Authenticity in COVID-19 — Part 2

• Arturo Treviño Jr.
• Posted 4/22/21
• 0 comments

“It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine…”  

Or, maybe not.  

A year ago, I walked away from my music room and have not been back like many of you.  Instead, I have re-evaluated how to create an “authentic” ensemble experience for my students while being separated by a screen.  Ensemble, by its very definition, is a group of musicians who perform together.    

Thanks to the current protocols – together is not an option.  So, how do we recreate together, apart?  We evaluate our practices, our approaches to music curriculum and reassess what defines an “authentic” music experience for our students—looking to research rather than social media for best practices. 

Content 

Do teach musical content from outside the culture the students know. P. Dunbar-Hall (2005) articulates how educators need to shift our perception from teaching a Mexican folk song because it’s Cinco de Mayo but focus on a cultural studies lens.  

Why celebrate music in our schools for one month? We should celebrate music in our schools every month, and every day. Dunbar-Hall questions how we approach music curriculum in terms of the technique work and how culturally relevant it is to our students.  

Dunbar-Hall mentioned that while Aboriginal music is an umbrella term, many individuals have their separate nations. Applying traditional Aboriginal music as a teaching source is the norm in Australia, where this study was conducted. The author keeps the role of educators as advocates; music becomes a political tool.  

She asked for music education to shift to cultural studies. Educators should move beyond a one-week lesson employed because of a holiday or work obligation. We all have had these work obligations, like Red Ribbon Week, Dr. Seuss Week; need I say more?  

This recommendation expanded on cultural embedding to assist in why the music is made and asks for it to be taught from the informant’s eyes in that culture — leading a song through the western perspective strips the song’s value.  

Students can adopt an ethnomusicological approach to all music. So, going back to that experience on Jabu Na Simba. My students started taking ownership, and they started asking each other questions on serialization, articulation of the melody, dynamics, layering timbre, among other things.  

Online Adaptation 

What does this ownership look like today in terms of distance learning? First, providing students the opportunity to lead; allow them to arrange who plays what, layer in ostinato using home instruments like homemade shakers, drums, and an assortment of irregular, unconventional instruments.  

Divergent thinking is beneficial. Looking back at that rehearsal, even with a taped-up shekere, my students were blurring this line of “authenticity.” Here, all I saw in this classroom were beaming smiles from ear to ear with inspiration and enthusiasm unlike any other. They were creating. 

Let them create

L. Green’s findings hit home. Green observed high school students’ effort in informal popular music, like garage bands, into the classroom. The solitary learners listened, played, and repeated to correct, resulting in peer-based learning, the garage band by a group (pp.27–28).  

This study took place at a London school for six weeks which later extended into a pilot study for one term in three schools in West London (p.28). Green utilizes ethnography through pupil and teacher interviews, video recordings, surveys, and field notes (p.28). Like that of a control and experiment group, Green exposed the same students to two experiences.  

The first dealt with informal learning, where students brought their favorite CD and attempted to learn their favorite song using classroom instruments. Teachers walked and only intervened when needed.  

The second event was where Green demonstrated typical riffs and taught students how to cycle these musical elements to compose their track. Students were swapping riffs and enjoyed the same process of discovering music. This process forced the students to listen intently and make music based on active listening. The prior knowledge of the student took learning and engagement to a different level. Green stated that there is more to be found for further research. 

What is of interest in this article is the fact that students first started immersing themselves. The teacher’s role was to facilitate. Supply the instruments and let the students take charge.  

Application 

Could we utilize found sounds at home or even virtual instruments from other apps in this new environment? When students don’t have access to an instrument from that given culture, one could find an alternative instrument in their home environment.  

Providing support for blurring or providing a fuzzy definition of authenticity is vital through this pandemic. So, we could also do what Green says in the second attempt of teaching our students these components and keep them accountable. I am aware that other applications could benefit the students in providing an arrangement. 

Know the ins and outs of the device you and your students use. This last year, I have had to be the second tech person at my campus. Knowing the device’s limits allows you to tap the fullest potential of the device in use.  

Relevance in the classroom

Teaching in today’s classroom is challenging. My role as an educator double as a political advocate where we draw lines and provide change for future generations. So, in providing authentic experiences, we must look to the informants and their instrumentation.  

I can’t say informants; I prefer the term co-authors since we share that writing experience. L. H. Koops (2014) advises that what remains in really looking through authenticity is the relevance of what we are trying to teach and what experiences we want to give our students.  

This philosophical study examined how educators apply world music through the lens of authenticity. Koops asked if changing the music stripped its essence and what that meant for indigenous performers.  

Koops expanded the definition of authenticity in terms of four models: “the continuum model, the twofold historical/personal model; the threefold reproduction, reality, and relevance model, and the moving-beyond-authenticity model.” (p.24). Koops expanded on the consequences of peering through each model using indigenous instruments, musical integrity of the others, and relevance in the classroom. 

Conclusion 

What lies at the core of this topic is the human experience. I want my students to walk in my classroom with iPads, Chromebooks in hand, and disconnected from other subjects. I realize I need to peddle back, too, because as much as I wish they would complete my Seesaw assignments, it won’t happen.  

What does the authentic experience look like at the moment? When I see the smiles of the few cameras that stay on and those beaming faces. In the corner of their eyes, you can see little wrinkles; I know they are smiling. The student laughs and makes a remark that tells me, even when no administrator is present, and right when you want a walkthrough to get fours and fives on your T-TESS walkthrough, learning is happening.  

So, I yield to you, my fellow reader, a choice to blur these precise lines in creating music for the joy, until one day, we can all have our ensembles back in person. Until then, stay safe, relax and ground yourself. Help produce some unique phenomenon in that digital space and your sanctuary of a classroom. 

References 

• Dunbar-Hall, P. (2005). Colliding perspectives? Music curriculum as cultural studies.  Music Educators Journal, 91(4), 33-37. https://doi-org.ezhost.utrgv.edu/10.2307/3400156 
• Green, L. (2005). The music curriculum as lived experience: children’s “natural” music-learning processes. Music Educators Journal, 91(4). P. 27-32. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/3400155 
• Koops, L. H. (2010). “Can’t we just change the words?” The role of authenticity in culturally informed music education. Music Educators Journal, 97(1), 23-28.  
• Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40960174. 
• Morrison S. J., Demorest S.M., Campbell P.S., Bartolome S.J., Roberts J. C. (2013). Effect of intensive instruction on elementary students’ memory for culturally unfamiliar music. Journal of Research in Music Education, 60(4). 363-374. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/419995554