Abstract
During a recent phone call, a colleague shared frustration regarding the need for music teachers to justify the teaching of music and expressed her resistance to promoting music as a support system to enhance other academic areas. “We don’t teach math so that students can become better at reading. Why, then, would we teach music to help students become better at reading?” This conversation resulted in some “personal ponderings” and ruminations, which sent me to my bookshelves to engage in reading—reading to understand my role as a teacher, my role as a music teacher, and my role as a musician. As is often the case, I looked to writings in “general education” while formulating ideas for this editorial. Although the author’s of most general education books and/or articles rarely—if ever—mention music, many of their guiding principles prove relevant in the music classroom. Effective teaching is the key to success for any content area. The focus of this editorial will not be the justification of music, but rather a focus on the importance of teaching and dynamic lesson delivery for every measure of music in every class.
An emphasis in this issue of General Music Today is promoting lifelong learning in music. How do music educators accomplish this difficult and often daunting task? First, we know our students enjoy music. Few of us continue to seek information on a subject we do not perceive as interesting. How many of you, when “trolling the internet” have found yourself off on a tangent—and several mouse clicks past your intended web page—because of a topic that piqued your interest? I am thinking some of you may be smiling and thinking “oh my yes, I’ve certainly done that.” Second, yet equally important, music educators understand the importance of providing our students with knowledge of music—knowledge which includes the ability to read, write, and think musically.
It remains important to move beyond the enjoyment and entertainment factors if we are to create lifelong musicians. Our expectations for students must be high, yet this is a challenging task and some teachers may settle for mediocrity. As William Shakespeare wrote in Measure for Measure, “Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt” (Act I, Scene 4). Students can reach realistic, attainable goals when provided adequate information and opportunities to be productive and successful. Do not doubt your abilities or hose of your students.
I believe Rafe Esquith’s (2007) book entitled, Teach Like Your Hair’s on Fire: The Methods and Madness Inside Room 56, serves as a model for identifying an effective, inspired teacher. The author also serves as a model for life-long learning, and readily admits that teaching is hard work.
Like all real teachers, I fail constantly. I don’t get enough sleep. I lie awake in the early-morning hours, agonizing over a kid I was unable to reach. Being a teacher can be painful. (Esquith, 2007, p. ix) (Italics in original.)
Esquith recognizes the importance of creating an environment conducive to learning and showing students his dedication to the teaching profession. He shares many stories within the book, one of which relates those moments when teachers can experience the same “getting-in-the-zone” sensation described by athletes. During a science lesson, one of his students was struggling to get her alcohol lamp lit and became very discouraged. He was determined this student would be successful. He noticed the wick on her lamp was cut too short, so he leaned in with a long match to help light it. In his concentration, and exhilaration in getting the lamp to light, he did not realize his hair had caught fire until the girl started screaming. He related this teaching moment as being “in the zone.”
I had been able to ignore the crap that all teachers on the front lines face. I had done everything I could to help someone. I didn’t do it particularly well, but the effort was there. I thought to myself that if I could care so much about teaching that I didn’t even realize my hair was burning, I was moving the right directions. From that moment, I resolved to always teach like my hair was on fire. (Esquith, 2007, p. xii)
Positive, patient responses to questions, enthusiasm for all styles of music, well-prepared lessons, a genuine enjoyment of collaborating with students, surviving the mundane tasks associated with educational institutions—these are things that inspire the students in your classes to continue learning beyond the confines of your classroom. Can you imagine what would happen if all teachers in all subjects “taught like their hair was on fire” every day?