Take a Closer Look
- SoundTree
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
Darla S. Hanley, Ph.D. Professor of Music Education, Berklee College of Music
Some lessons are unforgettable. Early in my career (30+ years ago) I learned valuable lessons from a 12-year-old boy… and I’m still talking about them. Jimmy was in my general music class. He was smart and funny, outgoing, and a real influencer in the group. I can’t recall Jimmy misbehaving or challenging me in a way I couldn’t handle until…
I was teaching a unit on the Blues sharing stories about artists and playing albums. Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, and Jimi Hendrix were definitely in the mix. I remember having my back to the class as I wrote on the board (bad idea) when I first heard Jimmy singing. That’s right, a middle school student spontaneously started singing in general music class. Right there I should have capitalized on the musical gift that was being handed to me, but nope. Instead I barked at Jimmy telling him to stop.
My exchange with Jimmy was epic. The more I told him to stop the louder he sang. This went on for too long while students watched in amazement. Just when I thought it was ending, Jimmy climbed up on his chair and sang from the top of his voice—on top of the furniture! What was happening?
“If you don’t get down right now, I’m giving you a detention,” I said. “Okay, that’s a detention.” He kept singing. This student was hijacking my teaching. He was completely in control of the class and I stood there looking up at him giving him detention after detention—for singing. (For the record: I gave Jimmy 30 detentions before I stopped. That’s right, 30.)
When I told the principal what happened he had me call Jimmy’s parents. I reluctantly made that call and heard my own voice telling parents their son was being punished for singing in music class (?!?). They graciously understood the disruptive nature of the situation and supported my need to follow through with what I assigned.
Jimmy and I stayed after school together for an entire month.
So what lessons did I learn from Jimmy other than it’s never cool to lose your cool in the classroom? I learned that he didn’t connect with the Blues. He was bored in my class. He loved music, but couldn’t relate to what I was teaching. He was a good kid and was sorry he interrupted my teaching but would probably disrupt again if found in the same situation. My curriculum and the manner in which I was presenting it wasn’t relevant to him. I wasn’t meeting him where he was.
Fast forward. It’s decades later and I’m still talking about meeting students where they are so I can take them where I want them to go musically, academically, socially—the whole thing. We know as teachers we make choices that can draw students in to engage and learn, or the opposite. We also know we need to have them reach essential learning targets.
Now, in my work with teachers and students around the world I use a Creative Pedagogy approach. Creative Pedagogy is a way to teach and learn that emphasizes personal/artistic expression, imagination, improvisation, and innovation as core components of the educational process. It encourages us as teachers to foster environments where students explore, experiment, and apply prior knowledge in new ways. The idea is to combine creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and play to meet students where they are and facilitate learning that is dynamic and personally meaningful for everyone.
Importantly, my music teaching always includes streaming audio. In my view, students need to hear examples that reinforce concepts they are learning, inspire and support original expressions, and connect “school music” with the outside world. With millions of tracks available to us to hear any day, any time, we need to harness this vast resource to educate and motivate students. The real challenge here is curating playlists that address learning targets, illustrate musical styles and artists, and show an historical trajectory of music. Once we have this, it’s critical to label and organize playlists in such a way that tracks are easily found to show a particular music concept or idea. We need to use technology like a digital filing cabinet.
Streaming audio is a game changer, but it's only the tip of the iceberg. Access to music technology in its many forms (e.g., hardware; software; interactive music technology rooms; multimedia computer labs; online subscriptions; open source apps for creating, playing, and printing music; support services) promotes original composition, arranging, production, recording, and distribution. These tools put music squarely into hands and make it possible for students (and their teachers) to fully engage at a high level.
Finally, teachers teach what they know… and use the tools available to them. In my view, teachers should use a variety of tools to make music come alive for the students in the room—meeting them where they are.
I believe most teachers have stories about classroom management gone wrong including student(s) derailing instruction. Instead of getting angry or frustrated when something happens… take a closer look to see what’s really going on. Oftentimes it’s not what we think.
Darla Hanley is the author of "Darla Hanley's Music Room" on Substack and co-author of “Jazz Is Elementary: Creativity Development through Music Activities, Movement Games, and Dances, for K-5” (© 2022 Hal Leonard/Berklee Press). She currently serves as Professor of Music Education at Berklee College of Music.