This section is the deeper goal behind this work. Giving youth a springboard to make musical connections is generative because young people often use music as a way to identify themselves. When I was young, this was certainly the case: the heavy metal clique didn’t talk to the rap clique didn’t talk to the pop music clique.
- Seeing how musical forms are related helps kids take the perspective of another person by helping them understand the ways the music they don’t agree on might have some similarities, and in which ways it doesn’t.
- Seeing how musical forms are related helps kids identify the cultural wealth of their own communities and with some research can raise awareness.
In this section there are some tools to help see what it actually looks like in action, which will be updated regularly:
Student Run Lab Ideas
Youth have their own set of skills and tastes, and it is important to keep this in mind. Although the skills that connect musical ideas are front-loaded, there are a lot of places a teacher can offer freedom, after the general skills are understood. What learners make when the teacher isn’t looking is usually pretty …
Teacher as Guide and Listener
In this kind of work, it is important to let students find and make their own choices. They will find things you never thought of if you are able to step back. Keeping that in mind here are some kinds of roles that a teacher can play in a student organized project: Guiding questions, for …
Guiding Question: What’s Your Plan?
My favorite question to ask learners is “What’s your plan?” This question in its most basic form is designed to help learners stop and think, but in its simplicity it opens up the door for all kinds of dialogue. If someone is doing something unsafe, it causes them to stop to think, and usually they …
Collaborative Drawing: Funny Faces
This drawing game is a simpler version of the exquisite corpse. I love collaborative drawing games because they connect people. This one I recommend starting with pencil, and then letting the person who started the drawing finish it. Draw an oval on your paper and write your name Fold the piece of paper in half, …
Student Exercise: Making Music Matter
This is a student exercise designed to encourage sharing to find connections and tensions between different kinds of music that students have produced an expressive product about. It is a structured protocol, which means that although there are time recommendations, these can and should be adapted to your own circumstances. Pair/Doubles Exercise: Put 2 projects …