Labuta, J.A., & Smith, D.A. (1997). Music education: Historical contexts and perspectives. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.  Pages 57-68.

 

SUMMARIZE:

CH. 3 – Curriculum: A Model for Music Instruction

Ø       Introduction and Objectives

·         Two definitions of curriculum:

-          Latin, meaning what students must do to learn (skills)

-          What students must learn (subject matter itself)

-          Specific instructional methods (Orff, Kodály, Suzuki, Gordon, etc.)

·         Most like the one used in this text

·         According to this text, curriculum = “broad sequence of music courses providing comprehensive information about music and facilitating development of music skills in order to promote musical understanding”

·         The most successful schooling first provides basic knowledge and attain generic goals for all

Ø       Curriculum and General Educational Philosophy

·         Only academic subjects with intellectual and rational tasks are worthy of label schooling

·         Nontraditionalists believe schooling is also for ethical concerns, and other non-academic ideas

·         Should include music, art, physical education, etc.

·         Every groups curriculum ideas will include subjects that do most to achieve group’s goals

Ø       Shared Aspects of Music Curriculum

·         The Hidden Curriculum

-          Things unintentionally learned while at school

-          Rejection, interruption, criticism, peer pressure, idleness, regimentation, and delay

·         The Spiral Curriculum

-          Concepts reinforced multiple times over many years, building more each time

·         Music Subject Matter

-          Knowledge: music theory, history, style, elements of music, etc.

-          Skills: those for playing/singing, those for perceiving sound/applying musical knowledge

Ø       Formulating the Curriculum

·         Levels of Curriculum Development

-          National and state, the broadest, are usually based on professional music organizations

-          Colleges and universities often base their curricula on state/national

-          Districts adopt own philosophies, then individual teachers

-          Eventually, it is custom-tailored for specific group of students, usually

·         Organizing Subject Matter

-          The Systems Approach

·         Synonym: outcome approach

·         What educational purposes?

·         What experiences?

·         What is most effective?

·         How evaluate for effectiveness?

-          The Conceptual Approach

·         Content-centered – general and fundamental understandings

·         Synthesis of information, so constantly changing

·         Knowing and doing work well with conceptual curriculum

·         Experience of musical concepts is necessary to learn them

-          The Materials Approach

·         Selecting texts and creating curriculum and activities around them

·         Usually fairly clearly-stated objectives

·         These materials can be wonderful, but also limiting as they are not tailored to that group of kids, culture, etc.

-          The Content Approach

·         Extensive use of great musical compositions

·         Musical understanding and insight gained from listening/studying these works

·         Great way to learn application of skills, but not necessarily to learn skills

-          The Activities Approach

·         Traditional musical behaviors – singing, playing instruments, reading/writing music, etc.

·         Open-ended learning – only general goals are possible, and learning is different to each

-          The Method Approach

·         Precise musical content presented in particular sequence according to specifications set forth by an “expert”

·         Usually emphasizes learning by doing

Ø       Comprehensive Vs. Minimal Curriculum

·         Comprehensive

-          Wide scope

-          Tries to encompass many, many aspects of music at once

-          Often skips detailed

-          For example, is performance oriented, leaving behind the rudimentary ideas

·         Minimalistic Teaching

-          Can be better than none, especially if enhances aesthetic sensitivity and/or creativity

-          Necessitates general music instruction

·         Minimal curriculum is often the only type possible in many school situations

·         Can be expanded upon as more resources (of all kinds) become available, but must be done unilaterally, and gradually

 

DISCUSS:

This chapter is interesting because it deals with the fact that, one day, I will have to come up with more than just one, short lesson plan.  I will more than likely be, at some point, responsible for the curriculum for my class if not my entire department.  Therefore, the above points are necessary to understand.  All the approaches to curriculum are valid, but I need to be able to apply them appropriately to the school situations I may find myself in as well as the material and the grade levels.  For the last section, I feel that a nice combination of the two scopes would be best.  If many parts of music could be covered, while starting with a solid foundation of musical basics, then music could be very successfully taught, in my opinion.  However, the last point made is a very valid one – the school situation (teachers, physical materials, and cash flow) will dictate just what I can do.  That is why this will be an ever-evolving project.