The quality of students’ performances especially with my 3rd and 5th graders has a ceiling. That’s the reality of the situation. They can only be so good on an objective musical level. This is a group of students with a wide range of musical ability, that meets twice a week for music class for 40 minutes. It’s never going to sound as good as an auditioned children’s choir. That’s an objective fact. This doesn’t mean that I don’t strive to raise my students to an ever-higher level, however it does mean I’m have to have realistic expectations.
One of the limitations, that is very real is my ability and skill as a music teacher. One of my professors at college once told me that the musical achievement of children is often more limited by the teacher than the students’ themselves. After being at this game for more than a decade. I know that to be a fact. My students sound better and perform better than they did eight years ago when I first started at this school. Maybe it’s because some of the students’ musical aptitude is higher but it probably more has to do with the fact that I’m a better teacher. But I’m not a master teacher, not by a long shot.
I see other teachers teach, and I read about things that other music programs are doing, and I’m not there. Yes, it’s possible for me to continue to improve my craft as a music teacher, but there’s only so much time for professional development and I’ve chosen much of the time not on the musical instruction part of my craft as a teacher. Instead I’ve focused most of time working addressing issues related to diversity, equity and inclusion in my development as an educator.
What does this mean for my students? Well, last week, we had a frank and open discussion about religious diversity in 3rd grade. After talking about a Hanukkah song, a girl asked me about some of her friends who told her she wasn’t Jewish because she didn’t go to Hebrew school, but she felt that she was Jewish. In 5th grade, while studying “Auld Lang Syne,” we explore the diversity of “whiteness” and discussed how people in America who identify as “white,” sometimes have other identities like Scottish, Irish, German and French which fly in the face of a monolithic idea of what it means to be Caucasian.
Do these discussions mean I spend less time in class teaching about singing technique, notation systems, and songs? Oh yeah. I struggle with this sometimes, but when I see how kids light up, and think when we have good discussions, and when I show videos that provide important mirrors and windows, I feel fine with the choices I’ve made.
When I saw my kids perform last week, there were musical things I wish were better, but the investment I saw in my students, and their passion and effort made the performances great. They knew the music but they also knew the cultural context of the music, the various identities of the artists who wrote and performed these songs.
So, I sit here frustrated that I wasn’t able to provide the time that my kids needed to rehearse on stage, and that will motivate me to plan better, and speak up louder for their needs. But more than frustrated, I’m proud of my students for their great work, and their exploration of this music.
Now onto prep for the Winter performance. Some songs I've done before and a crazy idea that might just work.
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