Education is divisive, from an outsider’s perspective even more so. It never seems to be spoken about in the ‘perfect’ model, rather, one could feel their experience could have been better as a learner or how you were taught. From these experiences, it would seem we develop a belief system related to why we did or didn’t achieve and from a teacher’s perspective, use these systems to plan for the next generation’s educational experience.
A select group of belief systems or myths was covered by Daisy Christodoulou’s book, Seven Myths About Education. in which she tackles issues surrounding modern classroom teaching. Christodoulou does a good job of laying out how educators can misdiagnose young learners’ education and whilst her research findings on twenty-first-century learning and passivity in teacher-led instruction was spot on there were a few myths that jarred with me as a music teacher.
Christodoulou argues against using projects and activities for students learning along with how teaching transferable skills are useless, whilst her arguments might hold true for certain subjects and the Ofsted obsessed I feel as a musician that does not sit well with me. Music is not a linear, solely academic subject and there is no singular learning outcome for students learning. Music can be measured by what one creates through instrumental and musical study, drawing upon the collaboration of others and self-reflection. I disagree with Christodoulou’s research because projects and activities ARE the best way for a musician to develop and her other point about not teaching transferable skills, well, from early AD us musicians still use a variation of Guido of Arezzo’s notation format. still borrow heavily from Bach’s functional harmony template and the same three power chords as shown by The Ramones.
The book did inspire me to think about myths to do with learning music and along with the help of Peter Elliot, founder of Guitar Teacher Bushey, we devised our own list. To avoid Diane’s lawyers from circling my copyright infringement caucus lets just call this one:
An unspecified number of myths related to music education
‘Students learn less in a group setting than one-to-one’
For many musicians, the root we take into music is a solitary one, I began with one-to-one lessons for instance. Because of this, I think I missed out on learning important social and musicianship skills on my instrument. Peter has his take on this “I think it (group work) is a better format to start with, its more fun and engaging for younger students, when you look at school generally people don’t start learning from a one-to-one setting”, interestingly he also noted the cheaper lesson costs associated with group lessons compared with one-to-one. Individual music tuition is also valid and the benefits of focused study with a teacher are seen when it comes to GCSE level and beyond where students are at a huge advantage when it comes to understanding course content, compared with those who do not have formal lessons.
‘You do need to learn music theory’
My journey to becoming a professional musician and working with professionals was possible due to my formal education. Before this, I was mainly self-taught when it came to understanding Jazz harmony and composition/arrangement. My ability to communicate efficiently and succinctly, especially when working to a deadline or under high-pressure circumstances was crucial and learning theory certainly improved my technical proficiency and gain access to higher levels of musicianship (I doubt Rite of Spring or Porgy and Bess could have been achieved without the deep understanding of how to organise music in such a complex way).
“Explanation through contextualised jargon” is how Peter sees and adds theory is important to understand certain musical contexts to make other musicians respect and trust you. In her book, Christodoulou also dispelled the myth that acquiring facts hinder learning but should be added to our internal database to better understand the world, I feel the same is true for learning theory as those ‘facts’ give musicians a broader musical database to draw upon.
‘You don’t need to learn music theory’
“It’s about feel and tone, do you need to be able to read and write a language in order to speak it? As long as you have good ears and a sense of the style (you’ll be ok)” A valid argument against the former I feel and one where this can be backed up by the hundred’s of musicians who have made an impact in the music industry. During another life myself and Peter mused over this myth many times and worked out the more theory/harmony you add to your technique doesn’t necessarily equate to better gigs. It could be more important to consider the financial contribution you add to a gig via bringing in an audience, or your interpersonal skills, showing up on time, not picking your nose on the bandstand etc. Peter added that if you’re a theory-based player your more likely not to connect with the average audience, more leaning towards aficionados and muso’s but “if your more lyrical (melodic, less fancy and dexterous) it is much more palatable to the typical listener”
From my experience, learning about theory can destroy the love of music and ruin the very essence of what you want to achieve because you feel perhaps ego-bound to add in ‘hip’ phrases. We both agreed that some of the most influential musicians have not the faintest idea of music theory, I hear of a story where somebody tried teaching Ornette Coleman this and ended up in a panic, running out of the classroom! We musicians can overthink at times and not allow music to come from the heart, or as Peter ended this, not allowing a “direct connection with what one feels and what the audience feels”
‘You need to be versatile in order to prosper as a musician’
This was a split one, I believe by focusing on a few areas you can achieve more but Peter believes you need to learn everything well to achieve, “People have bespoke YouTube channels, the creative vision is becoming more and more personal” says Peter. Artists such as Louis Cole, Jacob Collier and Stevie Wonder have showcased what versatile musicians can achieve creatively and financially. The current trend with social media musicians is of multi-instrumentalism, it has become more popular today for musicians to be seen as dexterous, even so far as producing and marketing product. Peter believes ‘you have a more cohesive artistic vision’ as a multi-instrumentalist by having an ‘umbrella understanding of everything’. I do feel musicians run the risk of spreading themselves far too thinly because its better to focus on what you will likely excel at than hedging your bets. I view past and present successful musicians excelling in one idiom, Derek Trucks and B.B. King for their guitar playing and even Meg White for her drumming style. I can understand how my thinking could be slightly narrow-minded if a little old fashioned to think this but essentially, I believe musicians/artists are known for one thing though I shall give the final point to Peter, “by learning other disciplines like composition, arrangement and production, you can create a unique cocktail of skills. Whilst you won’t be the best at anything, you can be the best of that unique cocktail of skills”. Touche.
‘Music technology will be the new way to learn music’
This one comes up allot amongst us and it would be fair to presume music technology will be the dominant medium in how students learn music someday. I have experienced enough to know this should not be the case with the first argument being one cannot guarantee computers/apps/networks to work 100% of the time, even with students suppressing their talent to find ways to break things! (I sense a few nodding)
When technology fails us what are we left with? Instruments and our voice, so we must not completely discard traditional means, merely learn how to incorporate it in how we teach music. I am a huge fan of how music technology makes creating and performing accessible to many as it does not require a huge knowledge of theory or instrumental skill, students will just need to know how to work the app/equipment and have a basic understanding of music. It empowers composers and, multi-instrumentalists to create wonderfully textured and creative pieces of music that would not have been possible otherwise, educating them on how to arrange sounds and tell the differences between a TR-808 and 909. On the flip side, by not having a solid musical foundation to use I have seen students really struggle with using DAW’s where during my NQT school some of my year 10’s hit a creative wall and felt a bit of imposter syndrome as they felt they had no control or understanding of what they were creating, coming from schools where music was, coincidently, cut from the KS3 curriculum…
We are moving towards dependence of technology to teach us and if the figures are to be believed, students aged between five and sixteen years old spend on average six and a half hours a day in front of a screen (Source: BBC) so it might be wise for music educators to go with this and embrace technology, just keep a few Ukulele’s or keyboards around just in case Cubase crashes eh?
Special thanks for Peter’s contribution to this blog, a fantastic guitarist and owner of a great music school. Go check him out at by clicking on the link below:
https://www.guitarteacherbushey.co.uk/
Refrences:
BBC Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-32067158
Mike Wright Music Education 