History of Instrumental Music
Knowledge of the history of instrumental ensembles is not essential for success as a band or orchestra conductor; still, it seems appropriate to begin a book on instruments and instrumental teaching with a brief historical survey. In addition to the intrinsic interest which history holds for us, there is a practical value in the perspective gained from knowledge of history. One can become aware of trends, observe the ways in which things were done at previous times, make contact with objectives, procedures, and methods, and gain a greater understanding of the reasons behind present practices and present situations. The extramusical outcomes become evident; e.g., community and industry bands and orchestras contributed to the cohesion felt by immigrants as they contributed to the kind of country they believed America could become. One hopes that such knowledge will help the teacher plan upon sound bases, avoid mistakes of the past, and shape the future intelligently.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF INSTRUMENTS
The earliest common use of instruments, recognizable ancestors of our modern woodwinds, strings, drums, and brasses dates to several thousand years BCE. The flute, drums, and perhaps reed instruments were apparently a part of human history for some thirty thousand years. Ensembles of flutes, lyres, reed, and brass instruments were part of early Greek and Asian celebrations and in support of military exercises. Little development of group instrumental music as we know it occurred until the modern orchestra had its beginnings with the creation of opera at the close of the sixteenth century. The orchestras grew in size and importance as opera became a favorite form of entertainment. As early as Monteverdi, instruments, as crude as they were, were used to portray mood and character, perhaps the first such use of instruments for their unique, individual qualities. Thus, a need was established to improve and create more flexible instruments.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ORCHESTRA
Because the violin is the heart of the orchestra, the modern orchestra was not possible until the seventeenth century, when the great Italian violin makers perfected their craft and created the master instruments. The first good orchestra is considered to be the “Twenty-four violins of the King,” in the service of Louis XIII of France, which reached its peak of excellence some 40 years later under Lully, during the reign of Louis XIV. Lully was an outstanding conductor who demanded perfection. He conducted with a cane to ensure rhythmic unity and created a balanced ensemble of violins, flutes, oboes, bassoons, and double basses. In France, the orchestra was a vehicle for the private entertainment of the nobility; during the same period, however, the first recorded public concert by an orchestra took place in London, in 1673. By the time of Corelli, a generation later, the modern violin had taken precedence over its competitors as the heart of the orchestra; viola, vielles, and lutes were rarely used except as solo instruments or for special effects.
Striving for excellence marks the history of both instrumentalists and conductors. Band and orchestra conductors featured technically accomplished instrumentalists and vocalists. Corelli, a noted performer as well as composer, is often given credit for originating the practice of matched bowing for orchestra. Alessandro Scarlatti increased the importance of the operatic orchestra, often dividing the strings into four parts and balancing them with the winds. The brasswinds became a legitimate part of the orchestra about 1720, the addition of instruments for emotional expression often marking a composer’s style. Any list of individuals important to the development of the orchestra must include Gluck. He not only made innovations in the use of instruments but also, more significantly, made radical changes in the type of music played by the orchestra. He introduced the use of the clarinet, omitted the harpsichord, and gave the orchestra music to play that was genuinely expressive and dramatic, mirroring the scenes and action of the opera. With Gluck the orchestra discarded its role as simple accompaniment and became an independent dramatic force.
1.1
1873—Leipzig,
The classical era of Haydn and Mozart created the balanced instrumentation and the musical forms that have for the past few hundred years made the symphony orchestra the chief of musical structures, first in popularity with the public and greatest in challenge to the composer. During the nineteenth century, the number of orchestras multiplied rapidly in Europe (Figure 1.1) and were, along with bands, established in America as well.
At least since the 1760s, amateurs and professionals constituted the membership of both ensembles. The first symphony orchestra to be organized was the London Philharmonic in 1813. The New York Philharmonic, formed in 1842, has been in existence since that date. Several events gave impetus to the orchestra movement. One of these was the visit of the Jullien orchestra to America in 1853–1854. Louis-Antoine Jullien was a spectacular showman whose antics not only fascinated the audience but also whose music made a real and positive impact upon the American public. Another was the Germania Music Society (1848–1854) and the touring of the entertaining Steyermarkische orchestra where members kept time with cymbals on their boots. Of more lasting value and genuine artistic merit was the work of Theodore Thomas. His orchestra performed frequently, earning enough for his members to be employed full-time with daily rehearsals. He toured the country in 1863, thus enabling members’ full-time employment. Most musicians made a living by performing in various venues, pit orchestras, theaters, opera, vaudeville, pleasure gardens, circuses, accompanying touring soloists like Jenny Lind and Ole Bull, and more. Musicians were expected to be proficient on both a string and a wind instrument to facilitate employment in both bands and orchestras, a competence expected until the 1920s. In the 1880s every town and even mining camps had an orchestra. Women and Blacks formed their own orchestras. Of importance is the orchestra of the Harvard Musical Society, managed by the music critic John Sullivan Dwight who had exacting musical standards. Theodore Thomas’s interest in education led him to start a school, financed by the Nichols family in Cincinnati in 1878 for the training of professional musicians. Thomas served as the inspiration for the founding of the Boston Symphony in 1881, noted for its excellence. This excellence was made possible by the support of Boston businessman Henry Higginson, who imported European conductors and who guaranteed full-time employment for 60 musicians. Thomas also founded the Chicago Symphony, where he established a precedent of corporation support through an orchestra association. Support for other orchestras came from subscription concerts with an annual fee and profits from the audience’s eating, dancing, and drinking. Orchestras, like bands, performed music the audience wanted to hear. Thus, when the waltz was replaced by new dance styles in the 1920s, orchestras lost out to bands. The popularity of pleasure garden concerts led to the founding of summer “pops” orchestras, first by Arthur Fiedler in Boston and later to most orchestras. These provided important support for the professional performers; the expected “season” was about 20 weeks. Philanthropic support became important as audiences were reluctant to pay for music the musicians wanted to play; the orchestra was perceived as entertainment. The orchestra’s high point in the U.S., along with that of bands, may have been between 1900 and 1920. Walter Damrosch attempted to teach music appreciation using the radio and the New York Philharmonic in the mid-1920s. Federal support for some 127 symphony orchestras was provided during the 1930s depression. In the mid-twentieth century, the Ford Foundation allocated some 80 million dollars to stabilize the financial situation of major and regional symphony orchestras. This grant was critical and most orchestras were able to find support to replace this one-time largesse, thus enriching communities with professional and semiprofessional orchestras. Charismatic conductors continue to be important to the history of bands and orchestra.
FIGURE
Germany: The Women’s Orchestra of Frau Amann-Weinlich
FIGURE 1.2
c. 1520—Nuremberg, Germany: A mural attributed to various artists, including Hans Holbein and Albrecht Dürer, depicting members of the town wind band playing from a balcony
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE BAND
The growth of the band movement is less clearly defined. In the late sixteenth century, Venice was the center of a group of composers who wrote for brass ensembles, primarily trombones and cornetti. These ensembles performed principally in the church (Figure 1.2).
They were followed by other brass groups, usually civic or military bands, throughout Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Oboes, clarinets, horns, and bassoons were soon added. Considering the state of these instruments at the time, one would agree that their sound was primarily useful for battle commands. Bands as we know them today seem to have stemmed from the formation of the 45-piece band of the National Guard in Paris in 1789. Bernard Sarrette conducted this band for one year. In 1790 its number was increased to 70, and Francois Gossec became the conductor. Two years later the band was dissolved, but its members eventually became the nucleus of the French National Conservatory, founded in 1795.
Other than the UK’s brass bands, America has been the leading country in the formation of concert bands, with groups that antedate the Paris Band of the National Guard by more than a decade. Josiah Flagg, often known as the first American bandsman, was active as early as the 1700s. The Massachusetts Band, formed in 1783, later became the Green Dragon Band, then the Boston Brigade Band (Figure 1.3).
In 1859 the Boston Brigade Band acquired a 26-year-old conductor, Patrick Gilmore, who changed its name to Gilmore’s Band, took it to war, and made it famous. He took a cue from orchestras, touring the U.S. to provide fulltime employment for the musicians. Most bands had little permanency; much depended upon the conductor and/or
FIGURE 1.3
1851—Boston, MA: A woodcut from Gleason’s Pictorial Magazine (August 9, 1851) depicting the Boston Brass Band, which utilized exclusively over-the-shoulder brass instruments
public support. The Allentown Civic Band, formed in 1828, one year after college bands at Harvard and Yale, still performs today; and many New England towns are able to trace an early origin; e.g., the Temple, New Hampshire town band was formed in 1799. These town bands were presumably small, comparable to the U.S. Marine Band, founded in 1798, which at the turn of the century was composed of two oboes, two clarinets, two horns, a bassoon, and a drum. The size of these bands is estimated to have been between 8 and 15 players, growing rapidly until the Civil War. Beethoven wrote his military march in D (1816) for a minimum of 32 players. To honor the visit of the Russian Emperor Nicholas to Prussia in 1838, Wilhelm Wieprecht combined the bands of several regiments and conducted more than 1,000 winds plus 200 extra side drummers. Royal visits were traditionally accompanied by impressive bands and orchestras. The improvement of brass instruments with valves and pistons allowed for excellence in performance and increasingly a wide selection of literature. It also increased public interest in instrumental music. Competition and comparison of performance seems inherent with music ensembles. Touring European ensembles and soloists by the mid-nineeteenth century aided in establishing musical standards in the U.S. The band contest held in Paris in 1867 involved bands from nine nations. According to Goldman, the numbers played included the “Finale” of the Lorelei by Mendelssohn, “Fantasy” on the Prophet by Meyerbeer, Rossini’s William Tell Overture, the “Bridal Chorus” from Lohengrin by Wagner, plus a “Fantasy on Carnival of Venice.” Soloist virtuosity accompanied most performances; variations on Carnival of Venice continue to challenge today’s performers. Higginson’s superior Boston Symphony’s concerts in New York City established a new standard for the New York Philharmonic and a continuing comparison. Brass bands were often conducted by virtuoso cornet soloists. The model may have been the Dodworth Brass Band, arguably the best band in New York City prior to Gilmore’s reign. In 1853, two New York bandmasters, Kroll and Reitsel, began to use woodwinds with the brasses, thereby greatly expanding the band’s musical potential as well as its repertoire.
Some 500 bands enlisted in the Civil War, most as an extant ensemble. Most were discharged in a year as the men were needed to fight, although some were retained to entertain and to support morale. The real impetus to the band movement came as a celebration of peace. After Gilmore’s band was mustered out of the army, an opportunity came in 1864 to form a “grand national band” of 500 army bandsmen and a chorus of 5,000 school children for the inauguration of the governor of Louisiana. Ever the entrepreneur, Gilmore’s business acumen sensed financial possibilities as the event appealed to patriotism and education. Three years later, he aided in organizing a World Peace Jubilee on an even grander scale but with less financial success. The finest musical organizations of Europe participated, however, attracting the public and popularizing better music. The visiting European groups dazzled the audiences with their skill; it was obvious that American bands and orchestras were no match for them.
American bands improved rapidly in the second half of the nineteenth century. Instruction books were published by mid-century, and as early as 1816 West Point had added an instrumental teacher to the faculty who was also the band director. Gilmore took over the leadership of the 22nd Regimental Band in 1873 and directed it until his death in 1892. He was succeeded by the unlikely personage of Victor Herbert, whose well-loved melodies seem to have been little influenced by the military march. Herbert also conducted the Pittsburgh Symphony. From 1880 until 1892, John Philip Sousa conducted the Marine Band and gave it a national reputation for excellence and original popular marches. Sousa and Gilmore toured extensively, bringing fine performances of both great music and popular music to audiences who had little other opportunity to hear professional concerts. Many fine local bands sprang up. Their repertoire included transcriptions of orchestral favorites, music written especially for band, and vocal and virtuoso solos with band accompaniment. For millions, the local bands represented the only avenue to good music of any sort. The popularity of bands in America pre-WWII can barely be exaggerated. In addition to the civic-sponsored organizations there were department store bands, prison bands, factory bands, lodge bands, and others. Even today the New York City Police Band marches in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
The size and scope of the band movement would not have been possible without the British band libraries. Published arrangements had become possible due to the standardized instrumentation encouraged by Kneller Hall, the Royal Military School of Music. British firms such as Boosey and Company were able to publish “standard” band arrangements of general high quality that stimulated and influenced the course of band music in both Great Britain and the United States.
Standardized instrumentation in the United States came about through the influence of leaders such as Herbert L. Clarke, Albert A. Harding, Frederick Stock, John Philip Sousa, E.F. Goldman, Taylor Branson, and C.M. Tremaine. When national school band contests began in the mid-1920s, the Committee on Instrumental Affairs of the Music Supervisor’s National Conference, which formulated the rules for band contests, instituted severe penalties for those organizations that did not have the recommended instrumentation (about 72 members including alto and bass clarinets), thus assuring standardization.
Although professional bands in America did not find fertile soil of financial support comparable to that of the symphony orchestras, the armed forces have supported a band program of excellence for more than half a century, the Army authorized some instruction positions in the mid-1800s, and the Navy establishing a permanent school of music in 1935. World War II provided the service bands the opportunity to select excellent performers from the 16 million Americans, men and women, serving in the Armed Forces during that period of time. The tradition of excellence continued after
the war as the military musicians found that a career in band performance was both possible and rewarding, and the public had come to expect performance excellence and showmanship from the four military ensembles based in the nation’s capital.
Professional bands in the U.S. not associated with the military enjoyed their golden era from approximately 1900 to 1925. Arthur Pryor, originally a solo trombonist with the Sousa Band, formed his own band in 1902. He, Patrick Conway, Bohumir Kryl, Giuseppe Creatore, and Alessandro Liberati and others found tremendous success touring the country and making recordings. The professional bands, especially Sousa’s, inspired the founding of thousands of community bands.
THE GROWTH OF PUBLIC SCHOOL INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC
The year 1925 marks the end of the professional band era and with it a decline in their numbers, although the Goldman Band and a few radio bands did maintain their popularity. As bands and orchestras had been supported for their entertainment value, the twentieth century brought the radio, the phonograph, the moving picture, and even the automobile as entertainment alternatives. The rise of the symphony orchestra met the needs for good music that the band era had inspired. The band was unable to compete with the symphony in performances of the traditional classics as these suffered when transcribed for band, although A.A. Harding at the University of Illinois made fine transcriptions, often requiring new instruments, for the concert band.
Live music was available from the increasing excellence and popularity of college and public school performing groups. College conservatories and music departments were initiated after the Civil War, perhaps given an impetus by the Peace Jubilees of Gilmore. These conservatories provided instrumental music lessons, often enrolling three or four thousand students. Small orchestras found a place in the public schools, serving as the official group for plays, operettas, commencement exercises, etc. An extracurricular student-run orchestra was formed in Aurora, Illinois, in 1878. Around the turn of the century the outstanding instrumental work of Jessie Clark in Wichita, Kansas (1890), and Will Earhart in Richmond, Indiana, (1898) was evident. Despite the impact of the professional band movement in the last third of the nineteenth century, school bands were generally started after the orchestras. By 1919, 278 orchestras and 88 school bands had been documented. There are references to school bands earlier than this time, but primary emphasis seems to have been on community bands that flourished in nearly every town at the turn of the century, providing town pride. In the first 15 years of the twentieth century, several notable instances of real pioneering may be found. A few schools with vision and foresight were far ahead of the general public in adopting instrumental programs. In Los Angeles in 1904, grade school orchestras were formed to provide good players for the high school organizations. In 1905, A.A. Harding came to the University of Illinois and began a college band program and clinics for high school teachers that set the standard for the next half century. A few years later, around 1912, A.R. McAllister and Charles Peters instituted in Joliet, Illinois, a band program whose reputation for excellence continued for decades. School boards as far apart as Oakland, California, and Rochester, New York, allotted $10,000 and $15,000, respectively, to purchase band and orchestra instruments for their school systems (this in the years 1913 and 1918 when that amount of money was a princely sum). Such instances were the exception, but they provided the leadership and inspiration for others.
The great growth of public school bands after World War I has often been attributed to the war and the attraction of the military during this period. It was believed that musicians who returned home after playing in military bands created an abundant supply of teachers for the schools. This is only partially true. School orchestras and bands abounded before the supposed influx of teachers. A 1919 survey1 of 375 schools showed that most had instrumental ensembles. Bands were present in the schools on Indian Reservations by the turn of the twentieth century, New Orleans had a rich band culture, and the Freedman’s Bureau was supportive of music among African Americans during the Reconstruction. Numerous sociocultural factors contributed to the sudden growth of instrumental music in colleges and public schools. The schools, public and college, broadened their outlook to take in a number of activities not previously within their scope: vocational, athletic, artistic, and recreational. Music became important to competitive athletics, for public relations purpose, and for civic advertisement. Ensembles were often student-led, making documentation difficult—recall that Harvard students organized music for the first graduation in the seventeenth century. Service clubs experienced a sudden growth; the American Bandmasters Association was formed; the Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education were proclaimed by the National Education Association; all of these directly and advantageously affected the school band and orchestra. Youth was changing; students were staying in school longer; most homes had a piano; and school ensembles appealed to them with their color, group spirit, and the chance for recognition. Instrumental music and Dewey’s progressive education were a natural fit.
Bands have always marched and they continue to do so. The primary purpose of the military band was to march into battle or to perform for those who were marching. The first college bands (shortly after the Civil War) were small military organizations supported by the military departments in the land-grant institutions. When these bands became associated with Schools of Music, their size increased. With Harding’s 1925 initiation of homecoming at the University of Illinois and the integration of a half-time show into this event, the growth of the marching band was assured. Music
and showmanship combined to fill the continuing need in American culture for entertainment. For most Americans, the high school and college marching band continues as an essential component because of its role in local parades and sporting events and its prominence in televised holiday events. The drum corps and its competitions draw enormous community support and they have a U.S. fan base deeper today than U.S. professional soccer.
With the introduction of music into the curriculum came the problem of credits, a problem that continues today. The members of the very early groups, from the Farm and Trade Band of Boston Harbor in 1858 to those existing at the end of the century, usually met after school hours and received no academic recognition or credit. As far as we know, the first instance of students receiving credit for school music was in Richmond, Indiana, in 1905, whereby students gained one-half credit for playing in the orchestra that met after school. The following year Osborne McConathy in Chelsea, Massachusetts, secured school credit for students who took music lessons after school from private teachers. In 1920, Charles McCray in Parsons, Kansas, gained both school time for the orchestra and credit for participation.
The next major innovation in school music occurred in 1923 when the instrument manufacturers sponsored a national band contest in Chicago as a promotional device. As with Gilmore’s Jubilees, the commercial venture proved to be a powerful influence, and the success of the contest was unquestionable. The manufacturers wisely turned the management of future contests over to the school. State contests were held in Kansas in 1912 and by 1925 were coordinated by a Committee on Instrumental Affairs of the Music Supervisors National Conference. The first school-sponsored national contest was held in 1926 in Fostoria, Ohio. The competitive spirit of the American people insured the immediate success of the contests; as with athletic competition and debate tournaments, the American community had a chance to test its superiority against its neighbors in a music contest. The history of the contest became the history of the school band.
At almost the same time, school orchestras received impetus from a different source—the formation of a national high school orchestra. Joseph Maddy—who made an outstanding reputation as a high school orchestra conductor in Kansas, New York, Indiana, and Michigan, and who started orchestral tryouts and high school vocational music programs— took his orchestras to conventions where they could be heard. The response to the Parsons, Kansas orchestra at the Music Supervisors National Conference in 1921 inspired him to form a National Conference Orchestra for Detroit in 1926. Accordingly, he advertised in music journals and from 400 applications selected 238 students for the orchestra. The performance for the conference was of such quality that Maddy was invited to form a second national student orchestra to play for the 1927 Dallas meeting of the Department of Superintendence, the official national organization of school superintendents. The audience of school superintendents was highly impressed by the orchestra’s performance and passed this resolution:
We would record our full appreciation of the fine musical programs and art exhibits in connection with this convention. They are good evidence that we are rightly coming to regard music, art, and other similar subjects as fundamental in the education of American children. We recommend that everywhere they be given equal consideration and support with other basic subjects.2
The resolution resulted in the initiation of hundreds of instrumental programs in schools across the country. Music was the “new thing” established as a worthwhile area deserving both school time and credit. Maddy organized a third national orchestra for the 1928 Music Supervisors National Conference in Chicago. Administrators at these conventions were impressed by the healthy experiences of students working together; the excellent discipline (much of which Maddy had learned from T.P. Giddings); and those by-products of citizenship, health, and useful recreation that were considered important school outcomes at this time. The reform or technical schools for delinquent adolescents (ages 12–17) emphasized instrumental music; the Lansing, Michigan reform (technical) school band won the Class B National Band Contest in 1939. Thus the success of Maddy’s orchestra coincided with the requisite cultural and social conditions of the time to bring about music’s firm establishment in the schools.
Superintendents and music supervisors returned home from the conventions to find that administrative problems were involved in setting up instrumental programs. In the smaller schools there were too few students to support both a band and an orchestra; financial support for two instrumental groups added a sizable amount to the budget. Because the same musical and extramusical values were claimed by both, the band took precedence over the orchestra partly because of its greater flexibility, greater usefulness to the community and to athletics, and its greater appeal to youth. The relationship between public performance and support was established; often the community and school parents assumed ownership of the prizewinning band.
The influence of the band instrument manufacturers, music publishers, and the uniform companies should not be overlooked nor discounted. They provided temporary funding for school band directors’ salaries and offered attractive instrumental rental and purchase programs. They actively supported contests and supplied financial aid to Joseph Maddy in the founding of the National Music Camp at Interlochen, Michigan. It was not only the students who were inspired by the national orchestra; Maddy saw Interlochen as a continuation of this program for the gifted.
Since 1946, the industry has sponsored an annual instrumental clinic in Chicago to introduce new literature and products to teachers and provide a venue for school ensembles to perform before large numbers of music educators. The clinic provides an opportunity for sharing of experiences, musical and administrative. Many outstanding bands and orchestras are not fully school-supported; funds for travel, uniforms, and instruments often have to be raised by the community. Ideas are also exchanged about state and district policies that impact upon rehearsal time and academic credit.
With the formation of the Eastman Wind Ensemble by Frederick Fennell in 1952, a new literature for bands was promulgated. Fennell promoted ensembles which performed music organized for the exact instrumentation specified by the composer, only one student on a part, playing original music written for winds. The idea of one-on-a-part wind instrument experiences enhanced the education arguments for school bands; extensive lists of excellent, usable literature were collected and distributed at clinics and workshops. Newly commissioned music became plentiful. The wind ensemble’s commitment to increasing repertoire original to the wind band, and, to a certain extent, renewed interest in the British brass band, balanced the influence of the concert band into the twenty-first century. School orchestras prospered with the formation of community youth orchestras and continued to have the advantage of a large repertoire of good music, including much contemporary music being commissioned by the 30 or so truly professional orchestras. Shinichi Suzuki was primarily responsible for demonstrating the viability of string instrument instruction at an early age and the advantages of continued participation. The “Suzuki movement” created and has sustained the present interest of American parents in string instruction for their children. Beginning about 1958, this movement grew steadily, influencing private string instruction more than any methodology being taught in the public schools. Interested parents request a Suzuki teacher, rather than a violin instructor, “Suzuki” becoming synonymous with string instruction. The methodology has spread to other instruments, primarily piano and flute, but is best known for its major contribution to string education. There is also an international El Sistema movement to introduce music, primarily strings, into disadvantaged and multicultural schools. Again, program visibility is important with tours of the Venezuela El Sistema Orchestra and the advocacy of Gustavo Dudamel, conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and a graduate of the Venezuelan program.
The small instrumental ensemble has existed throughout the history of instrumental music. Chamber music, however, can be traced primarily to the Renaissance period, although examples are to be found in the Middle Ages. Cultural changes, including public and university societies, aristocratic connoisseurs, and the improvement of instruments, provided a favorable climate for chamber music. All composers wrote for small ensembles, much of the music dependent upon the musicians and instruments available. Brass choirs (tower music) were important ensembles to the Gabrielis and others; string ensembles were popular in the more intimate palace settings. As with large ensembles, improvement of instruments affected the quality and quantity of small ensemble music to a greater extent than the influence of any composer or exemplary small ensemble. On occasion, a composer has been more daring in his or her music for the small ensemble, but for the most part, small ensemble literature parallels the literature of the large ensembles. (Vocal ensembles were likely an important influence on the acceptance and popularity of instrumental chamber music.)
The public school music program has long championed small ensembles as a means of continued participation after graduation, and it may have even stronger educational advantages than the wind ensemble, and as a source of motivation. The ensemble program has been, however, largely an out-of-school experience, with students receiving no academic credit for participation. In the latter twentieth century, the most visible small ensemble was the school stage band and later the jazz band. More recently, these have been joined by guitar, ukulele, mariachi, garage band, iPad ensembles, and other small groups. The general policy for all ensembles has been for membership to be limited to students formally enrolled in a large ensemble, but the exceptions are now numerous. The public school music contests have consistently allowed private piano students to participate, thus increasing the futility of the struggle to limit access to a “select” experience to those students enrolled in school music courses. One may have jazz as a college music major, a drum kit as the major instrument, and limited, if any, participation in any large ensemble. Schools with eight or more periods in the school day may be able to schedule these small ensembles (sometimes instructional time is available with block scheduling), but scheduling remains an issue for a variety of ensembles.
According to the American Groves Dictionary, jazz cannot be categorized as folk, popular, or art, as it shares commonalities with all three types of music. It represents a culmination of influences from the African and American cultures. The recreating and improvising of counter-rhythms is an African contribution, whereas Paul Whiteman’s contribution was to meld these creative improvisations with traditional music forms. The history of jazz is a continuing search for a balance between the influence of Western classical music and that of native African music, as the music of Whiteman and Jelly Roll Morton illustrate. The balance issue also pertains to ethnic ensembles, dance, mummers, rock, steel, techno, baroque consorts, as music educators struggle with the continuing problem of all ensembles of defining good music in every style and genre.
Instrumental music students are as competent and knowledgeable now as at any time in the history of music. School budget cuts have had minimal impact on teaching and learning music; more than 500 “magnet” arts schools have been established for those students who need music in their lives. The applied music major in universities and conservatories has expanded exponentially in the last decade with auditions for major symphony orchestra positions, an Olympic-level
international competition. The American public desires quality in its music entertainment and shows evidence of continuing support for creative and innovative programs of quality. Symphony orchestras depend upon local support. The National Endowment for the Arts contributes about four percent of its budget toward their support. Youth symphonies are dependent upon local support, with some affiliated with the local symphony. Programming is locally determined. There is only military support for the national service ensembles. The Kennedy Center has been designated by Congress as the support agency for education. There are, however numerous advocacy and support organizations. The National Association of Music Merchants has long been a major voice, including having a non-voting member on the voluntary national music standards committee. The Guitar Center is the largest instrumental music retailer. There are musician’s unions, professional organizations, and major foundations involved with audience development and education. The Arts Education Partnership is an association of more than 100 arts organizations including the lobbying organization, Americans for the Arts. With no national policy, the history of instrumental music continues to be multifaceted. Yet, the popularity of instrumental ensembles in the United States continues to demonstrate deep cultural and social roots in both school and society.
RESOURCES
Website
A History of the Wind Band lipscomb.edu/windbandhistory
Texts
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NOTES
1.McConathy, O., K. Gehrkens and E.B. Birge (1921). Present status of music instruction in colleges and high schools, 1919–20. Bulletin of the Department of the Interior Bureau of Education, 9.
2.Birge, E.B. (1928/1966). History of Public School Music in the United States, new ed. Washington, DC: Music Educators National Conference.
Teaching and the Role of Motivation Hard Work Beats Talent When Talent Doesn’t Work Hard
We begin this chapter with words that describe the thrust of a chapter on motivation. Human motivation is complex and influenced by factors known and unknown. Individuals differ, the environment differs, and it appears that metacognition is an essential component. Part one of this chapter portrays research that may be applicable to some students in some teaching situations, while part two provides ideas shown to be successful for motivating students in music learning.
Motivation is internal and most educators believe that you can’t motivate another individual. This doesn’t mean that you don’t remind students to “get with the program”; reminders are always important. There appears to be a parallel with the research of Gary McPherson, Susan Hallam, and others in music education with the research of Carol Dweck on growth or mastery mindset and Angela Duckworth’s concept of grit. There is no indication that using their findings will materially improve learning and that all students will become self-motivated, though one can better understand individual differences in the learning process. The research in music education has been focused on motivation to improve but also to remain in instrumental music through high school and beyond. McPherson, Davidson, and Faulkner (2012) devote their text, Music in Our Lives, to describing motivation through student identity in instrumental music. There are no data on motivation for listening, composing, improvising, critiquing, and other musical activities.
Motivation is also generation-specific. “Millennials” are challenging hierarchical structures. They are open to change, crave constant feedback (recognition), and want to make an impact on others while living a balanced life. Human behavior is motivated from both within and without.
The most successful teachers of instrumental music are those whose musicianship and knowledge enable them to produce good performances of good music, and whose understanding of student motivation encourages enthusiastic participation on the part of their students, leading to greater development of their musical skills. Marin Alsop, conductor of the Baltimore Symphony, and Tom O’Halloran, a successful instrumental music teacher in Carlisle, Massachusetts, agree that personal relationships are the basis for understanding teacher–student psychology and student motivation. The teacher needs to know the passion of each student.
It is important to discuss motivation in this text because the relationships and rapport established between student(s) and teacher will do much to distinguish successful from unsuccessful teaching outcomes. We outline the most recent thinking about motivation theory and provide a host of motivation suggestions used in the best rehearsal rooms and classrooms. Because all students are not alike, observing over time what motivates each student will be an interesting journey enhancing your teaching success.
A successful teacher initially establishes respect by being knowledgeable and helpful, the two essential components in a positive personal relation with each student. Related to respect is trust, a deeper personal relationship between student and teacher. Trust is so important that it exists at various levels in all organizations, and strengthens over time through meaningful experiences. It is never quickly gained. Instrumental music is both a team and individual accomplishment: the greater the trust between teacher, peers, and students, the greater the potential for musical excellence. The students must have confidence in the teacher’s knowledge and musicianship. However, trust extends beyond the ability to conduct, and the list of factors that contribute to trust is lengthy. William Tierney has written extensively about trust, suggesting that trust is not innate, that it depends on the competence of the trusted (the teacher), and that it can be neither coerced nor commanded. The trustworthy teacher selects appropriate and challenging music, provides help, makes fair decisions, follows the rules and regulations set forth in the handbook, acts on the student’s behalf, has integrity and a sense of humor, knows what is important and what is trivial, and more! Instrumental music teachers often become confidants of students when students recognize that the hard work required to become competent performers pays off due to the teachers’ ability to meld the efforts of the many into a satisfying whole.
More is needed than a solid understanding of the instruments and how to validly assess students. Good teachers can inspire students, and effective teachers continue to hone this skill by improving their understanding of student psychology and the culture of the classroom and school. Some motivational strategies work well with the entire group while others work uniquely well with individual students. Teachers are successful when they understand that the individuals in any group may vary because of home life, talents, past experiences, kinds of parental support, and specific socioeconomic situations. Students with equal ability and experience, but differing in their motivation (more on this in a moment), will respond differently to failure and success in the classroom.
A master instrumental teacher must be inspirational, a good musician, have skill at modeling, have a sense of humor, use good judgment, be a self-starter, and vary the teaching routine. Are these qualities sufficient? No, the teacher must be broadly educated, be disposed to hard work, be patient and persistent, understand the purpose of schooling, work cooperatively, care about each and every student, be politically savvy, and more! Instrumental music is about personal excellence, relationships between teachers and peers, and the enjoyment that music brings. Students want to be with others and to be accepted. We all wish to possess high self-esteem and competence and to feel that others have confidence in us. Self-esteem is related to motivation but not to achievement. Imparting knowledge about Stravinsky is a matter of teacher clarity and competence, but leading students to perform Stravinsky well is the domain of motivation.
The psychologist Csikszentmihalyi suggests that tasks in themselves can be motivating. Students can become so interested in pursuing a task (for example, learning their lesson or part) that they lose all track of time, and, if interrupted, can’t wait to return to the task. Csikszentmihalyi calls this behavior “flow”. Teachers seek tasks that encourage flow and that relate to course objectives.
PART I: RESEARCH
Pintrich and Schunk (2002) state that professionals disagree over what motivation is, what affects it, how the process operates, its effects on learning and performance, and how it can be improved.1 Motivational theory strives to clarify the cognitive and affective processes that initiate and sustain action by studying how these processes operate as goals, expectations, attributions, values, and emotions.2 One of the most important processes is self-efficacy and the belief that one can be successful.3 Self-efficacy motivates behavior primarily through perseverance4 and supports one of the components of grit. Self-concept comprises perceptions of personal competence in general, or in a domain like academic, social, or motor skills while self-efficacy refers to personal belief that one is able to learn or perform.5 Motivation is presently an important issue, as the National Research Council estimates that as many as 50 percent of high school students are disengaged and bored. Motivation and the desire to learn decreases as one progresses through school. We trust this is not true in instrumental music.
Achieving competence is more than establishing teacher–student rapport; parents, the community, private teachers, and the school administration all are involved. Differences in the community and school cultures shape the conduct of instruction, affecting the rehearsal situation, as well as the priority of objectives, standards, and teaching strategies. Group motivation may be more important in instrumental music than in math and language arts classes and it may well be the most important ability a teacher can possess. Because group motivation is greatly influenced by each individual’s motivation, it is impossible to separate the two.
The normal research strategy to test the effect of interventions to improve motivation seems to be declining in favor of identifying which cognitive components affect competence. These components include maintenance of the working memory, incentives, task-switching, selective attention, episodic memory, decision-making, social awareness, selfefficacy, power, and more. Educators have added soft skills to desired outcomes that include the ability to accept feedback, to work collaboratively, manage time, communicate, be flexible, and relate to others. Music which includes soft and hard skills is a candidate to be included as one of the nonacademic measures to be used in judging school performance. Soft skills also include emotional intelligence, social and emotional learning, the personal qualities of character, virtue, trust, and truth as well as non-cognitive skills.
Goal Orientation
The study of individual motivation is currently centered on “goal orientation theory,” a way of understanding motivation that provides a framework for the students’ motivational orientations as well as for the learning environment, to attain cognitive, affective, and behavioral goals. Having clear and well-understood goals by every member of a class has been established as a critical component in education. Goals are critical because they organize, encourage control, and direct action. A student’s goal to have a “perfect” lesson requires him or her to organize a practice schedule, to control it by staying focused on the most difficult material, and to direct action into daily practicing. When the goal is attained, the student experiences a sense of competence and avoids all of the negatives that accompany a feeling of incompetence.
Motivation is a psychological construct which attempts to answer why people do what they do. In the twenty-first century there is more emphasis on cognition as opposed to innate drives. Motivation scholars desire to understand the
mind as beliefs, values, attitudes, and intentions explain much of human behavior. Conscious intentional behavior is based on goals with the cognitive and metacognitive processes of planning, evaluating, strategizing, making decisions, and monitoring one’s progress. Thus, intrinsically motivated individuals see themselves as the cause of their own behavior, in charge of their life. The goals and aims that individuals strive to attain are related to their identity, self-concept, selfefficacy, and what they believe is possible for them. Goal orientation theory is designed to explain competence–incompetence and achievement in terms of self-theories and self-efficacy. Both of these insightful theories help capture much of what occurs or should occur in the music teaching-learning situation.
Carol Dweck’s motivation research found that the American population is about equally divided about what they believe motivates their desire to earn. About 40 percent of the population desires mastery of subject matter and seeks challenging tasks despite the possibility of failure. These individuals sign up for extra instruction in their weak areas and receive more satisfaction in individually mastering a task than in attaining recognition for it. A second group of individuals (another 40 percent) focuses on performance goals. These individuals are motivated to perform better than others and to win at competitions; they avoid any necessary extra instruction and work. They cram for examinations, select easy tasks over challenging ones, and avoid situations where they won’t look good. Individuals in this second group are excellent at rationalizing failure. A third group, about 20 percent of the population, is related to the second group. Individuals in this group either have no desire to achieve or perform or they shift back and forth from one orientation to the other; their focus is on performance-avoidance goals, that is, avoiding any tasks that demonstrate low or inferior ability.
Dweck’s research is fascinating; why can’t we inspire all students to have a mastery orientation? Dweck suggests that change is possible, but slow and difficult. Everyone uses both mastery and performance when the occasion calls; what is desired is for the emphasis to be on mastery. When success in change has been possible, subjects reflected on strategies used, and learned how, what kind, and when to seek help. Some of this may be genetic as with the Big Five. (Researchers presently believe that about 40 percent of the competency in the Big Five is heritable. These five relate to personality and are: openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.) The hope is that better teaching will facilitate change, providing better feedback, teaching for understanding, capitalizing on the benefits from failure, and providing for second chances.
Self-theories
A clear example of self-theories affecting motivation can be found in beliefs about intelligence. Mastery or growth students believe that IQ is changeable—i.e., that they can improve—whereas performance students believe that IQ or a skill is fixed and that they must do the best they can with the intelligence they inherited. A similar and perhaps more extreme example in regard to musical aptitude is the belief that one either has or does not have a “talent” for music, and not having “talent” is often an excuse used by those who fail to achieve competence or drop out of instrumental music instruction. The implication of this theory for instrumental music teachers is that members of performing groups are or should be primarily mastery students who believe that competence in band and orchestra is due to effort more than ability. When mastery students “mess up,” they willingly accept and seek help; they practice, participate in sectionals, and solicit music that is even more challenging, within reason, than they are expected to know—all to ensure success. Selecting the “just-right” challenging music is what educators call the zone of proximal development, after a theory of Lev Vygotsky. Hattie and Yates state that “we are motivated by knowledge gaps, but put off by knowledge chasms.”6 Practicing “just-right” music is what motivation is all about. Lori Custodero found that four- and five-year-olds can become deeply involved with music accompanied with a high self-concept, a perceived challenge, and active engagement.7 They reflect on their performance, and self-criticize. Growth mindset seems to be related to social awareness, self-efficacy, and self-management. These students come to school prepared (self-management). They see themselves being all they can be.
If performance students “mess up,” they attribute such failure to a lack of talent, to bad luck, to teacher prejudice or incompetence, or to a host of other rationalizations. They will also attempt to find ways to avoid being put in the same situation a second time. An understanding of self-theories in motivation helps teachers to recognize and make use of the students’ reactions as fitting one of these three self-theories in motivation. Successful teaching encourages students to think like mastery students, minimizing “cramming” before a concert. If the teacher criticizes mastery students on a difficult task, the students think that the teacher believes they have the skill and competence to succeed. If the teacher praises mastery students on an easy task, these students will think the teacher believes they have minimal ability and competence, and intrinsic motivation is weakened. Praise on simple tasks is counterproductive. The insightful teacher needs to observe all students to see whether they attend carefully to instructions, identify tasks, mentally organize, rehearse, mark their music, check for understanding, and ask for guidance. Teacher comments on these observations reinforce mastery learning. (A little performance or fixed mindset can be helpful in performance situations, growth becomes less important.)
There is mixed evidence on successful teaching of growth mindset. The student and teacher must both be able to identify during feedback learning strategies used and desired. Educators call this self-assessment or metacognition. Other
conditions must be aligned as well. For instance, it is important for students to believe that they are in charge of their own learning and that each has practicing choices.
The research of Angela Duckworth on “grit” relates to mastery learning, in that grit is enhanced by the same strategies. Grit is having passion for a goal, and the persistence necessary for its successful attainment. Students must believe that if they exert sufficient effort they can become competent in goals they value. Grit and mastery learning are basic to learning musical skills as practice is necessary; whether 10,000 hours are necessary for most of us is another matter, but skills require a lot. Successful instrumental students obviously have grit, whether “it” is sufficient and of the right kind to maximize motivation and should be encouraged is a teaching decision. With mastery learning and grit, both desirable, educators and others want to improve them and measure them. Self-assessment is a possibility but not a strong tool. All parties must agree on the meaning of each word.8 Teaching involves praise, which is often inappropriate in elementary music. Alfie Kohn asserts that praise diminishes intrinsic motivation. Praising student abilities, especially group praise such as “I like the way you are singing,” is a double negative. It puts students in a fixed mindset and students come to believe that their effort is to please the teacher, not their own learning. Hattie and Yates (2014) found that praise has no positive impact on learning. Praising talent, “you’re so musical,” drives students to adopting a performance mindset.
PART II: MOTIVATION STRATEGIES IN MUSIC
Paul Evans and Gary McPherson9 conducted a ten-year study of children’s musical identity, their instrumental practice, and subsequent achievement and motivation for playing music. The independent variable was the student’s self-response prior to the treatment, aged 7–9, as to how long they thought they would continue to play their instrument which is a measure of musical identity. The sample size was 157 students throughout Australia. Parents reported on the practice habits of their child for the first three years. Performance was measured by the Watkins–Farnum Performance Test. The researchers were also interested in sight-reading, aural skills, and improvisation. Those with a long-term view practiced more (at least for the first three years), had higher achievement, and remained longer in an instrumental music program. The authors argue that having a sense of where their future learning might take them was more important than practice and self-regulation. Growth mindset is based on convincing students that mastery is possible, but it takes effort. The research results reported here are based on valid research on instrumental music students in Australia and Great Britain, and should apply to some U.S. programs. They found that students aged 5–7 had developed an ability to understand and articulate their present identities, values, and abilities which were important as practice may not be inherently enjoyable or intrinsically motivating per se.10 The culture was important, as students attending schools with an enriched band program scored 2.6 times higher on the Australian Music Examinations Board.
There is similarity to the work of Duckworth, who studied cadets who might have dropped out of West Point. The questions that predicted dropout at West Point had the responses “I finish whatever I begin” and “setbacks don’t discourage me.” The cadet responded with either “not at all like me,” or “very much like me.” To determine a student’s self-regulation in music education, McPherson asked these questions: “When I’m practicing, I prefer to be reminded,” “When I’m practicing, I think about other things,” “When I practice, I run through pieces,” and “I don’t always make myself practice when I should.” McPherson’s interest in self-regulation was in long-term musical identity which he found to have 11 dimensions: persistence, planning, practice management, anxiety, failure avoidance, uncertain control, disengagement, self-efficacy, mastery orientation, valuing of music, and self-handicapping.
Age does make a difference. Teachers of the very young need to be warm and sympathetic. Gradually this particular support is withdrawn as students assume responsibility for their own learning. Developing and sustaining motivation may be one of the most difficult aspects of learning to play a musical instrument, as skills and abilities develop slowly and only with considerable effort, compared to expectations of themselves and their parents. Making music is intrinsically enjoyable and linked to one’s social identity and sense of self. One hopes for practicing passion and persistence as reported by adolescents with computer games. McPherson and O’Neill (2010) found that students in Western countries rated their abilities in music much lower than their abilities in other subjects, and that perception of competence declines faster in music than for other subjects throughout adolescence. In a ranking of music with other subjects with other countries, the U.S. ranks at the bottom on values and is tied with two other countries in task difficulty. Students perceive the cost in terms of effort, anxiety, and stress. Values from early life are relatively resilient.
Motivation in middle school accounts for as much variance in one’s high school grades as do middle school grades. Sixty-nine percent of these students say that schools fail to motivate them. Thus, this percentage represents performance belief, and not a belief in self-motivation on subjects of importance. The kind of music a child plays and listens to contributes to the way s/he sees himself/herself and the role of music in their social world. Musical tastes are important. Self-esteem is related to motivation but not to achievement. In the UK, 48 percent of 5- and 6-year-olds express an interest in playing an instrument; by the age of 7 it has dropped to 25 percent; and at age 11, only 4 percent.11 Ability and effort seem about the same until the age of 11 or 12. At this age students understand that those with less ability
have to try harder, with the accompanying understanding that performance on examinations is due to amount of effort.12 In adolescence, the teen brain is uniquely wired for sensation behaviors.
Self-efficacy, including Self-concept, Self-esteem, and Self-regulation in Music
Self-concept
Playing an instrument is an individual competency, and the student’s perception of how well he or she can learn is important in self-motivation. Motivational psychologists discuss the desire to learn in terms of self-concept, the belief one has in one’s own general competence. Often self-concept is limited to whether individuals believe themselves to have talent, and, in this respect, self-concept is directly related to performance goals.
Self-esteem
While perceptions of competence are based on cognitive judgments of skill, knowledge, and abilities, self-esteem is the student’s emotional reaction to his or her own competence. Self-esteem (or self-worth) affects learning, as a student’s positive perception (attribution) of competence helps that student surmount difficulties and sustain motivation, thus contributing to mastery learning. The student’s perception of what constitutes competence will largely determine his or her level of aspiration for both individual and group goals.
Self-regulation, Self-control, or Self-efficacy
Albert Bandura (1997) promoted the concept of self-efficacy, which deemphasizes the importance of natural ability. Much of the work of Gary McPherson is based on Bandura’s self-efficacy. Bandura believes that students’ mental effort should focus on the fundamentals of learning, and he argues that learning is not primarily influenced by environment (socioeconomic situation and more) or inner impulses (talent), but rather by a student’s ability to reflect, be proactive, be organized, and be self-regulating. Thus, Bandura’s concept of self-efficacy is similar to a mastery orientation in selftheories. It determines how individuals feel, think, behave, and motivate themselves to master challenging tasks. Selfefficacy is negatively affected by stress. One’s experience, role models, peer group, and emotional state influence the approach one takes to any task in life. One is not born with a sense of self but learns that actions produce effects. This learning continues throughout life, with different priorities becoming important at different stages in life. As one ages, life requires different types of competencies that, in turn, require further development of self-efficacy.
Students often consciously decide on the extent to which they can be successful and whether the goal is worth the effort that will be required. Self-efficacy depends not only on motivation but also on whether one already has a reservoir of knowledge and skills that will make achieving the goal possible. When the goal seems attractive and attainable, the task itself becomes motivating and one experiences “flow.” Student violinists might hear Joshua Bull perform a Beethoven concerto and be inspired (self-efficacy) to apply their present knowledge and skills to learning that same concerto. The students’ organizing, reflecting, and regulating are aided when the teacher provides appropriate feedback and helps establish intermediate performance goals that are challenging yet feasible. The basic premise of self-regulation is that the students take control of their own learning; the terms self-efficacy, self-concept, self-regulation, and selfcontrol, as used in the literature on motivation, all refer to the various ways in which students: (1) analyze the task, the environment, and the resources required (including the needed time for learning); (2) adopt appropriate strategies; (3) understand their own tolerance and persistence levels; and (4) judge the tasks to be important. These various mental appraisals should become habitual and should occur almost automatically.
Total self-learning in music is rare and, despite self-learning theories, teachers and critics retain a vital role in providing feedback, identifying errors and misconceptions, and originating new learning and new techniques. Music majors understand the importance of continued private instruction and the role of coaches, along with self-motivation (hard work). And, to repeat, musical competence is also shaped by the influence of students’ backgrounds, the environment, teachers, peers, parents, the community, and more.
The Instrumental Music Classroom
Developing pride in a musical organization is an important component in motivation. There need be nothing “second class” about school ensembles. Good music can and should be performed well at any age—having challenging musical standards (an aspect of motivation) is a critical component of being an effective teacher. It is simply not true, however, that good music in itself furnishes sufficient motivation for students. The teacher must understand the students and also his or her own role in helping students take responsibility for their own learning. This idea is not terribly surprising to a student in instrumental music. In other school subjects, ideas about motivation and self-efficacy have altered teachers’
perceptions of their responsibility and relationship to students. These motivational theories have been successfully applied to individuals; presently the school reform movement is advocating the use of these same principles throughout entire classes and schools. They are asking all faculty members to understand self-theories and to use them to establish challenging goals, to focus on the needs and backgrounds of individual students, and to apply mastery learning and self-efficacy to entire classrooms.
The one-on-one relationships established in the rehearsal situation depend on the principles of motivation that are, in turn, dependent on students having certain musical knowledge and skills. Any music teaching, whether of an individual or a group, has as its aim the development of musical independence, which consists of knowledge, good practice habits, technical proficiency, and musical understanding. To accomplish this goal in a group situation, both individual and group goals are necessary, as are the means to attain these goals. The following pages contain suggestions that can aid students in achieving self-motivation and group motivation that will work in various situations. These suggestions are divided into the categories of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.
Intrinsic Motivation
The study of motivation consists of identifying why individuals invest personal resources in attaining a goal. The reasons are multiple and change over time, but are usually categorized as being either intrinsic or extrinsic. Extrinsic motivation is easier to understand; it consists of desire for a tangible reward—a prize, a compliment, first chair, or the avoidance of an unpleasant situation, and so forth. As individuals vary in motivational strengths and in the value they place on various rewards, individual observation is required to determine the motivational strength of external rewards for each student. Intrinsic motivation, on the other hand, derives from the experience—emotional, mental, or physical—that occurs within the individual. There is no apparent external reward to be gained from the effort expended.
High Quality Music
The music itself should be the central motivating force for any musical learning, though it is rarely the only factor. To furnish genuine motivation, music must be of high quality for poor music soon becomes tiresome and boring. Also, poor music is so easily available to students on CDs, iPods, or television that they do not need to participate in school music groups in order to find it. Teachers are tempted to make one of two mistakes regarding the quality of the music to be used. The first is to use popular commercial music on the assumption that it will interest students. The fallacy in this approach is that the basic goal of developing a discriminating love of good music can never be reached, even though students may acquire considerable performing skill. The second mistake is to set unrealistically high standards for the music used. To use high-quality music does not necessarily mean to use only classic literature music. The skillful teacher begins where the students are, selecting music that will appeal to them at their present level of understanding and gradually introducing them to more sophisticated music as they become ready for it. Understanding the meaning of the music is as important as cognitive and psychomotor readiness. Using a variety of types of music is more satisfying than a steady diet of one kind, and students can learn to judge between varying qualities. As long as the music is well written, challenges the students with something new, has genuine musical worth, and is not trite or shallow—in short, as long as it broadens the students’ appreciation—it is good music and should be used.
A Wide Musical Repertoire
New music is the most obvious way to maintain interest. Even if the individual or the group is not able to perform frequently rehearsed music perfectly, there comes a time when a change is necessary. Nothing brings on boredom faster than working continually on the same few pieces or trudging wearily over the same exercise until all is perfected. If a long period of time is needed to learn a piece well, the selection is probably too difficult. The exercises should also be of varied levels of difficulty. This wide variety not only helps maintain interest but also can contribute to the sightreading and interpretive abilities of the learners. This principle holds for both individual and group instruction. The inclusion of jazz and mariachi music, along with instruction in improvisation are examples of methods for changing the pace of rehearsals. Limiting students’ musical experiences to a single method or style contributes to a loss of interest.
A Clear and Attainable Goal
All students should know why they are practicing and what their objective is. Similarly, teachers should make clear in rehearsals where they are leading the group. Like the proverbial carrot in front of the donkey, the goal should be visible; unlike the carrot, it should be attainable. Teachers must have long-range goals that shape their planning and programming, but short-range goals are also necessary.
For the greatest effectiveness, a goal must be specific and cooperatively established with the students. If the group is working toward a concert performance, members will put forth more effort if the date has been set and the music selected. When time is given to drills, sight-reading, listening, or factual or technical learning, students will respond more readily if they know the purpose of the activity and its priority in the time available. The goal should be modeled
for students to help them understand both how it should be accomplished and what the desired performance level is. It is especially important that skills be correctly modeled, as students are inclined to decide based on their own level of mastery. With the clarification of these goals and skills, individual and group errors can be used as an opportunity for learning.
Technical Drills Using Real Music
Scales, studies, and exercises should anticipate the difficult spots in the music being learned. Until students encounter a particular technical problem in a piece of music, they will see little reason for practicing exercises designed to give them that facility. Treat technical studies like vitamins that are to be taken as needed but never as the main ingredient of the diet. As with all rules, the exceptions are many—for example, producing long tones and extending students’ range should be daily habits, as are warming up and warming down.
This is not to suggest that technical studies be omitted—far from it. Because technical drills focus on particular kinds of learning, they can help students become technically proficient much more rapidly than they would if only musical pieces were practiced. Artists continue to practice exercises in the classic texts for their instrument. Drill needs to be meaningful and relevant, but if omitted altogether, the individual and the group will suffer.
Musicianship Skills and Factual Knowledge
Factual knowledge about music and the ability to perform skills of musicianship, such as transposing, reading several clefs, and improvising, are both goals of the music program and real motivators. Like good music, skill and knowledge have intrinsic value and furnish valid goals for motivation. Students like to know, for instance, the problems that doublereed players have with reeds—how difficult they are to make, how scarce good cane is, and how much adjusting is necessary. They can be interested and inspired by details about composers and about the music—how a fugue is put together, the background for a Wagner composition, or the type of social system in which Haydn lived and worked. The more students know and the more they can do in any area, the more they are likely to retain a lively, active interest in it. Encourage students to enroll in Advanced Placement (AP) music theory. Teaching appropriate concepts from AP theory to the entire ensemble is valuable, as all students understand the relevance of AP courses.
A Tradition of Excellence
Music programs with a reputation for quality provide a momentum that motivates students to practice and minimizes discipline problems. When there is an established standard to attain, students usually accept the challenge. High school students are idealistic and take pride in doing things well. They can derive satisfaction from meeting high standards in both personal and group achievement; they develop loyalties toward individuals and organizations that expect much of them and enjoy living up to those expectations. Students taking private lessons seek out demanding teachers, knowing that their effort will be rewarded with higher skills and a more successful performance.
A tradition of excellence is not established overnight. If a teacher moves into a school without such a tradition, he or she must build it by starting with the younger students. Older players unaccustomed to high standards will resist drastic reforms and may retain their habits of sloppy practice or halfhearted participation. Sometimes such students respond to the challenge from younger players who begin to surpass them and occupy first-chair positions. Sometimes the best way of dealing with these students is to be patient and wait for them to graduate.
Independent Musical Activities
Try to arrange schedules and assignments to make it possible for students to work together toward a common goal. Practicing alone can be boring and take considerable self-discipline, whereas working on parts with other students is much more enjoyable, especially for students who play such non-melody instruments as tubas and horns. Two or three students practicing together, all on the same part or each on a different part, can increase the pleasure of the participants as well as help develop musicianship.
Supply duets, trios, and other kinds of ensemble music to interested students. Whether the group remains together for a long period or simply reads through the music a few times, such activity should be encouraged. A good library of ensemble music representing a variety of instrumental combinations and levels of difficulty is essential in a good instrumental program.
Students should be encouraged to study piano, guitar, or a second instrument because variety makes music more fun and because of the valuable insights obtained by viewing the same musical problems through a different lens.
Small Ensembles
The small chamber group presents the greatest musical challenge, the best training, the most individual responsibility, and the highest musical pleasure of any activity. Special problems involved in establishing small ensembles include scheduling, grouping students of similar levels of ability, and helping the groups become independent of teacher supervision. To create an ensemble of students whose levels of ability are comparable is perhaps possible only in a large school. In
smaller schools the group will usually be uneven, and the more advanced students will have to wait for or even help those less advanced. This situation can have learning advantages, if it is properly handled to avoid resentment or antagonism. The learning derived from small ensemble work is likely to be more valuable if the teacher does not have to regularly supervise rehearsal. It is important to promote an atmosphere in which independent rehearsal is desirable and expected. It is also an opportunity for students to develop leadership. With musical independence, students may seek ensemble experiences in the community, with students in neighboring schools, or with friends who are not enrolled in school music. It is the decision of the individual teacher whether small ensembles perform in public, go to festivals and contests, or play only for their own pleasure. Performances for appropriate community groups, however, increase motivation and also strengthen public relations.
Music for Supporting Players
The second-chair viola player and the third snare drum are likely to lead humdrum existences musically. When possible, the teacher should use music that gives solo passages to the seldom-heard supporting players. Even a short solo passage may offer incentive for additional practice. Such music may be short on artistic value but it is long on psychological value. Every player deserves the opportunity to be heard.
Listening Experiences
Players should not play all of the time. They should occasionally listen. Listening should include both live and recorded performances, amateur as well as professional. Older, more advanced players may perform or demonstrate for younger players. Students are always interested in performances by groups at their own age level, whether these are semi-professional or simply outstanding public school organizations. Some students will be more encouraged by virtuoso displays and master performances. Hearing an occasional poor performance may serve as an opportunity for learning to make intelligent criticism. Attendance at a professional concert, the appearance of a teaching-artist in the school, informal presentations by skillful adult members of the community, and exchange concerts with other schools are all great learning experiences. Miles Davis is reported to have recorded My Funny Valentine fourteen times with no two performances alike. Analyzing some of these performances sharpens the ear and the brain and is more like play than work. Teachers can instruct students to download recordings onto their iPods or ask them to purchase a single tune from iTunes, for example, so they can hear a recording of a song they may be preparing for a concert. In listening experiences, the ability to understand and hear musical differences in several recordings commands respect from most students.
Good Equipment and Facilities
Much has already been said on this point. Good-quality tools help to produce good results. Poor-quality instruments affect both the group and the individual: inferior instruments handicap the students and may embarrass them as well. The teacher should see that both school- and student-owned instruments are of the best quality possible. Lack of practice areas or a good rehearsal room can also be a handicap. Players of large instruments such as the tuba, string bass, or drums in particular need an in-school practice room, which may also be a great convenience to other students whose schedules permit practice time during the school day.
Regardless of the physical facilities in which teacher and students work and learn, a room that is efficiently arranged, neat, and ready for work provides a certain motivation. A room in disarray indicates a laxness and lack of concern.
Favorable Attitudes
Students will accomplish little without the proper attitude. Attitudes are contagious—especially among teenagers—and so the attitude of a few may set the pattern for the group. The teacher needs to communicate to the students a sense of responsibility for their own individual parts in the organization, together with a pride in the organization and a desire to work for it. Students need to feel that their practicing is important, not only for their own improvement but also for the improvement of the group as a whole. The teacher can instill a sense of responsibility by taking notice of those students who are responsible, commending sections that have improved, pointing out areas that are weak, and helping students who need extra practice find the time and place to do so. The use of section leaders is motivating both for the leader and the others in the group. Pride in the organization can be encouraged by stressing honestly the achievements of the group, planning attractive activities, and reporting any commendations that come from the community, the student body, or school officials.
Esprit de Corps
In the beginning it may be necessary for the teacher to be the main source of inspiration. A group spirit of unity and a desire to belong and be accepted will lead a student to adopt the ideals of the group. If the group is included in appropriate decision-making, a spirit of pride and responsibility will be fostered that will spread to new members coming into the group. Because high school students are not mature adults, group spirit can be strongly influenced by such extrinsic values as uniforms, contests, social affairs, and good publicity, as well as by successful performances.
Student Leaders
Esprit de corps can be enhanced through student leaders. In addition, some of the less talented students can find recognition and satisfaction in performing organizational tasks or becoming student officers. Student government not only aids in developing group morale but also in lessening the load for the director and providing a chain of command through which the teacher may implement needed regulations. Some leadership positions are best filled by popular election, whereas other leaders should be appointed by the director.
Respect for Students and Student Ideas
Students need to see that their ideas contribute to the selection of music, procedures, organizational rules, and even the amount of practice expected of every member. Even though it must be clear that the director makes the final decision in all matters, he or she must be a good listener. If the atmosphere encourages students to believe that they and the group can improve, students will establish high standards and expectations for themselves, often exceeding those of the director. Standards and rules must be enforced in such a way that they are perceived as being fair to all involved.
A Sensible Schedule
The schedule should make it possible for students to practice and to attend all rehearsals. Performance goals should be reasonable so that the students are not discouraged. Take care not to exploit talented students. Often they are capable in many areas, and many teachers wish them to participate in those areas of interest. Because of this, such students can become accustomed to doing rapid, superficial work and forget the importance of sustained effort. Persistence is one of the important transferable outcomes of a valid instrumental music program. The teacher must be willing to think of the students’ welfare first by helping them acknowledge their limits and budget their time wisely.
The Motivational Force of the Teacher
The teacher is the decisive element in providing inspiration, motivation, and learning. Teachers should model the best ethical behavior in their dealings with students, the administration, and the community. Their level of musicianship, technical facility as performers, pedagogical competence, command of musical knowledge, leadership, and depth and breadth as human beings can inspire students to imitate and emulate. Maintaining a sense of humor throughout the day is always important to morale. Teachers of instrumental music ideally provide the inspiration that comes from being a fine musician and a fine teacher.
In addition to being timely, motivational goals and activities must not be too specific. Teachers should apply the “Goldilocks” principle and pursue programs that are “just right” with goals that are understandable, relevant, meaningful, and attainable.
The foregoing suggestions have a long-range perspective; they are based primarily on a belief in the motivating force of good music and in the importance of psychology in working with students. These suggestions should be the basis of the teacher’s planning and decision-making. The next section explores the motivational power of temporary or short-term goals. Although short-term goals alone would never be adequate to provide a healthy atmosphere or a firm basis for musical learning, they can serve to create temporary inspiration and day-to-day interest. These goals provide extrinsic rather than intrinsic motivation.
Extrinsic Motivation
Effective Praise
Most students will respond to a deserved compliment from a teacher whom they respect, and will work to earn one. Praise can be directed at the entire group as long as it is specific, or can be focused on one instrumental section or one individual. The praise must be honest and must not be so frequent as to become meaningless. Praise remarks must be varied, straightforward, presented in a declarative manner, and should recognize both the effort and talent of all students. Praise for individuals and small groups also can be effectively shown by nonverbal gestures.
Praise and approval can come from sources other than the teacher. The commendation of the administration and the student body is important and is a legitimate goal for which to work. One excellent way for a music group to receive deserved recognition is through publicizing its activities. Newspaper, television, and radio publicity concerning group activities fosters both school and public awareness and, encourages pride in the organization.
Criticism and Disapproval
Being inspirational should not imply that the teacher always hands out compliments. The teacher should use praise liberally when it is merited but be firm when the situation demands it. It is fairly well-established that punishment as well as reward is effective in learning. Many successful teachers create a lasting enthusiasm for music while at the same time arousing a certain amount of apprehension at the weekly lesson or daily rehearsal. When students can relax without
fear of criticism regardless of what they do, the atmosphere no longer offers that creative tension in which learning takes place. However, as a general rule, sarcasm, ridicule, and other unfair practices have no place in good teaching, and criticism and disapproval should not be couched in these terms. Students do, however, respect firmness and want to be challenged to meet high standards. Respect for the teacher may often be based on the number of mistakes the teacher identifies and the helpfulness of the suggested corrections. When offering criticism, teachers need to know whether performance failure is due to lack of ability or lack of effort. Mild punishment works wonders when the problem is a lack of effort; however, when the untalented student is doing everything he or she can, negative criticism leads to discouragement.
Parents’ Support
Enlist parents’ support but never allow home practice to be used as a form of punishment for students. Many directors send a periodic progress report to the parents in order to maintain a close relationship between the music program and the home. Electronic newsletters to parents and online expectations should be followed up, on occasion, by printed material. Emphasis on a regular time for practice may serve as a motivator for students. If the teacher feels that practice is important enough to be done at a particular time each day, with few exceptions, an aura of significance develops around the practice hour and its value is enhanced.
Grading Systems
Many systems of grading are used in music programs, including the following.
1. Practice charts. Students are required to practice a specified amount each day. Those who exceed the minimum get higher grades. The drawback to this approach is that it rewards effort rather than results.
2. Progress charts. Students are graded for completing specified objectives. Such a chart has the advantage of establishing definite goals and of rewarding actual attainment. It gives the teacher an impartial and objective vehicle by which to determine grades and places music on the same plane with the more academic subjects.
3. Point systems. Like progress charts, the point system rewards achievement. Point systems may be helpful in determining annual awards to members of the organization. Some teachers object to the clerical effort involved in keeping an accurate record of earned points for each student, but student help and computer programs can be successfully used in keeping records.
There should be no surprises in the use of any grading systems. One of the important values of a systematic grading procedure is that students can examine their progress and see the results. By seeing the graphic illustration of their progress for the year and the relationship between work and achievement, students can make personal evaluations of their progress.
Competitive Seating Plans
With a competitive seating plan, the better players are encouraged to work for the honor of retaining first-chair positions, while others strive to catch up. For this plan to be effective, the teacher needs to schedule tryouts at regular intervals. The importance of the first-chair position for every part should be stressed (e.g., first chair, third clarinet), not simply the solo chairs. Students in these “chairs” are responsible musically, academically, and socially for the members of their section. Whether tryouts are announced ahead of time or scheduled without notice is the teacher’s decision. Some teachers feel that announced tryouts stimulate more energetic practicing, whereas others have discovered that their students practice more consistently when they have to be ready for unannounced tryouts.
Challenge Systems
Students in the lower ranks may aspire to the higher chairs through testing the occupant in a fair match. The director should make the challenge system as democratic and fair as possible, probably by including students on the judging committee and by having a clear procedure that will also serve to produce added practice. In order not to spend too much class time on challenging, it is better to have a set time or schedule in which challenges may take place.
Tryouts for Chair Positions or Ensemble Membership
As in other subjects, the music teacher should make specific assignments and then test all students on their preparation of the assignments. Such testing may take place at rehearsals, sectional practices, or at lessons, but regardless of the method, students should be expected to do the work assigned and to be graded accordingly. Whether such tryouts affect seating is up to the teacher. All classes and ensembles, except the beginning classes, must have enforced standards for membership that always include performance competence.
Some teachers succeed in holding tryouts during regular rehearsals by calling on individuals to play the assignments in front of the group. The director should not force unwilling students to submit to such a practice if it seems too harsh.
Negative criticisms are usually best given in private. Once the routine is established, however, it may encourage students to be well prepared in order to avoid making a poor showing before their peers or a teacher they respect.
Competition on Technical Proficiency
Students can derive a great deal of fun and inspiration from an occasional contest for sheer technical proficiency—players compete to see who can play the greatest number of scales correctly, play the fastest, hold notes the longest, and so forth. Competitions for producing the highest note are seldom advisable, but students seem to enjoy this task more than seeing who can hold a note the longest. Such contests are not a serious part of any assessment but can be used to stimulate interest and challenge students to greater technical mastery.
The Value of Written Tests
Used infrequently, tests of musical learning may result in extra effort from students. Such tests may focus on knowledge of music fundamentals: terms, keys, scales, and tuning. Although these tests give no indication of the student’s playing ability, they help to emphasize the importance of basic musical knowledge. Written tests take up valuable time, but even in performance groups an occasional written test can provide motivation for learning and give the teacher some valuable insights into areas needing improvement.
Public Performance Evaluations
Public performance evaluation, properly handled, can contribute both to the level of motivation and to musical understanding. For example, an outside critic may be employed during the regular rehearsal period to listen to individuals and sections, to comment to the group on its performance, and to offer suggestions for improvement. Or students may perform their parts for the entire ensemble, analyze their own strengths and weaknesses, and suggest how they will improve their parts by tomorrow or by next week. Such an activity can be great fun, constitute public testimony of intent, and act intrinsically and extrinsically as a motivator for musical excellence. In addition, members may comment on their section’s progress toward the overall goal and what they need to do to improve. The more specific the suggestions, the more helpful this activity will be. (This activity is similar to the teaching and motivating devices developed by Project Zero in the Pittsburgh public schools.) Comments like “take your parts home and practice” are not specific enough to be meaningful. Comments about how the intelligent use of warm-ups and home drills can improve the intonation, balance, or musical line can bring results, if followed.
Membership Standards for All Groups
Although there must be flexibility in selecting members for each group in order to achieve instrumental balance, students should have an accurate idea of what is required for membership in the group. A clear set of standards is one way to encourage practice and achievement. In addition, standards can help dispel any feeling that the teacher is partial or unfair. Published rules must be followed; the fewer exceptions made, the more important these rules will become in the eyes of all members. Moreover, there is a natural desire to be a member of a group that has an aspect of selectivity. The Marine Corps and Phi Beta Kappa would lose their appeal if open to all comers. Musical organizations should not be exclusive, but membership should imply that certain standards have been met and maintained and that each member has attained a certain level of achievement. If a student must be dropped from the group for failure, any failure(s) must be well documented and changes made with the input of all stakeholders, including parents, administrators, and the student.
Awards
Awards may take the form of letters, medals, sweaters, jackets, service stripes, or certificates. An award has no intrinsic value of its own and is important only as a means for promoting greater musical growth. Even so, students often prize an award highly, taking pride in earning it and pleasure in others’ recognition of it. As with membership standards, a definite system for giving awards should be established and well known. Students are concerned about the “fairness” of any recognition or motivational device. If the point system or competitive chairs are an accepted practice, the awards system should be related to these and to other administrative practices. To be most effective, awards should be presented in a public ceremony.
Scholarships
The scholarship should relate to the music program and its objectives—for instance, a scholarship to an outstanding summer music camp or for private lessons. This kind of award may be used to sustain the interest of the best students in the organization. Funds for scholarships may be secured through money-raising projects by the group itself or by parents’ groups. They may also come from one or more civic groups or from private individuals. The scholarship(s) should be publicized throughout the year and be awarded at the close of the school year to enhance the importance of instrumental music.
Section Rehearsals
Section rehearsals help the students with specific difficulties and provide additional incentive for outside practice. When the whole group always rehearses together, students may not hear their mistakes or realize how important it is that they each perform their parts correctly. If scheduling makes extra section rehearsals impractical, the director should consider using some of the regularly scheduled large-group rehearsal time for concentrated work with various sections. It is easier for students and teacher to identify errors in smaller groups. When feasible, several sections might be scheduled at the same time with responsible students in charge.
Summer Music Camps
The inspiration of a music camp comes from excellent teachers, the outstanding ability of other students, and a high level of performance. The director should encourage any student who can attend a summer music camp to do so. A local summer camp can often be organized with successful results. The staff might differ from the regular school staff and may consist of college music students, teachers with free time, or guest conductors from college campuses or neighboring school systems. If an actual camp site is available, the experience is enhanced, but even without an outdoor atmosphere the local music camp can be worthwhile.
New Instruments
The teacher should encourage students to own the best instruments they can afford. When a student obtains a new instrument, the teacher should make the acquisition known to the group and draw attention to the student’s new possession.
CDs, MP3s, Smart Music, DVDs, and Videos
The use of recordings allows students to hear and see their efforts, and points up their shortcomings as well as achievements. Problems of intonation, wrong notes, and poor attacks and releases often show up more vividly when recorded than in actual rehearsal. Having recordings allows for sectional critiques and external evaluators who perform similar tasks as judges at a music festival. An impending recording session furnishes another incentive for additional work and is in this sense much like a live performance.
Social Activities
Special dances, banquets, and trips foster a spirit of unity and help maintain interest. They also provide a change from the routine of daily rehearsals, concerts, and sports events. In addition, social activities help the director become acquainted with students in a different setting.
Additional Ideas for Motivating Students
In addition to the motivational devices just described, other possibilities that require extra resources in the way of funds or time allotment are also highly successful. High schools should consider commissioning works and inviting the composer to attend and conduct the premier performance of the work. Frank Battisti, following the lead of the Eastman Wind Ensemble, initiated this idea more than fifty years ago with the Ithaca, New York high school band, and it has been adopted by many fine ensembles that have the resources. The thrill of playing a number at its first public performance with the composer in attendance and/or conducting is a most memorable event.
State and local arts councils will support an artist-in-residence program in your school. Select the instrument you wish to promote, write a proposal, and submit it to the arts council. Many superb performers graduating in applied music from American universities will willingly teach and perform in public schools. They are inspirational for both strong and weak performers.
Form a jazz band, a brass band, a drum and bugle corps, a mariachi ensemble, a recorder quartet, or other attractive ensemble. Encourage students who play in garage bands on piano, guitar, and other instruments to find their place in the orchestra or wind band as well. These students are enthusiastic, often have special musical skills, and can prove to be motivational for other students.
Scheduled Saturday morning sessions at which older students can assist younger students and the entire music faculty is in attendance have advantages far beyond the extra rehearsal. Older students gain a feeling of accomplishment; younger students are inspired by the performance abilities of the high school students. All participants gain an appreciation for the size and diversity of the school system’s instrumental music program. Performances by the high school ensemble for the grade schools and middle schools can inspire younger students to begin instrumental music study. Making a CD or DVD, performing on the local television channel, and furnishing pictures and stories to the yearbook and school newspaper are all opportunities for public recognition in which students can take pride.
Interesting computer programs that can judge the accuracy of pitch and rhythm or serve as an accompaniment for soloists or for practicing continue to be a motivational tool. Take the opportunity to incorporate music theory and music history into your programs and relate instrumental music participation to experiences students might have outside school.
Performance
Theoretically, the music program does not exist for the sake of performance. In practice, however, most of the efforts of both teachers and students focus on performance as the conscious or unconscious goal; the opportunity to perform naturally represents the greatest single motivating factor. Music is an aural art and the greatest satisfaction often comes when performers feel their music has reached a listening ear. Therefore, the instrumental music teacher should provide occasions for a variety of performances, knowing that the opportunity to perform will stimulate more conscientious and concentrated practice, promote interest in concomitant musical learning, provide an outlet and a reward for students, and serve as a demonstration of the accomplishments of the music program. The danger is that this last consideration will take on undue importance and that performance will become the goal of the program rather than a vehicle for greater learning and musical understanding. In considering performance and motivation, one should remember that performance is encouraged primarily because of its motivational power, not the reverse. Students need to be challenged to do their best and to attain what is possible, for themselves and for the group; with most groups that means a reasonably active performing schedule with music that can be performed well.
Performance can take several forms. Contests and festivals are a common and valuable form of public performance. In some instances, these occasions are the only times groups play good music. It is unfortunate that instrumental music organizations have had to publish lists of “acceptable” music, and even these lists have been corrupted. The challenge to compete successfully is so strong that the music for contests and festivals is learned more thoroughly and played more enthusiastically than music for any other occasion. If the pressure to succeed in the competition is too great, however, the psychological negatives can outweigh the pluses. It is the teacher’s responsibility to see that the efforts of the group are focused on excellence for its own sake and for the sake of the music, not for that of winning the highest rating.
Concerts are just as important and nearly as intense as contests and festivals. Here again, the music should be carefully chosen for its value and played as well as possible. The music chosen should be well within the ability of the group, so that a satisfactory performance can be achieved without an unreasonable amount of preparation.
Exchange concerts have all the advantages of regular concerts with the additional value of competition—the students’ desire to excel in comparison with another group, school, or town. The teacher should not make a competition a major consideration and should be careful to emphasize good and bad features of both groups so that the students profit from their own playing and also from hearing the exchange group. Any assignment to listen to another ensemble must be carefully prepared; critical listening has to be learned and is especially difficult in the excitement of exchange concerts.
Special performing events are another form of motivation. Bringing in a guest conductor or guest artist to work with the group, hearing an artist perform, attending a clinic, or playing in select groups such as all-state or all-city organizations, youth orchestras, and wind bands, can result in great inspiration for young players. Membership in allstate ensembles or the biannual National Youth Orchestra is a major accomplishment and should be publicized.
Tours, though often viewed with dismay by teacher and administrator alike, have high appeal for students. Although performing tours may not be worth the agony involved, great value can be gained from them. The kind of “professionalism” gained from performing well day after day is a fine experience for students. However, the teacher must decide whether the expenditure of time and effort for value received is justified.
The value of solo, small-group, and large-group performances before civic organizations has been noted. However, here is a word of warning: When one or two highly touted groups such as the jazz band or string quartet are sent out exclusively, these groups tend to become exploited, the learning value diminishes for them, and other deserving students do not get the opportunity to perform.
CONCLUSION
This chapter has explored sound educational principles translated into terms and situations applicable to the instrumental music program. Sound motivation, however, is not used simply to improve the music program. Motivation is essential: motivation is the sine qua non for learning, musical or any other kind. The teacher cannot take or leave it as desired, for if there is no motivation there will be no learning, and where there is thoughtless or misguided motivation there may be negative learning. Motivation comes from within, but the teacher can provide day-to-day situations that are as desirable as possible so that the student’s interest grows and he or she becomes motivated to develop in those areas that are the teacher’s goals and the student’s goals. Basically, individuals are motivated by their own needs. The psychological and physical conditions that hold promise of answering these needs can stimulate students to respond. Hetland, Winner, Veeneman, and Sheridan (2007) completed a study of the outcomes of exemplary visual arts instruction, and they identified eight habits of mind: developing the craft, engaging and persisting, envisioning, expressing, observing, reflecting, stretching, and exploring and understanding, each of which has surfaced in our discussion of motivation and self-learning and each applies to music studio teaching.
Motivation, however sound, is not in itself educational. Even the best motivation may not lead to learning. In music, we often forget that not all experience is educative, just as not all experience is motivating. To be educative,
experience must be purposeful. Psychological studies have indicated that people attending lectures or reading material gain widely differing information from what they read or hear, depending on what they expect to gain. When purposes differ, the resultant learning also differs. To apply this to music is not difficult; merely practicing or reading through music or drilling perfunctorily on exercises is not educative. Thus, with respect to performance, good music must be used and performed with the best musical insights of the teacher. Instrumental teachers have been accused of continuing to teach primarily in the “drill” fashion, with often poor results. Although drill can be insightful when there is a musical purpose, excellent and meaningful teaching is the responsibility of the teacher. The secret lies, as Alsop and O’Halloran suggest, in the interpersonal relations that are at the heart of motivation.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1.In November 2007, The Christian Science Monitor reported on the Stephen-Argyle (Minnesota) High School football team having won sixty-seven consecutive games. The team’s playbook, however, had no diagrams of offensive formations and defensive counters. Instead it had sixteen pages of goals, rules, expectations, guidelines, nutritional tips, and inspirational quotations from a wide variety of philosophers, such as “First say to yourself what you would be. Then do what you have to do.” How is this coach using motivation? What applications, if any, are there for the instrumental music teacher? (John Millea: “Stephen-Argyle High School.” The Christian Science Monitor, Nov. 26, 2007. Vol. 100[1].)
2.Your first-chair violinist is clearly the best musician in the ensemble but does not share equally in the responsibilities you expect of all members. This situation is affecting group morale. What strategies, if any, would you employ to change the attitude of either the first-chair violinist or the members of the ensemble?
3.What behaviors have you noticed among your peers that indicate they are performance-or mastery-oriented? Have these behaviors led to the outcomes that you might have expected? How?
4.How important is musical talent in musical competency? Assuming musical talent is normally distributed, how should a teacher use his or her perception of student talent in positive and negative comments (rewards and negative criticisms)?
5.What are the advantages and disadvantages of on-the-spot tryouts for chair positions and group membership? Take a position and debate this issue with a classmate and then switch sides.
RESOURCES
Websites
Center for Educator Development in the Fine Arts finearts.esc20.net/music_strategies/mus_strat_moti.html
edPsychInteractive edpsycinteractive.org/topics/motivation/motivate.html
Goal Setting www.teachingmoments.com
University of Rochester Self-determination theory psych.rochester.edu/SDT
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NOTES
1.Pintrich, P. and D. Schunk (2002). Motivation in Education: Theory, Research, and Applications, 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice Hall, 4.
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9.Evans and McPherson, 2014.
10.Evans and McPherson, 2014.
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