Changing Landscape of Music Education Pedagogy

The blend of technical understanding with opportunities for personally constructed, creative work is an important aspect of a changing landscape of music education pedagogy writ large across methodologies, cultural settings, and levels of instruction (J. Barrett & Webster, 2014; Lewis, 2020; Webster, 2014).

This chapter and the many other chapters in this Handbook join the hundreds of other theoretical, practical, and empirical writings in the last century and a half that have encouraged teachers to stress the personal, generative work of music learners as much as possible. This is one of many “big ideas” in music teaching and learning that challenge us to make pedagogies more effective for a musically diverse world far different than previous music educators may have experienced or considered.

The music teachers in the short vignettes that start the chapter may also be influenced by other building blocks in this changing landscape that support the construction of creative experiences. For example:

1. Learner-centered approaches that offer chances for projects and personal exploration to support differentiated instruction (Williams & Kladder, 2019).

2. Multiple genres of music, including more popular styles of music and music of other cultures (Anderson & Campbell, 2011; Burnard, 2012; Green, 2008).

3. Interdisciplinary content both within the traditional music subdivisions (e.g., history, theory, performance, education) and outside of music (e.g., “hard” sciences, social sciences, humanities, related arts) (Abril & Gault, 2016; J. Barrett, 2001).

4. Diverse approaches to assessment of learning that include portfolios of work, parental and teacher collaboration, and learner self-assessment of progress (Brophy, 2019; Hebert, 2001).

5. Diverse types of music often rendered with technological affordance online or from phones and tablets (Bamberger, 2013; Bauer, 2020; Dorfman, 2013; Freedman, 2013; Greher & Burton, 2021; Ruthmann & Mantie, 2017; Williams & Webster, 2023).

6. Public face of music teaching and learning that not only features polished performances of others’ music but also student-created music presented in and outside of the concert hall (Dobson & Pitts, 2011)

7. Students not typically engaged in band, orchestra, and choir ensembles experiencing music creatively and in diverse ways (Williams, 2012).

In this context, the purpose of the chapter is to offer music educators clear reasons to expand their engagement of students in compositional activities and to do so with clearly reasoned, contemporary pedagogy. To help with this, the chapter offers historical and more recent writings that bolster the rationales for why this might be done. Teachers of elementary and secondary education are the focus, however much of what is summarized here holds enormous significance for music teachers in higher education, especially those responsible for teacher preparation. This chapter is offered with an eye toward blending knowledge and skills with creative affordance.