Foundational listening

In 1899 William McNaught identified three mental faculties that all methods of teaching listening assumed children to possess.

1. the observation of what is heard at any given moment
2. the recollection of what has previously been heard
3. the comparison of what we hear now with what we have recently heard [1]

We would perhaps want to add

• the prediction of what is to come

McNaught was writing about the teaching of listening and the methods by which children are taught to listen. [2]

Might it be a good thing to teach children that they possess the potential to

1. observe what is heard at any given moment
2. recollect what has previously been heard
3. compare what they hear now with what has recently been heard
4. predict what is to come? [3]

This would require some deliberate teaching about how to think in sound.

Powerful knowledge and valuable know how for those acquiring it, an example of meta-cognition. [4]

Pupils would of course learn to do this anyway in their own time and without being taught.

Deliberate teaching implies formal learning with the intention of empowering the pupil and overcoming the unpredictability of ‘own time’ learning.

McNaught’s bigger picture was the teaching of sight-singing.

If you can sight-sing you really can claim to be able to read music.

I have often wondered what is meant when we talk about reading music. What is actually meant? Clearly it is more than cracking a code-decoding symbols.

Sadly, there is no shortage of poorly conceived approaches used to teach children to read music in 2020, and perhaps rather more than there were in 1899.

Notes:

[1] McNaught, W. G. (1899-2000) ‘The Psychology of Sight-Singing’, Proceedings of the Musical Association 26, 33-35 cited in G. Cox (1993) A History of Music Education in England 1872-1928, Scolar Press: Aldershot.

[2] This was before the gramophone and the music appreciation movement. The idea of listening was embedded in the act of making music – singing and playing.

[3] In Lucy Green’s theory of musical meaning ‘inherent’ musical meaning works in the same way. For a thorough discussion of the significance of inherent meaning see Green, L. (2005) Meaning, autonomy and authenticity in the music classroom, (pp. 3-19) Professorial Lecture. Institute of Education: London.

[4] Furthermore, this might lead to think of listening as being a foundational element of a curriculum rather than a part of the listening, composing, performing trinity.

And all shall be musicians

John Blacking’s 1973 publication ‘How Musical is Man’ proved to be a catalyst for rethinking the role of music in society and culture, and of society and culture in music. [1]

Blacking had spent three years living with the Venda people of Southern Africa. We learnt that in Venda society all take part in music-making and even those who are deaf dance.

How musical is man? Who is musical? Who is the musician?

Blacking’s publication coincided with fresh drives to democratise our own musical culture. Wilfred Mellers, John Paynter, Christopher Small called for all to be thought of as artists, for all were endowed with creative capacities. To be as an artist was a part of who they were.

But while music education’s attempts to ensure that all were artists and musicians, the many still seemed to be experiencing something falling short of this ambition.

By the cusp of new century there had emerged a crisis of confidence followed by a renewed attempt to democratise music education and yes, again, the call for all to be musicians.

There was talk of cultural democracy and facilitation, of musical identities and musical engagement, of informality in place of formality, every child a musical instrument, and now the goal that lessons will be musical and that, yes, all will become musicians.

A while ago I gave four essay titles to undergraduate music students as part of their ‘Music and Musicology Now’ paper.

Select one

1. ‘We teach music in school primarily because we want children – all children – to grow as musicians.’ (Janet Mills)

Discuss the above statement in the light of competing claims on the music education of the young.

2. To what extent do Philpott’s ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ justifications contribute to finding purpose for music education?
3. The extra-musical benefits of a music education currently expressed as ‘the power of music’ serve to undermine the legitimacy of music as a subject of the school curriculum. Discuss.
4. From a historical perspective, what might be the defining characteristics of ‘a long overdue renaissance’ in music education in Britain?

Readings:

Cox, G. (2010) Britain: Towards ‘a long overdue renaissance’? In (Eds) Gordon Cox and Robin Stevens, The Foundations of Music Education. Continuum. (pp. 15-28)

Philpott, C. (2013) The justification for music in the curriculum. In (Eds) Chris Philpott and Gary Spruce, Debates in Music Teaching. Routledge. (pp. 48-63).

Hallam, S. (2015) Executive Summary in The Power of Music. International Music Education Research Centre. (pp. 9-19).

The most popular questions were 2. and 3.

In discussing the question raised by Janet Mills students noted that:

1. Musical identity is self-assigned
2. A musician implies advanced performance capability

The implication of 1. is that identifying as a musician is a decision made with reference to others who are like or different to me and that this is culturally dependant.

But it was pointed out that to ‘grow as musicians’ didn’t necessarily imply ‘becoming musicians’ in the sense of 2. above.

There was general consensus that ‘to grow as a musician’ was necessary but not sufficient and overall represented a weaker music educational justification.

There was much more sympathy with Chris Philpott’s ‘hard’ justification presenting music as a remarkably virile source of meaning making. And this argument went a good way to music being thought of as academic in that the critical pedagogy implied involved a disruptive form of ‘thinking’.

In our discussions I was introduced to a new concept.

‘Epiphenomena’.

Which basically means ‘by product’. And that’s how most viewed ‘the power of music’ argument. While recognising that engagement in music from an early age provides for a wide range of benefits, these should be seen as ‘by products’ of a good music education – valuable, and extremely so in certain circumstances, yet not sufficient.

Students were fascinated by the work of 19^th century music educators and their devotion to aural development through singing. (I couldn’t resist telling them about John Curwen’s visit to Sarah Glover’s schoolroom and how Julie Andrews got her tonic solfa completely wrong.)

They observed too how legislators had continually expected pay back from a music education. 19^th century moral rectitude and 21^st century resilience and British values.

I did conclude that it would be good if these students were to read John Blacking’s ‘How musical is man?’ And Tia De Nora’s ‘Music in everyday life’. They were up for it.

‘All shall be musicians’ is a laudable aim but it is problematic.

And the line: ‘some will become musicians and oteres music lovers’ misses the point of a general education.

How about ‘knowing how to make music well’?

Note:

[1] Blacking, J. (1973) How musical is man? University of Washington Press.