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: 11/29/11
Music educators journal, Volume 95, Issue 1 Pages 41-47.
Summary of the Article: Freers article deals mainly with how the male voice changes through adolescence and adulthood. It even touches on the discussion if the adolescent male’s changing voice would deter him from singing in the school program. She points out that the male’s voice changes over a long period time, and can continue well through the college years. It also deals with the changing identity of the male adolescent entirely as they go through puberty, and the apparent “lack of masculinity in the choral department” (pg. 42). The main idea is that boys want to do things that boys “always do,” like play on a sports team, and this can in turn lead to young boys singing the “very manly bass voice” in the ensemble as they completely ignore their upper register, even if it may sound better that their lower register.
Personal statements: This article was very interesting because it brought up a realistic scenario that I had never thought of facing, or thinking caused a problem in choirs. As young boys go through changes, they may grow uncomfortable with those changes. They may seek other options from singing and go into “more masculine” activities, whether it is to live up to dad’s expectations, impress the girls at the school, etc. I never really looked at choir or music as being less masculine as football or basketball or other more masculine activities. To me it’s about personal interest. Some kids might rather sing in a choir than throw for the school football team, not because one was manlier than the other, but because that is what we want to do. Unfortunately this may be somewhat sort of impossible from the mentality of people. Some things are just implanted into our culture to mean certain things, and this may be one of those. The best thing to hope for is to just introduce this concept to our young boys as they go through changes, and tell them that they shouldn’t feel any pressure in the choices they make.
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