The key to the Whole Musician system is its link to the reason for using our well-trained hearts, minds, ears, and hands; and removing overly specific black and white rules. Many times I have asked students to hold hands with a partner during a dance only to have a student reply, “I thought we had to keep our hands to ourselves!”? It never fails that students remember our rules best when it is not in our favor. Let’s compare traditional expectations to the Whole Musician model and see how to implement the Whole Musician into your classroom.
General music educators develop musical skills; however, we often find ourselves tying shoes, fixing hair bows, distributing tissues, and settling disputes. These distractions are a natural part of teaching young children and cannot be removed from the classroom. When I began my teaching adventure fourteen years ago, I often felt overwhelmed juggling what seemed like a never-ending barrage of chainsaws. I had my classroom rules posted and spent the recommended duration of the first two weeks teaching the classroom expectations. Then, and only then, after two weeks of behavioral indoctrination, I would be able to, wait for it… teach music!
Week three had arrived and, I was ready to immerse my students in a world of music! They knew to enter in a straight line quickly, and go quietly to their seats, raise their hand to ask questions, keep their hands to themselves, and exit in a straight line quickly and quietly. Or so I thought. Everything we talked about was gone. Why? The rules were always separate from the goal of being a musician. The rules were only more commands to memorize without any thought as to the “why” behind them (and I also had a habit of moving my classroom rules elsewhere to free up valuable wall space).
Fast forward a few years when I began my Kodály studies and fell in love with the following quote by Zoltán himself(Kodály et al., 1974, pp. 1–3):
… the characteristics of a good musician can be summarized as follows: 1. A well-trained ear. 2. A well-trained intelligence. 3. A well-trained heart. 4. A well-trained hand. All four must develop together, in constant equilibrium. As soon as one lags behind or rushes ahead, there is something wrong. So far most of you have met only the requirement of the fourth point: the training of your fingers has left the rest far behind. You would have achieved the same results more quickly and easily, however, if your training in the other three had kept pace.
Kodály is addressing the acquisition of musical skills. Specifically, he’s referring to the budding musician who focuses his energy on technique alone, through repetition of scales and etudes. Kodály is, not so subtly, implying that there is a much deeper aspect of complete musicianship than the training of the performer’s technique alone (the well-trained hand). He emphasizes the necessity of developing one’s ear and mind to fully comprehend the syntax of musical language, and how music speaks to us from the affective domain (the well-trained heart).
After reflecting on the quote, I realized the potential of repurposing it to refer to behavior (citizenship) in the classroom. The quote refers to the whole musician, and as educators, we must educate the whole child. As stated earlier, we cannot disassociate the variety of needs that come with teaching young children. We take them as they are and progress forward. From the moment they enter our room, they are musicians.
The key to the Whole Musician system is its link to the reason for using our well-trained hearts, minds, ears, and hands; and removing overly specific black and white rules. Many times I have asked students to hold hands with a partner during a dance only to have a student reply, “I thought we had to keep our hands to ourselves!”? It never fails that students remember our rules best when it is not in our favor. Let’s compare traditional expectations to the Whole Musician model and see how to implement the Whole Musician into your classroom:
Key Points
Reference the Whole Musician concept regularly (every lesson, teacher and students).
Provide examples of whole musicianship (scenarios for children to use critical thinking skills).
Find opportunities to call attention to students who are demonstrating aspects of a Whole Musician. This will help other students know the expectation as opposed to the unwanted behavior.
Setup activities by asking, “What parts of a Whole Musician do we need to complete the activity?”.
Provide opportunities for students to self-correct unwanted behavior: “Michael, I noticed you’re holding your mallets upside down and stuck in your nostrils. Can you use your well-trained hand?”
Take notice of corrected behavior.
There are no rules to memorize. Instead, students are applying critical thinking skills to create expectations specific to each activity. Each component of the Whole Musician is used as a gateway and a focus. Gateways build citizenship, and each focus builds musicianship – they are uniquely intertwined. How often do we have the student who is not as confident in his musicianship skills, but always gives his best in citizenship? Through the gateway of citizenship, we can encourage him in his musicianship. All students see they contribution to a positive learning environment, and both their musicianship and citizenship skills are valued equally. Let’s look at an overview of the gateway and focus areas, along with some examples and activities:
Developing the Whole Musician
Citizenship
Control of self, proper use and care of materials, penmanship Students will definitely understand the need for a well-trained hand in the song, “O Mochio” (Kirk, 2014).
Musicianship
Dictation Races (Meyers, 2008) – Teacher plays a 4-beat pattern (rhythmic or melodic). Two students race each other to write the pattern on the white board. Penmanship counts!
Ghost Writer – One student holds a marker with eyes closed. Their partner controls their marker hand to write the pattern shown by teacher. Penmanship counts!
Instrument Commander – Teacher: “Mallet check (students hold mallets upright; hands in middle of mallet)! Ready position (students place hands over instrument, palms down, ready to play)! One, two, ready, go!”
Song Copy (Let’s Write!, Music Makers) – Students notate known songs in steps: 1) solfa 2) circles 3) fill in circles 4) rhythm stems.
Citizenship
Active listening During small group work, I use a call and response grab their attention:
Teacher: “A Whole Musician has…”
Students: “A well-trained ear!”
CLAP, PAT This provides each student the opportunity to hear the teacher’s voice, other students’ voices, and the body percussion (clap, pat). Students freeze with their hands on their knees and face the teacher to hear further directions.
Musicianship
Rhythm Snakes – Use mini-jointed snakes to notate rhythmic patterns.
Hiding Cups – Teacher hides a ball under cups labeled with solfa. Teacher sings a pattern with solfa and hums one note in the pattern. Students must decode the hummed note.
Sherlock – Students analyze their sight reading attempts to discover where they made a mistake: 1) measure(s) 2) beat(s) 3) rhythmic or melodic 4) explain.
Citizenship
Give best effort
Think… then act
Be a problem solver
Musicianship
Sight Reading Challenges – Create various ways for students to complete sight reading exercises (backwards, sing only the “ta” rhythms”, don’t sing “re”,rest on every “do”, etc.
Hip-Hop (Butke & Frego, 2016, p. 38) – Students walk to the steady beat played by teacher. When teacher says “hip”, students double their speed. When teacher says “hop”, students halve their speed.
Meter Dash (Howard, 2018)- Lay on the floor two time signature cards and rhythm hearts in two straight lines (creating an alleys to run down). Students are in two lines at the time signature. They race down to the other end to get a “bar line” (popsicle stick) and bring it back to measure out the hearts to match the time signature. Continue until the double bar line is placed.
Remote Control – Students perform known song. Students change how they perform it based on the card the teacher shows (words of song, solfa, rhythm syllables, audiate, stop, absolute note names).
Citizenship
Use kind words and actions
Treat others with respect
Share/Sportsmanship
Musicianship
Pumpkin, Pumpkin – Student makes a face to express an emotion and, teacher/class sing the song in that style.
Songs with a Story – Expression is an outward showing of emotion! If they don’t FEEL IT, MOVE IT, LIVE IT, and SING IT (through story), how can they express something they’ve never experienced?
Expression Levels (Dilworth & Day, 2006) – Expression Level 1: facial expressions; Level 2: head movements; Level 3: arms, shoulders, torso; Level 4: legs and feet Students experience moving (expressing) to music to show beat, rhythm, phrasing, melodic contour, dynamics, etc.
Final Thoughts
The Whole Musician system simultaneously develops musicianship and citizenship in students. Using the “well-trained heart, mind, ear, and hand” as categories for self-management, students learn how to work cohesively with each other during a variety of activities.
As music educators, we must remember to educate the whole child, appealing to their cognitive, as well as their affective domain. Therefore, let us begin with training their heart. Music, in and of itself, is understood by all through the heart regardless of musical knowledge. Through music, we teach our students critical social skills and emotional cues, respect for one another, and the importance of having high expectations of ourselves.
Visit Music Makers to find out more about the Whole Musician!
References:
Dilworth, R. (2006). Appendix. In J. Day (Ed.), Choir Builders: Fundamental Vocal Techniques for Classroom and General Use (p. 170). Hal Leonard.
Butke, M., & Frego, D. (2016). Chapter Three. In J. Wenner (Ed.), Meaningful Movement (pp. 38–39). Music Is Elementary Publications.
Jeremy Howard received a BME in vocal music education and an MM with an emphasis in the Kodály philosophy from Morehead State University and is a certified Kodály educator. Additionally, he studied at the Kodály Institute in Kecskemet, Hungary. Mr. Howard serves as the 3 Year-Old through 8th Grade…
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