Teaching Composition

Comics—both digital and print—increasingly make their way to the classroom. Scholars in the field have illustrated the pedagogical value of comics, but there remains little discussion as of yet about how comics can inform critical literacy, a necessary skill for twenty-first-century communication. Here the authors discuss an approach to first-year composition that argues for using comics, like Alison Bechdel's Fun Home, as an avenue for grappling with critical literacy. This classroom activity was a part of a larger assignment sequence where students were asked to compose web-based literature reviews that incorporated multimodality. These literature reviews challenged students to incorporate multiple viewpoints into their essays, and critically discussing comics proved to be an effective method for fostering this critical literacy.

Co-authored with Joan Ostrove.
In the Fall of 2013 we team-taught a disability studies course for a small group of first-year students. The course, Minding the Body, integrated scholarship from disability studies, feminist/queer studies, psychology, and Russian Studies. Originally envisioned and taught independently in the Fall of 2012 by Joan Ostrove and focused entirely on the U.S., Anastasia Kayiatos's arrival in the Department of German and Russian Studies at Macalester College afforded us an opportunity for collaboration and co-instruction that we found invigorating, compelling, and transformative. Grounded from the outset in disability studies, the course asked students to interrogate such questions as: What is a "normal" body? A "beautiful" body? Why do we feel the way we do about our bodies? How are bodies objectified, exploited, and regulated? How and why do we discriminate against people with non-normative bodies? How do people represent the experience of having a disabled body? How can we think critically about the various ways in which people change, regulate, and enhance their bodies? How do sexism, racism, classism, colonialism, homophobia, transphobia and other forms of oppression influence how different bodies are viewed, treated, educated, and experienced? The integration of Russian Studies importantly allowed us to ask how these questions and ideas change when we travel across time and geographical space. In our paper we will reflect on our experience of co-authoring the syllabus (we will include both the solo-taught and co-taught versions of the syllabus in an appendix); outline some of our techniques for team-teaching; and analyze an exemplary assignment and class meeting. We will conclude with a final word about the unique forms of teaching and learning that happened in our class as a consequence of its collaborative and interdisciplinary approach, which opened up new perspectives in disability studies not only for our students but also for us.

Using the Writing about Writing (WaW) approach to composition, our students composed in text, images, audio, and video towards the ends of developing their metaknowledge in a variety of writing practices, including personal literacies, genre, and writing for particular audiences. The course design includes the institutional context for composition at Purdue, an overview of the some of the theoretical objectives of WaW, a discussion of how we designed the course to align with the theoretical framework of WaW, classroom practices, sample course syllabi, and assignments.

Why is music significant in life and education? What shall we teach? How? To whom? Where and when? The praxial philosophy espoused in Music Matters: A Philosophy of Music Education offers an integrated sociocultural, artistic, participatory, and ethics-based concept of the natures and values of musics, education, musicing and listening, community music, musical understanding, musical emotions, creativity, and more. Embodied-enactive concepts of action, perception, and personhood weave through the book's proposals. Practical principles for curriculum and instruction emerge from the authors' praxial themes.

New to this Edition
Expanded introductory chapters, and new chapters on education, personhood, musical understanding, musical processes and products, and musical emotions
Additional principles and examples for implementing the authors' praxial approach
Cutting-edge research in music philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, and curriculum
An updated website and blog: www.musicmatters2.com

Reviews
"Nearly twenty years ago, music education philosophy changed forever with the publication of Music Matters. The second edition is not a casual update; it is a sweepingly new and expanded text that rises to an unprecedented level of sophistication. In addition to having a fresh and contemporary feel that draws evidence from a great array of sources including science, cognition, and philosophy; this edition also celebrates critical and creative thinking and offers an enhanced concept of personhood and the development of individual meaning. The result is a powerful and convincing resource that is a must-read for anyone who takes music teaching and learning seriously."--Peter R. Webster, Professor Emeritus, Northwestern University

"Why does music matter so much in our lives? Why does it have the power to transform us? This comprehensive examination of music education answers these questions and more, presenting a new vision of the importance of the arts in our lives."--Diane Ravitch, New York University

"This landmark contribution will continue to shape the discipline for decades to come and propel music education philosophy in every corner of the globe."--Gary McPherson, University of Melbourne

"Informative and delightful, Music Matters is a highly accessible and engaging account of the role that music plays in genuine education."--Nel Noddings, Stanford University

Table of Contents
Every chapter ends with Questions for Discussion and Review and Supplementary Readings
Acknowledgments
Preface

Part I. Foundational Matters
Chapter 1. Introduction

1. Some Serious Matters
2. Preliminary observations
3. Aims
4. Premises
5. Three Key Concepts: very Brief introductions
6. Reading this Book
7. Special Features
8. End of the Beginning

Chapter 2. Philosophy and Music Education

1. Philosophy: A Brief Introduction
2. The Philosophy of Music Education: A Very Brief Introduction
3. Philosophy and Advocacy: What's the Difference?
4. Praxis, Praxial, and Related Concepts
5. Conclusion

Chapter 3. Music

1. First Thoughts
2. Limitations
3. Plan of the Chapter
4. Stage One: First Steps to a Concept of Music
5. Stage Two: Basic Conclusions and Working Concepts
6. Music: Two Broad Categories
7. On the Origins and Evolution of Musics
8. Stage Three
9. Stage Four: Music as a Social Praxis
10. Conclusion

Chapter 4. Education

1. Plan of the Chapter
2. Limitations
3. Stage One: Why think About Education?
4. Stage Two: First steps to a Concept of Education
5. Stage Three: Historical Perspectives
6. Stage Four: Education as a Social Praxis
7. Conclusion

Chapter 5. Personhood

1. Aims and Limitations
2. Plan of the Chapter
3. Basic Concepts and Terms
4. A Holistic Concept of Persons and Personhood
5. Matty and Maureen
6. Consciousness
7. Persons as Embodied and Enactive
8. Brain
9. The Brain: Perfect or Not?
10. Is There a Musical Brain Center?
11. Mind
12. Body Mapping and Mirror Neurons
13. Emotions and Feelings
14. Implications for Music Education

Part II. Musical Processes and Products in Contexts

Chapter 6. Musical Understanding

1. Musical Understanding? Common Answers and Serious Omissions
2. Aims and Limitations
3. Plan of the Chapter
4. A Praxial Concept of Musical Understanding: Embodied and Enactive
5. Musical Understanding = Musicianship + Listenership
6. Procedural/Action Musical Thinking and Knowing
7. Verbal Musical Thinking and Knowing
8. Experiential Musical Thinking and Knowing
9. Situated Musical Thinking and Knowing
10. Intuitive Musical Thinking and Knowing
11. Appreciative Thinking and Knowing
12. Ethical Musical Thinking and Knowing
13. Supervisory Musical Thinking and Knowing
14. Musical Understanding (Revisited)
15. Implications for Music Education

Chapter 7. Musicing and Listening in Contexts

1. Aims and Limitations
2. Performing in Context
3. Musical Interpretation
4. Expanding on Musical Interpretation
5. Composing in Context
6. Improvising in Context
7. Arranging in Context
8. Music Listening in Context
9. Further Examples of Cultural-Ideological Influences
10. Love, Hate, and Other Musical Matters
11. Music as Culture
12. Ethics of Musicing and Listening in Context
13. Artistic Citizenship in Context
14. Implications for Music Education

Chapter 8. Musical Products in Contexts

1. Aims and Limitations
2. Plan of the Chapter
3. "Products?"
4. Musical Form-Content Relationships
5. Performance-Interpretation Dimensions
6. Musical Design
7. Praxis-Specific Style Characteristics
8. Musical Expression
9. Musical Representations
10. Cultural-Ideological Dimensions
11. Narrative Dimensions
12. Autobiographical Dimensions
13. Ethical Dimensions
14. Implications for Music Education

Chapter 9. Musical-Emotional Experiences

1. First thoughts
2. Aims and Limitations
3. Plan of the Chapter
4. Theories of Musical Experience
5. Psychological Perspectives on Musical Experience
6. A Concept of Musical-Emotional Experiences
7. Implications for Music Education

Chapter 10. Musical Creativity in Contexts

1. Aims and Limitations
2. Plan of the Chapter
3. The Concept of Creativity
4. Etymology and a Brief History of Creativity
5. Originality and Significance
6. Spontaneous Originality
7. Creative Personality and Creative Process (Creative Thinking)
8. Foundations of Creative Achievement
9. Creativity and Imagination
10. Creativity in Review
11. Music "Good and Great"
12. Implications for Music Education

Chapter 11. Musical Values

1. Aims and Limitations
2. Plan of the Chapter
3. Self and Identities
4. Human Tendencies and Human Interests
5. Consciousness Revisited
6. Self-Growth
7. Conditions of Self-Growth and Enjoyment
8. Characteristics and Consequences of Self-Growth
9. Self-Esteem and Personhood
10. Safety, Self-Esteem, and Personhood
11. Human Tendencies and Human Interests Revisited
12. The Values of Music Making
13. The Values of Music Listening
14. Musical-Emotional Experiences and Social Capital
15. Implications for Music Education

Part III. Music and-as-in Education

Chapter 12. Music Education and Curriculum
1. Aims and Limitations
2. Plan of the Chapter
3. The Concept of Curriculum
4. Conventional Curriculum-Making
5. Against Conventional Curriculum-Making
6. Teachers and Curriculum-Making
7. An Alternative Concept of Curriculum-Making
8. Curriculum Commonplaces
9. Music Curriculum-Making
10. Four stages of Curriculum-Making
11. A Praxial Music Curriculum
12. Stage One: A Praxial Orientation

Chapter 13. Music Teaching and Learning

1. Aims and Limitations
2. Plan of the Chapter
3. The Reflective Musical Practicum
4. Preparing and Planning the Practicum
5. Music Teaching and Learning
6. A Praxial View of Curriculum Evaluation
7. The Inclusive Music Curriculum

Chapter 14. Music Education and Schooling

1. Aims and Limitations
2. Plan of the Chapter
3. Education vs. Schooling
4. The Functions of Schooling
5. The Principles of Schooling
6. The Corollaries of Schooling
7. A Fundamental Problem
8. Toward the Future: The Short-Run
9. Toward the Future: The Long-Run
10. Toward the Future: The Professional Music Educator and CM Facilitator

Notes
Author Index
Subject Index