I have been in the still fairly early stages of a longterm research project centered around rehearsal technique for about 18 months. As I've gotten to chat with colleagues and friends, most folks have been really interested in the informal bits I've discussed so far. Occasionally, I'll hear from friendly folks who are a bit skeptical, not of the topic, but about the entire enterprise of engaging in research as a means to improve practical podium skills as a conductor.*

I get it! If I want to get healthy, should I go for a walk or read a book on fitness? The answer seems obvious: go for a walk!. Speaking as a person who has been trying with modest success to get healthy, I can tell you, there are a few things I wish I had learned 3 years ago that would have eased my journey and prevented injury. A quick skim through a short book might have been a good idea, actually.

Back to the research itself: What do I say to teachers who are skeptical? This is not completely rhetorical: I'm primarily a practicing conductor and music educator. And while I love to write, I'm not primarily a scholar, so I don't really know for sure.

But I think from now on I'll just direct them to this quick read by Margaret Schmidt. She catalogs the many ways that music teaching (her lens) has changed over her 50 year career as an elementary school orchestra director, citing each change according to the relevant research that fueled those changes. Here are just three examples she cites:

• “Now, educators seldom espouse a “banking” model of teaching, opting for more constructivist approaches that recognize both the benefits and limitations of experiences individual students bring to their learning (e.g., Kelly McHale, 2013; Wiggins, 2015).”

• “Similarly, teacher education classes recognize the influence of preservice teachers’ prior experiences, and balance peer teaching and early field experiences with reflection prior to student teaching (e.g., Orzolek, 2018; Powell, 2014).”

• “We recognize the importance of individuals’ home cultures in learning and teaching and are developing more culturally responsive pedagogical approaches (e.g., McKoy & Lind, 2016; Soto, 2018).”

After the end of the longer list, she writes of it, "The above ideas were hot research topics and were much debated in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Now they seem to be commonly accepted as truisms."

She concludes by making it practical - as a call to action for active teachers like herself: "What small contributions might you be making to help us forge paths leading to ever more inclusive and expansive music learning and teaching research and practice?"

I picked out the bits that are appealing to me for my current purposes, but what you mostly have is a beautiful and brief reflection of a lifetime of teaching and research-about-teaching and the beautiful interplay between them. It's an easy read for any practicing musician.

Go read the rest of the article here.

If you don’t have access, I’d be happy to send it along! Get in touch here.

Citation

Schmidt, Margaret. "CONTEMPLATIONS ON MUSIC EDUCATION: On the Value of Research and Community, Or what Good does Research do?" Contributions to Music Education 48 (2023): 203-9.

Note

*I use conductor to encompass any kind of music ensemble leadership involving professionals, amateurs, and students of all ages. Vocal coach, chamber music coach, jazz band director, rock band teacher, and percussion ensemble director also count!