This Too is Music

Abstract

This Too Is Music guides and motivates teachers to foster classroom conditions that enable elementary students to thrive as improvisers, critical listeners, performers, and composers. Using anecdotes and illustrated with musical examples, the book explores how these aspects of music making are intertwined and quells any doubts teachers may have regarding their abilities to create an environment where children can improvise, dance, compose, and notate their musical offerings. While the book acknowledges the importance of traditional approaches to teaching notation and performance, its emphasis is on the student’s point of view, illustrating how young musicians can learn when their musical ideas are honored and celebrated. Various teaching ideas are presented; some are exploratory in nature, and others involve direct instruction. Regardless of their nature, all of the activities arise from research on children’s musical development in general and their development of notational systems in particular, and they have been tested in multiple elementary-classroom environments and preservice settings. The activities center on engaging with music through movement, performing, singing, improvising, composing, developing notational skills, and appealing to children across subjects, including language, drama, and mathematics. Activities encompass both small-scale classroom lessons and large-scale productions. This pedagogy has a timeless quality; even in our digital age, this musical environment appeals to children. The book invites readers to adapt the ideas to their own teaching settings, showing both preservice and established teachers that they can teach music creatively to build community and to inspire all who enter there.