Module Number Two in “The Place of Music in the 21st Century Classroom” has some very thought-provoking content exploring how popular musicians and producers forge their paths in the industry. The vast majority learn their craft not through conservatories or colleges, but through a self-directed “underground” system. As someone who has taught high school for 20 years, the ideas presented in this module have made a big impact on my thinking. Many of us have heard the dictum that, as  teachers, we should take our students “from where they are to where we want them to be.” Part of my teaching load is classes in beginning guitar and piano. I give my students an end-of the years assignment to pick their own song that they want to learn in order to apply the skills they have learned in class. After watching and listening to some of the ideas presented in this unit, I’m wondering what would happen if I start the year with a similar assignment, and use that as a vehicle to capture my students’ attention. I just may give it a try!

Lucy Green, in her study of how popular musicians who learn by ear, says that they use “listening, performing, improvising and composing all the way through the learning process.” This echoes the “National Core Arts Standards” developed by U.S.-based National Coalition for Core Arts Standards. The recommended standards in Secondary School for Guitar and Keyboard has as its four pillars Creating, Performing, Responding, and Connecting. If students can do all this just learning by ear, where is the role of the teacher in all this? Adam Maggs, founder of Liveschool, answers this question with “”The more you want to do, the more you want to know. So we just feed all that information in, things like music theory, ear training, all that kind of stuff.” So maybe it is time to rethink the idea of teaching, to not to taking students from where they are to where you want them to be to rather guiding students from “where the students are to where the STUDENTS want to be.”