Learning with music

“I gave up music very early on. The conservatory shattered my dreams”. We regularly hear these comments from people who regret giving up music all their lives. Solfège, dictation, authoritarian music teachers and punitive methods were legion in music education.

Since the 1970s, there has been an upsurge. Admittedly, not all establishments have yet made the desired change, nor have all teachers, but today in France, change is enshrined in the institutions and pedagogical projects of the establishments that provide music education.

This change originated in a recognition of dysfunction and a vision of what needed to be done to make it work. It has profoundly altered the relationship between knowledge and the teacher, and could become a source of inspiration for other disciplines struggling to transform themselves for greater efficiency and humanity.

Music education: the legacy of the "old school

40,000 years: that's the age of the oldest flute discovered in Germany in 2008 (1). In the Paleolithic era, music was already part of the daily life of our planet's inhabitants. It may have accompanied religious, warlike, tribal or family rituals.

However, there is no trace of the means by which this practice was transmitted, but we can imagine that, as with other practices, it was passed on simply by listening, observing and practicing. The oldest score ever found dates back to 1400 BC, and was found in the ancient Amorrite city of Ugarit in present-day Syria (2). And it was indeed the evolution of notation, as was the case for writing, that enabled music to be theorized and thus transmitted more solidly, but not necessarily more widely.

From the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, musical composition evolved through the technique of notating rhythms, the number of voices, the pitch of notes and the names of different modes. Music became theorized, and could therefore be transmitted by means other than observation and practice. But the change of course was taken abruptly, leaving the uneducated at the door of music. Music became elitist, and was taught to the upper castes of society.

In 1795, the first Conservatoire National de Paris opened its doors, and here's what it contained in its regulations.

"Extracts from the Conservatoire's regulations dated 15 Messidor An IV (July 3, 1796) inform us that the teaching of solfeggio is a prerequisite to any other apprenticeship - be it instrument, singing or composition - and constitutes the first degree of study in the establishment." (4).

And here we are! This tradition lasted until the late 80s in schools, colleges and conservatories. Pupils were not allowed to play a musical instrument until they had completed at least two years of music theory. Statistics on drop-outs before the end of the first cycle are hard to come by, but it's easy to hear the many testimonials from former students who criticized this teaching as too academic and uninteresting. Only those who were able to resist it, or who had this facility for theoretical learning, say today that it was an obligatory passage, and that today they don't regret it, because the teaching was solid and allows them today an easy understanding of music. The argument was therefore valid.

A breakthrough came in 1977, however. "The ideas of Marcel Landowski, then Inspector General since 1975, may explain, among other things, the disappearance of solfège, and the encouragement of creative expression by the pupil. As early as 1968, when he was head of the Music Department at the French Ministry of Culture, he wrote in a memo (Landowski, 1968, May 3) about the syllabuses for seconde, première, terminale, section A, as well as the music exams:

"Inspired by the idea, which seems essential to me, that "the disciplines of sensibility are as important for the formation of a man as the disciplines of knowledge", I have proposed a program calling above all for student participation in various musical actions, i.e. creativity, improvisation, practical knowledge of the sound elements made available to us by science, and reflection on the various psychological, social and historical aspects of the musical phenomenon. I was therefore led to reject the project presented by Inspector General Favre, based on solfeggio, harmonic analysis and the history of music" (5).

This watershed moment, which put practice, sensitivity and creativity back at the heart of music teaching, led to the introduction of new pedagogical practices in institutions.

The emergence of active pedagogies in music teaching

Cefedem Rhône-Alpes is an advanced training center for French music teachers. In 2014, Cefedem is experimenting with a new type of music teaching. (6)

"Based on a project- and contract-based pedagogy, this novel training replaces the common notion of musical genres with that of musicians' practices, enabling for each musical moment and each pedagogical training situation the analysis of procedures used, the analysis of modes of cooperation between musicians, as well as the invention of devices creating musical and pedagogical contexts dedicated to such approaches." (6)

In this experimentation, relationships to knowledge and to the teacher are profoundly altered. The teacher becomes a facilitator, and the students produce creative or productive actions based on their own knowledge.

"Without denying knowledge that has already been theorized, we can create learning mechanisms that encourage students to produce theory themselves.

The second major development concerns the creation of situations in which students must succeed. Here we recognize the parallels with the best practices of AFEST (Action de Formation en Situation de Travail). The process is centered not on a program to be followed, but on a succession of situations proposed by the students, and not imposed by the institution. Three challenges must be described and proposed by each student.

1. For the first project, each student must present an initial challenge centered on his or her dominant practice, where he or she takes the most pleasure, and supported by his or her strengths.
   
   
2. For the second project, each student must choose a musical practice close to his or her own, a repertoire they've never played before, or a style of music they know little about. A classical musician might experiment with the baroque repertoire, a rock musician might try his hand at rap, or a bebop jazz musician might look to free-jazz.
   
   
3. Finally, the third project involves the student in a field in which he or she has no skills, by joining a collective group used to playing a repertoire with which he or she is unfamiliar.

All three projects must result in a performance before an audience outside the immediate Cefedem community. It is the student who organizes these concerts (choice of musicians, material organization). It is also the student who determines the success criteria for his or her projects, validated by the team of instructors.

The relationship between the individual and the collective is also profoundly modified. Until now, apart from group musical or rhythmic dictations, where the individual is ultimately left to his or her own devices and understanding, or collective rehearsals, the group has been largely absent from music teaching. Only Nadia Boulanger, an eminent pedagogue who trained numerous composers and eminent musicians (including Daniel Barenboim, Pierre Henry, Philippe Glass, Leonard Bernstein, John Eliot Gardiner, Aaron Copland, Quincy Jones and Astor Piazzolla), set up a group class called les Mercredis de la rue Ballu (the name of her Parisian home) (7). The whole of musical Paris flocked to his classes.

The principle: solve a musical problem as a group. In her own words, "I don't know if it's musically useful, but socially it's indispensable".

In the new approaches to musical pedagogy, group practice soon becomes compulsory. The student rubs shoulders with others, modifies his listening skills, shifts his focus from the score, and must accept his own mistakes, which can jeopardize the group's interpretation. They also take advice from their colleagues on the music stand in the event of difficulties, and can in turn offer advice when needed. Creating a simple work in accordance with a set of specifications laid down by the team of instructors, or adapting a well-known work as a group, can be an exercise that calls on more than just musical skills to cooperate, get along, make decisions, test and progress.

Although these changes in teaching methods have not yet been fully integrated by all music teachers, they are now institutionalized in French schools. It has taken around 40 years, if we take Marcel Landovsky's orientation in 1977 as a starting point. This may seem a long time, but if we compare this timeframe with pedagogical developments in education, we can only conclude that change has been rapid. Indeed, the first theories advocating active pedagogy (Freinet, Montessori, Dewey) originated at the beginning of the 20th century, and we can't say that they are widespread today. We could therefore draw inspiration from what has happened in music teaching in other disciplines.

Music education: a source of inspiration for other disciplines?

As we have seen, music teaching has undergone far-reaching changes, based on a number of levers

1. Alternating between individual and group practice
   
   Project-based teaching is already present in middle and high schools, as well as in more technical higher education. What these projects perhaps lack is the notion of a challenge, which would enable us to measure whether the project really corresponds to a desire for progress on the part of the students. On the other hand, this alternation between individual and collective approaches is rarely found in continuing vocational training, especially in short courses, where everything is often done collectively, but not in the form of project-based teaching.
   
   In contrast to music education, where individual supervision was favored prior to the 80s, in classical education, group work is preferred. Restoring a place for the individual, and therefore for individualization, would therefore benefit from being deployed, notably through tutoring or individual coaching.
   
   
2. Balancing technique and creativity
   
   Creativity remains one of the key skills for many 21st-century work think tanks. Sir Ken Robinson, in his famous 2006 TED talk "School kills creativity", was already saying as much (8), when he asserted that school not only failed to allow creativity to emerge, but even prevented it. The Research angle represents a promise initiated by some and which could be used for many disciplines.
   
   The Les Savanturiers - Ecole de la Recherche project initiated by François Taddei and Ange Ansour highlights four dimensions of the scientific approach, the first of which is creativity: "To develop 'the 4 dimensions of the student's scientific activity: creative, methodological, critical and collaborative', they help students to familiarize themselves with the methods, concepts and tools of various fields of scientific investigation, and to strengthen their metacognition" (9).
   
   Moreover, Design Thinking could usefully be applied to many learners' work to develop those creative, iterative or testing skills so useful in the creative process.
   
   
3. The importance of intrinsic motivation and the pleasure of learning
   
   We all know that mistakes are essential to all learning, on one condition: they must be learnable! And it's a question of developing the intrinsic motivation of the pupil or student that comes into play in developing the pleasure of learning. All musicians know this. There's a milestone to reach in individual work, and that milestone could be called "When work becomes a pleasure".
   
   At first, the work is tedious, unpleasant and full of mistakes. But there comes a time when progress is rewarded, and our self-esteem soars. Well, some innovative teachers are thinking about this issue and setting up systems to help their students get over this hurdle. Such is the case, for example, of Johanne A. Séguin, a mathematics teacher, who promotes simple but effective principles with her students (10):
   
   

   "Competition is with yourself, not with the group! Make sure students have fun in class! Highlight the qualities of a good learner and set goals! Demonstrate that mistakes are good!"

4. The political will to change things
   
   Finally, as we have seen, the fundamental change in music teaching in France came from one man in particular, Marcel Landovsky, a legitimate and well-placed figure in the hierarchy, who had a clear vision of the changes needed. He was then probably passed on to school principals, who had to implement the necessary changes as closely as possible to the teachers and students who were themselves front-line players in these developments.
   
   Clearly, political will and the development of a clear vision of the necessary changes will enable education to evolve in a direction that will change the relationship between knowledge and teachers, and enable learners to become actors in their own learning.
   

References

1. The origins of prehistoric music - France Culture - https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceculture/a-l-origine-de-la-musique-prehistorique-4952548
2. The evolution of musical notation - https://beaune.bibli.fr/images/site/beaune/fonds/fondsParticuliers/livretlight_expo_partitions.pdf
3. Teaching music during the Renaissance - Philippe FVendrix- https://shs.hal.science/halshs-03171201/document
4. Les "Principes élémentaires de musique" and "Solfèges pour servir à l'étude dans le Conservatoire de musique" HEMEF- 2017- https://hemef.hypotheses.org/263#more-263
5. Structuring music curricula in France from 1925 to 1997- Odile Tripier-Mondancin- HEMEF- p19- https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00609151/document
6. Differences in musical genres or differences in practices? Une voie pour renouveler les pratiques pédagogiques en musique- Société québécoise de recherche en musique- Eddy Schepens - 2014 https://www.erudit.org/fr/revues/sqrm/2014-v15-n1-sqrm02151/1033791ar/
7. Nadia Boulanger - Wikipedia - https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadia_Boulanger
8. Ken Robinson- TED Conference 2006 "School kills creativity " https://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_do_schools_kill_creativity/transcript?language=fr
9. Introducing creativity at school- Association WAX- https://www.wax-science.fr/introduire-la-creativite-a-lecole/
10. How to develop students' intrinsic motivation in mathematics - 2020- Johanne A. Séguin- https://webzine.idello.org/comment-developper-la-motivation-intrinseque-des-eleves-en-mathematiques/