Hi! My name is Justin Stanley, and while I am not new to the MIE at NEC News Blog, I am beginning a new role. As a documentation specialist, I plan to inquire into my own persona as an artist-teacher-scholar and what role documentation has in developing persona.

I want to see how documentation can affect me as artist (by carefully examining my practice and my lessons for French horn), a teacher (through examination of my work at Josiah Quincy Upper School), and as a scholar (through documentation of the Teaching Seminar and Warren Sender’s Improvisation in Music Education) as I build my portfolio.

The Music-in-Education Teaching Seminar at NEC, taught by Dr. Larry Scripp, met for the first time last Tuesday. The class is a little smaller this year than the first time I took the class in the spring of 09. Last year, the class seemed like a continuation of Intro to Music-in-Education, a class offered in the Fall by Professor Scripp. This time around, however, only two of the members of the Teaching Seminar – myself included – were members of the Intro class. Therefore, I feel like I saw the differences in the curriculum more clearly right from the start.

We spent most of the class talking, in one way or another, about ourselves as artists. Larry posed this simple question to all of us: “What is your persona as an artist?” Responses were surprisingly varied, ranging from being a vessel for a composer or character in performance to breaking down barriers in various cultural settings. One student found that his role as an artist changes from performing to composing to teaching. Later, a student that assists Professor Scripp in teaching his graduate solfége class explained his role and the responsibilities that come with that role as a teaching assistant. The following video presents parts of these discussions.

Exploring Persona

I predict that we’ll be diving into the artist-teacher-scholar framework very soon in this class, discussing our readings, teaching, and plans for teaching. This class brought up some interesting ideas for me. As a documentation specialist, I try to keep a very analytical eye toward what’s going on. As a horn player, I look for simplicity. As an artist, I try to constantly expand my horizons. As a teacher, I look to help others expand their horizons or develop their own personas. I wonder how valuable it is to be able to separate and put together one’s own roles in life. This is a topic I look forward to exploring as the semester continues.

On October 13th, Michael Glicksman presented a video of a composition lesson with his 2nd grade students at the Atrium school in Watertown, MA to the Music-In-Education Introduction class at NEC. In the lesson, students listened to a poem written by a fellow student earlier that year and, with Michael’s guidance, were able to analyze the repetition of words or phrases within the poem. The students then composed a piece of music using various percussive and pitched instruments based on the poem. The video shown in MIE class documented the process of creating and performing music, from talking about the poem, picking instruments, deciding where an how to use instruments, all the way to the actual performance.

Before the video began, Michael and professor Larry Scripp asked a question of the class: “To what extent does studying music increase understanding of poetics, and vice versa, to what extend does studying music increase understanding of music?” Professor Scripp also reminded students to use Triple Entry Journals while they viewed the video. These three column journals are tools for learning and note-taking: the first column is reserved for objective information in the form of quotations, observations, etc. The second column is reserved for a subjective or personal response, and the third column is used to draw meaningful implications to Music-in-Education.

As the current documentation specialist for this class, I am most interested in researching how class participants are encouraged and inspired to use the key topics in class in their own learning and exploration of MIE. I feel that this presentation by Michael Glicksman was designed, at least partly to encourage students to inquire and to use the five learning processes (Listen, Question, Create, Perform, Reflect) of Music plus Music Integration. Inquiry, the question presented before the video, created a context for an educational activity. The use of triple entry journals provided structure for engagement in that inquiry.

An example of my own use of triple entry journals for Lyle Davidson’s Music, Brain Development, and Learning. I went through a process of finding a good way to organize my thoughts and research. The first column is objective information from a reading, the second contains connections to other readings and personal experience, and the third is my reflection on implications for a research paper and MIE in general.

It took me a while to look at triple entry notes critically. The idea was first presented to me a year ago, when I took Intro to MIE solely as a student. Since then, I’ve been involved in MIE in a number of ways, and triple entry journals have become vital to my learning. I find that, especially when I get overwhelmed with concepts, ideas, or just too much information, creating an inquiry question (setting context) and setting that MIE context in the third column of a triple entry journal focuses my attention completely on the task at hand. Suddenly, I’m able efficiently engage myself in a learning experience in which I’m always setting goals (converting objective experience in the other two columns) and getting feedback about my work.

I think Michael’s presentation, while a great opportunity for Michael to explore his own teaching and get feedback, became, at least for me, an opportunity to explore key MIE ideas about learning.

Please use the following links to view a clip of Michael’s inquiry question and part of a class discussion after Michael’s presentation:

Michael’s Inquiry

Class Discussion

NewsBlog Editor’s Note: This is the second post in a semester-long series by Jenny Giardina, a new CMIE Guided Intern working as Teaching Artist and Documentation Specialist for her internship at the Josiah Quincy Upper School in Boston, MA.  Our thanks to JQUS music teacher Laura Bouix for hosting Jenny’s guided internship.

I was anxious last Friday as the first class walked in and found their seats; I know from first-hand experience (as we all do) that junior high and high school students have a way of completely rejecting any idea that doesn’t immediately impress them. I wondered if they’d give my approach a chance and, fortunately, I didn’t have to wait long to find out.

High school:

The composition exercise with the high schoolers was challenging; composition is never simple, regardless of who you are. Composition that requires an original approach to notation involves creativity that takes some time and a lot of thought. The class worked diligently the entire period and I let them continue past the point I had planned. I could see that what I had presented to them was going to take more time that I had thought, which is a great learning experience for me.

Some of the groups’ approaches to creative notation were more intuitive than others. We found out that assigning a line to an instrument and layering the parts (as you’d see in a full score) was a more clear spatial representation and allowed the second group of performers to better understand the original composition.

Some groups were missing students due to absence, which made the assignment a little more challenging for those who had to try to remember what their classmates had done the previous week.

We’ll continue this project on another day, and I think it’ll be much simpler the second time around now that everyone has a better idea of what it is we’re trying to accomplish. I can’t wait for them to perform!

8th and 7th graders:

When the eighth graders arrived and I began selecting students to come up for the walking/listening exercise, their terror of being singled out and put in front of their peers became painfully obvious. I finally convinced them to come to side of the room by promising them they wouldn’t have to do anything but walk (which I now know should have been the first thing to come out of my mouth). I decided to begin the exercise differently with the seventh graders and asked for volunteers. Almost everyone’s hands flew up and I knew it was going to be a very different experience. Sure enough, they seemed to enjoy the exercise and were equally creative in there “sounds we associate with…” lists. The 7th graders list for sounds you’d hear in a park was very impressive, and it looked something like this:

Sounds we’d hear in a park

1. dogs barking
2. kids playing/babies crying
3. parents calling to their kids
4. pigeons/birds chirping
5. sizzling hot dogs
6. leaves blowing in the wind
7. a trickling stream
8. basketballs bouncing

We followed with an open discussion about which instruments in the room could best imitate these sounds. After we’d figured it out, they played together and created this particular “soundscape.”

The 7th graders brought interesting sounds, although some were more thought-out than others. The bell rang before we had time to explore the activity any further, but we’ll definitely revisit it soon.

The 8th grade’s final exercise was to break into groups of four or five students and compose a piece based on the lists they made for sounds you’d hear at the ocean, a park, or in a forest. I walked around and listened to them while they worked and contributed when needed to help them get on/back on the right track. I heard some really great collaboration and leadership going on, which was one of my goals! Only one group had time to perform, but we’ll have them do it another time.

All in all, I think the day was a huge success and I’m thrilled to go back in a few days. I’ve completed the lesson plan for this week (think Halloween!) and I’ll be posting it here within the next day or two, so check back! In all of the excitement of the first day I completely forgot my camera, but there will be pictures in the very near future. And, as always, I welcome any questions or comments!

We have been working hard on updating the CMIE NewsBlog so it’s more content-friendly. We’re expecting many readers this year to be visiting specifically for info on our Atrium School partnership—so, we added a big button in the top menu that will automatically show only Atrium stories! Reporting on our Atrium School Violin Program will be our two program co-teachers: the esteemed Pennsylvania Ballet music director (and Atrium parent) Beatrice Affron and NEC MIE alumna Dr. Helen Liu, as well as MIENC guided practices consultant Randy Wong (also documentation specialist for Atrium), MIENC Executive Director (and Atrium parent) Larry Scripp, and Atrium music director and NEC MIE alum Mike Glicksman.  

This semester, we also have a robust team NewsBlog contributors, some of whom who have already begun sharing their stories and documentation with you. Jenny Giardina, Justin Stanley, and Diana Ortega are all conducting guided internships this semester at the Josiah Quincy Upper School. Justin is also Documentation Specialist for Larry’s MIE 501 – Introduction to Music-In-Education course, and some of his blog posts will pertain to that. We are also proud to announce our first official guided intern from the Harvard Graduate School of Education Field Experience Program, Ms. Ruyi Lu.

NewsBlog Editor’s Note: We are pleased to re-introduce to you Jenny Giardina, a new CMIE Guided Intern working as Teaching Artist and Documentation Specialist for her internship at the Josiah Quincy Upper School in Boston, MA. Jenny is a senior classical voice major finishing up her MIE Concentration. Our thanks to JQUS music teacher Laura Bouix for hosting Jenny’s guided internship.

Hello MIE NewsBlog readers!  My name is Jenny Giardina and I’m back for my second MIE Guided Internship as a “Creative Composition Workshop” leader in Boston’s Josiah Quincy Upper School.  Following the methods and practices of music educator R. Murray Schafer, I’ll be leading composition and improvisation classes with three separate bands: the high school band, comprised of 9th-12th graders, and the 8th and 7th grade bands.

R. Murray Schafer’s approach to music education emphasizes listening and creativity, encourages discussion, and builds a solid foundation for personal growth.  I’ll be referencing a few of his publications more often than others; these will include A Sound Education, The Composer in the Classroom, and The Thinking Ear.

Each week, I’ll be designing three lesson plans inspired and guided by Mr. Schafer’s ideas and experiences in these books.  I’ll upload a short-hand version of these plans onto the NewsBlog by Thursday evenings and submit a second entry following Fridays’ classes.  In the second entry I’ll discuss what worked, what didn’t, and what everyone learned, and I’ll include any pictures or scanned images from that week.

My goal during this internship is to encourage the students to create original ideas, improvise on these ideas, perform the resulting “compositions,” and grow in their self-confidence, both musically and otherwise.  Learning about music and musicianship will be a wonderfully unavoidable by-product of the exercises they’ll encounter, and I personally cannot wait to find out what I’ll learn over the course of this semester’s adventures.

Today was my first day in front of the classes and I used the following lesson plan:

HS Band:

Objective:  The students will exercise listening, creativity, and critical thinking in order to most accurately perform a composition.

Last week, the students were put into small groups and asked to compose a piece based on anything—Human, Natural, or Machine.  This week I’ll be asking them to diagram their compositions using symbols and drawings in a way that would allow another group to reproduce their piece.  Once they’ve finished their diagram they’ll hand it off to another group and I’ll call two of them to the front of the class.  Group A will play their piece while Group B looks on at their diagram.  Following the performance, group B will be given some time to figure out how to most closely imitate the performance with help from myself and the class.  Group B will then perform and the class will discuss what worked, what didn’t and how it could have been better.  We’ll do this with a few different pairs of groups.

8th Grade Band:

Objective: The students should become more aware of the sounds associated with certain people and places and transfer these sounds to their instruments in various ways.

The following are exercises extracted from A Sound Education, by R. Murray Schafer.

I’ll ask five students to stand to the side of the room and the rest of the class will close their eyes.  I’ll have one of the five walk across the front of the room and the class will have to guess who it is.  If they can’t, I’ll ask them to describe what it is that they can hear (clothing, jewelry, etc.) and see if we can’t figure it out.

What sounds do we associate with guys and girls?  In groups of three, students will make lists of sounds associated with the two genders, as well as sounds they hear when they think of the forest, the ocean, and a park.

I’ll then group the students by five and ask them to compose Human/Nature/Machine pieces.  With 15 minutes of class time to spare, we’ll regroup and perform the pieces.  Immediately following each performance the class will guess what each groups’ piece was about, and the group will explain and demonstrate.  I’ll ask students with instruments not represented in the piece to suggest what they might be able to add to the texture.

7th Grade Band:

Objective: After exercises in active listening, the students will create original compositions from interesting sounds they bring to class.

We’ll repeat the first exercise from the 8th grade band and follow with a slightly modified version of the sound association exercise.

After designing lists of sounds we associate with the genders and natural locations I’ll have the students write them on the board.  I’ll select two contrasting lists and ask the students to demonstrate what their instruments could represent from one of the lists.  Once we’ve found the sounds for one entire list I’ll facilitate an improvisation structured around creating the sounds of the chosen environment.

The students will have brought an interesting sound to class today; something ordinary that makes an extraordinary sound.  I’ll ask them to talk about why they brought their specific sound and what they think is interesting about it.  I’ll play for them a recording of my friends and I improvising with interesting sounds.  If there’s time, the students will be placed into small groups to compose an improvisatory piece using their sounds and one instrument per group, and perform them for the class.

NewsBlog Editor’s Note: We are pleased to introduce to you Justin Stanley, a new CMIE Guided Intern working as Documentation Specialist for Larry Scripp’s Introduction to Music-In-Education course this Fall.

Professor Larry Scripp introduced a number of concepts this week in his class, “Introduction to Music-in-Education.” He began the lesson by drawing a matrix (as shown below) on the class blackboard and playing a recording of a piece by Bobby McFerrin. Professor Scripp, through nonverbal suggestion, portrayed the function of the matrix in the rhythm of the song, and added x’s in single cells to notate clapping or emphasis. Soon, the class was engaged in an activity in which we clapped along rhythmically to the piece in a unified perception of the function of the chart drawn on the board. Professor Scripp gradually added complexity to the exercise by using symbols to imply rhythmic groupings, words to apply to rhythms (antelope for a group of three, salamander for a group of four), and rhythmic solfege for the same.

The basic form of the matrix used in class to show the basic form and rhythm of the song.

After the exercise and a discussion of what we did, students were asked to compile a list of mental processes that had to be integrated to take part in the exercise. Among many conclusions, students realized that processes of permutation, symbol association, cycle recognition, and grouping and parsing were needed to actively participate. We found that these concepts and brain processes that we used can be applied to a number of different subject areas. This led Professor Scripp to make the following comment: “If music is a fundamental medium and model for teaching and learning, from the point of view of integration, you could say that it is a fundamental medium and model for integrating.” Because of the subtle complexity involved in the activity, Prof. Scripp was able to keep the entire class (perhaps completely subconsciously had we not been conservatory music students) in a state of Flow (as shown in the chart below) during which we were all listening, questioning, creating, performing, and reflecting. Through this lesson, we as students were able to experience some of the cornerstones of the MIE program first hand: shared teaching and learning concepts, and teaching and learning processes. The integration of all of the learning processes exhibited during this exercise can help students create and strengthen connections necessary for all kinds of education. The subtle complexity of this exercise and any number of exercises like it that integrate music and other curriculum can create and strengthen connections in the minds of any student. Complexity in learning and comprehension can lead to any number of paths for a learner of any age. This lesson pushed me to do two things: 1.    I worked on a new unit plan for my internship teaching brass players at a local upper school that incorporated the use of a matrix to teach solfege. The initial lesson went incredibly well, with students learning how to create their own symbols to notate rhythm and melody. I hope to incorporate the following aspects into the unit curriculum for integration: a.    MATH: unit, sequence, fractions, special learning b.    LANGUAGE ARTS: symbols, syntax/structure c.    SCIENCE: measurement, documentation, inquiry d.    HISTORY: timelines, maps, contextual history e.    ARTS: creation, spatial learning 2.    I decided to focus on flow theory and brain processes/anatomy for a research paper for another MIE class at NEC, “Learning, Brain Development, and Music,” taught by Lyle Davidson.

Hello MIE Blog community! I am doing an internship this semester (along with fellow intern Joanna Mattrey) as a participant and documentation specialist for a class titled “The Percussive Parent”. The class is held at the Gentle Dragon Preschool in Medford, Massachusetts under the direction of Warren Senders, a current MIE instructor at NEC. Twelve adults and their children are enrolled in the course which meets every Wednesday afternoon for ten weeks. The class involves, among many things, counting and number games, handclapping activities, instrument-making, the use of found objects converted into instruments, producing music with drums and percussion, simple movement activities, along with methods and techniques for parents to incorporate what they have learned into the time they spend with their children outside of class. Warren’s goal is that, by the end of the ten week period, “group members will be able to direct multigenerational rhythm groups on their own, using traditional, self-made and spontaneously created instruments.” He explains that the course is not for children and their parents, but rather for parents and their children so that the children can learn (if they want to) from their active parents while the parents learn musical methods for teaching their children.

For my guided internship this semester, I plan on using Warren Senders’ class “The Percussive Parent” as a way of investigating the ways in which children learn from and imitate their parents, the experience and growth of a child in a creative musical environment, and also how to develop and organize a community course directed towards a specific audience in a free-thinking learning environment. Through this, I will be able to document and experience the organization hands-on while also playing a role in the teaching and learning process of building instruments, experiencing and applying rhythmic games and tools, and utilizing mundane or found objects to create a musical learning experience.

This internship will serve as an application of previous work that I have done with Warren Senders. In addition to completing his two MIE courses (Cross Cultural Approaches to MIE and Improvisation in General Music), I completed an internship as a documentation specialist for his Cross Cultural Approaches to MIE course last semester. In this course, and through my internship, we investigated, among many things, different cultural methods of education, specifics and speculation on the nature of memory, instrument building, intrinsic knowledge, music in education, and more. This internship will follow on the heels of the previous as a hands-on application of techniques and topics discussed with Warren Senders throughout his courses.

An interesting hypothesis that Warren shared before the start of the course, was that “our kids will be much more likely to make music together if they see us making music together. We will be modeling music-making behavior for our kids…and, of course, making music ourselves.” It is an exciting and fascinating premise, that by being an active learner as a parent and teacher, our children and students will most frequently follow our example through imitation and/or a desire to be like their adult role model. I will continue to investigate and document such patterns throughout the course of the class, and share insights with you as we go along. Joanna and I will also be collaborating on information and musings in order to give you a wider ranging perspective on the progress made throughout the ten weeks of the course.