Jason Cebulski

Dr. Talbot
MUS_149
Assignment 8 - Final Presentation
Music Education: Through the Ages
Essential Question: What models have been used in music education in the past, present, and into

the future?

Thesis: In accordance with the four texts read throughout Social Foundations of Music

Education, music education has evolved from a religious origin to the home of the banking

method and the totalitarian teacher to the inquiry method encouraging questioning and discovery

and the compassionate teacher.

In To Teach: the journey, in comics, William Ayers, a retired Professor of Education and Senior

University Scholar at the University of Illinois, contrasts the way classrooms are currently

organized across the nation with the way that they should be arranged. By writing in a comic

book style, Bill Ayers’ message of compassion, flexibility, and creativity is conveyed through a

story following a kindergarten class and teacher as they navigate through constraining

curriculum posed by rigid administrators.

In Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Paulo Freire, a Brazilian philosopher and educator, discussed the

inconsistencies and plights of society and how various methods of education, such as the banking

method, add to the problems of society. Also discussed is how the dynamic between teacher and

student create an environment that is posed against learning.

In Compassionate Music Teaching: A Framework for Motivation and Engagement in the 21st

Century, Karin Hendricks, an Assistant Professor of Music Education at Boston University,

discusses the six qualities that make up a compassionate music teacher. By using five “CMTs” as

live examples that exemplify compassion, Karin Hendricks brings the lofty ideal of a teacher

showing all six qualities into a more realistic plane. Combined, trust, empathy, patience,

inclusion, community and authentic connection create an ideal classroom dynamic for exploring

and creating music.

In Teaching as a Subversive Activity, Neil Postman, an American educator and cultural critic,

points out the flaws in current, outdated teaching methods that focus more on the memorization

and recitation of facts than practical life skills that will help students live a successful life.

Continuing, a proposal is made to replace the current curriculum with a set of ideals that loosen

the strings on teachers and classrooms, leading to a more flexible, creative learning environment

centered on discovery.
Script

Just because I am here, talking to you about music education, doesn’t mean
that I am a professional on the subject. Just because I have control of what is
on the screen behind me doesn’t mean I have all the answers of what music
education has looked like in the past, present, and how it may look in the
future.
For that reason, I have compiled information on the subject from the works of
multiple individuals that, as a collective, have spent over 100 years in search
for an answer to such a question amongst others. These works include
[change slide] To Teach: the journey, in comics by William Ayers,
Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire, Compassionate Music
Teaching: A Framework for Motivation and Engagement in the 21st Century
by Karin Hendricks, and Teaching as a Subversive Activity by Neil Postman
and Charles Weingartner.
In breaking down the question of what music education has looked like, lets
first look at the past. [change slide]
Urrr, no, wrong past. [change slide] Ah, there we go.
In colonial American, music itself was prevalent in the classroom usually in
the form of singing hymns; however, it wasn’t until 1717 when the first
“singing school” was established. This parochial school’s focus was to help
students develop the ability to read music and sing at religious events.
Following, it wasn’t until 1832, with the founding of the Boston Academy of
Music, that there was a school with the primary focus of teaching music
education to students to prepare them to become teachers of their own.
[change slide]
In the late 19th Century following the Civil War, the increasing number of
students attending schools, along with the rise in popularity of John Philips
Sousa and his compositions for band led to the adoption of bands into the
school system. The point where the majority of common music began to shift
away from the church can be traced back to this era.
With the change of the century, numerous advances in music education were
made. Colleges began offering four-year Bachelor’s degrees in music
education - the first of which was the Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio. The
National Association for Music Education was established in 1907, following
an earthquake in San Francisco which prevented the annual meeting of the
all-encompassing National Educators Association. The creation of NAfME
gave music educators a national stage to discuss and promote the study of
music.
Steadily, there was an increase in music in public schools – particularly at the
high school level. This led to the creation of marching bands, orchestras, and
other ensembles with a director at the center of the group. Here is where the
majority of teaching methods still being used today were created, along with
the common dynamic found between teachers and students. [change slide]
In the past and still presiding today, there is this idea that the teacher is an
authoritative, all-knowing supreme being ruling the classroom. While my
description and figure may be rather extreme, this notion does exist, creating
the banking method of teaching - which has proven to discourage actual
learning. In the words of Paulo Freire, those that practice this method believe
that their, and I quote, “knowledge is a gift [to be] bestowed upon those
whom they consider to know nothing”, effectively “projecting an image of
absolute ignorance onto others” end quote (Freire, 72). [change slide] This
system of filling one’s brain as if it were a bank account is about as effective
as filling a shot glass with a power washer. The “knowledge”, being forced
upon the student, has little chance of being retained by the student in its
entirety. In some situations, it may even cause students to be overwhelmed
and break. [change slide]
Thankfully, to challenge this notion of teacher dominance in the classroom,
there is the idea of being a compassionate music teacher, encouraging
teachers to embody the values of trust, empathy, patience, inclusion,
community and authentic connection. By practicing compassionate
approaches, author Karin Hendricks argues, quote, “we increase the
possibility that our students, too, will reach out to others with compassion
and understanding” end quote (Hendricks, 12). This extension of compassion
from teacher to student shifts the paradigm, allowing a more relatable,
personal connection between teacher and student to blossom. Through this
connection, the classroom is able to become a community of which learning
and growing is the goal of all. [change slide]
Along with the teacher shifting to a compassionate approach, the students can
be taught through the inquiry method, which is another shift from fact-based
memorization towards the answering of bigger questions brought up by the
group. According to Neil Postman, the inquiry method adjusts the flow of
knowledge from teacher to student towards the class collectively passing
knowledge between one another and the outside world. A sense of discovery
becomes prominent within the classroom, with the teacher taking on the role
as an explorer, guide, and fellow student. [change slide]
The problem with this new method is that it is currently constrained by the
curriculum built to sustain the old methods and the habits of the authoritative
teacher. The curriculum and standards require there to be certain subjects
taught in certain classes and certain questions to be answered and others to be
ignored. A teacher has to teach according to the standards, for they won’t stay
a teacher for long if they don’t. Bill Ayers argues that, quote, “standards are
important. But who decides what the standards are? And can standards ever
be definitively summed up? Since knowledge is infinite, and knowing
intersubjective and multidimensional, anyone who tries to bracket thinking in
any definitive sense is, in essence, killing learning” end quote (Ayers, 74).
In the future, who knows what will be in store for music education. Will the
reign of the all-knowing supreme teacher last? Or will future teachers adopt a
compassionate sense of teaching, build a community upon joint connection
and learning. Will the banking method continue to dispense knowledge to
students, or will the inquiry method take over, encouraging curiosity and
discovery. Will the definitive curriculum continue to constrain learning in the
classroom, or will it evolve into a more flexible entity capable of adjusting to
the ever changing shape that knowledge takes.
This has been Jason Cebulski, and thanks for listening to my talk.
References
Ayers, William. (2010). To teach: The journey, in comics. New York: Teachers College,
Columbia University.
Freire, Paulo. (1993). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing
Inc.
Hendricks, Karin S. (2018). Compassionate music teaching: A framework for motivation
and engagement in the 21st century. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.
Postman, Neil, & Weingartner, Charles. (1969). Teaching as a subversive activity. New
York: Dell Publishing Co.

Gettysburg Honor Code – I affirm that I have upheld the highest principles of honesty and
integrity in my academic work and have not witnessed a violation of the Honor Code – Jason A.
Cebulski