Harvest Rains

Music plays a role in everyone’s life. Whether people actively search out and explore different musical avenues or are simply subjected to it through their day- to-day lives. The Oxford Dictionary defines music as ‘Vocal or instrumental sounds (or both) combined in such a way as to produce beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotion’.

Music plays an integral part in shaping peoples lives, its effects people in a multitude of different ways, whether it be dancing, laughing or crying; most incredibly people can share these moments with others whilst simultaneously having a unique personal experience. The creation of music requires specific skills and knowledge about musical elements and instrumentation; these skills and knowledge need to be developed and nurtured over time.

Like most things in

life, music is a learned skill that is often taught during developing years and adolescence. This essay will be spilt into two sections. ‘Part A’ will discuss the philosophy of music in education and the strengths of a community within the education system. I will also be examining the role of the ‘Music Teacher’ as a cultural manger within this community, both in and out of the school environment. Finally I will discuss the importance of meaningful and engaging experiences that music and music education has to offer with reference to pedagogical approaches. ‘Part B’ will critique and review a professional music program that is aimed at school students. This critique will reflect the research from ‘Part A’
PART A: community.
Most aspects of life are attached to a community in some way; the work place, sports teams; church, musical groups and volunteer work are all communities that operate towards one main objective. Often times these communities will have a mission statement that sums up their values and goals; school communities are no different from this and strive for success in various academic, sporting and creative fields. Unlike academic and sporting communities, the creative arts are ambiguous and fluctuate depending on a multitude of variables. The arts, and more specifically music within the education system are less structured and bring a level of difficulty when relating to education platforms and syllabus.
Nita Temmerman (2005, p. 113) suggest that ‘the cultural contexts of home, school and community all have important parts to play in the music education of children, but at present in Australia, these three entities are insufficiently connected on a number of fronts, not least, being an understanding about the purpose of young peoples engagement with music’. These three contexts of ‘home, school and community’ all link together in formulating a positive learning
experience towards music education. Out of these three contexts a teacher has control over School and community; it’s expected that a teacher will use the resources of ‘the school environment’ and ‘developing a community’ to guide and develop their students. Teachers have the opportunity to develop a unique community based on school rules and values. This unique community has the ability to make students feel comfortable and expressive in their art; alternatively it can build resentment in students and sour their musical experience. This is a delicate balance that should be cultivated to encourage all students for success. Larrivee (2008, p. 67) suggests ‘Creating an environment that breeds mutual tolerance and respect is the foundation for a caring, learning community. Creating a classroom climate that honors participation, equity and inclusiveness is the foundation for a democratic community (2008). Students associated with a functioning community, are more likely to develop their skills and feel encouraged to continue their exploration in music.
Temmerman (2005, p. 118) furthers her argument by saying that ‘A central issue for all involved in the musical education of young people, is how to connect the three contexts of the home, school and community to enhance a positive attitude towards music making, to build on existing opportunities to engage in music making, and to bring together the wealth of music activity, resources and expertise. The question ‘why connect’ home, school and community is well answered by the fact that music plays an important role in young peoples lives; all musical experiences at home, school and out-of-school contribute in important and differing ways’.
The importance of music in young peoples lives largely contributes towards the necessity of a valid music community in and out of the school context. The encouragement of students within a music community helps them to develop a link between their personal life and their school life. This in turn extends beyond the music community into other subject areas and personal home environments. However, developing this link between home, school and community is still a challenging process for the teacher, as every students presents different skills, personality and ‘home culture’.
Lamont et al (2003, p. 230) argues that the challenge for school music is to develop the musical interest students may have outside the classroom. By recognizing the valuable contributions their musical experience can have assists their overall participation in and enjoyment of music making.
Furthermore it is important to maintain a strong link between home and school environments, this link crosses the divide between two varying aspects in the students’ life. Hargreaves and Marshall (2003, p. 270) argue that the distinction between music ‘at school’ and music ‘outside school’ was found to be particularly
obvious for secondary school students who, for example, associated home listening with enjoyment and positive emotional moods and school listening with learning and information (2003: 237). The musical sensations that students’ feel at home are based around positive emotional moods, whilst school listening is associated with learning. Connecting the context of home in the musical community enables students to feel and react positively towards musical education; once this link has been established, it opens up new opportunities for students to excel in all aspects of their musical education, with regards, to composition, performance and musicology.
Strong, healthy and positive student-teacher relationships are the most effective way of understanding the students’ musical experiences beyond the classroom and school environments. It is vital that teachers develop these relationships with their students inside the school environment and musical community; positive relationships contribute to the development of a democratic learning community and play a large part in shaping the communities values and goals. Larrivee (2008, p. 65) argues that ‘student-teacher relationships are a key dimension to developing a community’.
A strong democratic musical community that encourages students to succeed, alongside positive student-teacher relationships gives each student a freedom in developing their personal musical skills, whilst discovering their individual values, morals and personality. Enabling students to take shape their own path builds their confidence both in and out of the musical community; this is an essential element for emerging musicians that should be taken very seriously.
O’Neill (2008, p. 15) points to the importance young people place on choosing their own musical instruments and musical activities. She also found that one of the main causes for young to play an instrument is the support they receive from their parents. Additionally O’Neill’s study discovered that opportunities for young people to play in musical groups out-of-school, impacted positively on their continued involvement in musical activities, particularly in the fundamental transition years from primary to secondary school.
During my first field experience I found my self in a positive musical community. When teaching my first few lessons It was evident that the students where eager to learn and wanted to develop a positive relationship with me for the remainder of my field experience. These students respected each other and where very patient within the classroom environment, giving each other time to answer questions and complete allocated tasks. I found that even though some students had less teacher contact they still achieved success within the class. The positive community taught students to become ‘self-regulated’ in their education. Larrivee (2008, p. 268) states that self-regulation allows students to guide their
own behavior by constantly making necessary adjustments to accomplish desirable outcomes.
As much as this musical community was focused on building and developing the students’ skills, I noticed that the teachers also largely benefited from community in varying ways. It enabled teachers to spend more time with students who where finding particular tasks difficult, whilst issuing the higher achieving students with more appropriate tasks. I found that a positive musical community in the classroom catered for all students of differing skill levels. I also found that it was very naturally for this community to extend beyond the classroom environment, I often had discussion with students that would practice their musical performance on weekends or afterschool and assist others in the composition tasks. Majority of these students committed to lunchtime rehearsals of band, choir or assembly. I was personally impressed to see that students would consistently give up their free time week after week to be apart of this positive community. Most importantly this unique musical community was accepting of other students and encouraged them to be apart of and accepted into a positive group of people. Hargreaves and Marshall (2003, p. 207) state that ‘It is in every ones best interest for educators to capitalize on the massive importance music can have in young peoples live...this is best accomplished by encouraging them to think of music as something within the reach of all, rather than as a specialized activity: that everyone can be a musician at some level’. This is further solidified by Sloboda’s (2001, p. 253) research, suggesting that ‘music is one aspect of education that we can guarantee all children will receive’.
PART A: cultural manager.
All school systems have a diverse rage of students that come from unique cultures, and family backgrounds. This can be a cause for concern within the school environment and provides a certain level of challenge for all teachers. Teachers themselves come from a unique background and must take their personal opinions and history into account when dealing with varying students; it is vital that teachers don’t favor or discriminate specific groups of students, as this could cause issues within the school and musical community.
It is the role of the teacher to be well informed and educated on the different backgrounds, cultures and histories of students; students may be apart of many different groups and in turn are influenced by many different cultures and communities. Teachers need to be as aware as possible when dealing with students in and out of the classroom or musical community. Donna Tangen (2010, p. 180) describes culture as ‘knowledge, rules, traditions, beliefs and values that guide a particular group. The group can be defined along religious, ethnic, racial, gender, social class or other criteria’. Alongside educating students,
the music teacher should also consider themselves a ‘cultural manager’. This is a vital role of the music teacher within the school and music community. It encourages students to develop acceptance of different cultures, histories and backgrounds whilst being proud of their own. The amount of cultural knowledge within each classroom can be extremely diverse, sometimes consisting of students from multiple countries. It is the teachers’ responsibility to cater for the different learning styles of each student and engage a wide range of academic levels through authentic learning experiences.
It is the teachers’ roll to provide real world examples that students from diverse cultures can relate to. This can be done through the use of culturally diverse instructional materials such as artefacts, posters and instruments from the students’ specific cultures. Experiencing the culture of different students in class helps broaden the communities’ horizon and allows teachers and students to develop a cultural awareness of others around them. It is the teachers’ role to validate the cultural diversity in and outside of the learning environment and musical community.
Introducing different cultures into the classroom also provides students with an opportunity to develop achievable goals building upon knowledge they already have about their own cultures; this is a great platform for the teacher as ‘cultural manager’. Allowing students to be feel comfortable about their culture in the classroom and community setting builds confidence and further encourages them to collaborate with others in the community. According to Vaughn (2010, p. 20) the best place for teachers to acknowledge student’s cultures is in examining their own. Validating a student’s role and cultural identity within the classroom aims to increase classroom participation.
This process allows all the students to develop an enriched sense of cultural awareness in their learning explorations. Every classroom will have a different cohort of students from different backgrounds with different experiences, which will ultimately enhance the learning environment as a whole. For this to take effect teachers need to develop specific ways of communicating content. It is the role of the teacher to show their students how learning produces positive outcomes and build meaningful connections with academic success. Teachers need to support their students so they feel connected and engaged in their learning. Once again building positive relationships with the students helps scaffold their attitude towards the classroom and develop an understanding towards cultural awareness and community. The outcomes of these pedagogical practices are to ensure students from all backgrounds receive an education that is rich in cultural development and contextually appropriate to their experiences. The Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) (2011) states that ‘Students will come to understand and engage with
the multiple and culturally diverse practices of music, learning about Australian and international music — locally, nationally, and globally’.
Alongside this, the ‘cultural manager’ also needs to be aware of the differences that male and female students display within the musical community; this can create a series of challenges in its self. Sebastian Taylor (2004, p. 91) states that gender discourses shape our behaviour, attitudes and expectations in profound and pervasive ways. It is therefore not surprising that they influence school and classroom practices in various ways as well. (Taylor 2004, 91). The ‘cultural manager’ should keep a constant ‘eye out’ for this and consider differing pedagogical approaches when problems arise.
PART A: meaningful experiences.
Through the use of community and the cultural manger, students are able to experience meaningful and engaging musical encounters. These meaningful encounters will shape and mold the opinions that students hold towards music and its value within their home, school and community.
Students who experience music in a positive way are more likely to expand their skill beyond their current environment and excel outside of their comfort zone. ACARA (2011) states that ‘Students will consolidate and extend their deep understanding and use of music concepts, languages, practices, technologies and techniques, within and beyond the classroom. Their music making, as composers and performers (instrumentalists, singers, conductors), will demonstrate a developed musical identity, knowledge and skills in the musical practices and institutions beyond their communities, and an understanding of their roles as responsible and ethical producers and users of music’.
Teachers need to ensure that students succeed within their school, home and community whilst satisfying the ACARA requirements throughout their education. It is vital that teachers strive to create and maintain a musical community that molds around the students and points them towards not only musical success, but success with the different communities they are apart of.
Throughout my first field experience, it as my role to educate, guide and develop the students whilst personally learning about the school environment and my position as a teacher. I quickly became aware when students in the classroom weren’t having a meaningful musical experience their first reaction was to ignore the given task and disrupt other students. As a teacher it is important to plan for and be aware of each student within the class at that moment. Planning lessons enables all students to be accounted for, and prepare for students of all skill and
knowledge levels. Throughout my field experience I got to know the students who where off task and plan for their behavior by setting appropriate task and challenges. Donna Tangen (2010. p. 180) states that the classroom belongs to you and your students, and every classroom is different due to the individuals that constitute it. You therefore need to plan for your students, planning ensures that each individual works together for the benefit of the musical community within the school environment.
Leading into ‘Part B’ of the assignment, Dinham (2011. p. 91) further explains the importance of connecting the students with experiences from outside of their immediate musical community. She states that there is a need for teachers to link inner-world experiences (meaning experiences from inside the classroom environment) with outer-world artistic productions (such as shows, drama performance, musical performance, dance etc.). This process allows the students to develop an enriched sense of cultural awareness in their learning explorations. Encouraging different cultural practices in the class environment also promotes equality and can help build stronger relationships between the teacher and students.
PART B: Critique and review a professional music program.
Throughout ‘Part B’ I will be critiquing and reviewing the ‘Internship Program’ that ‘Harvest Rain Theatre Company’ offers to high school students. The following information is taken from the ‘Harvest Rain’ website (2014) and accurately describes what their internship program offers students:
• Attend classes led by industry professionals in acting, vocal skills, music skills, dance performance and technique, industry prep, audition technique, wellness and fitness.
• Refine their performance skills in a nurturing environment under professional guidance
• Participate in a number of major theatre productions and showings
• Work on audition pieces and audition technique
• Prepare a CV and folio for entry into the industry
• See major theatre productions and go behind the scenes with exclusive Q&A
sessions
• Access exclusive opportunities and discounts to attend a range of theatrical
and touring events
• Meet, network and work with a range of key industry professionals, agents
and casting directors from across Australia and overseas
The internship program offers students a great opportunity to join a strong community of people through which they can define, develop and build upon
skills they already posses; stating that interns will “refine their skill in a nurturing environment under professional guidance”. Similarly students will have opportunities to attend classes’ specific to their field of expertise, for example music or dance; industry professionals will lead these classes.
As the research in ‘Part A’ suggests ‘community should focus on developing and building students skills’. By using industry professionals and placing importance on a nurturing environment I feel as though the internship program really strives to develop their community as a team and students as individuals.
‘Harvest Rains’ seeks to position interns for success through various means catering for all types of learners.

“Preparation of CV and folio in the industry” is a real world example that students need to further them selves within the music industry; this skill also translates to different aspects of life when searching for employment. One of the most valuable aspects that the interns are offered is the ‘participation in a number of major theatre productions and showings’. In my personal experience, performing as part of a community to an audience is one of the most gratifying and valuable experiences a performer can achieve. For me this aspect of the internship program is really the ‘cherry on top’. North, et al. (2000. p. 270) argues if opportunities were presented for students to have contact with real, professional musicians and local community events such as music festivals, student attitudes towards ‘in-school’ music would be positively impacted. ‘Harvest Rain’ plays an exciting role both in and out of the school musical community. Offering students a unique experience that further develops them personally and offers them meaningful and engaging musical

encounters.
I believe the ‘Harvest Rain’ internship offers students an extremely positive program that effectively transitions them from the high school environment into real world experience and opportunities. It aims to successfully develop and further their skills through hard work, collaboration and networking; all of which are valuable resources to gain within the creative arts.