STAR-Post (Music) July 2023 by moe_star

Freedom to Dream

Editorial

Welcome back to a new term! I hope you found time to rest and ready yourself for Term 3.

“We are living in the age of *The Jetsons”. In recent months, there has been an explosion of information about Artificial Intelligence (AI), ChatGPT and other AI tools, and their application in teaching and learning. We can no longer be an ostrich with its head in the sand; we need to embrace technological advancements and dream of its possibilities in the classroom and beyond. The fact is that AI is already a part of our daily lives, in our mobile phones, microwave ovens and even our washing machines. The question is, are we ready to face this proliferation of technology in our classroom? Will we allow our fear of technology to clip our wings, or will we allow it to inspire us to rise to the challenge and allow our dreams to come alive?

The classroom of today is a world of difference from the one I stepped into in the early 1990s. Modern-day technology in our classrooms has afforded us to dream new possibilities in the way we approach education. This was witnessed in the smorgasbord of sharing offered at the recent the Teachers’ Conference and ExCEL Fest 2023 (TCEF2023). It was heartening to see teachers taking ownership of their development in undertaking small scale inquiry/ research either individually, in intra-school teams or inter-school teams. Let us continue this spirit of dreaming possibilities and in doing so, show the way for our students to dream.

In this refreshed issue of STAR Post (Music), we ‘dreamt’ our dream and collectively made a move to include more of your voices, your stories, your innovations. I hope you will find an article or two that will stimulate your mind and stir a dream in you to take the next step for yourself and for our students.

Have a good Term 3 and take good care of yourselves.

*The Jetsons was a cartoon show which featured the Jetson family living in a utopian near future (2062) and ran from 1962 to 1987.

Susanna Chau Deputy Director (Music)

Freedom to Dream

Imagine these scenarios:

In the future, students could learn about musical cultures in the metaverse*. It could begin with you taking the students on a journey through the metaverse to visit “Africa”. There, you will be greeted by a local guide who will take you and your students on a tour of the musical culture in Africa, complete with a real-time musicking experience as part of a drum circle. Students can use virtual African instruments which they control by moving physically in real life.

* The metaverse relates to a virtual, digital world which is parallel to the real, physical world, where each user owns and interact through his/her own avatar.

For the next series of lessons, through virtual reality (VR) and gamification, students could conduct an orchestral performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 in the Royal Albert Hall with immersive Dolby Atmos audio which had been calibrated according to the acoustics of the hall. Using motion tracking, they could physically cue the woodwinds to enter, or ask the viola section to play a little softer. The “orchestra”, which had been trained using Artificial Intelligence (AI), would respond differently according to students’ gestures. Students can also learn about how microphones are set up on stage for orchestral recordings, and hear how mic positions affect the recorded sound.

In another lesson, students are having their in-class performances for a pop band module. They have prepared a song by an NFT band and will be performing it with AI-generated vocals. The AI singer will be represented as a hologram which interacts with and responds to students during their performance.

Are we here yet?

The technology to support all the above scenarios is already available and just waiting to be harnessed in the music classroom. These are the current affordances in the technological space:

You might have, for example, heard about the VR game Maestro VR in May 2022, where depending on your performance as a conductor, you may be met with a standing ovation or boos from the audience. If your conducting accuracy falls below a certain level, the musicians may stop playing!

You may have also heard about a track sung by AI-generated vocals surpassing 100 million streams in November 2022. According to the Tencent Music Entertainment Group which released the track, the AI can “quickly and vividly replicate singers’ voices to produce original songs of any style and language”. Live performances with AI-generated vocals and/ or holograms have been gaining traction since 2019, such as Luo Tianyi performing live with a hologram of an AI-generated singer, and holograms of Roy Orbison and Buddy Holly going on a posthumous, live performance tour of Europe and North America. Holographic live performances even go as far back as 2012 with Tupac’s hologram performing live at Coachella.

More recently in 2023, you might have read about Google’s MusicLM which uses AI to generate high-fidelity music of various genres and instrumentations based on text and/or audio inputs, or about Singtel’s exclusive concert which was hosted in its metaverse platform, ifland.

These experiences result in an increasing coalescence of the digital world and the real world, in what we call the “digireal”.

With the coalescence of the digireal, how then, do we define our humanity?

Aristotle defines human beings as “rational animals” and suggests that their purpose is to exercise their virtues in accordance with their reason. However, as we see in applications of AI, technology can think and can create. It can possibly bring the dead back to “life”, create an entire world which runs in parallel to the real world, and do just about almost everything that humans can do.

As such, what differentiates humans from technology then, could perhaps be found in considering a sociological perspective. Kant (1798) writes, “Man, on account of his reason, is destined to live in a society of other people and in this society, he has to cultivate himself, civilise himself, and apply himself to a moral purpose by the arts and the sciences.” Chris Abani (2008) adds to this in his TED Talk about the South African philosophy of Ubuntu (humanity), “The only way for me to be human, is for you to reflect my humanity back at me.” Humans are also social beings, and we grow and develop identities in relation to our sociocultural contexts. By that premise, because music creativities are socially embedded, they cannot be fully replaced by AI.

Additionally, teaching is inherently a social endeavour; an AI hologram could replicate teaching actions from the best educators across the world, but it could never fully provide the emotional support that individuals students may need, and it could never capture the unique student-teacher relationships that are built through daily interactions over time. As such, music educators thankfully will not need to worry about an AI hologram putting us out of a job anytime soon.

Nevertheless, there are still other questions we should consider. Technology is also expensive. OpenAI (the creators of ChatGPT) estimate that the cost of training a model on a large dataset will increase to USD $500 million by 2030. ChatGPT currently costs USD $100,000 a day to run. Who would the increased financial burden to fund these technological tools fall on?

Though music teaching and learning cannot fully be replaced by technology, technology can indubitably help educators and students do things much more quickly and efficiently, and also opens great possibilities for teaching and learning. How can we help students (and ourselves) wield technology such that it empowers, rather than disempowers? How do we instil the importance of practice and rigour when technology provides numerous shortcuts? How do we address issues of ethics as students begin to rely on AI to do their homework for them?

These experiences result in an increasing coalescence of the digital world and the real world, in what we call the “digireal”.

In the rest of this article, we consider these issues in the larger context of the driving forces which could impact our future of music teaching and learning. Let us share our thoughts and perspectives through these four questions:

Who are our students in 2040?

How could the coalescence of the digireal impact our music classrooms?

What are our identities as music teachers?

What could music education in the future look like?

The Coalescence of the Digireal

How could the coalescence of the digireal impact our music classrooms?

Throughout history, music has had strong ties with technology. In considering the development of synth-pop for example, we see how the combined ideas and brilliance of Harry Olson, Herbert Belar, Max Matthews, Paolo Ketoff, Donald Buchla, and Robert Moog culminated in the invention of the first synthesizer sold in retail stores; the Minimoog. This technology introduced new sonic possibilities for musicians of the post-punk, electronic music era, and led to the birth of synth-pop. Instruments, the music played on these instruments, performance venues, and how musicians composed and arranged for these instruments, evolved with technological possibilities.

In the opening section, we discussed how digireal experiences could facilitate vicarious experiences in various musical lands that were previously more distant from us, and could also provide more ways for us to express ourselves musically. For example, AI practice partners could improve practice habits, as play-a-long tracks could be much easier to produce and customise according to individual needs. We could also compose or arrange by simply humming a prompt and using AI to generate musical ideas in a specific genre or style. The musical ideas could then be combined or modified through additional instructions given to the AI.

Although these possibilities would broaden and enrich the ways in which we can engage students in music, there are still technological limitations. For a start, the existing paradigm for machine learning and AI is still basically pattern recognition, and “creative authority is maintained by the human composer” (Bown, 2021, p. 3). Ultimately, no matter how intelligent technology is, it requires human intention, programming, and evaluation in order to be useful.

Human Computer

Forms intention to compose algorithmic work

Programs computer/ Configures system parameters

Evaluates output Completes output

Generates output

Typical human-computer creative interaction in algorithmic composition where the composer is either the programmer or user of an existing program (Bown, 2021)

Digireal experiences also come with their fair share of potential societal issues. For example, excessive use of the metaverse could lead to social isolation in the real world, as students could prefer virtual social interactions over real ones.

Students may be more prone to cyberbullying.

The responsible use of technology is also important in order for technology to be an aid to learning and growth, rather than a crutch.

These are not issues that are new to us, but their prevalence will likely be heightened.

To address some of the potential issues highlighted above, teachers can help students learn to use technology to empower themselves and others, and carefully facilitate a complementary balance of digireal and real musical experiences to help them flourish creatively. Music teaching and learning can also be grounded in values, learning dispositions, character development, 21st century competencies, and an ethos of compassion, whereby teachers and students form a community of support and shared understandings (Hendricks, 2018). This could facilitate a safe environment for students to form healthy social relationships, develop self-awareness and selfmanagement, and make responsible decisions regarding the use of technology.

Teaching and Learning in 2040

While technology will indubitably play a substantial role in influencing what and how we teach in the future, it also impacts who we teach.

Who are our students in 2040?

The following are two key implications for music teachers, informed by the Centre for Strategic Futures’ Driving Forces 2040 Cards:

1. Students’ values and beliefs will be influenced by new powers such as that of social media, celebrities, and big tech companies that compete for prominence. The interconnectedness of global networks also means that students will also experience new propinquities and vulnerabilities to previously distant concerns.

2. Students will experience increasing inequality along various dimensions including income, class, gender, and access to opportunity.

These provide the context in which the MOE 21CC Framework operates.

Music is polysemic; it is open to many interpretations which can all be valid. Due to increasing social diversity and heightened global interconnectivity, it is likely that our classrooms will have students with diverse perspectives which are influenced by their varied racial, cultural, economic, and religious backgrounds and experiences. As such, inclusivity becomes even more pertinent.

In recognising students’ diversities, it is crucial for music educators to broaden our perspectives to appreciate multiple music creativities (Burnard, 2011). By acknowledging multiple creativities and providing feedback that would help students adopt a growth mindset (Dweck, 2007) for developing creativity, this could also prepare students to innovate solutions for tomorrow’s problems.

How will students learn in 2040?

We know from our current students who are “digital natives” that learning will be multimodal, and their preference will be for bite-sized content. As such, how different would the new digital diet in 2040 be from the current one, and how might it impact the way content is presented in our music classrooms?

Additionally, we know that technology is a double-edged sword. It could be a uniting or dividing factor within communities and families – places from which students traditionally learn values. Social learning theories and Erikson’s psychosocial theory of personality development tell us that when these ecosystems are unstable or unsafe, students’ quest for identities will lead them to form their own communities, and the onus for values education falls even more greatly on the next place where students spend most of their time – school.

How will students in 2040 make sense of global tensions?

In helping students make sense of global tensions, music educators need to be skilful in empowering student agency while employing critical pedagogy (Freire, 1970; Giroux, 2004). Through critical pedagogy, educators could encourage students to be discerning consumers of information as critical thinkers, contextualise learning for students, and invite students to dialogue through sharing their unique perspectives and stories.

To increase our capacity to facilitate meaningful learning for students of the future, it is important for us to expand our worldviews beyond music education, such as through Teacher Work Attachment Plus (TWA+). This would allow us to develop our own 21st century competencies, while continuing to deepen our pedagogical skills to nurture a generation who is prepared to generate and innovate responses for tomorrow’s issues.

Looking Within to Look Without and Beyond

In seeking to broaden our worldviews, we must first look within to understand how we as individuals relate to our environments. Why do we teach music? What are our fundamental beliefs about what music education should achieve?

What roles do we play as music educator?

The Singapore Teachers’ Academy for the aRts has collaborated with AEB and NIE to design seven metaphors to describe beliefs about music teaching and learning. These metaphors are inspired by Estelle Jorgensen’s Pictures of Music Education (2011) but modified to relate better to our contexts. The STARAEB-NIE team acknowledges that our music teaching fraternity is diverse and that there could be many teacher identities and beliefs amongst us, and it is simplistic to reduce our identities and beliefs to seven. Nevertheless, the seven metaphors can provide starting points for discussing our beliefs.

Which of the seven do you most relate to?

Master and Practice

X Teachers are viewed as ‘gurus’ who are gatekeepers of musical tradition(s) to prepare students as musicians at the highest level of performance in a particularly musical tradition.

X Music is viewed as a practice, tradition, and discipline. Music is intellectualised (approached rationally), imaginative freedom is limited, and self-control is emphasised to uphold this tradition.

Guide and Support

X Teachers are the guide to developing the competencies and dispositions of students. They also need to motivate and facilitate students’ learning.

X The teacher emphasises values and focuses on music as a practice that requires theoretical and practical understanding.

Energiser and Play

X Teachers use their charisma, energy, and personality to motivate and inspire students and enrich their learning experiences.

X Music is seen as ‘energy’ and teaching is a process of giving and receiving energy, not merely just content delivery.

Mentor and Growth

X Teachers see their role as mentors focusing on drawing out the latent musical potential in the student and facilitating the natural development of musical self-expression and musical aptitude.

X Teaching-learning is dialogical, and the teacher focuses on cultivating a musical environment in which learning is enjoyable and that takes place holistically and naturally.

Director and Structure

X Teachers see their role as directing and managing a sequenced process of teaching and learning with clear learning outcomes.

X Music teaching is employing approaches that are efficient and scientific and that prompt receptive learning.

Guardian and Reason

X Teachers see their role as gatekeepers of teachinglearning, and they value discipline, reason, and procedural approaches that are methodical and ethical. Reason and critical thinking play important roles here.

X Music teaching involves reasoned, intellectual, expository, and formal approaches that emphasises systematic, rationalised, and receptive ways of learning.

Designer and Enterprise

X Teachers see their role as designers of learning who emphasise student choices, customisation, to respond to perceived needs and interest by presenting appealing and accessible musical experiences while keeping in view the need for efficiency, and measurable outcomes.

X Music teaching involves attractive packaging and marketing of musical materials, strategies to entice students to learn music, and seeing music as a product to be consumed by selling access to this experience.

Having considered the implication of future global changes and how we might relate to them as individuals, let us also remember that as educators, we are able to shape our music classroom environments and the future of music teaching and learning is in our hands.

Freedom to Dream

What could music education in the future look like?

The concept of “freedom dreaming” was put forth by Professor Robin Kelly, who calls us to envision our most ideal version of the future and consider not what we are fighting against, but what (or who) we are fighting for.

The act of dreaming out loud gives us an opportunity to imagine possibilities and empowers us to turn these dreams into reality.

In imagining our ideal music classroom, how should music education evolve with the following key themes of change in the future?

• The digital world

• Societal values and beliefs

• Interconnectivity

• Global power and influence shifts

• Natural resources and climates

We did an informal poll to find out which of these key themes of change teachers are most intrigued by:

Are there aspects of music teaching and learning that would stay the same? How could traditional pedagogies like Dalcroze, Kodály, and Orff be adapted to support these changes?

How could teachers help students make sense of these changes? Why, who, what, and how do we teach?

In the final scene of the Back to the Future movie trilogy, Doc says to Marty and Jennifer, “Your future hasn’t been written yet. No one’s has! Your future is whatever you make it, so make it a good one!”. May we ask you…

References

What would your ideal music classroom in 2040 look like?

To read about others’ dreams for the future of music teaching and learning, turn to page 40 .

Burnard, P. (2011). Musical creativities in practice. Oxford University Press.

Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. Seabury Press.

Bown, O. (2021). Sociocultural and design perspectives on AI-based music production: Why do we make music and what changes if AI makes it for us? In E. R. Miranda (Ed.), Handbook of artificial intelligence for music: Foundations, advanced approaches, and developments for creativity (pp. 1–20). Springer.

Jorgensen, E. (2011). Pictures of music education. Indiana University Press.

Dweck, C. S. (2007). The perils and promises of praise. Educational Leadership, 65(2), 34–39.

Centre for Strategic Futures (4 Apr 2022). Driving forces cards. https://csf.gov.sg/media-centre/publications/ csf-df-cards

Giroux, H. A. (2004) Critical pedagogy and the postmodern/modern divide: Towards a pedagogy of democratization. Teacher Education Quarterly, 31(1), 31–47. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23478412

Hendricks, K. (2018). Compassionate music teaching: A framework for motivation and engagement in the 21st century. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

Ministry of Education (14 Dec 2022). 21st Century Competencies https://www.moe.gov.sg/education-insg/21st-century-competencies

Learning Beyond the Classroom

Much has been said about teaching in a VUCA world, but what have we done lately to actively prepare for the rapidly changing educational landscape? Teachers are often caught up in the day-to-day workings of school life and occasionally attend professional development courses. For teachers to actively look at learning beyond the classroom and immerse in other contexts, it takes courage and commitment.

STAR reached out to five teachers who have generously shared about their learning experiences beyond the classroom that have broadened their perspectives and allowed them to produce more impactful and relevant lessons for their students.

Exploring New Areas for Learning

Ms Leong Su Juen Pasir Ris Secondary School

Inspiration

At the end of 2020 when borders around the world were largely closed, I decided to take the opportunity to upgrade myself through workshops on music arrangement and production. I felt that my understanding of pop genres and their unique music elements was an area for growth. I felt that forming a solid foundation in pop keyboard playing could be a good starting point that might later help me learn about other related contemporary genres.

Background

By identifying specific learning goals, I researched opportunities that could be customized to my prior knowledge and specific learning needs. I sought keyboard teachers who were versatile performers and had a good balance of both theoretical knowledge and keyboard skills. After going for a few trial lessons with different keyboard teachers, I decided on weekly lessons with local keyboardist, Bryan Tay.

Bryan is a highly experienced keyboardist, arranger and producer. He guided me in understanding music arrangement and provided me with insights into his production process. This allowed me to explore the more theoretical aspects of music such as the use of different chords and extensions to bring about different mood colours, genre-unique comping patterns that are instrument-specific and eventually, arrangements and productions on a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW).

Su Juen with her keyboard teacher, Mr Bryan Tay.

Highlights

While I gained a lot of knowledge and skills, the highlights of my lessons were always the moments of learning and discovery. These lessons allowed me to feed my ‘musical soul’. Being able to apply my learning through performances with students and colleagues in school were also highlights, as I felt that I was able to use my newly learnt skills confidently to improve the quality of performances in school.

Challenges

Commitment and time were the most challenging aspects of this learning experience. Apart from setting aside time to attend lessons, I felt the time was worth it only if I put in effort to practice what was taught. Instead of only relying solely on time set aside for self-practice, I made it a point to practise during my lessons in school whenever possible. For example, if I was taught to play chord extensions that week, I would incorporate extended chords in my piano accompaniments during lessons.

We sometimes forget what it is like to feel unsure and vulnerable when we learn something new and unfamiliar.

Learning

Apart from being a better keyboard player and accompanist to students’ musicking sessions, I am more confident in delivering lessons and supporting student-initiated bands that required more content knowledge in pop music. I can stretch students further and introduce more complex concepts. As an extension, I was inspired to vlog my practice habits and put together some tips for productive practicing as an encouragement to my students.

here

I am humbled by the struggles of the learner, and the experience of my own learning and thought processes. Sometimes, when we learn something new or unfamiliar, it can make us feel uncertain and vulnerable and that’s alright. I am now more cognizant of the need to build simple successes in the classroom to encourage learners who may encounter this feeling of vulnerability.

Su Juen working with a student band at Pasir Ris Secondary School.

to watch Su Juen’s vlog on daily practicing. Click