Follow and Facilitate

Abstract

The educational practices of the municipality of Reggio Emilia, Italy, are celebrated as among the best in the world. Inspired by this educational system, schools across America have adapted the Reggio Emilia approach. Yet, music educators may be unaware of its principles as the approach is not often discussed in music education literature. The purpose of this article is to describe the major tenets of the Reggio Emilia approach and to suggest how its principles might be incorporated into American music classroom contexts. Suggestions include creating a constructivist classroom, documenting student learning, and using the physical classroom environment to entice musicking.

Keywords

constructivism early childhood elementary general music music education Reggio Emilia approach

Reggio Emilia, a prosperous town located in the heart of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy, is home to one of the most celebrated early childhood education systems in the world (Edwards, Gandini, & Forman, 2011; Gardner, 2008; Kantrowitz & Wingert, 1991). The practices of the high-quality, city-run infant-toddler centers and preschools first caught the attention of the world in 1991 when Newsweek (Kantrowitz & Wingert) declared the school system one of the best in the world. Since that time, educators have visited and studied the schools, taking inspiration from their innovative practices and bringing home the Reggio Emilia approach (REA) in a way that suits specific community contexts. American early childhood educators are some of the strongest REA enthusiasts; the number of Reggio-inspired schools, study groups, and travel groups in North America has steadily grown over the past 25 years (see the North American Reggio Emilia Alliance website: www.reggioalliance.org/index.php). What is it about these schools that draw such attention and what might music educators learn from the approach?

The purpose of this article is to describe the major tenets of the REA and to suggest how its principles might be incorporated into American music classroom contexts. My discussion is informed by the small body of music-related REA literature (i.e., Andress, 1998; Crisp & Caldwell, 2007; Matthews, 2000; O’Hagin, 2007; Salmon, 2010; Smith, 2011; Vuckovic & Nyland, 2007; Wiens, 2009) and my own research (i.e., Bond, 2012).

What Is the Reggio Emilia Approach?

Before proceeding with a discussion of the REA, several terms must be clarified. Those in the Reggio-inspired community are purposeful in their use of the words approach and Reggio-inspired. Just as Orff educators often prefer process over method, approach is used to signal that a codified progression of steps or formalized curriculum does not exist in the Reggio way. As Loris Malaguzzi, founding teacher of the schools, stated, “It is important for pedagogy not to be the prisoner of too much certainty, but instead to be aware of both the relativity of its power and the difficulties of translating its ideals into practice” (quoted in Gandini, 2011b, p. 37). Several philosophical foundations guide the REA, yet those philosophies are interpreted differently to meet the needs of specific contexts and particular populations of children. The only true Reggio schools are those in Reggio Emilia, Italy; all others are deemed Reggio inspired to reflect their adaption, not wholesale adoption, of Reggio principles.

Role of the Child

In Reggio-inspired classrooms, the child is seen as a capable being. Not only is it believed that children have abilities, but it is also believed that they have the right to develop those abilities (Malaguzzi, 1994) through social interaction, play, and guided inquiry. The REA is grounded in social constructivism; therefore, the teacher is a facilitator of student learning, allowing the child to be the main protagonist in his or her education story. As children explore the carefully-created school environment, they are encouraged to communicate their understandings through symbolic representation (i.e., paint, clay, dance; New, 2007; O’Hagin, 2007) and questions through dialogue with teachers and peers. This symbolic representation is known as the hundred languages (Edwards et al., 2011), and music is often listed as one of the hundred.

Role of the Teacher

Teachers in Reggio-inspired environments are facilitators and partners in the learning process of the child. They believe in a pedagogy of listening (Rinaldi, 2011); their role is to follow student interest and inquiry and to prepare an environment that matches the zone of proximal development (Vygotsky, 1978) of the children they serve. Reggio-inspired teachers are also reflective practitioners, engaging in professional development that extends beyond traditional professional development practices in American schools (Sisson, 2009; Wurm, 2005). As part of a community of learners, these professionals frequently discuss practices with colleagues, meet with parents to consider curricula and plan events, and are given time in their weekly schedule for reflecting on and documenting student work.

Role of the Community

The community completes the triangle of protagonists involved in a child’s education within the municipality of Reggio Emilia, what American educators might call stakeholders. Parents are credited with starting the first school out of the rubble of World War II; their importance in, and engagement with, the schools continues today. Parent participation levels with the schools are extraordinarily high, and they contribute to the school by creating materials; dialoguing with teachers; identifying the children’s interests, and therefore helping develop curricula; and attending workshops/seminars (Wurm, 2005). The municipality of Reggio Emilia at large is invested in the education of the town’s children financially and through collaborative projects. For example, through a special initiative to reuse and recycle materials (REmida), the municipality collects and distributes recycled objects to schools for use in children’s work. The challenge and responsibility of educating the youngest members of their society are shared by all (New, 2007).

Role of the Environment

Reggio educators believe the physical school environment relays messages about the philosophical underpinnings of the educational community. In connection with Reggio philosophies, the belief in the child as a capable being is shown through the variety and accessibility of materials and child-friendly, not childlike, furniture (Gandini, 2011a). Teachers carefully select materials, such as paint, blocks, feathers, or instruments, and display them in a manner that invites interaction and exploration through play. In this way, the environment is seen as the “third teacher” (Gandini, 2011a; Strong-Wilson & Ellis, 2007) in each team-taught classroom, guiding students in their work and inspiring creativity. In addition to individual classrooms, studio spaces, called ateliers, are provided as additional areas for artistic endeavors and small group work. Although each environment is shaped to fit its cultural context, natural light and uncluttered environments are highly favored across Reggio-inspired settings.

Role of Content

The curriculum is emergent in the REA. Broad topics of study might be chosen in advance that reflect teachers’ knowledge of what appeals to young learners (Gandini, 2011b). However, Reggio educators are free to follow the children’s lead. Once an interest has been identified, teachers might introduce specific provocations to stimulate children’s curiosity and dialogue (Strong-Wilson & Ellis, 2007). For example, ice cubes might be placed in an empty water table to encourage discovery about freezing and melting during an investigation of the changing seasons. Teachers facilitate student learning by working alongside children, asking questions about their play, and documenting their responses with written notes, photographs, and occasional video recording. This documentation is often displayed in the hallways and classrooms of the school, serving as evidence of learning and providing a visual memory of children’s prior knowledge that can be referenced in future projects.

How Can We Use Reggio Principles in the General Music Classroom?

At its core, the REA is simply excellent teaching. It is child-centered, flexible, and responsive to student need, qualities that are heralded in music education dialogue today. We can embrace further these Reggio principles in our music classroom contexts to foster child-centered environments that honor innate musicality. Specifically, the tenets that might best be strengthened in general music classrooms are (a) constructivist practices of following the child, questioning, and using enhancing adult behaviors; (b) documentation; (c) the environment as third teacher; and (d) creating a community of learners. Although the REA is targeted toward young children (0- to 8-year-olds), I believe the intent behind these principles can be considered for use with all school-age children. Examples used throughout this article are drawn from my dissertation fieldwork and other interactions with Reggio-inspired schools.

A Constructivist Classroom

At the heart of a constructivist classroom is the belief that children are capable, with innate abilities and prior knowledge. As Chen (2000) stated, “Being a constructivist teacher is learning a way of thinking and behaving rather than the implementation of some new teaching activities” (p. 167). Reggio-inspired teachers demonstrate this way of thinking and behaving by following the child, facilitating discovery through questioning, and using enhancing adult behaviors. In the music classroom, following the child can be accomplished by using open-ended instructional strategies (Berger & Cooper, 2003; Gardner, 2008) and providing opportunities for free musical play (Berger & Cooper, 2003; Marsh & Young, 2006; Moorhead & Pond, 1941/1978) and exploration (Scott, 2010).

Assimilating the Reggio principle of emergent curriculum, early childhood music educators can state intentions for music classes that are flexible and playful in nature. For example, one can state an intention to guide students to tell a story through sound and allow the children to take the lead during the lesson by choosing the story content and instruments used. One can also observe musical play episodes and build from children’s musical interests, curiosities, and creations. Students aged 3 to 13 years find and explore sounds around them; why not use tapping on a desk or squishing Styrofoam bowls as inspiration for a found sound composition? It is said that Reggio teachers do little planning but much reconnaissance (Malaguzzi in Gandini, 2011b); if one heightens their awareness of student interest, engaging learning experiences may emerge.

Language is a cognitive tool (Vygotsky, 1978); therefore, children can express and create their musical understanding through discourse. Music educators can encourage children to think critically about their play, asking them to explain their decision-making process. One can lead young musicians to explore sound sources, critique their compositions, or develop critical listening skills through teacher questioning. Simply by including the question “what does . . . sound like?” in one’s repertoire, an educator can turn a child’s picture into a sound-generating source or a discussion about sound possibilities.

A constructivist teacher can also encourage group dialogue to negotiate a shared understanding of musical happenings in the classroom (Scott, 2006). For example, I watched a lengthy discussion develop after a teacher played an instrument out of view of the students. Children used their prior knowledge of instruments to accurately guess the sound of an egg shaker. Once the discovery was made, a child asked what was making the sound in the egg. Many children offered possibilities, and this conversation inspired the teacher to introduce other “mystery” instruments in future lessons. This sound game might be used by filling opaque containers with a variety of materials. Children may then have to guess what is in the containers and explain their answer to a peer or an adult.

Reggio-inspired educators support their students through adult behaviors that enhance student learning. In agreement with this practice, many music education researchers have addressed the study of adult intervention knowing, as Woodward (2005) stated, “Our human capacity for early musical learning makes issues of adult intervention critical” (p. 262). Berger and Cooper (2003) identified a willingness to follow the child, valuing of all musical utterances, and encouraging the child as key factors in enhancing children’s music play. Marsh and Young (2006) posited that educators support children’s musical play when they show interest in and provide appropriate assistance for their musicking (Small, 1998). Although these studies were completed in early childhood environments, the implications might be transferred to school-age music classrooms in which teachers can provide scaffolding and praise for student work.

Documentation

Reggio educators use documentation to make children’s learning visible to parents, the community, and the children themselves. Documentation, therefore, serves as an assessment tool and a stimulus for further learning. Music educators can adapt this practice by gathering video and audio documentation of student musicking, transcribing children’s musical efforts, sharing children’s dialogue about their music-making process, and using the audiovisual documentation to further discussions about creation and critique of music. By creating this outlet for student reflection on their work and newly constructed understanding, music educators can develop students’ critical thinking skills. Documentation can also be used as an advocacy tool in that it makes the musical learning process visible. Support of the music classroom might increase when the community understands the nature of children’s musical capabilities and learning. This information can also inform musical parenting and provide an outlet for encouraging making music in the home.

Environment

The environment is the third teacher in Reggio classrooms. Although as music educators we rarely have the advantage of a coteaching colleague, the environment can become our second teacher. By making conscious choices about which musical materials to provide and how to present them to children, we can give our students agency in the music room. As Young (2003) stated,

If young children’s musick-making [sic] is conceived as arising from the child’s own proclivities and acquired experiences in interaction with the possibilities offered in well-equipped music play environments, then it focuses attention on the play potential of instruments and how they are set up. (p. 56)

Children are innately musical. We can provide the tools and inspiration to allow them to explore their musicality. In the early childhood classroom, these tools may be various instruments from around the world, found sounds, and manipulatives that inspire spontaneous vocalizations (Young, 2002). In school-age classrooms, children’s musical interests might be stimulated with access to music-listening equipment, music sequencing or notation software, or iPads loaded with the GarageBand® application.

Community of Learners

Reggio-inspired schools highly value teacher reflection. These schools create learning communities through weekly, or even daily, conversation and collaboration among staff members. Teachers are encouraged to let their dialogue and reflections guide their teaching practices and to view their colleagues as coresearchers and colearners. Although this large amount of time for teacher reflection may not be practical in the structure of many American education settings, it is something to strive for and may be recreated with modifications. An institution can establish time for collaborative conversations (Gruenhagen, 2007) in small groups that allow all educators, including arts educators, to gather and share concerns, information, stories, and successes. Using the collective knowledge of this potential learning community, the staff will be better able to assess student learning as it is demonstrated through all possible languages and to plan provocations or create documentation accordingly. When this is not practical because of physical space or time, forums for discourse can be provided through technological means, such as blogs, Google Drive™, and mind-mapping software. As with all things Reggio, the adaption of learning communities must suit a particular context; communities must shape their engagement with each other in a way that meets their needs.

Conclusion

The REA has captured the interests of early childhood educators around the world. The philosophical underpinnings of the REA are adapted to allow for contextual differences across Reggio-inspired schools. These tenets can also be adapted in a general music classroom. There is a goodness of fit between the REA and many current trends or best practices in our field today, including using constructivism, using emergent curriculum, facilitating through questioning, using enhancing adult behaviors, making learning visible through documentation, considering the physical classroom environment’s effect on learning, and building a community of learners among practitioners. We, as music educators, can take advantage of this potentially synergistic relationship and draw inspiration from REA practices in order to guide our students to develop their innate musicality. As Malaguzzi said, “The wider the range of possibilities we offer children, the more intense will be their motivations and the richer their experiences” (quoted in Gandini, 2011b, p. 54); let Reggio practices enrich student musicking in your classroom.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Author Biography

Vanessa L. Bond is an assistant professor of music education at The Hartt School, University of Hartford, where she teaches courses in choral music education, world music, music technology, and qualitative research. Her research focuses on the musical lives of young children and facilitating children’s musicking.

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