Cheryl’s original Inquiry Question is:
“What is the importance or impacts of integrating music, on students learning the new BC curriculum?”
My simplified query is: “Does music integration impact or enhance student learning?”
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Annotated Bibliography
Inquiry Question: “What are the benefits or impacts of integrating music appreciation, with respect to students learning the overall school curriculum?”
1. Cooper, J. (2016). Integrating Music, Drama, and Dance helps Children Explore and Learn. Teaching Young Children, 9(4), 16-19.
Instead of referring to the more familiar term STEM, this article refers to STEAM which stands for “Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math” (Cooper, p. 16). I appreciate this updated acronym as it is attempting to give equal weight and value to all of these important academic subjects. This article claims “performance arts…. help young children learn better across the curriculum” but Cooper does not support this claim with research. Notably, drama-related activities are the focal point of this article, whereas my inquiry question is focusing more on music.
However, the one part of this article I found useful was a drama technique called “Teacher-in-role.” The teacher asks an open-ended question, plays a character in the scenario, and then facilitates problem solving with the class or a small group. There are six steps are related to this engineering design process, making this drama activity essentially cross-curricular in nature: (1) Define the problem; (2) Plan the solution; (3) Build the solution; (4) Test the solution; (5) If it does not work, use what you learned to improve your plan and try again; (6) If/when it does work, share the results with others. The article claims that counting music beats helps students to learn basic math skills, which I agree with, however this is another example of a statement that is not supported by empirical research. This article would be more useful when teaching arts such as drama, but does not appear to be particularly relevant to my music inquiry.
2. Kelner, L. B. (2010). Miracle Moments: Tales of Arts Integration. Teaching Artist Journal, 8(4), 229-232.
This article titled “Miracle Moments” contains Kelner’s reflection on her personal arts integration experiences. Specifically, Kelner focuses on, and advocates incorporating drama activities when working with children who have special needs. The author observes the students’ inferential skills appear to improve after participating in her drama-related lessons. She proceeds to give a specific example of working with students who are English Language Learners (ELLs), and uses the book “Swimmy” to help the children work together as a team, while developing empathy skills.
When children take small risks in a supportive and safe drama class, she claims they are better equipped to express themselves through the arts in general. The author feels this type of experiential learning, facilitated by a book reading and a drama-related activity, incorporates “multiple learning modalities” while encouraging individual creativity (Kelner, 2010, p. 231). Interestingly, anecdotal evidence is provided, but no academic articles or journals are cited in this personal article. Overall, I believe this article would be more relevant to a drama-related inquiry, however I do agree with her statement that arts integration inspires not only students, but also teachers to continuously improve, learn, and keep growing.
3. Ko, C., & Chou, M. (2013). Aesthetics in Young Children’s Lives: from Music Technology Curriculum Perspective. International Journal of Management, Economics and Social Sciences (IJMESS), 2(4), 265-273.
Based on earlier research by Berry and Allen, this article claims a music technology curriculum enhances a child’s “cognitive and creative development” (Ko and Chou, 2013, p. 266). Children who are not exposed to music or the fine arts may develop superficial viewpoint, where they believe others have the same feelings, actions and ways of thinking. By encouraging aesthetic appreciation through music technology, the authors argue the child will be better equipped to appreciate other forms of art and creative forms of expression. I agree with the argument that music appreciation can improve listening skills, while also incorporating the child’s personal experiences and ways of knowing.
Current music technology enables students to compose, mix, record, and play a song which includes a variety of sounds or instruments. For example, Garage Band 2 was released on iTunes in 2005, and has become a popular software application for musicians to create their own unique sounds at a minimal cost. This application is more accessible and economical than a recording studio. One can even participate in music lessons for guitar or piano using GarageBand ’09. I was surprised this useful and popular application was not referenced in this 2013 article regarding music technology. However, I did agree with the section that music technology has many general benefits such as enhancing motivation, where a student’s music composition can be heard immediately after compiling it (Ko and Chou, 2013).
4. Munroe, A. (2015). Curriculum Integration in the General Music Classroom. General Music Today, 29(1), 12-18.
The 2016/2017 UBC Teacher’s Education program emphasizes the importance of cross-curricular activities, and making connections between different subject areas within a lesson or unit plan. This article “Curriculum Integration in the General Music Classroom” claims there can be beneficial connections created between music and other subjects, however it can be a challenging task, and must be done with both respect and integrity. I found Munroe’s description of the four styles of Arts integration, borrowed from Bresler (1995) particularly useful:
The author appears to prefer the “coequal/cognitive style” above, as it fully integrates “analysis, synthesis, and evaluation” through complex, cognitive processes (Munroe, 2015, p. 13). The key is for music to be valued equally when being integrated with other subjects. This is an academic, but pragmatic article because it provides useful information and strategies for effectively integrating music into the classroom. For example, she recommends starting music class with a specific piece of music or video that the teacher knows well. Based on this introduction, the teacher can ask open-ended questions in order to make “natural connections” with related subjects or topics, and is advised to start with small, manageable chunks (Munroe, 2015, p. 15).
I agree with the author’s emphasis on collaborating with other teachers, bringing in music experts, and focusing on the cultural contexts of specific songs or music. Based on a comprehensive review of the literature, Munroe concludes that although music integration can be time consuming, the resulting interdisciplinary connections can deeply enhance student understanding and motivation.
5. Stephens, A. (2013). Creative Drama in the General Music Classroom: An Integrated Approach for Intermediate Students. General Music Today, 27(1), 12-17.
Stephens discusses how educators can effectively incorporate drama-related lessons into a music classroom. She references Gardner’s theory of eight multiple intelligences, where music is one of the identified types of intelligence. Notably, she mentions students typically learn through one of three preferred senses: the visual, auditory, or kinesthetic (Stephens pg. 12). Notably, teachers need to learn to implement all three modalities in order to become adaptive, and effectively meet the needs of all students.
Next, the author suggests incorporating drama into music class, and that “creative drama” techniques can make music history more engaging for elementary students. The term creative drama refers to improvisation in the form of dramatic play, or playmaking. This article is pragmatic because it provides a few samples of music lessons, where creative drama can be effectively incorporated to teach themes of courage, racism and empathy. I appreciate the practical aspects of this article; however, the lessons are US-based and focus primarily on the Black civil rights movement. Ideally, as a Canadian teacher, I would want the content of this creative drama/music lesson to be Canadian or Aboriginal, while integrating Aboriginal pedagogies and ways of knowing. However, the general structure can definitely be leveraged when developing creative and culturally-sensitive music lessons.
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