Creating the environment in which students are capable of acquiring the relevant skills in a manner as expeditious and efficient as possible is the ultimate goal of any educator. In light of the fact that the contemporary environment can be defined as very diverse, there is an urge for a teacher to make sure that the unique needs of each student is taken into account when designing the teaching strategy.
I believe that teaching students to be culturally responsive in studying music, as well as having any related experience, be it listening to music or making it, is crucial to fostering the development of the skills that will help promote diversity in class. As a result are premises for enhancing cross-cultural communication among the learners so that they could understand the nature of music and the way in which the identified art form evolved can be created (Lind and McKoy 102).
Similarly, I believe that, in teaching music, a very strong emphasis must be placed on the role of the community in the students’ lives and their aesthetic and cultural development. One might argue that there is no tangible connection between developing music skills and strengthening the link between the learner and his/her community. However, a closer look at the subject matter will reveal that the support of friends and family members is likely to have an astonishingly positive effect on the learners’ performance (Mark and Madura 233). Furthermore, the students will gain an opportunity to consider the history of music once the subject matter is tied to the analysis of the community, its development, and the role that music has played in it (Reiber and Teachout 28).
The issue of distanced learning also deserves to be touched upon as one of the areas on which I would like to focus in the course of my teaching practice. Although the phenomenon has been explored extensively over the past few decades, its role has been downplayed significantly in the area of teaching music, which is a shame as distanced learning (DL) provides a plethora of opportunities for students and teachers (Barrett and Webster 170). For example, the flexibility that the participants can enjoy when exploring the theoretical and the practical aspects of music deserves being mentioned as one of the primary advantages of the DL approach. It should be noted, though, that the promotion of DL will require active integration of the latest technological advances in the learning process. Therefore, a heavy emphasis must be placed on the development of IT tools that will help engage learners and allow them to arrange their learning process, as well as communicate with the tutor successfully to receive feedback and instructions (Bowman 17).
It is also my belief that the inclusion of the serious leisure perspective (SLP) will enable the students to learn basic music skills more actively. I presume that a combination of serious, causal, and project-based leisure types will help increase motivation rates among the target audience (Stebbins 23). As a result, they will be able to engage in an independent study of music, developing a responsible attitude toward the learning process. Finally, the significance of informal learning needs to be mentioned. Games as a tool for helping learners to acquire the relevant skills are not to be dismissed – quite on the contrary, they must be incorporated into the learning process so that the learners are able to apply their newly acquired knowledge to solve practical tasks.
It is the responsibility as a teacher to create the environment in which the learner will feel motivated to engage in the required activities. By incorporating the principles of the SLP into the process and providing the learners with a chance to build a link between music and the community, a teacher will be able to make the students more enthusiastic. Therefore, exploring new opportunities is the first step toward a successful teaching process.
References
Barrett, Jane R., and Peter R. Webster. The Musical Experience: Rethinking Music Teaching and Learning. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2014. Print.
Bowman, Judith. Online Learning in Music: Foundations, Frameworks, and Practices. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2014. Print.
Lind, Vicki R., and Constance McKoy. Culturally Responsive Teaching in Music Education: From Understanding to Application. New York, NY: Routledge, 2016. Print.
Mark, Michael L., and Patrice Madura. Contemporary Music Education. Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning, 2013. Print.
Reiber, Michael, and David Teachout. The Journey from Music Student to Teacher: A Professional Approach. New York, NY: Routledge, 2014. Print.
Stebbins, Robert A. Serious Leisure: A Perspective for Our Time. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2015. Print.