Listen Imagine Compose - Research Report

Listen, Imagine, Compose (LIC) is a project designed to investigate pedagogies of composing in secondary schools. It was funded by the Esmée Fairbairn foundation, and organised by Sound and Music (SAM), Birmingham Contemporary Music Group (BCMG), with Birmingham City University (BCU) as the lead academic partner. It involved composers, an apprentice composer, musicians, schoolteachers, researchers, music education partners, and critical friends. The main body of the project ran between June 2011 – Spring 2013. Background The 2009 Ofsted report Making More of Music (Ofsted, 2009) highlighted a number of issues with composing in secondary school music provision, including: lack of attention to internalising sound as a basis for creative thinking; lack of quality and depth in pupil responses; insufficient understanding of what musical progress involves; composing activities are rarely related to the work of established composers. We know that composing is the area of the music curriculum that is often least accessible for teachers (Berkley, 2001), and that changes to the Key Stage 3 Curriculum in operation during the research period placed increased stress on genuinely creative thinking. The purpose of the LIC project was to address these issues through interaction between pupils and their teachers with professional composers and performers

Teaching Rules or Teaching Creativity: a Paradigm Shift

Structure is everything in a screenplay we are told. If indeed there are any rules to screenwriting then this would be carved in tablets of stone. Within pedagogical frameworks we are diligent in our instruction of the three acts, advocating it as a paradigm. We pass on tools for the analysis of character that are gleaned from psychology. But I have seen students struggle with this toolbox. They feel constrained by concrete techniques. So often seeing principles as rules, structure as restriction. The stifling of free-form ideas is further compounded by the plethora of books that claim the path to glory lies only in structural devices. Some even purport to have a formula, a simple prescriptive model that will bestow almost certain success. Yet this is an industry that abhors formula, that hungers for the fresh and the new. Without bravado, imagination and experimentation with character and form, the best structured screenplay in the world is merely a typing exercise. As educators we have a duty to retain a balance between letting a student’s mind dance and keeping them to the tempo. This study will compare a variety of diverse structures, from Hegel to Alcoholics Anonymous, Kubler Ross to Jung. It will analyse recent journal articles, on both new techniques in teaching creativity and new approaches to the instruction of screenwriting, to suggest a model of how best to inform the application of structure to HE students and keep creativity uppermost. A structure of emotional truth. An equal appreciation of both the tools of our craft and an imaginative exploration of character and world that can unlock our originality and our artistry

Desire for Recognition and Recognition of Desire: A Theoretical Account of the Influence of Student Teacher Fantasy on Self-Efficacy

In the face of increasing teacher burnout, in this paper I explore the theoretical implications of political accountability measures on student music teacher self-efficacy in England. I propose a necessary shift from institutional priorities to weaker personal aspirations as a route towards more sustainable teaching. Through reflecting on my own professional practice, I highlight distinctions between teachers’ individual aspirations and professional action but propose that teachers themselves are somewhat complicit in this disparity. This assertion draws on a Žižekian conceptualization whereby actions aim to appease a fantasy of how the subject perceives they appear to others. For student teachers, I suggest that the attempt to appease their multiple influential figures effectively self-silences personal aspirations; however, given the multifaceted priorities of these influential persons, I argue this appeasement entails a perpetually unfulfilling endeavour. Rather, I call for an intervention which highlights that this desire to appease others and be recognised as proficient is personally sustained, and thus malleable, in order to encourage student teachers to nurture more individually fulfilling and sustainable professional practice

How Composing Assessment in English Secondary Examinations Affect Teaching and Learning Practices

Composing has been a significant and assessed part of music in the classroom since its introduction into the English National Curriculum in 1988. However, there is very little research into how the assessment of composing influences teaching and learning practices. Within a time of great educational change and uncertainty for music education, this research seeks to uncover complexities within teaching and assessing composing at Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5. To investigate this under-researched area, mixed methodology approaches were used. Two surveys were conducted to gather breadth of teachers’ experiences of the assessment and nine telephone interviews with selected participants from the survey were also conducted. Five case studies allowed for in-depth data collection from diverse school settings from teachers as well as students. Case study data were obtained through interviews, focus groups and field observations. As the research sought to capture multiple perspectives, interviews with five composer-educators were also included. Data from participants were analysed through thematic and grounded theory approaches, as well as theorised using Engeström’s (2001) culturalhistorical activity theory and Bourdieu’s (1984) notions of field, capital and habitus. Several contributions to knowledge are presented and discussed such as the significant concerns regarding reliability, subjectivity and bias in the assessment of composing at KS4 and KS5, along with questions regarding validity and real-world usefulness of the teaching and examinations. Due to high accountability cultures many teachers felt they had to alter their teaching to ensure their students passed the examinations. The study uncovered layers of powers, myths and mechanisms used to keep control, which in turn created internal conflict in teachers. Although this study found discontent and conflict, teachers and students were also complicit, not feeling able to openly contest the current systems in place. This exploratory study gives an indepth overview into the complexities of assessing and teaching composing at KS4 and KS5 outlining the challenges and pressures teachers and students face

Teaching Social Studies Through Drama

Educators and researchers have long discussed methods for improving student achievement in the social studies and history. Research on student attitudes reveals that the social studies suffers from a lack of interest among students . Common complaints among students are that the subject is tedious , does not relate to their lives, is not particularly useful for their future careers, is repetitive, or that it is simply boring (Schug et al., 1982}. Even when students recognize the utilitarian value of skills they learn from social studies/ history, they rarely express an interest in the subject (Chiodo, 2004). After reviewing the body of literature on student attitudes towards the social studies, Shaughnessy and Haladyna (1985} concluded , most students in the United States, at all grade levels, find social studies to be one of the least interesting, most irrelevant subjects in the school curriculum (p. 694). Russel and Waters (2010) linked these attitudes to the prevalence of passive learning (lecture, worksheets and other busy work , and rote memorization) within contemporary social studies classrooms

The Declining Enrollment of San Diego County High School Music Programs from 2006-2021

Since 2006, many San Diego County High Schools have experienced a dramatic decline in music program enrollment. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the new teaching paradigm served as catalysts that caused some San Diego County high schools to discontinue their music programs entirely. The enrollment statistics for San Diego County high school music programs during the fifteen years from 2006-2021 fall far below the national average. The effects of these changes have left many students and communities with either a struggling music program or without a music program at all. This case study examined a set of San Diego County high school music programs from 2006-2021 to determine the internal and external causes for the decreased enrollment numbers. By examining these fifteen years, this study determined that the decline in enrollment was a trend, not an anomaly. The COVID-19 pandemic\u27s decline exacerbated the situation for students, teachers, and administrators. Further, this study identified the characteristics that distinguish the programs with sustained or increased enrollment from those with decreased enrollment. The study consisted of analyzing and evaluating enrollment data provided by the districts, festival and competition scores, and demographic data. These data were examined in light of leading literature on the subject and compared against the national averages

Happy accidents? Music teacher perceptions of curriculum design at Key Stage 3 in the English secondary school.

Classroom music teachers in English secondary schools, teaching Key Stage 3 (11 – 14 year olds), are required to design their own curriculum. Processes of curriculum design in music embody unacknowledged complexities, and tacit teacher planning practices. A consideration of music curriculum design is largely absent in music education literature, and there is a similar lack of approved curriculum formations in policy documentation. A paucity of discussion of music curriculum design also exists, both in initial teacher training, and in later career development opportunities for classroom music specialists. Teachers are, however, accountable for curricula that they implement, and consequential outcomes that are evident from their selected approaches. This thesis addresses these problems by seeking to understand music teacher curriculum design processes and their enaction, and to recognise and theorise complex notions within curriculum design models of practice. It makes recommendations for music teachers, senior school leaders and policymakers on curriculum music in the lower English secondary school classroom for future practice, based on research findings. The study draws on case study research in two pilot and seven main study schools, from the West and East Midlands in England, utilising semi-structured interviews, think aloud protocols and documentary analysis. Additional research strands include a questionnaire with 64 respondents, and two elite interviews for elucidation. Analyses of results were facilitated through methodologies of epistemic ascent, radically modified grounded theory and activity theory. Music teacher perceptions of curriculum design, as revealed through the research project were developed into models: curriculum progression, curriculum activity, curriculum processing and curriculum dynamics. These models illuminate music teachers’ curriculum design practices, substantiating observations that these enactments represent more significant processes than ‘happy accidents’

Child music production: A creative and autotelic aspect

S obzirom na istaknuti značaj i važnost kreativnosti koja se danas traži u svim područjima, ne samo u umjetničkom, cilj ovoga rada je ukazati na značaj poticanja glazbeno-stvaralačkih aktivnosti od djetetove rane dobi. Kao temelj djetetova glazbenog i glazbeno-stvaralačkog razvoja ističe se fenomen komunikativne muzikalnosti. Poticanjem djetetova spontanog glazbenog izraza, ono aktivno stvara i doživljava glazbu pri čemu dolazi do samoaktualizacije, optimalnih iskustava tj. zanesenosti u stvaralačkom procesu te posebnih estetskih iskustava pojedinca koji pridonose razvoju njegove kreativnosti, senzibiliteta i estetskih vrijednosti. Važnost glazbeno-stvaralačkih aktivnosti te brojne dobrobiti glazbe u djetetovu cjelovitom razvoju sve se više ističu radi realizacije većih ekonomskih i društvenih postignuća. U radu se želi ukazati na značaj glazbeno-stvaralačkog procesa kao autotelične aktivnosti koja je, umjesto na rezultat stvaranja, usmjerena na sam stvaralački čin koji je u konačnici sam sebi svrhom.Considering the great significance and importance of creativity that is being sought today in all areas, not only in the artistic one, the aim of this paper is to point to the importance of performing musical-creative activities from the child’s early and pre-school age. As the basis of the child’s musical and musical-creative development, the phenomenon of communicative musicality is emphasized. By encouraging children’s spontaneous musical expression, the child expresses and creates an active music experience that contributes to the development of self actualization and creation of optimal experience (flow) in creative process as well as special aesthetic experience of the individual that contribute to the development of his creativity, sensitivity and aesthetic values. The significance of musical-creative activities and the numerous benefits of music in the child’s holistic development are increasingly emphasized for the realization of greater economic and social achievements. The paper attempts to highlight the importance of music and the creative process as autotelic activity which is, instead of on the result of creation, focused on the creative act itself that is eventually a purpose in itself