Curriculum and Instruction

Leading Voices: From the Rehearsal Room to Independent Learning

April 6, 2022 by Brian O Ackles Leave a Comment

Recently, our district asked each content area to meet, discuss, and submit a plan for teaching our students how to study and prepare for local and state exams. My initial reaction was to roll my eyes and view this request as just another example of something that applies to other subjects and not to music education.

As I listened and watched my students study for their classes, I quickly realized that the district was correct. Unfortunately, many of the students do not have good studying skills. You can blame COVID, technology and social media, teacher-centered direct instruction, or silo education practices. But the main reason students struggle and lack sufficient studying or practicing skills is because we do not adequately teach, model, and reinforce these skills during instruction.

When was the last time your students heard you practicing your voice or instrument?

Show Your Work & Teach by Example

It basically comes down to labeling and explaining the teaching and learning techniques you use during rehearsals in real-time – to lead by example. You can start by writing a short outline of your lesson on the board or hold up and explain your lesson plan to the choir. In this way, your students will see and understand that each rehearsal has a focus, beginning, middle, and end. You can then share and explain to your students that they can use the same structure when planning their practice and study sessions.

Madeline Hunter has a great book you can turn to if you need a refresher on selecting lesson content and lesson planning. Take some time and check out Madeline Hunter’s Mastery Teaching: Increasing Instructional Effectiveness in Elementary and Secondary Schools. This book is a must-read for teaching any subject and a necessity for teaching music. It is a bit “old school,” but the pedagogical principles presented in this revised edition provide the essential structure that we must incorporate to successfully and effectively teach our students.

Chapter 10, Practice Doesn’t Make Perfect is a great place to start as you help your students learn how to structure and develop their own plan for practicing. To get the planning ball rolling, incorporate and label the following Four Principles to Improve Performance with your classes (Mastery Teaching, Hunter, p. 86).

Four Principles to Improve Performance

1. How much material should be covered?
Break down a section or skill into manageable sections

2. How long of a practice session?
Divide the practice session into 2 – 3 segments with a suggested total time of 30 – 45 minutes.

3. How often should I practice?
Use “Distributed Practice” Several short practice periods are more effective than one or two longer sessions

4. How well did the practice session go? Reflect and assess your progress by answering the following:
* What went well?
* What did not go well?
* How can you do better next time?

I use question number four all the time during instruction. It provides immediate feedback that helps the choir evaluate their work and discover areas where they need to grow and improve. By having the students learn to incorporate personal reflection in both the rehearsal setting and in their practice sessions, they begin to take more ownership of their learning and contribution to the ensemble.

Steps to Mastery – shedthemusic.com

Another outstanding resource for high school and post-secondary teachers is the website The Shed (you will want to bookmark this resource!). In particular, our department decided to incorporate the Steps To Mastery into our instruction. The Steps To Mastery presents the organized steps that ascend in the order that our brains can “handle” as we learn new concepts and skills. We believe this paradigm will be a great reference and will use it as a guide to help students learn in class and practice at home.

Marcellus High School Three Tiers

For the past few years, the high school band director and I have collaborated and created a Three-Tier Learning system that we use during instruction. It fits well with the Sheds’ Steps to Mastery and provides us with a structure of skills and common terms that we use with our ensembles. For example, when an issue arises during rehearsals, we can easily select the Tier skill level – 1, 2, or 3 – and focus on one specific skill and outcome. Our students have become accustomed to this system and refer to it often during rehearsals, when working one-on-one, and when they work independently.

Tier 1 – Technical Skills – Knowledge and comprehension of basic musical skills such as
Pulse and Rhythm, Key Signatures and Solfege, and Posture and Tone Consistency

Tier 2 – Intellectual Skills – Application of Tier 1 skills and:
Application of Phrasing and Dynamics, Proper Intonation, Expression, and Articulation, etc.

Tier 3 – Emotional Skills – Interpretation and Synthesis of Tier 1 & 2 Skills
Musical and Stylistic Considerations, Repertoire Purpose & Function, and Time-Period/Style

From the Rehearsal Room to Independent Learning

Mitchell (2007, p 44) reminds us that each singer must develop their own method for learning new repertoire. For example, I use “RIP into Woodshedding” with my students during rehearsals and voice lessons as we work through new material or learn tricky spots. This sequence provides the students with a structure for learning while also allowing for individual autonomy and choice.

RIP into Woodshedding
Rhythm – Count or takadimi the selected music section and annotate if needed; perform rhythm on one pitch.
Intervals/Solfege – Write in the key and solfege; sing each pitch of the phrase devoid of pulse and rhythm (we call this technique “Stop-n-Lock”)
Practice – Count off, practice each chunk until correct, and then chain the successful chunks together.

The first step is to define and isolate only the rhythmic content – meter, time signature, and dominant pulse. When practicing, students are more successful when performing short 3 – 5 tonal pattern chunks and then chaining the successful patterns together. Next, define and isolate only the melodic content – tonality and key signature. Now comes the tricky part!

Combine the rhythmic and melodic content using a neutral syllable (Mitchell, 2007, p 47). * Do Not combine the rhythmic and melodic content until both are accurate (Ledbetter, 2016). And finally, add the text to the rhythmic and melodic content. If you want to have some fun, record this procedure in class and challenge your students to do the same by recording their practice sessions. Maybe for extra credit?

Readthrough Review

Sometimes, students say they do not know “where to start” when planning their practice session. So, I created the Readthrough Review activity to give them guided planning experiences during rehearsals. This process takes about seven minutes to complete and provides concrete examples of where the trouble spots are. If some students struggle or can not “find” the problems, I ask them to reach out and ask their neighbors for help.

Fly Me to The Moon

Sight Reading Exercise Procedures (the total SR activity takes about five minutes)
1. Students identify and annotate the key signature
2. Teacher plays only the tonic triad or resting tone; students establish key center with so la so fa mi re ti do for major and mi fa mi re do ti so(si) la for minor.
3. Students sing their starting note (no pitch given)
4. Students count off singing their starting note – “one, two, ready go.”
5. Sing through the exercise – No Stopping!

The 10-Minute Window

Another way to help our students develop efficient practice and study skills during class and rehearsals is by teaching students to use the 10-Minute Window. When the ensemble encounters a challenging section of music, they are asked to:
(1) identify the area of concern,
(2) reflect on what they can accomplish in 10 minutes,
(3) collectively decide specifically what to “woodshed,” and
(4) set the timer for 10 minutes and go.

Through this process, students can select practice sections with efficiency in mind, learn more about their learning process, reflect on what they can accomplish in that time frame, and feel more reward and confidence from the thoughtful and deliberate preparation of their music.

TL;DR Teaching Music Practicing Studying Techniques

Why do most students find it difficult and challenging to practice and study independently? Because they have not been explicitly taught how to work independently and practice on their own. I know I was never taught how to practice and learn my music on my own. Like my students, I fell into the same trap many years ago: reading through my notes, memorizing the required information, and taking the test.

The problem is, that is precisely what many of our choir members try to do during our choir rehearsals. They come in and “re-read” the music, memorize their part, sing for the concert, and repeat the process. Unfortunately, not much learning going on.

But fortunately, if we provide a consistent presentation, awareness, reinforcement, and re-practice of the learning strategies and techniques we use during class, we can teach students autonomy and independent music-making.

The Agile Development Instructional Framework and Resources

The Agile Development Instructional Framework (ADIF) goal is to draw the students into an active teaching and learning environment where they learn to participate and think as autonomous musicians. This awareness is accomplished by presenting learning experiences that engage, challenge, and deepen our students’ cognitive and metacognitive processes, while also fostering independence and personal musical enjoyment. There is no longer a need for strict Banking Education or to retain the Silo Effect for each content area or skill. ADIF promotes and supports only one “Silo,” the Silo of metacognitive autonomy.

All activities, rehearsal strategies, and projects developed through applying the Agile Development Instructional Framework are research-based. They contain elements of the following teaching models and instructional theories: Self-Regulated Learning, Self-Directed-Learning, Experiential Learning Theory, Understanding by Design, Cognitive Coaching, and the Universal Design for Learning.

References

Gordon, E, E. (2021). Learning Sequences in Music: A Contemporary Music Learning Theory, Chicago, Il. GIA Publications, Inc.

Hicks, Charles E. “Sound before Sight Strategies for Teaching Music Reading.” Music Educators Journal 66, no. 8 (1980): 53–67. https://doi.org/10.2307/3395858.

Newport, C., (2007) How to Become a Straight-A Student. The Unconventional Strategies Real College Students Use to Score High While Studying Less. Broadway Books, NY

Mitchell, C. A. 2007, Audiation and the Study of Singing. FSU Digital Library

Leading Voices: AutoSave, It’s Not Just for Computers

March 2, 2022 by Brian O Ackles Leave a Comment

I wish I could take credit for labeling and using the term AutoSave in class, but that honor goes to one of my students. It all happened one day during voice lessons as I was asking my students to write in performing and learning strategies into their music. I was trying to impress upon them the importance of marking their music and keeping track of what and where they individually needed to work on.

That’s when one of my sophomore tenors spoke up and said, “it’s kinda like AutoSave.” I agreed and added that in the same way computers have a function to save automatically, we as musicians need to learn how to process and “save” the skills and understandings we achieve while practicing. The reality is that if our students participate in class but do not actively take responsibility and own their music-making, they are not learning. They are mimicking. If our choir members do not think independently and learn to “AutoSave” their conceptual and musical understandings, they are basically starting over each time they come to rehearsals.

As professional musicians, we know our craft and understand the value of honing our musical skills. Our students? Not so much. Aside from a few highly motivated students, a majority of my high school choir members come to class and expect to be told what to do and how to think. But if we are honest, it really is not their fault. In many classes – including ours if we are not careful – our students are taught and trained to be consumers and not producers of learning.

Independence-Centered Learning

To help our students become producers of their learning, we need to hold each member accountable for 1) their personal musical growth, 2) their contributions to the ensemble, and 3) the overall success of the choir. In addition, students must be taught the skills and strategies needed to assess a task independently, problem solve, implement mediation, and evaluate their efforts. This Independence-Centered Learning approach is the foundation of the Agile Development Instructional FrameworkAgile Development Instructional Framework (ADIF). For our students to enjoy a lifetime of musical enjoyment and participation, they must become aware of and responsible for their learning.

What’s Your Top Three?

To help my students become more musically responsible and independent, I created an assignment called Top Three. This activity asks the students to identify their Top Three areas of concern while working through the choirs’ rep. The Top Three assignment can be used anytime throughout the learning process, from the early stages of introducing and woodshedding a song to the performance.

Can You Hear, Jim Papoulis

Set-up for Success

To be successful with any activity or assignment, you must set the students up for success. This is accomplished by modeling, practicing, and having the students experience the rewards of understanding and mastering a specific concept or skill. For example, before I introduced the Top Three assignment to my students, I made sure they had many successful experiences processing, assessing, and communicating the choirs’ learning during rehearsals.

Somewhere – Leonard Bernstein, arr. Robert Edgerton

Currently, we are using 3 x 3 sticky notes for our Top Three assignment – in the past, I have also used a half-sheet handout and Google Forms. The best part of this activity is that you can use the information presented by the students in a variety of ways. For example, you can 1) grade each student based on their responses (see Specs Grading below), 2) have the students collaborate and create a Top Three list for their section, or 3) use the assignment as a quick assessment to determine the students’ current knowledge and skill levels. You can also adapt and modify this assignment to fit your rehearsal needs, whether you take two minutes during a rehearsal, use Top Three as an exit ticket, or use the assignment for your sub plans.

Instructional Top Three

Not only does the Top Three activity support the students’ understanding of individual and ensemble responsibility, but it is also an excellent resource for directors as we adjust and plan for future instruction. As I graded the choir’s recent Top Three assignment for Can You Hear, the following three themes and teaching modifications became apparent.

Student responses:
1. My students had good general observations, but many did not include supporting evidence in their statements.
2. Several comments were general in nature, such as “measure 85 – end” or noted following the score, such as pointing out the key change, time signature change, and repeats.
3. Most student comments focused on basic music reading skills, such as tricky rhythms and pitches.

My adjustments:
1. I will write more precise instructions for the assignment specs (see below).
2. I will make a greater effort to have the students mark their specific areas of concern during rehearsals.
3. I will challenge and encourage my students to incorporate upper-level choral skills while also learning the basic elements of a song

Specification Grading or Specs Grading

To successfully implement any activity, teachers must take great care in developing, writing, and communicating the criteria for a specific assignment. In her book Specifications Grading, Linda Nilson presents a grading system that creates a learning-centered environment that focuses on student learning outcomes and autonomy. With Specs Grading, students must read all the specifications needed to achieve a specific grade, select the grade they would like to earn, and fulfill all the requirements to show competency for a given course or assignment. Below are the Specs for the Top Three.

Grading Specs for Top Three
Please label and list three challenging areas in the song Somewhere.
90 – 100   Statements are detailed with specific examples such as
“the rhythm in measure 33, beats 3 & 4”
80 – 89     Statements are general, such as “the rhythm of the second ending.”
70 – 79     Statements are vague and ambiguous such as “notes on page 5.”
50            No attempt to participate.

As you can see, Specs Grading is a competency-based grading system that incorporates a pass/fail system of assessment. I know that sounds a bit harsh, but it is not. For this grading system to succeed, please remember that the students must understand the assignment specifications and know precisely what to do to make their work acceptable. Teacher preparation and planning are a must!

LT;DR What’s Your Top Three? – Helping Your Students Become Independent Musicians

How do you actively engage students in lifelong music learning and participation? Model and teach your choir members how to be the creators of their learning and personal musicianship. Provide your students the opportunity and experience to be the sage on the stage and the guide on the side. Teaching Independence-Centered Learning in the rehearsal room will engage, validate, and invigorate each member of your choir.

“Pedagogy is never innocent. It is a medium that carries its own message.”

Bruner, 1997, p.63

Agile Development Instructional Framework Resources

Resources

Ackles, Brian O., 2018. Agile Development Instructional Framework (ADIF): A New Strategy for Student-Centered Music Education. Choral Journal, September 2018. Vol. 59, No. 2

Armstrong, P. (2010). Bloom’s Taxonomy. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. Retrieved [todaysdate] from https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/blooms-taxonomy/.

Specification Grading Resources

What is Specifications Grading and Why Should You Consider Using It?

Yes, Virginia, There’s a Better Way to Grade

Specifications grading: We may have a winner

Specifications grading with the EMRF rubric

Advocating a new way of grading

Leading Voices: Oh, Now I Get it! – Understanding Threshold Concepts

April 7, 2021 by Brian O Ackles 1 Comment

Have you ever wondered how some of our students seem to naturally catch on and succeed in their studies? They may or may not have an extraordinary aptitude in any particular content area, yet they can grasp and apply the fundamental concepts in a variety of subjects and excel.

Some would say it is because they are gifted or talented in a specific discipline, while others may say it is because they are intelligent or smart. Though this may be true for some, economists Land and Meyer (2003) would say that gaining valuable insights and transforming conceptual understanding in any subject is dependent upon attaining the unique and specific Threshold Concepts that are inherent within each discipline.

“A threshold concept can be considered as akin to a portal, opening up a new and previously inaccessible way of thinking about something. It represents a transformed way of understanding, or interpreting, or viewing something without which the learner cannot progress.” (Land and Meyer, 2003, p. 3, emphasis mine)

To become an interior designer, you must be able to understand and apply color theory
To study basic economics, you must grasp the concept of opportunity cost
To become a music teacher, you must learn to audiate and internalize scale degree relationships

The word threshold in the context of a threshold concept does not represent a boundary or an end of something, such as the threshold of hearing or the threshold of pain. But rather, it implies a “place or point of entering or beginning.” (Merriam-Webster)

Enhancing Teaching-Learning Environments (ETL) Project

Through their research in economics and working with their colleagues at the University of Edinburgh, Land and Meyer sought to identify prominent factors that led to high-quality learning environments in undergraduate classes within five interdisciplinary contexts. The Enhancing Teaching-Learning Environments (ETL) Project focused on learning outcomes and sought to differentiate between (1) core learning outcomes and (2) threshold concepts through which students learn to see and experience their field of study in a new and transformative way. Through their research, the following characteristics were conceptualized and can help us identify the attributes we all experience when a threshold concept is realized.

Threshold Concepts Characteristics

Transformation – There is a conceptual shift in perception and practice as the internal mental framework becomes modified and reworked. Once grasped, the new learning experience leads to a deeper view and awareness of the subject and oneself as a learner.
Integration– Current experiences, commonalities, patterns, and interconnectedness are recognized, explored, and applied to the existing mental structures of a discipline.
Bounded and Irreversible – As a student’s conceptual knowledge expands and multiplies, the recently acquired understandings and skills define new boundaries and create new concept thresholds. This new thinking or skill is generally irreversible and is unlikely to be forgotten or unlearned, much like swimming.
Troublesome – Conceptual adjustments require a reconstructive change that involves a shift of thinking, practice, and identity. This unfamiliar learning transformation may feel counter-intuitive and takes time.

Conceptual Transformation and Troublesome Knowledge

Attaining and grasping a threshold concept in any subject is both rewarding and demanding. It can be exhilarating and relieving as the new conceptual understanding opens previously inaccessible and advanced ways of thinking and performing. It is the aha or eureka moment we experience with our students as they gain insight into a challenging skill or concept as they cross a threshold from their past beliefs to a transformed deeper understanding. Through this realization, students become aware of the limitations of isolated perspectives and learn to acknowledge, accommodate, and value multiple perspectives and new practices.

Threshold concepts are also challenging and demanding because to achieve new conceptual understanding, students must actively experience, wrestle with, and move through what Perkins (1999) calls Troublesome Knowledge. Hawkins and Edwards (2013) define this experience as Managing the Monsters of Doubt. Recent research by Davies and Guest (2009) titled Towards the Bigger Picture discusses student acquisition of knowledge through Threshold Concepts.

The transformation experience is both cognitive and affective.
The change in a students’ conceptual structure is not based on the acquisition of knowledge.
Students’ beliefs are highly resistant to change; this challenges their current way of thinking.
A conceptual shift is complex and requires time to rework and revisit current understandings.
Students must break the cycle of using fixed views and unproductive beliefs and behaviors.
New understandings can be emotional and may involve shifts in the students’ sense of identity.
Student responses to reflection and self-assessment could be defensive and disheartening.

To help my students work through the difficult process of troublesome knowledge, I incorporated the work of Carol S. Dweck and her book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success into my classroom and rehearsal environment.

The sign hangs just above the threshold as you enter and leave my classroom. It serves as a reminder that learning and growing take hard work.

Teaching Music Through Threshold, Procedural and Base Concepts

Keeping the above challenges in mind, how then can we apply and incorporate threshold concepts into the music curriculum and the choral classroom? Davies and Mangan (2007) incorporated threshold concepts into teaching economics and present a new model of instruction. Their work offers the following three conceptual categories: Basic Concepts (I will refer to as Base Concepts), Procedural Concepts, and Threshold Concepts.

Below is an example of how this model used in teaching economics can be applied to music instruction.
Threshold Concept – Melodic and harmonic correlations
Procedural Concepts – Key Signatures identification and relationships within the circle of 5^th Base Concepts – Pitch recognition, alterations, and the corresponding notation

Agile Development Instructional Framework

The Agile Development Instructional Framework (ADIF) provides a structure that allows flexibility in content and delivery as students learn to move through a variety of threshold concepts by reworking and revisiting base and procedural concepts.

By using the ADIF model, teachers can freely and effectively move holonomicly through their instruction and foster metacognition and autonomy. ADIF allows directors to teach through the repertoire and not teach to the repertoire.

The Liminal State and Mimicry

One of the biggest challenges in teaching music through threshold concepts occurs when an individual or ensemble gets stuck in a Liminal State. This is the space where they have not totally left their old understanding behind, yet they are not fully cognizant of their pending new knowledge or skill.

What once had been familiar and known is now distressing, disorienting, and unknown. Students tend to want to return to their old learning states and patterns where it was comfortable and safe. If we are not careful, our students and ensembles will unknowingly settle in a liminal state and, as a coping strategy, replace authentic learning with mimicry (Cousins, 2006) and rote learning.

When this happens, the remedy is to temporarily usher the ensemble or individual back out of the liminal space and revisit and rework underlying procedural and base concepts needed for that threshold concept. We must teach them that to grow musically and not rely on old patterns or the usual way of learning and performing.

A Word of Caution

If we are not careful in our desire to help our students succeed, WE tend to pull and carry our students through threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge by using successful rehearsal techniques, teaching strategies, and at times sheer talent. We tend to default to our teacher training and conditioned responses, and WE end up carrying our students through liminal spaces and troublesome knowledge. I know I am guilty of this at times.

This teacher-directed-conceptual-understanding methodology is successful and can produce outstanding concerts, but it will not and cannot create self-sufficient, self-discovering, or self-actualized young musicians.

“Being willing to explore liminal spaces means that a music teacher must be a risk-taker, someone who is not afraid to go against the grain, who is willing to let go of preconceived ideas about power, status, and the taken-for-granted. . . . . . letting go of the barriers that traditional education has put into place, and admitting there are things not known, not accessible.” (Emmanuel, D 2011, p. 63)

tl;dr: Threshold Concepts and The Three Umpires Story

“The story goes that three umpires disagreed about the task of calling balls and strikes.

The first one said, ‘I calls them as they is.’   (Base Concept)

The second one said, ‘I calls them as I sees them.’   (Procedural Concept)

The third and cleverest umpire said, ‘They ain’t nothin’ till I calls them.'”   (Threshold Concept)

(Simons 1976: 29 as cited in Weick in The Social Psychology of Organizing 1979: 1)

Threshold Resources:

Threshold Concepts in Practice
Threshold Concepts: A Short Introduction and a Bibliography from 2003 to 2018
Threshold concepts: Impacts on teaching and learning at tertiary level
Threshold Concepts & Undergraduate Mathematics Teaching
Learning Portals: Analyzing Threshold Concept Theory for LIS Education
Threshold Concepts and the Integration of Understanding in Economics
Threshold Concepts and Modalities for Teaching Leadership Practice

References

Ackles, B., 2018. Agile Development Instructional Framework (ADIF): A New Strategy for Student-Centered Music Education. Choral Journal, September 2018. Vol. 59, No. 2.

Argyris, C., & Schon, D. (1978). Organizational learning: A theory of action perspective. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

Cousin, G. (2006) An Introduction to Threshold Concepts, Planet, 17:1, 4-5, DOI: 10.11120/plan.2006.00170004

Davies, P. Guest, R., (2009) Towards the Bigger Picture. International Review of Economics Education, Volume 8, Issue 1, Pages 6-12, ISSN 1477-3880, https://doi.org/10.1016/S1477-3880(15)30082-7. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1477388015300827)

Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. New York: Random House Publishing Group

Emmanuel, D (2011) Liminality as thought and action. Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education 10(1): 47–68. http://act.maydaygroup.org/articles/Emmanuel10_1.pdf

Hawkins, B, and Edwards, G. (2013) Managing the Monsters of Doubt: Liminality, Threshold Concepts and Leadership Learning. Management Learning 46, no. 1 (2013): 24-43. doi:10.1177/1350507613501736.

Meyer, J., and Land, R., (2003) Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge: Linkages to Ways of Thinking and Practicing. (available at www.etl.tla.ed.ac.uk/docs/ETLreport4.pdf)

Meyer, J., and Land, R., (2006) Overcoming Barriers to Student Understanding. doi:10.4324/9780203966273.

Nesari, Ali Jamali. (2015) Dialogism Versus Monologism: A Bakhtinian Approach to Teaching. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences 205: 642-47. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.09.101.

Perkins, D. (1999). The Many Faces of Constructivism, Educational

Leading Voices: From the Rehearsal Room to Independent Learning