Teaching DP Music from the Podium
Sunday 16 February 2025
DP Music in Ensemble-Based Programmes
I have been considering whether an ensemble-based approach to music education, commonly implemented in many American schools, effectively equips students with the necessary competencies for developing their research, compositional, theoretical, listening, technological, evaluative, critical thinking, and cultural awareness skills. Additionally, I am considering the importance of the meta-skills, such as collaboration, ethics, motivation, communication, global awareness, and adaptability, among others. This page serves to articulate my reflections on this subject.
"Knappertsbusch conducts in the Musikverein, 1948" Photo by Austrian National Library on Unsplash
I was raised in Australia and participated in music programmes during the 1970s and 1980s that incorporated a British-inspired approach to music education. Throughout my primary and secondary schooling, music was taught through a combination of performance-based lessons, music theory, composition, music history, aural perception classes, and discussions about music. This model likely differs significantly from the approaches currently used in American schools. The ensembles that we were offered were limited to just three: wind (and brass) band, orchestra, and choir. Each of these ensembles were offered as part of the after-school programme or on Saturday mornings.
A typical music classroom consisted of desks and chairs, listening to instructions and taking notes.
Here is a snap of the Concert Band at Rossmoyne Senior High School from 1983, which was offered as an after-school activity once a week and involved occasional concerts in the local community and more broadly.
This approach to music education helped to prepare me for life in a music course at university, as it was more of the same combination of performance, aural, harmony, history, composition (including a basic MTech course) and orchestration classes.
Here is the Western Australian University Wind Quintet from 1989.
Both my colleague, Mr. Jim Yarnell, and I are of the opinion that a variety of music educational models can be modified to support an IBDP music programme, leading to comprehensive and impactful outcomes for all participants.
I would like to draw your attention to an insightful summary of ensembles in American schools, where Sydney Weidler has compiled a list of nine common ensemble types, ranging from smaller wind and string ensembles to larger concert bands. For further information, please click HERE.
In light of a practically-based approach to music development, several pertinent questions arise:
In what ways can composition skills be effectively developed?
How can research and inquiry be integrated into rehearsal processes?
What methods can be employed to include theoretical and analytical approaches?
How can we promote global awareness in a meaningful context?
What strategies can be utilized for the evaluation of ideas?
How can music technology skills be included such that students interact with the software to support their journeys?
Alongside a meaningful and integrated music technology course, this will be the focus of the InThinking site in the coming months where these are other similar questions will be addressed.