MUSIC 23241: MUSIC TEACHING AS A PROFESSION
Mr. Marcus L. Neiman, Assistant Professor
Kent State University School of Music
Fall, 2011
CRN: 200910 – Section number: 001 – Class Days: TR 7:45a – 8:35 am - Classroom: SOM E202
Office: Band Office - 330.672.2965 - Telephone: 330.672.2965 (Kent Campus) - E-mail: mneiman@kent.edu
Office Hours: TR 9:00 – 9:55 am (Additional hours available by appointment)
BlackBoard and Text Readings
Submitted by: Ryan Critchfield
Submitted for: Mr. Marcus L. Neiman, lecturer
Date: (due date available in Bb)
Musician and teacher, Pages 165-186.
Summary of the Article: This article deals mostly with the evolution of the music programs that we have today. She quotes an article from E.B. Birge, who she suggests that seventy years later is still preaches the most important parts of music education. She brings up the fact that most teachers need to teach beyond their area of expertise, like also teaching a concert band or orchestra on top of the choir. Despite what may be the teachers “favorite” ensemble, if you are going to be teaching both of them, you must show equal dedication to all of the ensembles and push each one to their potentials.
She makes the contrasts between content and structure of school music programs, citing that “the content is largely consistant, while the structure can vary widely” (pg. 168). While any student can discover and sometimes develop a talent for singing by themselves, it is up to a music program to introduce and develop an instrumentalist, unless the parents of the student have introduced him or her to the idea. The chapter includes a graph that can be used as a guide to develop a music program from the younger years all the way through high school. She also introduces the idea that programs that only take students into music when they are very young are only going to shrink.
Personal statements: I enjoyed this article because it provoked a thought that every music teacher faces at the beginning: Am I going to be teaching where I want to teach? Most students come out of the university expecting great things and that they will be able to find a job where they only direct a band, or conduct an orchestra, or teach music theory. More times than not from what I have heard, that is not the case. Often you not only teach two ensembles that are not your area of expertise, but you cannot even teach in your area. I also liked how she dissected an example program from the bottom up, walking through what to expect at each level. Finally, she goes into great detail about a few of the ensembles and what you can expect to see at a typical school. This is good insight since, as previously stated, a music teacher can be expected, and should be expected, to teach something out of their area, and teach it well.
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