Critical Mass

Most teachers are phonies.  They spend vast quantities of time uttering inane complements to their students, in hopes said students feel good about themselves.  And as we all know, students who feel good about themselves excel in reading, math, science.... Wait, what was that?  They don't?  Huh, I could have sworn that's what my ed school profs told me.

Music teachers aren't phonies.  We can't be, for we are subject to the ultimate high-stakes test: public performance.  There is no hiding the fact Timmy, Sally and Juan haven't learned how to play when they are sitting on stage hitting all the wrong notes in an attempt to play "Hot Cross Buns." Here is my response to an earnest do-gooder's defense of discovery learning, which appeared on the Core Knowledge Blog back in May 2013:

<blockquote>While what you say is a nice sounding theory, the truth is this: None of it matters in 6th grade band class. Nobody has the time or inclination to wait for you to discover which end of the trumpet you blow into, how to put the mouthpiece into the trumpet properly, how to form the correct embouchure, which combination of valves and embouchure produces an E, how to read that E on the staff, how long to hold that E in measure 17, which note comes after the E, how playing that E makes you feel, and how playing that E relates to your life. All that matters is you can in fact play the E in measure 17, otherwise the Imperial March will sound like garbage, and everyone will hate you for screwing up constantly.

If you are the first chair trumpet player in the Chicago Symphony, then yes, you have time to contemplate the philosophical implications of the E in measure 17, if you so choose. Why? Because you’ve practiced it 18, 509 times and there is no possible way you can do it wrong. In 6th grade band, the failure rate is much higher, and yet, like in most of life outside of school, your director and classmates still expect you to do it right. They do not care how long you have practiced to produce that E, they do not care about your journey of self discovery you have undertaken to understand that E, they do not care what it means to you or what connections it has to the rest of the world. Why? Because all of that other stuff is irrelevant, what matters is whether or not you can demonstrate your knowledge of that E and the correct instant in the piece.

My job, as your 6th grade band director is to show you how to do that, not only for the E in measure 17 but for the all the other notes in all the other pieces we play. I have to have the knowledge of every instrument, every embouchure, every fingering, every mark in every score, and the best way to teach all of that as quickly as possible. (In other subjects, these are called content and pedagogy.) Why? Because band class only meets for 45 minutes a day (if we’re really lucky), and the concert is 6 weeks from now. And guess what? Nobody in the audience cares about journey, they care whether the band sounds good and their child plays well.

Unless you’ve taken up residence at Walden Pond, results matter. And the best thing any teacher preparation program can give me are the specific content, properly sequenced and the necessary pedagogy to get those results. Because at the end of the concert, nobody in the band cares about how interconnected everything is. They care about whether they sounded good and nailed that E in measure 17.</blockquote>