Danielle Di Pietrantonio

Dr. Cathy Benedict

1800A
November 13, 2016
Guest Reflection: Dr. James Karas
Personal Background:
-

American, music teacher who has experience teaching all grades (except
kindergarten)
Was teaching high school music at the age of 22
Has surrounded himself with mentors throughout his career (Edwin Gordon)

Big Ideas from his lecture:

-

Students are truly familiar with a concept when they are able to sing it solo
Warm-ups should play into a larger idea
In Dr. Karas classroom, he sometimes does a week of focusing on tonal
activities followed by a week of rhythm focus.
spiral curriculum major then minor
Thank students for their effort, rather than their talent. This encourages them
to take risks.
Socioeconomic background correlates with how much praise students are
likely to receive at home
Hands-on learning first, theory introduced as necessary
At his concerts, at least one piece is creative either a composition or
arrangement by a student
Macrobeats and microbeats (metre is what you feel, time signature is what
you see)
Kinesthetic memory (skiing vs. tapping your toes)
The best counting system is whatever the teacher is most comfortable with.

Some Questions I Still Have:

-

Dr. Karas told us that the music education system hasnt really changed its
structure much since post-WWII. He seemed to think that this was a good
thing, which struck me as odd. Maybe Im biased because of everything
weve been discussing about progressive education, but isnt education
something that shouldnt become stagnant?
He said something about creating a judgment-free learning environment with
grace. Im not sure what this means or how to accomplish it, and I wish he
had clarified that!
He said there were two kinds of learning. One was discrimination learning,
but he never told us what the second kind was!