Where Are We Going Now?

Where Are We Going Now?

An Essay On Music Education in the time of COVID19 

Moving Forward Into the 2020-21 School Year

Where We Just Were

Most music educators in the United States and around the world spent the months of March, April, May, and June teaching, or attempting to teach, in a manner that we were never trained for. That could be said for many different jobs and workplace norms, but educators deal with something no other career path has. Our commodity, our responsibility, our charge, and our passion is humanity.  We as educators are responsible for humans. Most educators, even those who teach at the collegiate level, are responsible for young humans. We teach and train all other career paths. We are not just experts in the subjects and disciplines we teach, we are experts in human beings. We help human beings gain knowledge in those subjects.There isn’t a more important job. The actual future of humanity depends on our profession. And, make no mistake, we are professionals.

When COVID19 hit and schools closed down, educators everywhere immediately started troubleshooting what they could do to serve their students and be as impactful as possible. We understood that academics were important, but so was the social, emotional, and physical well-being of our students, our colleagues, and our own families. We did what was necessary, and we did it with what we had. When we chose to become educators we were trained on the knowledge of our subject area(s), the physiological and psychological tendencies of the children we are responsible for, the social and cultural demographics that our students are a part of in their daily lives outside of school, and how to disseminate new knowledge to our students in classroom settings in person using the appropriate classroom management skills. We are also required to continue to expand our knowledge. As time moves forward there are the changing aspects of our disciplines, societal and cultural changes to the world our students come from, and strategies and best practices of how we do our jobs. The world of education is constantly improving, so we can give our students the best chances to be successful in their lives after they leave our charge. We were NOT trained to teach young human beings via a computer screen or through a pile of paper packets without the human interaction that exists in the traditional classroom. However, we did it anyway. We found a way.

We spent hours upon hours adapting our existing curriculums or creating new curriculums to serve our students in an ever increasing traumatic time. These hours were far over and above the hours we, just the weeks before, were spending preparing for our responsibilities under “normal” pre-pandemic conditions. We did these things without complaint because we are professionals and we had the responsibility. However, even more than the responsibility we have contractually to do our jobs, we do it because we love our students. We want them to be successful, and we knew that they needed us to be at our best to get through this unprecedented time.  

I have taught for 29 years in four different school districts. There is nothing I have had the opportunity to deal with as an educator that can even be compared to this past spring. Nothing: not 9-11; not the Iraq War or the Afgan War; not Columbine, Parkland, Sandy Hook, or any other gun violence ridiculousness; not the Persian Gulf War; not No Child Left Behind or ESSA; not dealing with legislators and other politicians making policy decisions about our profession without ever being in a classroom; not the corporate take-over of education; none of this, as bad as they can be for us, come close to what we were expected to do and did.  Now, as we prepare for a new school year, and no end in sight of the pandemic, how do we move forward and plan quality education for our students. 

First, we must put the nay-sayer noise where it belongs: in the trash. We are not baby-sitters; we are educators. We are not robots; we are human beings, with lives, families, and loved ones. Our concerns about how schools move forward need to be listened to. The ramifications aren’t just the concerns for student needs, but as professional employees in a work environment as well. The population of any size school isn’t just made of students. There are a large number of adults that make a school function; teachers, para-educators, food service staff, maintenance staff, health-care staff, administrators, etc. The health and safety of everyone in the school environment must be accounted for when planning how we all come out of this pandemic and move forward in education. Lest we forget though, the pandemic isn’t over, and by the look of things may not be over for a while. 

You can find numerous sources stating both sides of the reopening of schools debate, and there may be validity to some points on both sides of the argument. However, making this a political issue is unproductive. Our children, and those that participate in their education away from home and these children come into contact with every day of their lives, are not political pawns. As I sit here writing today, the graduating class of 2020 where I just recently taught is having their “graduation” nearly two months after they were supposed to have their actual graduation ceremony. They are the next leaders of our communities. It amazes me how fast they grow and become adults. I have been teaching 29 years. I have former students, who in my mind are still 17 and 18 years old, but are in fact family doctors, surgeons, professors, lawyers, business owners, entrepreneurs, church leaders, and of course K - 12 teachers, among many other career paths. They are definers of communities around the country. Social media, with all of it’s faults, has allowed me to keep in touch with them and has shown me what they have become. I am more than proud, I am amazed at their accomplishments. I am mostly humbled. They have done exactly what we expected of them, and more. These graduates of 2020 will also, and because of what they have gone through may do it to an even higher degree. I am not afraid of the future. I am excited to see what they accomplish. Are we as a society ready to squelch that, traumatize that, hinder that growth in any way? Reopening schools too soon and without proper plans; local, state, or federal; could easily set back the future in ways we can not comprehend right now. 

Renowned psychologist, suicidologist, and self-proclaimed data geek, Dr. Tyler Black, MD, stated recently that, “school days cause more distress [to students] than non-school days.” This is referring to pre-pandemic school. The amount of stress on students, under the circumstances that we are dealing with now, is exponentially worse. The adult staff that run schools have been stressing far more than normal for months, and anxiety is incredibly high as we approach the new school year. Dr. Black also states that the situation we are faced with in education right now is, “complex, and it is not easy to answer.” That is an understatement. 

All great changes are preceded by chaos.

-Deepak Chopra

Second, we need to speak out. As educators we have to speak out and do so loudly. Yes, WE need to not listen to the nay-sayers, but they aren’t going anywhere and they are loud. We need to be just as loud, if not louder. We need allies. We need to gather our support systems, our parent organizations, our families, our professional organizations, our unions, anyone who is willing to speak up on the health, safety and well-being of our students, we the teachers and other school staff, and the families that we all come home to. We need to listen to the science and follow the data that is there for us to use. Logic is on our side. But those who don’t seem to care about the health and safety of our students, let alone us, will continue to be loud. We need to be louder.

I understand the stress of speaking out though. No one wants to lose their job because of speaking out. We must do it as a group, and the larger the group the better. This will shelter the individual from unfair labor practices or community backlash that could be used against the individual who speaks to truth. Those educators who live and work in suburban and urban centers have things a little easier than those in rural areas with regards to speaking out as a group or groups. If you are in this situation, you need to be careful not to alienate yourself from your community or visa-versa. Use the facts, don’t be political, and always put students first. Educators' overall philosophy should always be student centered, but now we have to include our own health and safety, as well as the family and community members of the students. If we keep science, data, and the well-being of students and their (and our) families at the center of our debate, we are doing the right thing. We have a responsibility to ourselves, our students, and the families and communities where we live and work. Yes, it would be best to be in-person for school, but that isn’t a reality. We need to start being progressive and think outside the box and find a new vision of what education can be in the time we are in (many of you have already started doing this), and for what education will look like post-pandemic (whenever that may be).

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens 

can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.

-Margaret Mead

How Does Music Education Fit in the New Normal

Those of us who teach in the arts are in quite a predicament; especially if we teach music, theater, or dance. In Washington State we identify five domains of arts education: music, theater, dance, visual art, and media arts. In general, music, theater, and dance are educationally approached within an ensemble model. Most educational goals as teacher/director are centered around performances with larger groups of students. This statement isn’t exclusive though, many of us who teach within this model do emphasize, at times throughout the school year, individualized goals and expectations. Visual Art and Media Arts are, generally speaking, more individualistic endeavors, and are taught as such.  My statements here will discuss the ramifications of necessary change within the secondary music class/rehearsal room. There are many similarities with theater and dance because of the group-focus dynamic that exists in our performance based curricula. 

We, as music educators, have an opportunity to create a paradigm shift within our profession. Moreover, we should be celebrating a paradigm shift in education as a whole, but as music educators we can help lead that change. However, we must first deal with changes we need to make within our own world. Up to this point in most of our careers, we have been expected to lead large ensembles with only a cursory focus on the individual student. I know that we all celebrate the individual because our groups are only as strong as the individual musicians. Ask yourself, “How much time do you spend on the academics of music education, that aren’t directly related to the group dynamic?” Those of us who feel we are successful as teacher/directors of our band, choir, or orchestra are probably spending some rehearsal time on music theory as it pertains to a specific piece of music or musical passage that we are preparing for performance. We also tend not to teach those theoretical concepts in a very “deep” manner. There is usually very little discussion and more often than not only formative assessment. How often do we take the opportunity to teach music history within the context of the music we are preparing to perform? Again, our lesson time devoted to this part of our discipline is probably cursory and not necessarily assessed. We understand the value of these aspects of our subject matter, however with performance pressures we undoubtedly don’t take much time truly teaching these concepts as they pertain to the education of our young musicians.  

With the pandemic worsening in many areas of our country, teaching through large ensemble performance will be nearly impossible for most, if not all of us. Even if we go back this fall to in-person learning with all of our students, with social distancing expectations, masks (or face shields), and A - B schedules with fewer students in any particular class, how we approach our rehearsals will change dramatically. If we are in a hybrid model or 100% virtual, the approach to our lessons will have to change even more. My advice is that we move away from large group performance based ideas and begin to foster an individualistic or small chamber ensemble approach. We can still help them become better performing musicians with more individual attention, and a better understanding of the building blocks of the creation of the music that they are preparing to perform. Let's also keep in mind the aspect of large ensemble type performances. We don’t even know when we may be able to perform as a large ensemble in a live setting again. It won’t be anytime soon. We need to give our students real learning activities in which they can be successful with reasonable expectations for us and them. 

Prior to the pandemic I have always used the month of January as a time to foster chamber music and solo performance expectations. We finish our holiday concert performances in mid-December, then in the days after we choose the music that individual students would prepare for solos or for small chamber groups. Our performance goals are a community performance called Chamber Music Night (similar to a private music studio’s recital) and our regional Solo and Ensemble Contest, which usually took place in late January or early February. When asked to justify this curricular decision to administration, I tell them that when preparing solos or working in a chamber ensemble the individual responsibility of each student musician was greater than when working in the large ensemble. There is no hiding in a small ensemble. The individual expectation is higher. 

Furthermore, in the state of Washington we have state mandated performance assessments, two of which were centered around preparing and performing chamber music or solos. So, I not only justify this approach with administration, it also was helpful for the students to complete a state assessment. The mandated assessments also have a writing component that accompanied the performance aspect of the work. Students are asked to write a short paper about the composer, the time period the music was created during, a description of the work, and a reflection on their performances of the piece. The guidelines for these assessments is called CPR: Create, Perform and Respond. All of these parts and pieces to a curriculum based around solo work and/or chamber music lends itself to a deeper understanding of the music the students are interacting with. This approach lends itself pretty easily to the teaching environment we will be dealing with, whether in-person small group or virtual. Finally, as I have used this idea to create a curriculum around chamber music and solo preparation for years, the benefit to the programs I have been responsible for is incredible. As students work with chamber ensembles or prepare solos, it only strengthens our large ensembles abilities. So, if you chose this approach, know that when the time comes that we are able to rehearse and perform again as large ensembles (and we will) our students won’t have lost anything. They won’t have been left behind. They may actually be better young musicians and even more musically responsive to playing in a large ensemble. 

In its beginnings, music was merely chamber music, 

Meant to be listened to in a small space by a small audience.

-Gustav Mahler

Chamber Music - a conversation between friends.

-Catherine Drinker Bowen

If choosing a performance-based model for teaching either in-person small group and/or individual or virtual, you will probably need to use some technology that you may not be familiar with.  SmartMusic, Music First, and A capella are some of the online platforms that many music educators began using when the pandemic shutdowns happened in the spring. These platforms are outstanding, but may have a learning curve for both you and your students. You will also have to take time to create lessons around the use of these applications and supplement them with other resources. I have used SmartMusic for years, and will continue to do so. I am interested in learning more about Music First, and how I can use A capella in the future. There are a plethora of resources that music educators are creating right now, and many will continue to create as we move forward with the aforementioned changes coming to education. Research and find those resources that fit your needs. Spend some of the time you used to use researching new music or studying scores researching small group lessons and music or virtual learning lessons and curriculums. I belong to several Facebook groups that are set up just for this purpose. It’s an opportunity to connect with other music educators that are going through the same things you are, and many of the creators of these resources are sharing their stuff on these platforms. I have created virtual lessons that are free for anyone to use, and I have already committed myself to continue the work I’ve started.  

Especially through virtual/distance learning we have an opportunity to dig deeper into the concepts of music theory, music history, composition and songwriting, and individual lessons for instruments. These lessons could be asynchronous or in a live stream type setting. If you have the time, you could dovetail these types of lessons with the literature that you and/or students have chosen for chamber ensembles or solo literature that they also may be working on.  Again, there are many individuals and companies out there creating resources. It just takes a little time to research. We have to change our mindset. For now, gone are the days of spending hours choosing literature for the year’s concerts, shows, pep band performances, etc. Virtual large ensembles are basically impossible for most of us to facilitate. We need to start really thinking about changing our paradigm or the consequences could be drastic.

Across the country I am hearing through social media of school districts cutting music, theater, and dance programs. This is not the answer, and all of us need to speak out loudly to stop this. We create the culture in our school, especially in small and rural settings. Our concerts, plays, musicals, and entertainment at sporting events (pep band and halftime shows) are part of what makes the culture of a school and community thrive. We must protect that culture now, even though many of those performance aspects of what has defined our programs aren’t feasible right now. We will come out of this crisis we are in and we will want to get back to large ensemble rehearsals and performances. In the meantime we must do everything we can to enable our students to continue to learn and become the best musicians they can. If we don’t, it will take years to rebuild our programs when “a new normal” is here. We need to stop thinking how to make large ensemble rehearsals and performances work and do what our students need. We must reach out to them as individual student musicians and give them what they need: a music education that keeps them (and you) safe and learning. Yes, it will be hard, and it will be time consuming, and it will be different, but we must do it. The future of music education depends on it.  

Without change there is no innovation, creativity, or incentive for improvement.

Those who initiate change will have a better opportunity to

manage the change that is inevitable.

-William Pollard