Unlike their colleagues in music theory and music education, teachers of music history have tended not to commit their pedagogical ideas to print. This collection of essays seeks to help redress the balance, providing advice and guidance to those who teach a college-level music history or music appreciation course, be they a graduate student setting out on their teaching career, or a seasoned professor having to teach outside his or her speciality. Divided into four sections, the book covers the basic music history survey usually taken by music majors; music appreciation and introductory courses aimed at non-majors; special topic courses such as women and music, music for film and American music; and more general issues such as writing, using anthologies, and approaches to teaching in various situations. In addition to these specific areas, broader themes emerge across the essays. These include how to integrate social history and cultural context into music history teaching; the shift away from the 'classical canon'; and how to organize a course taking into consideration time constraints and the need to appeal to students from a diverse range of backgrounds. With contributions from both teachers approaching retirement and those at the start of their careers, this volume provides a spectrum of experience which will prove valuable to all teachers of music history.
Successful professional music teachers must not only be knowledgeable in conducting and performing, but also be socially and culturally aware of students, issues, and events that affect their classrooms. This book provides comprehensive overview of social and cultural themes directly related to music education, teacher training, and successful teacher characteristics. New topics in the second edition include the impact of Race to the Top, social justice, bullying, alternative schools, the influence of Common Core Standards, and the effects of teacher and school assessments. All topics and material are research-based to provide a foundation and current perspective on each issue.
Music moves through time; it is not static. In order to appreciate music wemust remember what sounds happened, and anticipate what sounds might comenext. This book takes you on a journey of music from past to present, from the Middle Ages to the Baroque Period to the 20th century and beyond!
Teaching Music Differently explores what music teachers do and why. It offers insightful analysis of eight in-depth studies of teachers in a range of settings – the early years, a special school, primary and secondary schools, a college, a prison, a conservatoire and a community choir – and demonstrates that pedagogy is not simply the delivery of a curriculum or an enactment of a teaching plan. Rather, a teacher’s pedagogy is complex, nuanced and influenced by a multitude of factors. Exploring the theories teachers hold about their own teaching, it reveals that, even when teachers are engaged with the same subject, their teaching varies substantially. It analyses the differences in terms of agency – the knowledge and skills that teachers bring to teaching, their expectations shaped by their life histories, the ways in which they relate to their students and the subject and their ideas about the content they teach – what is important, what is interesting, what is difficult for students to grasp. It also explores the constraints that are imposed upon the teachers – by curriculum, policy, institutions, society and the students themselves. Together with discussion of key ideas for understanding the case studies, historical influences on music pedagogy and the main discourses around music teaching, Teaching Music Differently invites all music education professionals to consider their own responses to pedagogical discourses and to use these discourses to further the development of the profession as a whole.
Co-published with and Miriam, a freshman Calculus student at Louisiana State University, made 37.5% on her first exam but 83% and 93% on the next two. Matt, a first year General Chemistry student at the University of Utah, scored 65% and 55% on his first two exams and 95% on his third—These are representative of thousands of students who decisively improved their grades by acting on the advice described in this book.What is preventing your students from performing according to expectations? Saundra McGuire offers a simple but profound answer: If you teach students how to learn and give them simple, straightforward strategies to use, they can significantly increase their learning and performance. For over a decade Saundra McGuire has been acclaimed for her presentations and workshops on metacognition and student learning because the tools and strategies she shares have enabled faculty to facilitate dramatic improvements in student learning and success. This book encapsulates the model and ideas she has developed in the past fifteen years, ideas that are being adopted by an increasing number of faculty with considerable effect.The methods she proposes do not require restructuring courses or an inordinate amount of time to teach. They can often be accomplished in a single session, transforming students from memorizers and regurgitators to students who begin to think critically and take responsibility for their own learning. Saundra McGuire takes the reader sequentially through the ideas and strategies that students need to understand and implement. First, she demonstrates how introducing students to metacognition and Bloom’s Taxonomy reveals to them the importance of understanding how they learn and provides the lens through which they can view learning activities and measure their intellectual growth. Next, she presents a specific study system that can quickly empower students to maximize their learning. Then, she addresses the importance of dealing with emotion, attitudes, and motivation by suggesting ways to change students’ mindsets about ability and by providing a range of strategies to boost motivation and learning; finally, she offers guidance to faculty on partnering with campus learning centers.She pays particular attention to academically unprepared students, noting that the strategies she offers for this particular population are equally beneficial for all students. While stressing that there are many ways to teach effectively, and that readers can be flexible in picking and choosing among the strategies she presents, Saundra McGuire offers the reader a step-by-step process for delivering the key messages of the book to students in as little as 50 minutes. Free online supplements provide three slide sets and a sample video lecture.This book is written primarily for faculty but will be equally useful for TAs, tutors, and learning center professionals. For readers with no background in education or cognitive psychology, the book avoids jargon and esoteric theory.
The music and dance traditions of Ghana's four main ethnic groups are covered comprehensively in this book. It discusses concepts of music, dance and performance in general, and also goes into cultural perspectives, performance practices and the form and structure of 22 musical types or dance drumming ceremonies. As a guide to multicultural education, it provides teaching methods and components of curriculum development. Numerous photographs, maps, and musical scores generously illustrate the book.
An Introduction to Effective Music Teaching: Artistry and Attitude provides the prospective teacher with front-line tested strategies and approaches that are based on current research and the author's three decades of service as a public school music educator, department chairman, and public school district music administrator. Starting with a brief overview of the history of music education in public schools, Alfred Townsend gives the reader a deeper understanding of the importance of music education to all students, gifted or not. Readers then examine artistry (command of content and mastery of methods) and the ABCs of teacher attitude, the critical component that unlocks learning for many students. With an open and accessible writing style, Dr. Townsend reviews the six components of effective teaching, showing that artistry and attitude can be combined to fuel student learning and teacher leadership. Using all of this information, the reader constructs a personal, practical philosophy of music teaching and learning that will form the basis for his or her instruction. Readers will also experience artistry and attitude in action through well written case studies of effective teachers. With increasingly diverse student populations teachers now face,this book provides music teachers with ways to interact effectively with students of all backgrounds, attitudes, and talent.
