Music in 21st Century Education – Week 1

For the next few weeks I will be blogging about Music in 21st Century Education thanks to Dr James Humberstone’s MOOC on COURSERA.

Music in the 21st Century MOOC.

Part of the assignment work is to create an ePortfolio and to comment on the research presented. This post will include insights gathered from Dr Humberstone’s comparison of two schools in Australia plus some provocations of my own.

During the modules we were presented with a quote from John Cage (1961):

“I believe that the use of noise to make music will continue and increase until we reach a music produced through the use of electronic instruments which will make available for musical purposes any and all sounds that can be heard.”

‘The Future of Music: Credo,’ in SILENCE 3-4.

This brought about a discussion of electric vs acoustic instruments and, in the case of the two presented schools, the use of technology in music education as opposed to none at all. I would instantly argue that a balance of both is required in the 21st Century alongside proven pedagogical methods such as the Orff Approach.

I utilise the Orff Approach in my own teaching. A pedagogy that instructs music from singing, building patterns, movement and the internalisation of sound. The second school presented by Dr Humberstone used this method to integrate the arts into everything they taught – a wonderful concept. But I cannot help chime in that this approach can also allow for the use of technology. To be balanced, the second school also delayed the introduction of technology due to childhood development research. Whereas I would not argue with the research on childhood development the ability to engage and motivate students in the 21st Century has changed. With this change in society from digital media saturation, students understanding technology at younger ages and the fact that almost everyone has internet access, I would again argue for a blended approach of sound pedagogy (like Orff Schulwerk) and meaningful technology integration for engaging and motivating students to explore ways of learning.

Orff Schulwerk in Practice

Professor Stephen Heppell, in his article ‘Curriculum is not Content‘ questions that “…if education is to move forward… who should we now entrust it too? “…Give it back to the schools, the teachers, the parents and the children; ask them to make learning better”. And what better way, than to use good pedagogical scaffolding to engage students in 21st Century Learning with educators that do this themselves. Educators who deliberately choose a blending of the old with the new, providing for the opportunities that students will one day need to face (such as coding, or mixing film scores alongside singing, dictation, analysing a score and playing a guitar). In my own practice this engages and inspires students of all ages.

In the book ‘Transitioning to Concept-Based Curriculum and Instruction’ (Erickson and Lanning p79,80) cite research by Renzulli and Reis (1997) where they argue ‘that task commitment is motivation turned into action.’ It was clear in the first school that all students were engaged and on task. A remarkable culture created by the educators and direction of the school leadership to embrace technology meaningfully.

I would argue that blending an approach of technology with educational scaffolding is the way to engage, motivate and develop students in the 21st Century.

Finally, this is a heavy metal rendition of John Cage’s 4’3″ – a work that makes a statement: all sound is music. I find this version mixes the philosophy of John Cage with something that relies on electronic instruments played creatively by humans. What do you think? What motivated these musicians to create this? Perhaps a study of Modern Music, engagement with their craft or philosophically making a statement themselves?

Cover image: Sahil Nanda