Introduction
For over half of a century now, research into music education has increased immensely, if the articles and journals that have thus far been published are anything to go by. In addition, an increasing number of music educators and researchers have had to adjust the music education curricula for schools to keep pace with the rapid development into this discipline (Phillips, 2008)
, seeing that a majority of these curricula were drafted several decades ago. Nevertheless, there appears to be limited research that has gone into the area of individual musical genres, such as the study of rock music. For one, rock music has cultural and social impacts on American society. Its teaching therefore would act as propagation of its history and importance to future generations.
The aim of this research proposal is to explore the possibility of teaching Rock music and /or the inclusion of teaching Rock music with ensembles in the school. In light of this, a descriptive research study into music education shall be adopted for this particular study. This is with respect to the collection and compilation of the data for this research study. Furthermore, the interpretation and analysis of the research findings shall also be on the basis of descriptive research.
Literature review
Since music has been deemed as a valuable discipline for a multitude of reasons by both the society and culture for the better part of Western history, it is not surprising therefore that music education has been an area that academicians, music educators, and researchers alike have been keen on pursuing (Phelps et al, 2005). Notwithstanding the readily available evidence from a historical perspective, the question as to why music education is such a significant discipline still begs to be answered. Moreover, the importance of studying music education “invariably arises as our society continuously evolves and its cultural needs change evolve (Mark, 2002).
Music educators may inherently be aware as to why music as a discipline is popular today, yet not many of them have endeavored to explore the discipline by way of descriptive qualitative research techniques. Further, not many music educators are also aware of “the vast body of historical justification, rationales, and philosophies that illuminate why society has always valued music education and why it still does” (Mark, 2002).
If at all music education as a discipline is to become popular, it is necessary that music teachers are in a position to seek novel ways through which they can progressively involve a large number of their students. One of the ways through which music teachers may ensure that they have performance programs that are all-inclusive is through endeavoring to ‘go beyond’ conventional jazz bands and concerts, choirs and orchestras, to present other musical ensembles that could prove more appealing (Woodford, 2005). One such example is the incorporation of musical ensembles in the curricula of rock music teachings. The idea of a musical ensemble blends well with rock bands, seeing that there are several musical instruments that accompany the performance. This way, the student shall have a better chance to fully participate in music education.
Rock music, as a genre of popular, music, is believed to have been incorporated into the mainstream music industry in the 1950s. Rock music is believed to have roots in the country music and rhythm and blues that characterized the 1940s and 1950s. Moreover, rock music has also over time had a profound influence on other genres of music as jazz, folk music, and classic music (Hudson, 2001). As can be seen, rock music, cuts across diverse areas of the music discipline, with immense influences on these. It is important therefore to have the teaching of rock music, along with its musical ensembles, incorporated into the curricula of music education, so that the students of music may appreciate the social and historical impact that rock has on the American society, seeing that now it is very much a part of our popular culture.
There are a number of institutions that have implemented this approach and in the process, recorded success. For example, immense at the Berkeley College of Music, thousands of students are taught how best to play in small bands, in addition to receiving training on the several ways through which rock bands could be incorporated into the student’s music programs (Feist, 2006). The series of this program is such that not much direction, on the part of a music director, is required. In addition, the program is flexible and self-contained, thus facilitating the delivery of well-rounded, high-quality music education to students.
Research questions
In a bid to explore the feasibility of teaching Rock music and /or the inclusion of teaching Rock music with ensembles in the school, this research study wishes to explore a number of research questions, directed at the students of music education, music educators, academicians, and the policymakers.
- Why are the qualitative research methods not quite popular in studies on music education?
- How best can music education curricula developers tailor the curriculum to incorporate both the conventional methods of study and the new research-based curricula?
- In you own opinion, do you feel that the music education at the institutions of learning is both enjoyable and worthwhile?
- Would you support a curriculum of music education that incorporates the teaching of Rock?
- In your own opinion should the teaching of music education include the study of such genres of popular music as Rock?
Research design and methodology
Research design
The aim of this research study is to explore a descriptive research design into music education. According to Creswell (2007), qualitative research studies are not only exploratory activities, but they are also valuable in terms of real-life data collection. Creswell further opines that a qualitative research relies on information gathered through listening, watching, and interaction. Besides, Lichtman (2006) has noted that this from of data rich and extensive. It is from this context that this research views a qualitative research study as the best approach to an examination of music education. In any case, the views and thoughts of the respondents to the research study questionnaire are bets revealed via a qualitative approach.
According to Creswell (2007), observations, interviews and questionnaire use are the most common form of data collection for a qualitative study. In line with this, this researcher wishes to make use of a semi-structured questionnaire as the primary data collection tool of choice. The respondents for this research study shall be the curricula developers and policy makers for learning institutions teaching music education. In addition, music educators, academicians and students of music education shall also be targeted. The researcher also proposes the use of the Music Attitude Questionnaire (MAQ) as developed by Gifford (1991).
Data collection procedures
Upon the pre-testing of the research questionnaires for relevance, typographical and grammatical errors, the researcher shall then administer the questionnaires to the respondents. Upon completion of the questionnaire, data entry and analysis shall then follow.
Data entry and analysis
The researcher proposes a manual entry of research data, followed by a compilation of these by the MS Excel software package.
Ethical considerations, limitations and IRB approval
Ethical considerations
It is important to note here that any data that may be collected by this researcher with respect to the research study shall only be used to meet the objectives of this study. Furthermore, the filled-out questionnaires shall be locked in a safe place, and then destroyed upon a compilation of the data. Moreover, information obtained from the respondents shall be held in strict confidence, and participation by respondents shall be on a voluntary basis.
Limitations
Financial constraints and a lack of enough time are some of the limitations that this researcher envisions; in as far as this research study is concerned.
IRB submission and approval
Research background and purpose
This research study is aimed at exploring the field of music educations from a descriptive perspective. In addition, this research also wishes to examine how feasible it may be to incorporate the teaching of Rock as a genre of popular music into the curricula of institutions that teaches music education. In this regard, a semi-structured questionnaire has been identified as the instruments for primary data collection. Data analysis shall be via the use of the MS Excel software package.
Work plan
This researcher envisions a completion of the research study within a period of 6 months, starting from June to November, 2009. A breakdown of the research activities has been provided in the table below.
Conclusion
Research into music education has been gaining popularity for more than half of a century now. In addition, there has also been witnessed a sophistication with regard to the research design techniques, data collection and compilation and interpretation, in as far as music education is concerned (Szego, 2002). Nevertheless, not many research studies appear to explore the various individual music genres, such as Rock, as a form of popular music.
This research study therefore wishes to explore how practical it may be to incorporate the teaching of Rock music into the larger curricula of music education. Research design shall be qualitative in nature. Use shall be made of a semi-structure questionnaire for data collection. Analysis and compilation shall be by means of MS Excel software package. The research also wishes to seek for an IRB approval. Nevertheless, limited time and finances are some of the limitations to the study that this researcher has envisioned.
References
Feist, J. “Developing a small rock band/jazz combo program”. 2006. Web.
Hudson, H. K. (2001). Progressive Rock Reconsidered. London: Routledge Lichtman, M. (2006). Qualitative Research in Education, A User’s Guide, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Mark, M. L. (2002). Music education. London: Routledge.
Creswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design. (2nd edition). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Inc.
Gifford, E. (1991) An Investigation into Factors Affecting the Quality of Music Education in Pre-service Teacher Training, unpublished PhD thesis, London University Institute of Education, London.
Phelps, R. P., Sadoff, R., & Edward, C. (2005). A guide to research in music education. New York: Scarecrow Press.
Phillips, K. H. (2008). Exploring research in music education and music therapy. New York: Oxford University Press.
Szego, C. K. (2002). Music transmission and learning: A conspectus of ethnographic research in ethnomusicology and music education. London: Sage.
Woodford, P. (2005). Democracy and music education: liberalism and ethics. Indiana: Indiana University Press.