Disrupting power relations in the middle school choir: a student-centered approach
Files
Accepted version
Date
2024-05-15
DOI
Authors
Debrot, Ruth A.
Version
Accepted manuscript
OA Version
Citation
R. Debrot. 2024. "Disrupting Power Relations in the Middle School Choir:
A Student-Centered Approach" Volume 2, pp.1-25.
Abstract
A STUDENT -CENTERED APPROACH:
My students have taught me many things. Perhaps the most important thing I have learned from them is that they long to study music in social settings that are relevant to their lives. After more than two decades of teaching middle school, I observed that choir, in the traditional sense, no longer addressed the needs and interests of my students. I found that my students possessed a vast array of musical knowledge from sources outside of school. I noticed that chorus, from an adolescent perspective, is primarily a “means of meeting new people and making new friends” (Shehan-Campbell et al., 2007, p. 221). Using actions, words, and miscreant behaviors, my students communicated their desire to study music in a social setting that addressed their musical needs and interests. This led me to reexamine my approach to middle school choral music education.
POINT OF DEPARTURE:
I began to ask critical questions. For example, how do singers learn to make creative artistic and musical decisions when the music and the performance of it are determined by the conductor (O’Toole, 1994)? How does performing concert repertoire result in the advancement of individual musicianship and the musical independence that is needed to make music in other contexts or at other times in the future (Regelski 2017)? What about repertoire? Miksza (2013) argued that published repertoire lists often silence popular forms or music from non-traditional sources because they are not “artistically rich” or vocally appropriate in educational settings (p. 49). These questions prompted further inquiry.
Educational leaders have affirmed the importance of student-centered classrooms, in which students are engaged in collaborative, hands-on activities and where problem solving is a valued tool in curriculum design (Debrot, 2017; Cremata 2017). Many proposed curricular reforms have suggested the inclusion of alternative approaches to music learning; specifically, an increase in the degree of individual student empowerment and broadening the range of collaborative approaches to music making that teacher and students engage in (Allsup 2003; DeLorenzo 1989; Kratus 2007; Williams 2011; Miksza 2013; Regelski 2014). These ideas informed my new curricular goals.
RECONCEPTUALIZING THE CLASSROOM:
Using a critical participatory action research methodology (Carr & Kemmis, 1986; Kemmis & McTaggart, 1987; Kemmis et al., 2014), I set out to discover improved, alternative pedagogical approaches to middle school choral education that would incorporate the passion for music and learning that my students brought with them into the school choir. I conducted my research project with my students rather than on them. The goal was to create a collaborative, student-directed learning environment where students were socially engaged, musically challenged, felt safe to take risks, and were supported in their learning.
Borrowing from Allsup (2003), I created an action plan in which the students shared in the design of the study, established their own procedures, rules, and protocols, and assisted in the analysis of data. I was drawn to this pedagogical approach because when students are given the opportunity to explore freely and work democratically––using music of their own choosing––they will create music that “reflects a world that is theirs; a world they understand and a world that defines who they are” (p. 35).
PRACTICE, PERFORM, CRITIQUE:
Working collaboratively, my students and I constructed a workable approach called the practice/perform/critique model of middle school choral learning. The model consisted of practicing with specified time limits, performing, and receiving feedback from peers. Practicing with specified time limits kept the students on task, performing made the students accountable for their progress, and receiving feedback from peers kept the students apprised of their learning goals. The model required that the students’ function interdependently, use metacognitive strategies, engage in critical dialogue, and target common goals. Most importantly, the model provided the students with a sense of autonomy and made them responsible for their own social and musical growth.
CONCLUSION:
Pedagogical and organizational changes allowed me to explore a curricular model that is collaborative, active, dialogic, and non-hierarchal, valuing the perspectives of the students (Froelich, 2007; Pinar, 2011). Ultimately, I found that teaching within a constructionist, student-centered learning environment necessitated I stand back, observe, and empathize with the “goals the pupils set for themselves” (Green, 2008, p. 24). Working together, my students and I discovered some viable pedagogical approaches for middle school, which might empower others to help adolescent singers develop a life-long regard for the relevance of music as a presence in their lives, whether it be as singers, performers, listeners, composers, arrangers, or songwriters.