the benefits of community outreach music programs (comps) on the teaching of musical instruments

©No part of this article may be cited without the consent of the author.
In this paper, I explore the concept of regularly participating in community outreach music programs based on my own teaching practice (COMPs)
Through music, students can have great benefits in learning their instruments.
I will start with the general description of the typical COMP.
The greenbria retirement community\'s music promotion program music and Health Institute has been operating a COMP in the greenbria retirement community in Millbrook, New York since January 2000.
Although most people have medical problems, most of the residents are elderly people with fairly high functioning, and many show early symptoms of Alzheimer\'s or Alzheimer\'s.
A typical outreach session lasts about 70 minutes.
IMH usually has five volunteers to participate in the outreach activities, usually more than a dozen volunteers.
The average number of residents participating in outreach activities is usually around 20.
The basic practices are as follows.
We mainly sing old-fashioned tin pot songs familiar to the residents.
The assistants encourage residents to join them at the right time to sing, dance/move with them.
This is not a formal performance in any usual sense.
On the contrary, the more informal the atmosphere is, the more active the residents are;
The more active the residents, the longer the time
The benefits of music.
The effect of music-
Volunteers interact directly and interactively with residents as much as possible, hand in hand, eye contact, etc. , enhancing the production effect.
Although instruments are used in some of the cases discussed below, these equipment is basically unaccompanied in music.
The purpose of this article is not to discuss the benefits of such meetings for residents, which are profound if done correctly and with the right intentions.
On the contrary, I am interested in the influence of volunteers, especially how these equipment is conducive to the performance of learning tools (
Although the outreach center sings, does not play).
At the time of writing, we just took our students to greenbria on a limited basis, although the first result was very encouraging and we planned to extend the program, the current discussion is basically a position paper that is closer to theory/philosophy than based on experimental results.
First of all, I will discuss the current situation of mainstream instrumental pedagogy in the United States and put it in the historical context, as far as I know, before continuing to explore how musical equipment can help offset some sort of imbalance inherent in traditional music pedagogy, most of the Western world.
Although the traditional musical instrument teaching has a long history, the instrumental music teaching we know today is actually a product of the 19 th century.
The revolutionary aesthetics of romanticism has brought great changes to the spread of art music in Europe and North America.
This new approach is most typically reflected in the rise of public concerts, which were born in the Romantic era.
The symbol of this is the master of touring instruments, such as Pagini on the violin and Liszt on the piano, who, together with the successful opera artists, became the music superstar of the time.
Romanticism glorifies these musical instrument performers in an unprecedented way.
In doing so, the actors become rich and famous, through their constant tours, fine propaganda and listening --
Capture fireworks, a wider public than ever before.
With the development of instrumental music, pedagogy began to emerge.
Driven by new technologies, the cost of music scores has been significantly reduced, thus reducing availability and the growing music literacy of the middle class
For the desire for cultural progress, pedagogy became a big enterprise for the first time in the 19 th century.
Hundreds of composers have created teaching materials for almost all types of instruments, from the mechanics of Czerny\'s practice to the mastery of Chopin\'s Etudes.
Emphasis on technology: higher quality of performance --
Expression, explanation, etc.
Only after the machine has mastered the work can it be really added effectively.
The school known as \"feeling again.
Once established, this philosophy dominates the field of teaching.
Surprisingly, Figure 1 is an illustration in an article by obertin Woodward Moore entitled \"from mechanical Foundation to artistic victory, published in 1918 in the mainstream American Journal of Music Education, Etudes.
The \"mechanical foundation\" of the title is heavy-
Industrial machinery at the foot of the mountain, and \"artistic victory\" is depicted by a castle on the top of the mountain.
Please note that the higher playback quality (
\"Wording\", \"expression\", \"explanation \")
Happened near the top of the mountain, and practiced hard (
\"Industry\", \"daily practice\", \"scale \")
Near the bottom.
A little more.
When you follow zig-
Go up the hill path and you will see it having fewer and fewer people.
This is a surprising honesty about the design flaws of the whole system, if it may be unconscious: Most students give up their instruments.
Learning a tool in a philosophyHere, literally-
Only a few people reached the top of the mountain in a hard struggle.
When attending the summit is considered to be the only worthwhile goal of this adventure --
The word \"artistic victory\" is clearly sold as a winner --takes-all affair—
Not arriving at the summit is considered (
Students and teachers together)as a failure.
In Darwin\'s view of education, the fittest survive.
The rest fell on the side of the road.
It is naive to suggest that there has been no change in music pedagogy since this article was published.
Nowadays, the mainstream teaching methods are less technically oriented and terrible hegemony than before.
I think the most important factor driving this change is the weakening of Western control over classical music and the corresponding rise of Native American music (
Jazz, blues, rock and roll. )
The 20 th century, through its amazing popularity in mass communication-
Culture has replaced classical music as the main musical language in the West and even in the recent world.
So when the age of 20 starts, the average child
The first century decided to learn an instrument that was more likely to learn the Beatles than Beethoven.
Although the music industry has adapted, it has only managed to do so.
Read the old version of any mainstream teaching magazine, such as the exercise song, and you will find out how conservative it is and how protective it is for \"good (i. e. classical)
A threat to pop style.
The general impression is that the democratizing of the repertoire and the widening of the playing style in music teaching is a thorough \"bottom layer\"
The revolution was barely accepted by the old guards.
This has a variety of classroom meanings that I do not want to pursue here except to say that this conservatism in music teaching is a reflection of the whole society: all vernacular styles have, almost by definition, starting with working-class music, it is generally accepted only after experiencing the great resistance from above.
The reluctance of music pedagogy to accept a new style is a manifestation of a deeper problem.
Because while the focus of music teaching has moved from \"a few people who may be professional musicians tomorrow\" to \"many people who want to participate in music\" healthily \", \"The philosophy of music teaching has not fundamentally changed: it only softens the hard edges to cater to the masses.
A student studying musical instruments still wants his teacher to focus on technology as he did a century ago.
The point is still to practice scale and ensemble using the correct fingering method.
There are individual exceptions, of course, but this is still the general culture.
Let me distinguish music. capital M—and the music—small m.
By using capital letters, I mean the higher qualities that make music important and vital: creativity, expression and interpretation, and the qualities that are finally applied to traditional pedagogy.
Small m refers to the lower technical quality.
A child who uses an instrument is a means of higher expression, in other words, music.
Instead, the focus is on technology and music.
It\'s not surprising that so many children give up their instruments.
We can sum up all of this by saying that the starting point of music pedagogy is \"right\": Tunes, right-hand notes.
This will inevitably keep students concerned and worried about this issue. e.
Music, not music.
It creates an atmosphere of fear that encourages students to constantly make judgments about their mistakes and assume that others --
Originally his teacher, then the audience.
Doing the same thing.
The result of this is the unhealthy heart of the musician.
He focused on himself in the performance and worried about how others commented on him: \"How about me?
\"What do they think of me? ”. This self-
Consciousness is the beginning of all stages.
Startled, completely counter-productive
When nervous, everyone\'s performance is even worse.
Therefore, we are faced with the paradox that too much emphasis on technology will eventually destroy technology.
The teaching of musical instruments should be carried out in a way that reduces the self. consciousness;
Instead, it exacerbated it, thereby weakening the goal it was trying to achieve.
The benefits of community music promotion programs for music students if the core issue of music instrument teaching is self-
It generates awareness that its solution is to adopt other-
Consciousness, encourage students to focus on each other, not on themselves.
The Latin word of \"self\" is \"self \";
It is alter for \"other.
We replaced egoism with altruism.
Therefore, when the student plays, he is encouraged to direct the music to someone.
In the simplest form, the process is purely spiritual. e.
Just imagine the person being played.
But if the person and player are in the room, the experience will be more powerful.
This is where the music promotion in places such as the home of the elderly is very valuable, because it provides a reality for the process of using music to guide.
However, there is more involvement than this.
The outreach situation is particularly helpful in encouraging this attitude of visiting musicians, far more than solo at concerts, and of course, it is more likely to aggravate students\' fear of performance than to mitigate them.
Promotion is the best case for encouraging music altruism for several reasons.
First of all, the elderly at home are far less picky than the concert audience.
Many elderly people in institutions such as Green Briar feel lonely and depressed.
Tourists and music
As a result, production is almost always popular.
In addition, experience has shown that as residents get worse in their physical/mental condition, they are becoming more and more picky about music and therefore less and less critical about what they hear.
Second, outreach activities are of a Community nature.
This reduces the stress on individual students and thus helps to ease performance anxiety, as it is easier to work in groups than to perform alone.
Perhaps more important than this is that in the outreach, the audience and performers participate together, sing together, dance/move together.
This creates a comfortable informal atmosphere for students.
After all, if in most cases older people who are not trained in music are not themselves
Aware of their involvement in music, why should students do so?
In fact, outreach is not a performance situation in the usual sense, and there is a clear line between the performer and the audience.
Most of the time the boundary is blurred.
At Green Briar, we even encountered a reversal of the audience/performer relationship, when a resident passionately led us to sing a song that he knew better than we did!
And the third difference between outreach and concerts is that students are encouraged to connect with his \"audience\" as individuals.
At the concert, the audience was anonymous to the performers.
He did not know most of the audience.
Even if he did, it was hard to connect with all of them at once.
In the standard concert, there is too much gap between the audience and the performers --
Little help.
Usually in the theater, the performer can\'t even see his audience due to the bright stage lights, let alone communicate with them.
In the case of outreach like Green Briar, there is no such difficulty and the residents will become good if they visit regularly
Volunteers know, and vice versa.
As the number of people decreases and the environment is informal, it is easy for students to get in touch with residents.
To maximize this, we recommend being as close and direct as possible: as close as possible to the residents during the music
He/she will allow it;
Hold their hands
Look into their eyes (
This is especially important in the end).
Finally, clothing is designed around singing, not around the student\'s instrument.
This is important for two reasons.
First of all, we find that residents often stop singing when using musical instruments.
Instead, they began to look at the situation as a performance, with a formal distance between the performer and the audience, which was not conducive to creating an atmosphere of altruism.
Second, singing takes less effort for students than playing.
Like residents, students can \"just sing.
On the other hand, he is less spontaneous when playing his instrument, because he is often worried about whether he has the right notes, whether he is in tune, etc.
These four factors
The relatively less critical approach of residents, the community side, as individuals, is related to the \"audience\" and revolves around singing
Create a unique environment that encourages students to use his music selflessly.
However, translating the philosophy of outreach into instrumental music for participation in regular music outreach is only the first stage, as the ultimate goal is to translate the altruistic experience of outreach into instrumental music for students.
This occurs to some extent through penetration.
As the student becomes more unselfishly inclined to these gear, the beneficial effects will be promoted to all of his music --making.
The ultimate goal is to see all the performances, even all the music.
As an extension.
This process can be facilitated by the gradual introduction of musical instruments in outreach activities.
I gave an example from my recent experience. A sixteen year-
The students of the old trumpet are very talented, but shy and self-sufficient.
Realize his music.
Made on his instrument.
He began to participate in music activities with his father regularly, including Green Brier, whose father himself liked music very much and encouraged his son to take an altruistic attitude towards music --making.
At first, the son did not want to do anything but sing.
However, as his musical identity was strengthened through these gear, he gradually became more confident, even though he was still reluctant to play.
Even one.
Between the stages, he will bring the trumpet to the outreach area but will not play!
In the end, he really started to play, which made the residents very happy.
Recently, he also began playing solo at the concert.
When he played, he was very confident and had no trace of the stage at all. fright.
Therefore, his performance is very creative and expressive.
In other words, the outreach process encourages him to create music, not music, and he is unique from this perspective.
When the altruistic attitude developed through music is integrated into the performance of students, what impact will it have?
There are a few. 1. Reducing self-
The criticism of the students will naturally make the whole music
The learning process is more enjoyable and satisfying. 2.
Show his music to the students
Production can have a positive impact on the audience.
This brings an extra meaning to his playing that is not usually a regular pedagogy. 3.
Students who often participate in outdoor activities tend to develop excellent auditory skills because they emphasize singing.
This can be enhanced by having them play songs they sing in outreach on an instrument without using written music. 4.
Selfless attitude has improved technology.
This is the opposite side of the paradox discussed earlier, that is, giving priority to technology in music
By encouraging ourselves, teaching ultimately destroys technology.
Key mentality.
In contrast, when students stop thinking about themselves
The key is that he is able to do his best in every sense, including technically. 5.
In the most general sense, the widespread altruistic attitude is the most ideal goal for young people\'s education and social development.
The process of exploring this article --
Participate in regular musical equipment and apply this experience to the performance of student instruments
Well described in the following 15 proofyear-
The old clarinet student at Ravensong studio, took part in a series of music events in greenbria: When I got [Outreach]
The first time I realized how scared I was.
We entered a small sunny room with a fish tank, a magazine and a restaurant with too much yellow color.
There is a circle of old lady and a few old people in the chair. . .
I sang softly in a corner and felt like I was thrown into cold water without warning.
Although it looked harsh at the time, it worked.
When I realized that these people didn\'t come to judge us, I slowly lost my shyness.
Once I forget to worry that I am right, my ability to express will increase by thousands of times.
I think if I can apply for this new one
Not free for meso-
The clarinet was very shabby and I was much better.
So I began to change slowly.
I took more risk and tried to focus on the meaning of the song, which is intended to portray the emotions, not just the notes on the page.
I have begun to understand the purpose of music.
It suddenly became much easier and much more interesting. . .
As a musician, I have improved and become a more sensitive person.
The statement raises an important question, that is, clothing can be a terrible experience at first for many students.
First of all, people who learn musical instruments often don\'t like singing.
There are various reasons for this, however, basically if a student is his own
He is also likely to sing when he realizes his performance.
More reason to continue outreach!
Many students\' experiences are like those in the testimonials: shy or even fearful at the beginning, but gradually gaining confidence as the atmosphere becomes familiar.
Another reason why students are intimidated in outreach activities is that at the beginning, the deterioration of some family residents may be frightening, although this has improved as students start to get in close contact with residents.
For these reasons, we do find that students refuse to continue to expand, but most students are willing to accept it in the end.
This is especially true for young children who are not so self in a sense
More conscious than their teens. Footnotes1.
P, February 1918. 93. 2.
Joyce Cameron\'s role of the self
\"Respect in learning\", National Conference on piano pedagogy 1990-91 (
Los Angeles: National Conference on piano education, 1991), 88. 3.
Some recent work, for example, highlights the general therapeutic nature of altruism; See Richard L.
Curwin, the healing power of altruism, education leadership, November 1993, 36-39;
And Mr. John Diamond. D.
Worship of life: through disease to Soul (
IL: enhanced Books, 2000),4;
The latter author also discussed extensively the use of altruism in music. ;
See life through music (
IL: enhanced books in publication), passim. 4.
Margeret McGovern owns the author\'s undated proof.