Abstract
Congratulations to MEJ Academic Editor Patrick K. Freer and Editor Ella Wilcox for assembling a stunning Special Focus issue on Military and Music Education. I want to communicate what I learned from each of these interesting articles:
Bruce P. Gleason—I appreciated your historical reminders of the early use of the trumpet in the military—an acoustic signaling system used centuries before the World War II development of the handheld transceiver that, when I was a child in the 1970s, I called a walkie-talkie. I was also fascinated to read your history of mounted military bands throughout the world as well as the experiences of the combined Allied Forces performance on the fall of the Berlin Wall in the late 1980s. Thank you for sharing.
Patrick M. Jones—your past and current history on the Armed Forces School of Music was a fascinating look at military music education, and I appreciated learning how the military has evolved their instrumental offerings to serve the public’s appetite for popular music, which is likely more forward-thinking than many public secondary school music programs. In this regard, I believe the military is leading the way.
Jeananne Nichols and Gregory Drane—the inclusion of your articles was significant to me; I am so pleased the editors were mindful of including voices that historically there is little written—about women and African Americans.
David Hebert—your article about militarism as a strong influence on the curriculum of school music was an important reminder for us all to be more mindful and critical of the seemingly covert powers that can affect the quality education of our students, such as your comment on modeling in the classroom, where the teacher is the officer and the students are the troops following orders. To foster creativity, agency, and learning, we must all be mindful of classroom structures that would foster or hinder student learning.
Last, thank you for including the two articles about strategies in teaching instrumental music in the schools. Chad West—your article about instructional techniques articulated strategies I will use with my preservice teachers next fall. Thank you for sharing your “Top 5” with the profession.
Associate professor of music education,
Arizona State University,
Tempe, Arizona;
I appreciated the March MEJ focus on the military’s relationship with music education. I teach instrumental music at two public schools in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. One of my schools (Pershing Hill Elementary) is located on Fort Meade, a sprawling army base and home to the U.S. Army Field Band. Practically all of the 600-plus students at Pershing Hill are children of active-duty members of the armed forces.
Teaching in a public school on an army base offers some unique challenges. Many of our families are transferred during the school year—it is not uncommon for me to say good-bye to key members of my band and string ensembles a few short weeks before a performance. On the other hand, students frequently arrive at Pershing Hill midyear, transferring in from Texas, Virginia, Kansas, California, and anywhere else that the U.S. Army has a presence. Obviously, the state of music education varies across the country, so getting everyone up to speed and on the same page can be tough. Families who are new to the area often need help finding instruments; I spend a lot of time helping parents locate local music stores and typically lend out around 15 to 20 school-owned instruments every year.
The transient nature of our school population is especially difficult for our local middle and high school music programs. Planning in advance for things like marching band shows and travel to festivals can be tricky when you don’t know how many students will be enrolled in your program over the next six months.
When I first arrived at Pershing Hill during the height of our military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan, many of our students had a parent deployed to one of the most dangerous places in the world. That is a type of stress that I cannot even imagine for a nine-year-old kid. Providing a supportive and healthy learning environment is especially important for me and my colleagues.
I have enjoyed working with these children and families. Many of my students have parents who play instruments (as illustrated in the MEJ articles this month, the military has fostered a strong band culture), which helps my program considerably. I am always impressed at how much progress my students make amid such challenging circumstances.
Thanks again for this Special Focus.
National Board Certified Teacher,
instrumental music,
Brock Bridge Elementary and
Pershing Hill Elementary,
Anne Arundel County [Maryland] Public Schools;
A Local Perspective . . .
I would like to voice my dissent concerning the March 2015 Music Educators Journal’s “Professional Notes” contribution by Paul Lehman, “Reforming Music Education Reform.” While Paul Lehman puts forth some valid points, he also ignores important variables that affect student learning and don’t support his conclusions. For example, he cites the often-used statistic that our students test in the middle of the pack compared to other developed countries. What he doesn’t mention is that many of these countries don’t test all their students.
Belgium, for example, gives tests to its middle school students, and those who don’t test well go on to vocational schools; only the upper percentage of students continue their education like their counterparts in the United States. This is common in many developing countries. You cannot compare the United States, which tests 100 percent of its students, with countries that only test the top 50 percent of their students.
I strongly disagree with Lehman’s statement that there is “no inherent virtue in local control.” Local control is beneficial for schools because the people who make the choices are the people who live in the community, whose children go to those schools, and who understand the problems of that area. In fact, I would argue that big government will often try a “one-size-fits-all” approach that is detrimental to public education because it doesn’t take into account issues and problems that locals would understand and plan for.
Lehman’s argument against tenure ignores the fact that it is a vital protection for teachers, allowing them to advocate for what is right for their students and their programs. If I’m pressured due to concerns about my job security, I could be forced to pick the principal’s child for the solo in a concert, the board member’s daughter to get the lead in a school play, or the local wealthy businessperson’s son to start on the basketball team because I have no job protection. While tenure may have gotten out of control in some areas, it is a valuable piece of job security and often allows a school to keep the excellent teachers Lehman is keen on recruiting. Ending tenure has become a rallying issue for many educational reformers, but it ignores the actual situations we face as educators while placing more pressure on teachers who are dealing with an ever-increasing workload.
Last, I took offense at the idea that we as teachers could be paid by effectiveness. Lehman already agreed that test scores aren’t a valid form of evaluation, but he offers no viable way of deciding who deserves a higher salary. There is no way of instituting this monetary incentive that takes into account demographics of the area, student support from home, the varying talent and abilities of students from class to class, when new classes or a different teaching position has been thrust upon an educator, or the level of experience each teacher has with his or her subject. This can cause resentment between teachers and districts and exacerbate the current divide between achieving and failing schools.
I think that state and national government have a place in setting basic standards and adequately funding public education. I also agree that public education should continually be reformed and improved to better serve our students. However, I believe that this is best done by local communities and educators who are most affected by these changes and who have a vested interest in their schools.
Choir director,
Festus Middle School
Festus, Missouri;
An Important Beginning
There seems to be so much hatred in the world today—especially fomented by religious beliefs and cultural biases. Don’t get me wrong: Religion and the various beliefs of millions of people worldwide are not the topic of this letter, nor is the brutality and banality of prejudice. But the intolerance preached by such religions and such prejudices, as seen through the eyes of a musician, is my concern.
The news of late seems to project the false idea that Muslims hate Christians. Proponents of many religions have little tolerance for those who fail to acknowledge the validity of their beliefs. Racial intolerance rears its ugly head over and over, while warmongers and naysayers seem to populate the news. “Our religion . . . our beliefs . . . our people are the only ones that are true and viable and really matter,” so many say.
How silly!
The human condition is such that we are often searching to answer questions with unknowable consequences, of matters dealing with life, death, and eternity. Frequently, it seems that no empirical evidence can sway those of a fixed mind. But perhaps we, through our music, can begin to offer new and exciting ways of approaching such questions.
In my opinion, music can help bridge the gap between and among disparate opinions of who is right and who is wrong about our central core beliefs. I strongly believe that choral music is especially suited to serve this purpose.
In our own classrooms—our own microcosms—we have students of many different colors, backgrounds, and beliefs. We constantly present music of various faiths, languages, ethnicities, and emphases to these students for study and performance. Haven’t many of our choirs sung Protestant hymns, music of Catholic masses, and folk songs of various countries in languages familiar and foreign to their ears? Of course we have. And what effect has this had on our students?
Knowing the meanings of all music text we perform is not only a teaching tool but also a subtle introduction to the actual cultural origins of such music. To know that values found in these origins are central to all peoples is paramount, that folk elements tend to define one’s heritage and that language is really, ultimately, no barrier at all. All this creates a learning experience in our classrooms that will not only benefit our students in the short term but will stay with them on their life’s journey.
Will singing a song in Hebrew solve the problems in the Middle East? Will learning a text in Arabic or Turkish or Farsi ease tensions in those parts of the world where these languages are common? Will learning African American spirituals negate the long-carried grudges held by so many? Of course not. But by doing these things, we can open a small window for our students—a window of acknowledgement, acquaintance, and acceptance. And through that window, our students may see wonders reflected in other cultures—without hate or distrust or lack of empathy.
And in the minds and hearts of our students, it’s like planting the seed of a beautiful flower. Who knows where it will bloom?
Professor emeritus,
Director of choral studies,
University of Arkansas at Little Rock;
Large and Small Ensembles Needed
As a public school teacher entering my fifteenth year in the classroom, I feel compelled to respond to the letters surrounding Mark Fonder’s support of large ensembles in schools. My district has a nationally recognized music program, but at the end of the day, it comes to the number of students enrolled in our large ensembles. To protect our programs and our jobs, we all do everything we can to ensure that our numbers are high in these groups.
While the ensembles are the lifeblood of our programs, we continue to provide numerous opportunities for students to expand their musical horizons. My middle school orchestras perform music in a variety of styles. Students learn fiddle tunes by ear, improvise jazz, and write their own music. I have a special group that performs rock, jazz, and pop music. The children in my groups have conducted and run sections of rehearsals. I take their ideas and choices into account as we plan our repertoire and concerts.
As a veteran teacher in the field, I agree wholeheartedly with Fonder that any additional opportunities should not be at the expense of our ensembles. The continued success, viability, and support of our public school music programs depend on it.
Middle school orchestra teacher,
Baldwinsville Central School District,
Baldwinsville, New York;
We Welcome Your Opinion . . .
Music Educators Journal often prints comments from our subscribers in the Readers Comment section. Share your opinion with MEJ Academic Editor Patrick K. Freer by writing him at
Erratum
Both the U.S. Postal Service and MEJ misattributed the following quote, they to Maya Angelou and we to “Chinese proverb.” The quote and correct author are
