Kierstyn U’Ren

18 March 2019

Comprehensive Musicianship is something that has been overlooked in music rooms the

past century. There are many reasons this has happened, all of which are invalid and easily

fixable. Teachers are more afraid of what the community will think that they are too afraid to try

and create independent and knowledgeable material. I believe that teachers need to be less

concerned about parents and administrative pressure is asking of them and take the time to

prepare their students for the next level. Administration simply cares about the results they can

see when it comes to music which has never made sense when considering that other core

curricular classes never have routine performances that are mandatory.

I do not agree that performance is the center of instrumental curriculum. If students don’t

understand what they are playing, they will never be able to apply it on their own. Being able to

understand what they are learning is almost as important as using it. Now that students feel less

inclined to take music history or music theory, it is the responsibility of the music teachers to

incorporate key concepts into their lessons. This can be simple to do, yet most teachers neglect

the concepts because they don’t plan them in their lessons. An easy way to teach concepts is

finding them in the literature that they are already learning or have already learned. It helps

enhance their performances and understanding of the music.

An important factor to consider when teaching concepts is whether it is age, musical, and

skill level appropriate. Assessments, both informal and formal will help teachers determine if

students are ready and able to learn more advanced materials and concepts. This will also help

teachers uncover weaknesses and if the goals of the teacher were met. From these assessments’
teachers can add more material to enhance understanding, whether they need to relearn a concept

in a different way or if they can go more in depth. The students learning of concepts are limited

by the teacher’s willingness, creativity, knowledge, understanding, and commitments. Repertoire

should be selected based off of the content and potential concepts that the teacher can help

students understand. By incorporating concepts into the songs/literature being taught, it gives the

students material that they can apply to what they are already doing. This also helps teachers to

get the goals that the administration and parents are searching for, performances.

Teachers have to be honest with themselves to know if the content is being taught right

and the students are able to learn it. This is another element to assessment. This could be as

simple as allowing students to discuss their understanding of the concept so they can teach the

others about how they were able to learn the material. This can help the teacher understand

which ways they are learning best. One thing to remember is that assessment also requires

measurable information. Teachers can not take the students words as mastery. Formal

assessments help teachers make revisions of what students struggles with and allows students to

document their learning. It helps the administration have easy access to the results.

The main point that I learned about this reading is that comprehensive musicianship is the

responsibility of teachers although it is easily neglected if it is not constantly enforced in the

classroom. This helps create independent musicians and prepare them for higher level

understanding of music. Failure to do this will result in the schools reconsidering the importance

of music in their curriculum.