Where do I want to go from here! Manifesto for the Future of Music Education. 01.01.2018

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” (Buckminster Fuller)

I just finished the course “The Place of Music in 21st Century Education” by Dr. James Humberstone. It was a great experience and journey that helped me to further develop my thoughts on “Music Education” and the ideas on student centred learning. To get the chance to see how over the world people have successfully build new models, like  is very encouraging and inspiring. Also to read great research done on how popular musicians learn to make music by Professor Lucy Green, is very important to show different ways to learn your craft and also to highlight the advantages to break up the traditional dogmas on music education.

1. For me it is clear that a revolution in education is very important and I would say that the revolution is already here! Now is the time to give everybody full access to this new model of education!
2. This new model is self directed education! We can believe in the student. We as humans are natural learners and if you let a person keep his responsibility of his own learning everything is possible! If you don’t know what self directed education is please read some information about this before you dismiss this idea simply because it does not fit in the mainstream education ideologies.
3. In my opinion, traditional music education, like music schools or conservatories, is failing the mainstream student, and therefore the majority of musical potential in our society. The problem is not that these music education systems do not work, the problem is that they work far to good as they are designed. In most of the world these institutions are excluding people with the help of exams, boring theory classes that are difficult to get through. It systematically favours music from the past because that’s actually what a conservatory is there for it conserves music and one way is implanting that music “the right music” in it’s students. These institutions are not there to give the average young person access to music. It is a place for the music elite. They should be honest about that fact and communicate this openly.
4. We should forget the misconception that a music school is the only place to learn music and that if you fail there you are not good enough. This is where music school or the idea of this kind of music education is failing us as a society in a big way. I don’t want to say that this is intentional, even if talking to some of my old colleges could suggest otherwise. I think that music if very important for us as humans and exploring the language of music should be for everyone! Therefor telling someone that is interested to learn more about music, that he or she is not good enough in any form, this is a horrible violation of the integrity of that person.
5. All we need is to create a save space where students can have the opportunity to play music and the chance to explore this amazing language. This is what I intend to do now and in the future.
6. Music is the universal language of mankind. (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)      In my opinion everybody should have the chance to learn this language. This does not mean that everybody has to become an active musician we all speak and write but that does not mean that we all have to write books or become poets or philosophers … but if we wanted to we should have the chance.
7. It is possible to create/compose music from the beginning. Today with the help of tools like computers it is really easy to create your own music and have fun with it. This is one form where you can play and learn everything you need to understand and speak music.
8. For my last point I want to refer you to another manifesto about the future of education by John Moravec with a foreword of Pr. Peter Gray. I think that they are far better in expressing what I am trying to say 🙂 but I hope you found my rambling in anyway interesting. I wish everybody all the best in there journey on this planet and that we all can create a better future for our children and ourselves. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/201501/manifesto-15-triggering-the-education-revolution

I would be happy to read your thoughts on this topic and hopefully engage in a fruitful exchange of ideas.

Max Sauber

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Module 4 of: The Place of Music in 21st Century Education.

Ok I’m still doing this course on coursera and I wanted to share what I did in module 4

• First there was an introduction to what a DAW (or sequencer) is step sequencers and notation software. These technologies where nothing new to me and I still like to explore what I can do with these tools to create music and how they can help my students to explore and create music.
• For the second topic I was asked if I think that you learn and need a lot of sophisticated musical skills to be a DJ-producer. And yes of course you need these kind of skills to be a great DJ 🙂 As a DJ you should be in control of the music you are presenting to an audience (with all these tools called Controllers around you these should be kind of obvious) Even if you are “just” combining music that somebody else put together to create a nice flow you should develop taste and a good understanding how you could glue all these elements together so that your show feels alive and engaging. I’m always impressed how much hard work you have to put into the preparation of such a performance. Now to a short Segway to the next topic, watching someone do this kind of stuff is also learning  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvMpbUsJs5A (ok this is not necessarily DJing but still I like it)
• In the third topic we explored “OPEN Learning” and where presented with the argument that learning has already gone “OPEN” by David Price. I have to agree with that statement because that’s what I can observe and have experienced for myself. Today if I want to know something about a topic the first thing I probably do is “google” it or search a video on youtube. For example presented with the challenge to build my own little home-studio in my basement I made nearly all the electrical installation with the help of youtube. I had also some help by my father and for the finishing touch to connect everything to the grid by a good friend. My friend learned electrician in school but in the end even he googled information 🙂
• A great example of OPEN learning is for example https://www.theschoolinthecloud.org I found this through this course.
• At last I learned a bit more about Project Based Learning. This is probably one of the pedagogic concepts that first introduced me to a more student centred learning. I think Project Based Learning is a good place to start if you are not yet ready to fully embrace self directed learning but also in this context it’s something that comes naturally. To give an example for this in Music: Let’s say your Project is to produce an EP with your students. The learning opportunity here is enormous. From writing or arranging songs, to practicing the songs, learn about music production, learn how to record how to maybe even edit your performance, explore the business side like budgets and copyrights,… It’s also a very practical and real world experience. I personally think that most of Music Education should be a kind of Project Based Learning.

Self-Directed Education

When you would ask me today what we should do to educate people…

“Self-Directed Education” is probably the most important concept that I found, asking that question, over a decade now, to myself. I think this eliminates a lot of problems we face today in our educational systems all over the world.

And it so simple, let’s give students the power to take RESPONSIBILITY over there education. I myself was very lucky to learn so much from my students because I simply asked them what they want to learn and how I could help them. I would not have learned about Dub Step for example, would not have explored electronic music production. So “Self-Directed Education” is not only beneficial for the students but it is also a great tool for “teachers” to learn, explore, evolve. In fact there are no more teachers, we can become all lifelong students together 🙂

We should focus our efforts to create free spaces for everybody to explore his or her interests. I am convinced that this would lead us to a truly free and democratic society.

If you want to know more about “Self-Directed Education” the link below is probably a good way to start 🙂

https://www.self-directed.org/sde/

I wish you all the best and happy “learning” 🙂

Max

Why I believe you should play music and not be educated!

I want to start with quoting a passage from Ethan Heins blog:

“The problem: Why are so many young people alienated by music class?

Of those high school students in North America who have elective music programs available to them, only five percent choose to enroll. In the United Kingdom, the equivalent statistic is closer to two percent (Lowe, 2012). These low enrollment figures are startling when we consider the central role of music in the inner lives of adolescents. We should not blame students for voting with their feet if the music classes available to them do not offer what they want and need from music. Instead, we must ask why so many young people are so alienated by their music education experience.”

(http://www.ethanhein.com/wp/my-nyu-masters-thesis/the-problem-why-are-so-many-young-people-alienated-by-music-class/)

I would recommend reading the whole article he makes some great points and suggestions 🙂

I titeled this post with, why I believe you should play music and not be educated. First let me explain what I mean with educate. I don’t want to say that there is no good music education! In the contrary I use programs to educate myself all the time. But it’s important to note the educate myself part! It’s my choice and I decide what and when in regards of my needs! So let me put it differently: To become a musician do you need to be educated? And what exactly does education mean?

I ask this question because for me there is a big misunderstanding on how you “learn” music. If you go for example in a music school in Luxemburg, what you should and what you have! to learn is defined by a standardised program, detailing every instrument and theory class. Here is what the Luxemburgish government has to say about the structure:

“L’enseignement musical luxembourgeois est organisé d’après des structures bien définies en suivant l’évolution de l’enseignement des plus jeunes (éveil musical) jusqu’aux musiciens pré-professionnels (Diplôme supérieur).”

Translation: “Luxembourgish music education is organized according to well-defined structures, following the evolution of teaching from the youngest (musical awakening) to the pre-professional musicians (Higher Diploma).”

If you are interested in more details here is the link to the site from the government (keep in mind that everything is in french): http://www.gouvernement.lu/4197771/enseignement-musical

Now you also should know that in Luxemburg, public music education is extremely well funded! It is all planed in detail so everybody should get exactly the same education and because of the subsidies it is quiet cheap for students (depending on where exactly you live in the country but that’s a different topic) The teachers have a good salary … but! In my experience most of the students drop out before the first exams after 2-3 years sometimes even earlier. Most of students complain about the theory lessons that are mandatory! If a young student under the age of 10-12 wants to learn the drumset for example he is not allowed according to the curriculum quote:

“DRUMSET

Division inférieure 1er cycle

Terms of Access :
1 cycle lower division – April 2009 version
   – Hold an 1er cycle diploma in percussion or, where applicable (eg adult students) upon exemption of the director, after admission examination”

Is this because you could or should not learn to play on a drumset at a young age???

So if you are not compatible with these conditions you now have a problem because you can not function in this kind of institution. I witnessed some of my colleges describing these students as untalented or lazy. In general it is clear for them that it’s the students fault. This leads in my opinion to dangerous dogma’s about learning music and learning in general.

What I observed when talking with parents and students is that this has lead to the believe for many of them, that they are not good enough to learn or make music! I find this notion very troubling. If a parent tells me that he or she took 5-6 years of piano lessons in a music school but can not play the piano there seems to be a problem or at least a big misunderstanding what playing the piano is … A lot of musicians in bands playing popular music did not “function” in this kind of structure but they are the lucky ones that didn’t gave up because they “failed” Of course there are these students that are ok in a system like that but they are certainly not the “norm” and further I would say that the culture around them that elevates music to something that only an elite can and should do is equally dangerous… Effectively closing the circle to keep the machine running and resisting any meaningful change.

Now music schools start to introduce popular music because they lose to many students (popular demand is to high) and there are very good young music teachers present that have demanded this for a long time too … But a lot of these programs are designed  with the same underlying structures to fit into the established system. I’m very sceptical if this is really a good development.

What we could do instead is empowering the students to educate themselves. But how can we do that you ask? I think all it needs is an environment where they can play freely!   Because if you think about it:

Is it even possible that you could not play with an instrument???

This is what most students are asking for. A chance to play an discover music for themselves.

I think that it is extremely important that we change our culture around “learning music” and “learning” in general. All we really need is a opportunity to play and with play I mean truly play freely without rules that are set by adults with all our expectations and fears baked into them.

Let children be children and let adults be children too if they wish.

Here is what I did yesterday by playing with a new toy (the “manipulator”) for 3 hours dancing like a fool on my chair in the studio and making strange noises with my voice to see what I could do  (it’s silly but I had a lot of fun)

Have a great day everybody and stay beautiful 🙂

 

Ableton Live Tutorial

I made an Ableton Live Tutorial the other day and I wanted to share it here too.

It’s about a nice little trick that you can do by combining a “Simpler” with an “Arpeggiator” to create some fun loops. In my example I used my voice to create kind of a percussion loop. I love the chaotic part of working with techniques like that because you never really know what you will get it’s a nice balance between chaos and control 🙂

Hope this can provide some inspiration.

The Video is in German because most of my students don’t speak english yet …

Learning to read and what about learning to read music?

I just read an article about Steiner schools and their methodes of learning to read. For reference here is the article: Steiner schools should adopt modern reading methods

In the article Anna Cunningham talks about some of the advantages in starting to teach reading at a later age (in her example in the UK the Steiner schools start this at the age of 7 so a bit later then in mainstream schools in the UK) But also about some of the disadvantages because the methods she calls “Old-fashioned” used to teach reading.

It would be interesting to go one step further and compare this subject with a completely different approach on learning to read. There is a wonderful book from Harriet Pattison and Alan Thomas called “Rethinking learning to read” Heretics Press 2016 where they did research on how children that are not in school learn to read.

Of course there is not one method found there but it is very individualised.

One big theme is that if you have the freedom to learn reading when you are ready the results can be amazing and that there is a much greater window on what is normal for a child to begin reading.

This got me thinking on the question: But what about learning to read music? Could we apply the same principles here?

I would argue yes of course! Music pedagogues like Carl Orff for example emphasise the importance of play before you even begin to intellectualise music.

Here are some quotes by Carl Orff to give you a better understanding of his philosophy I found in an article:

“Experience first, then intellectualize.”

“Since the beginning of time, children have not liked to study. They would much rather play, and if you have their interests at heart, you will let them learn while they play; they will find that what they have mastered is child’s play.

“Elemental music is never just music. It’s bound up with movement, dance and speech, and so it is a form of music in which one must participate, in which one is involved not as a listener but as a co-performer.”

This correlates also what modern research suggest about how we learn in general and the importance of play!

For me technology can be a great tool in breaking up the old models of teaching music and give people the possibility to discover everything you need to express yourself musically in play. And we see these tools coming to live for example in this website created by Ableton: https://learningmusic.ableton.com

Here everyone can discover and play with music without any formal education you could use this tool even without reading the explanations but if you want to know more they are there and provide one more level of understanding.

I would argue that music education would greatly benefit from the idea that you can trust your students to learn what they need when they are ready for it. Of course this would mean to challenge some of the Dogmas that are ruling most of todays music school systems.

I hope this can provide some inspiration for you and I would be happy to hear your thoughts about this topic.

 

Electronic music in education?

Hi, I just enrolled in an online class about music in the 21st century by Dr. James Humberstone very interesting.

Take a look if you want https://www.coursera.org/learn/music-education

I found out about this course because I watched a Tedx Talk from James on Youtube.

It resonated with me because it talks about a problem in our western music education that I feel very strongly about.

Keep on learning

Max