Journal Article Review

Peterson, Barbara. (2004). Strengthening the educational value of the elementary musical. General Music Today. 18 (1), 12-19.

This article begins by describing that which many elementary general music teachers are very familiar with – the (often annual) music program can be the single most visible product of the music classroom, but it can be so difficult to pull off, especially with any level of quality or success. Also, the author describes how she used to view the musical as something that took significant time away from classroom instruction, thereby greatly affecting her curriculum. However, she eventually realized that, viewed from the proper angles, a musical can in fact be an integral part of the music classroom’s curriculum and can be an effective way to teach students while still keeping their interest and interaction.

The first idea to keep in mind when remembering how a musical can be beneficial is the theory of constructivism. The theory of constructivism basically is highlighted by involving students when making decisions, structuring learning around primary concepts, and assessing student learning as a part of the teaching process. The students can be involved in the process even as early as the point when you, the teacher, go about choosing a musical. When involved in the process, your students will naturally take more ownership of the project and be more interested in the musical and their performance of it; they share responsibility for thinking through tasks, deciding things, and making evaluations. Also, involving the students in the cast selection process (especially for soloists) can be beneficial because it makes them all naturally more comfortable with each other as well as helping them understand the process; this helps eliminate any possibility of you being accused of playing favorites. And again, they children take more ownership of the project and therefore will put more pride into the performance.

The other main idea of this article is the importance of remembering multiple intelligence theory. Understanding the multiple intelligences can lead to better rehearsal techniques, primarily. A multiple intelligence approach requires an understanding of the different ways children learn. There have been eight intelligences identified; for the sake of space, I will not discuss them all here. I will, however, highlight a few. The logical-mathematical intelligence is characterized by “the capacity to use numbers effectively and to reason well.” As one may guess, this is quite important in a music setting; while, in some cases, numbers may not be explicitly used, music is in fact based on number systems and logical thinking. Linguistic and musical intelligences can be combined, for example, in constructing a rap. Though the students may or may not actually perform the rap, merely composing one can be effective. Finally, bodily-kinesthetic intelligence is obvious; in the case of a school musical, even if there is no “dancing” involved, the students will still be on their feet performing and/or presenting; an understanding of this intelligence, as a teacher, is crucial.

My personal experience with elementary school musicals is interesting. For starters, I honestly can only really remember one of them (though I believe we did one each year; my parents could probably help me remember). Our general music classes were, how shall I say it, fun because we didn’t learn a lot. I’m not sure; it’s tough for me, now, to look back and really know what they were like. But I’m pretty sure, honestly, that they weren’t the most musically enriching, but my friends and I enjoyed them, especially getting to sing Criss Cross’s “I Missed The Bus” practically every week. However, as a music educator-to-be, I agree totally with this article. It is well-written and easy to understand (and free of some of the grammatical and typographical errors that I came across in other similar articles), but it is very to-the-point. Anyway, I agree that musicals should be educational and musically beneficial in addition to interesting and fun for the students (as well as the parents and the school at large!). Remembering (in my case, learning, and then remembering) the Theory of Constructivism will be very important if I intend to keep my students interested in my classes as well as the musical itself. Also, fully understanding (and applying my understanding of) the multiple intelligences will allow to be more efficiently manage my students and my class time, as well as, once again, keep them interested and excited in the project. Overall, this article has proven to be very interesting as well as informative, and I intend to hang on to it so that I can reference it some day, if I should become an elementary general music teacher who is in charge of the school’s musical!

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