Over the past few decades, a great disconnect has grown between the inclusive nature of the elementary music classroom and the weeding-out process of secondary music education, especially secondary instrumental music. The elementary general music teacher is tasked with engaging all students with a diverse repertoire of songs while building literacy through solfege and rhythm syllables, moving and dancing, creating and learning to sing through and with instruments. However, the secondary music teacher often starts over again with a particular emphasis on notation to promote literacy for secondary music ensembles.
Why It Matters
Elementary music research has ushered in a new era of success in music education. All elementary school students sing a diverse and inclusive repertoire of songs while learning literacy skills that are developmentally appropriate. As students transition into secondary music classrooms and ensembles, this repertoire of songs is often lost while their literacy skills are ignored. Without a meaningful transition, secondary teachers start anew, and only the students who can decipher notation succeed, with many falling away and losing the joy of music making.
Having taught all grade levels and served as a K-12 music department chair in two school districts for twenty-three years, I find tremendous optimism today in the elementary general music classroom. If we carry through a few guiding principles from elementary to secondary music education, we will experience a renaissance in all of music education.
A Story to Demonstrate the Challenge
Let’s take a moment to compare the disconnect in music education to another situation. Imagine assembling the Millennium Falcon with 7,541 pieces, and the project needs to be completed 100 times. The builder carefully assembles each individual lego project using the directions with patience and care. A few years later, the lego builder is partially finished, and the project is handed off to another skilled builder with one big challenge - the directions are not included. The next builder is to complete the project with the remaining pieces but no directions. This unfortunate transition is unintentional, but there is no time or opportunity for the two builders to connect. Fortunately, the second builder is very skilled and works on the lego project with intuition and diligence. At the end of the time allotted, the second builder completes some of the projects, but they only hit 50% success; and everyone around thinks this is remarkable given the challenge, and many even win awards at lego state festivals.
We are currently achieving about 50% success in secondary music when we should be reaching 100% success by ensuring that our pedagogy and practice transition students from elementary to secondary music. Below are four principles for transitioning students from elementary to secondary music classes and ensembles.
1. Build on What Students Know
Elementary school students have a repertoire of over fifty to one hundred songs that they can sing and play with joy. Students sing many of their songs with solfege and rhythm syllables in simple and compound meter. The secondary music teacher is able to use solfege and rhythm syllables as students transition into a more thorough and complex understanding of literacy. Often, the secondary music teacher, having little knowledge of what the elementary music teacher has accomplished, starts over with a literacy-first approach; students become frustrated, as if they are learning a new language rather than building on the language they already speak.
2. Sing and Play a Repertoire of Songs
It is recommended that instrumental ensembles sing and play an expanding repertoire of songs in addition to ensemble literature. Songs inspire people and carry essential themes for generations. Our song collection should include folk tunes from every country, pop and jazz standards, patriotic songs, and melodies that speak to everyone.
In secondary school, the shift is towards literacy so that students can read notation to play and sing in ensembles. But what if we kept singing and playing songs in addition to working on literature? Students could sing and play twenty to thirty songs per year in addition to learning repertoire for concerts. The ability to sing and play songs will last for life.
3. Include All Students
Two groups of students become unintentionally excluded in secondary music classes: those who struggle with notation and those who feel that their culture is not represented. With our literature based on an American sound and repertoire, we unintentionally make our classes and ensembles less inclusive. The selection of songs and literature should be diverse, representing various genres, cultures, and all ethnicities. Inclusivity ensures that every student sees themselves in the songs they sing and play, fostering a sense of belonging and unity.
4. Create Music
We are so busy in our secondary music ensembles that we do not take the time to create music. We save it for the Jazz Band. But all students can create, compose, and improvise if we take the time to nurture these skills. Creating is listed first in the national arts standards (https://www.nationalartsstandards.org/). Creating music allows students to take what they know about music and use it to express themselves. We get so busy teaching so many performance-related skills that we do not take the time to allow students to improvise, create, and process their understanding. Creating music fosters problem-solving and composition skills.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it's imperative for secondary music education to bridge the gap between elementary and secondary levels by adopting some guiding principles that build on students' existing knowledge, include playing and singing songs, prioritize inclusivity, and foster creating music. By doing so, we can ensure a seamless transition for students and revitalize music education at all levels.
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