that doesn't surprise me at all. You just have to be careful that you don't read into it that children wouldn't find making music leaky. No, kids might love making music, but playing records or watching the mini-playback show is generally even more fun.
No, I'm not surprised if you look at the balance sheet broadly. On the one hand (money-consuming) lessons for many years plus at least one and a half hours of study per week to learn to play an instrument. On the other hand, a few hundred guilders for playback equipment and a push of the button with the reward of more beautiful music than you will ever be able to play yourself.
"Playing music, listening to music on the radio and watching it on television, children like more than making music themselves."
Not only through my experience with primary and secondary school students, but also as a father, I can confirm this conclusion. My eleven-year-old daughter is not a musical genius, but already plays the recorder, flute, piano and violin quite well. At her school she is in the school orchestra and she sings and dances in the school band. With a little insistence she studies her game. But if she can do what she wants, she usually doesn't take her violin out of its case or screw up her flute, but puts on a CD or a tape. And her friends, who sometimes have much more musical experience than she, do the same.
It is no different in secondary education. With known exceptions, students are ultimately much more interested in listening than in playing. And then I'm talking about students who can play an instrument very decently and can therefore choose. I see it in my fourteen-year-old son. We have turned our garage into a reasonably isolated studio with a drum kit, keyboard and amplifiers. And of course that is used, but he seems to prefer listening to music. What about now? What does listening to a perfect reproduction offer more than blowing, stroking or pressing keys yourself?
You know, I like to draw a comparison with the sport. How about that? What's more fun, playing football yourself or watching top sport? Or am I looking for a contradiction or a problem that is not there at all? Making music or playing football yourself may simply be something completely different from listening or watching others. Or not?
I remember that in the mid-1960s my recorder teacher suddenly broke off the lesson to play me a picture of a certain Frans Bruggen. Both my teacher and I concluded that we had never heard anyone play the recorder so beautifully. Such a level seemed unattainable to me and the desire to continue practicing on the recorder ("a suitable instrument for every child to start with; after a few lessons your son or daughter will already play nice melodies", the music school folder stated. ) was totally lost on me. In the new course I continued with flute. Until I heard Jean-Pierre Rampal. Then I stopped doing that too. At the conservatory I tried the recorder for another year, but that attempt also failed. And four years of harpsichord major also had to lose out to Leonhardt's fantastic playing.
Thank God things went better with the piano. In order not to be bothered by the fact that I would never become a performing artist, I made sure to profile myself as an adept blues and boogie-woogie pianist. Those folks from the Concertgebouw could then take a bite out of that and I remained motivated to keep playing Bach as well as to keep listening to music. And if I may choose (now), I prefer to play. What about now?
© Job TER STEEGE (cf. Muziek & Onderwijs, tijdschrift VLS)
to BASICS-index
All rights © MusicAnd P.Timmermans This page belongs to: http://www.p-artweb.net/P-ART/musicand
