I have been wondering for some time about whether musicianship and athleticism (and, by extrapolation, identifying oneself as musical/a musician or athletic/an athlete) are actually all that separate from each other. There’s so much in pop culture (e.g., Glee, where jocks slushie the glee clubbers… and pop culture does take its cues from real life occurrences) that suggests that the narrative dynamic between these two subcultures is originally one of antagonism. The use of self-identification as a musician or an athlete (and, in K-12 education, your observable involvement in one “side”) firmly characterizes you as being in one or the other.

Of course, nothing is black and white and there are many shades of grey, especially on this issue. I just made a Glee reference so I guess I’ll just go with that (just another way that I think that show is one of the most helpful tools for music advocacy that we have as music educators, if we figure out how to use it correctly… but that’s another topic for another post). In the very first episode of the show Finn tells his football teammates that he’s going to do both football and glee club, and eventually we have three more football players joining the glee club. This is pretty similar to what I observed (and participated in) in during my own education. I’ve been involved in organized sports all throughout my life and remember seeing bandmates come in for rehearsal with jerseys on during game days. Maybe I was incredibly fortunate to go to a school where, at least to my knowledge, there wasn’t a huge division between these two extra-curriculars. I know it can be an issue, though, and I’m trying to get my thoughts on it down so I can think about how to help future students see that athleticism and musicianship are very similar. In fact, I kind of think that being involved in one helps your progress in the other, and vice versa.

See, I really don’t think that musicians and athletes are that separate. I kind of think that both groups of individuals would be surprised to learn just how many things they have in common. And no, I’m not talking about professionals in either discipline, just people, particularly students, who love what they do.

Being involved in music and/or athletics while simultaneously pursuing an education requires a lot of work and determination. I firmly believe that everyone has the potential to gain proficiency in any kind of task, whether it’s learning proficiency on an instrument or developing enough endurance and speed to run a 400m event. The hard part is setting goals for yourself and making the commitment to self-improvement. I think that this is where your teacher or coach comes in (and, really, why use different words? They both have the power to impact you positively and do many of the same things in my eyes).

Like so much of learning, you can do so much more with someone guiding you along the way for those first few weeks or months. “How do you practice, how often do you practice, what do you practice?” It’s the same terminology in both situations. Both music teachers and coaches organize a series of practices, whether they be in the form of after-school sports practice or in-school rehearsal with your teammates or peers in an ensemble, or a calendar or chart to help you log your hours outside of supervised practice. Once you move through the steps of skill acquisition (“how do I get comfortable throwing myself onto the ground to stop a field hockey ball from going into the goal?” versus “how do I get comfortable shifting up into thumb position, then playing scales up in that register?” and by the way, I can tell you right now that both are pretty uncomfortable) you develop expertise and all the little things that you once had to think about, like how wide your legs have to be in relation to the rest of your body before you swing a golf club or begin to sing, become natural. 

From here, you begin really digging deeper into your music and/or sport. Sure, you might still have a teacher or coach pushing you along the way and assigning exercises or music that leaves you stronger overall as an athlete and/or a musician. But you also have the self-knowledge to know who you are and what you’re capable of. Eventually, if you stick with it, the desire and determination for self-improvement can become overpowering and you end up doing things that other people may not quite understand. After all, who would willingly subject themselves to countless laps in a cold pool, hours in a practice room playing the same passages over and over again to perfection, or spending money for equipment that you just have to have because it’ll make you better?

I’ll end this on a personal note. I had two major injuries during my college career, which was when I actually began to get really serious about music and begin thinking about going into education.

The first, during my freshman year when I wasn’t involved in college sports, was tendinitis in my left forearm. It was caused by switching back and forth between electric and double bass and using less-than-stellar technique on both instruments. Despite doctors and physical therapists telling me to try not to use my arm as much as possible, I still had concerts to prepare for and a jazz band that needed its bassist. Saying no to my director and staying away from rehearsal just wasn’t something I could do in good conscience. In retrospect, I probably should’ve taken off more songs/rehearsals than I actually did, but I have that mentality that is so often associated with athletics (thanks, high school track sprint intervals!) so I didn’t. Can the whole “push through” attitude be applied to music too? I think so, and I’m sure anyone else who’s played any or all of the Bach cello suites can agree!

The second, during my junior year while I was abroad at Goldsmiths College in London and playing goalkeeper for the women’s field hockey team, was a cartilage tear in my left shoulder (yes, I think there is something wrong with the entire left side of my body). I brought an arm up to block a shot in warm-ups and my arm spun back from the force of the collision. My teammates asked me if I was okay and whether I could play, and, obviously, I said yes. Who else was going to do it? I even played in goal for the men’s field hockey team immediately afterwards. I then went home and asked a flatmate to tape a bag of frozen peas to my shoulder. A few weeks later, upon coming home, the problem persisted and instead of taking time off to really figure out what was going on with my shoulder, I just came up with creative ways to play my instrumentin my ensembles so I wouldn’t have to take too much time off (and I’m sure that helped my still-present, yet not as severe tendinitis so much). And later, once the problem was finally diagnosed, I was still playing in concerts. My college golf coach, actually, was more understanding of the situation and didn’t force me to play. 

So, again, why is there this misconception that athletes and musicians are two different kinds of people?

A crosspost of my guest post over at musicedmajor.net…

A week ago I went to see a concert in a renowned space in one of the biggest cities in the United States that was well-attended by both men and women and featured no female musicians. As a female jazz player, I was incredibly disheartened to see that there were no women whatsoever in the Lincoln center Jazz Orchestra and was reminded of how when I was starting out in jazz band, I frequently felt uncomfortable and like I needed to constantly prove myself just because I was a girl playing bass.

These kinds of discrepancies and uncomfortable feelings aren’t solely limited to the genre of jazz and are frequently found in all musics. Many musical genres and cultures have histories that feature men as prominent composers and instrumentalists (O’Neill, 1997). Koza’s 1993 analysis of music education textbooks support this, with the results suggesting that despite the “missing males” problem that is so well-known (not to say that it should be disregarded), female music students in K-12 education might just be found wanting for role models not only directly in the classroom, but indirectly in textbooks they read and concerts they see. Indeed, a sampling of professional musicians indicates that most of these quality players are men. This is despite the fact that female music students are the majority in the formative years of formal music education (Tanur & Zervoudakes, 1994) and that music itself is considered to be a female subject (Boldizar, as cited in O’Neill, 1997).

So how do we get from point A to B?
Gender associations for music instruments do exist (Dr. Abeles at Teachers College, Columbia University has done a lot of work on this topic, among others) and are still persisting over time, though the degree of associations is lessening (Delzell & Leppla, along with Abeles, have done recent studies that demonstrate this).
While researchers have suggested that girls feel more freedom than boys in choosing non-stereotypical music instruments (Tanur & Zervoudakes, 1994), analysis of programs over the years indicates that both male and female students still are not opting for these instruments in significant numbers.
During K-12 education women represent at least half of the students involved in ensembles (Tanur & Zervoudakes, 1994), so where are they going?

First, the previously-mentioned lack of musical role models may make some female music students feel as though there is not a place for them in the field of music. Psychologists like Vygotsky and Bandura, among others, have emphasized the role of peer or older individuals with a greater amount of skill or intelligence in not only the learning process but also in identity formation. If a female music student sees a lack of female professional musicians, she may feel as though it might not be worth pursuing.

Second, bullying can be a problem. Researchers have demonstrated that gender associations are prevalent to the point where children can identify which instruments a hypothetical male and female student are most likely to play (Delzell & Leppla, 1992), suggesting that students in any phase of their K-12 education will easily recognize ‘outliers,’ students who play gender-nonstereotypical instruments. This, obviously, can be a problem for both the discouraged student and the teacher who wants to help.

How should we as pre- and in-service music educators deal with this? Researchers like Johnson and Stewart, among others, suggest that teachers are attempting to not make assignments based on race and gender and can even try to lessen the strength of students’ gender associations by presenting them with gender-nonstereotypical role models (one study detailed an ‘intervention’ procedure in which students were presented with a concert of such a nature (e.g., Harrison and O’Neill’s 2000 study)). I personally think that the latter is incredibly important for us to keep in mind.

As I’ve stated earlier, role models for students can play a significant role in the way that they think of themselves as musicians and whether they feel comfortable in our programs. Not only can female students feel more comfortable in K-12 music if they are exposed to more significant and successful female musicians and composers, but both female and male students playing gender-nonstereotypical instruments can increase their confidence. Incorporating more creativity in the curriculum in the form of composition and improvisation can also help all students, regardless of their instrument choice, build confidence and competency on their instrument.

Younger students can begin to be directly involved in musicmaking at an early age through composition in large groups or with the entire class, while older students can develop musical independence by working in smaller groups or by themselves. Activities like collective improvisation can help students begin to experiment creatively without feeling singled out, and a creative process can be incorporated into many classroom activities such as the teaching of musical literature (e.g., using musical elements from the literature being studied as a jumping off point for composition or improvisation) or an ensemble’s warm-up (e.g., ornamentation/improvisation during an initial run-through of a piece or section). At Teachers College, Columbia University, many of my classes incorporate experiences like this and it truly is nothing like I’ve experienced in both my K-12 and undergraduate music education (if you want specific examples, feel free to ask me!), so I can say firsthand that it is a great way to really dive into and experience music and musical repertoire for what it is and get a better understanding of aural skills, music history, and music theory.

Obviously, for any of these experiences or processes to be successful in the classroom, the teacher needs to establish a feeling of safety, and I think that this is the most important thing that we pre and in-service teachers can do, not just for students who feel like they are left out of a traditional K-12 music education program but also for those who feel more at home. Getting involved in these kinds of experiences in a safe place can make a difference to a student with low musical self-esteem, but ultimately it is really up to the teacher to try and reach every student equally instead of just teaching to those the traditional musical curriculum has always been able to reach. My continued participation in music to this day is one example of a student who had been implicitly discouraged, more so by peers than by educators, fortunately, from continuing in a musical passion, and I am very excited to work in K-12 education and reach out to students who may feel like I did once before. Hopefully you can do your part as well.

Suggested Reading/References
Abeles, H. F. & Porter, S. Y. (1978). The sex-stereotyping of musical instruments. Journal of Research in Music Education, 26 (2), 65-75.
Delzell, J. K. & Leppla, D. A. (1992). Gender association of musical instruments and preferences of fourth-grade students for selected instruments. Journal of Research in Music Education, 40 (2), 93-103.
Koza, J. E. (1993). The “missing males” and other gender issues in music education: Evidence from the “Music Supervisors’ Journal,” 1914-1924. Journal of Research in Music Education, 41 (3), 212-232.
Koza, J. E. (1994). Females in 1988 middle school music textbooks: An analysis of illustrations. Journal of Research in Music Education, 42 (2), 145-171.
O’Neill, S. A. (1997). Gender and music. In D. J. Hargreaves & A.C. North (Eds.), The Social Psychology of Music (pp. 46-63). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Sinsabaugh, K. (2005). Understanding Students Who Cross Over Gender Stereotypes In Musical Instrument Selection. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York.
Tanur, J. M. & Zervoudakes, J. (1994). Gender and musical instruments: Winds of change? Journal of Research in Music Education, 42, 58-67.

Check out this video, first: the guy basically simulates the texture and sound of a band using his loop pedal station. Around the 3rd minute he even adds harmonies! The song’s also pretty catchy.

Now this one: this guy demonstrates the pedal station using voice (and you also get a clearer idea of how the thing works). Also, I like his dancing skillz.

Boss RC 50 Loopstation Demo by ricoLOOP
Uploaded by ricoloop. - Explore more music videos.

So what does this have to do with music education? Well, if you can use loop-based software like GarageBand in the classroom for composition, why not loop pedals like this?

I definitely think it’s a good and accessible way to draw students into composition and creative activity because students are likely to be familiar with this kind of looping, even if they don’t realize it. Check out 5:30 and above in the below video to see how KT Tunstall uses a loop pedal in her music. (the rest of it prior to this mark is her explaining how the loop pedal works and is also worth watching.)

Besides, there’s a chance some of your students might already be doing this.

That said, students can’t really dive into using this kind of technology as easily; there’s definitely a steeper learning curve. In order to use this in the classroom, the teacher needs to be very familiar with the way the loop system works and facilitate the activity for students. Plus, timing is everything when you’re live looping. (I kind of think that this could be turned into a kind of aural skills game: does it match up? does it not? what kind of rhythms are you creating? etc.) And, finally, perhaps not the best kind of thing for all of K-12. 

In the interest of total disclosure, maybe the title of this post should rather be “Why I want to play with a Boss RC-50 and then figure out how it would be best used in a music classroom,” but, that said, I still think there are possibilities. I’m loving the idea of a teacher pre-recording a back-up track and students trying to improvise a melody or a harmony that goes with it, either with voice or instruments or both. Any snippet of sound or a rhythmic/melodic motive can be recorded and used as a jumping off point for creative collaboration. And finally, I think it makes a great talking point in the classroom and a way to get students thinking about how loops and musical phrases are found in all kinds of music, not only contemporary.

One of the reasons why I missed Twitter so much during Lent was because I knew that #musedchat was taking place on Monday nights at 8pm EST. Now that I’m done (mostly) with the scheduling craziness that has defined this semester, I finally got the chance to participate in #musedchat last night. 

Here is the transcript from the chat (I’m @justine_robin). Discussion centered around ideas of curriculum in the music classroom and what was important to focus on. I thought it was a really good way to get to know people who have different ideas about music education as compared to the friends and professors I have met and worked with through my program at Teachers College. The chat is also a great way to hear from current teachers’ experiences in the field.

One downside of the chat is that it takes place on Twitter, and as we all know, there’s a character limit. This kind of makes it difficult to express your opinions on topics that can be quite complex, especially when you’re tagging every post with ‘#musedchat’; there’s 10 characters already wasted! I said some things last night, especially regarding listening activities/assignments, that I really would have wanted to expand on. Also, if you’re not running a #musedchat search and only just going off of the people you’re already following, it’s definitely easy to miss some replies. Finally, I felt bad for the non-mused people who have me added and who were probably really irritated with me last night from 8-9pm. They probably really didn’t care so much about my updates.

That said, I really enjoyed the experience and am looking forward to writing a guest blog at musicedmajor.net thanks to @zweibz7’s suggestion. While, as I said above, it’s nice to talk to others who don’t share my educational background and/or philosophies (and discourse is one of the best ways to ensure that you really have a grasp on the knowledge you’re trying to share with others), I realized for the first time during the chat how much I’ve really been impacted by TC’s focus on creativity, composition, and comprehensive musicianship (should I just start calling them the three Cs?). I plan on centering my guest blog around the issue of the creative process in the music classroom and some ideas regarding how to further incorporate it into the curriculum as a way to make aural skills, music history & theory, and the repertoire itself really come alive for the students. I’m experiencing this process right now in some of my classes and I’m really excited to begin implementing it with students in the fall.