Spicing up music education
Don’t get Lee Bartel wrong – he loves music education. He just thinks it needs a serious injection of variety.
“Our whole educational model is based on the large ensemble performing classical music – and sometimes Broadway show tunes or film themes. There are good things to be said for this approach, but it excludes much of the musical experience, such as guitar, steel-pan music or urban step dancing. And it excludes the people who have an affinity for this type of music.”
Bartel, associate professor of music education in the Faculty of Music, has put his thoughts – and those of other music educators – into print as editor of a new book, Questioning the Music Education Paradigm.
“I am trying to motivate a rethinking of music education. And I’m not the only one. There are people around the world saying the same thing. That’s the purpose of the book, to bring these voices together.”
Music education should reflect Canada’s diversity, says Bartel. “That means giving kids opportunities to play traditional music but also other types such as urban music or Caribbean steel pans.”
And he would like to see the collaboration and democratization that have made it into other kinds of education find their way into music education. “There are other approaches than just one teacher controlling 40 students in a band playing classical music. If a gym-sized space could be divided into practice rooms with see-through, soundproof walls, a teacher could circulate between small groups of students working on their own, and bring the groups together later,” says Bartel.
Research shows that students who are given the chance to take responsibility for their musical learning tend to make music a lifelong pursuit. And his experience supports the research.
“When I was young it was fortunate that I couldn’t find a teacher, because it forced me to learn music informally and collaboratively. I learned harmonica, guitar, autoharp, mandolin, and the pump organ. I jammed with my friends and played at campfires and in church,” says Bartel. “When I was 18, I got a violin teacher, did a degree in music, formed a string quartet and played as a concertmaster in orchestras. This made me acceptable to the classical world, but it narrowed me.”
As a music teacher in Winnipeg, Bartel brought in the rock band North and professional folk musicians, and used the Guess Who as models of technique.
“If I was in the high school classroom today, I’d be doing classical, but also what’s relevant to kids – probably a variety of urban music including human beatbox (using voice and breath to make rhythmic sounds) and electronic forms.”
A student concert at Toronto’s Roy Thomson Hall in January gave Bartel hope. “They had a string orchestra from the Hamilton-Wentworth school board, steel pan players, urban step dancers, and students from the Toronto District School Board playing urban music. Almost all the music was composed by the kids themselves. That’s what it’s about – having creative music that is inclusive of orchestra and rappers.”