Holding Sound: Interdisciplinary Pathways to Sound-Centered Teaching

• In Event: Exploring the Sonic in Music Teaching & Learning

Abstract

Children’s need and ability for sound exploration is foundational to the development of language, communication, and expressive capabilities. In school music education, sound exploration is one way to teach composition, songwriting, and soundscape creation for a wide range of musical purposes. However, for sound exploration to become central to an educational process, it must be intentionally guided, facilitated, or redirected with care and responsiveness (Wargo, 2018). Music educators providing spaces for sound exploration need to be open to a chaotic beginning that, with direction, transforms into a more organized music creation, both of which are meaningful in their own ways. From the perspective of sound studies and music education (Thibault, 2017; Recharte, 2019; Author C, 2017), the role of the music educator is not to prescribe outcomes, but rather to support children in finding their sound (Vintimilla & Kind, 2021). This means creating responsive spaces, physically and metaphorically, for sonic experimentation and emotional expression, while also helping students realize their ideas, whether through their developing skills and musicianship, the use of technology, or collaboration with elders, cultural bearers, or disciplinary experts.

In this paper, I examine the complex task of preparing future music educators to develop flexible and relational pedagogical skills (Delgado Vintimilla, 2023). I speak about how these skills are essential for supporting the emergence of musical identities in school settings, and I share an example of an arts-based, interdisciplinary process centered on storytelling and drawing, which serves as an entry point into children’s sound meaning-making. Through this work, I also describe how I guide children in identifying roles, purposes, endpoints, and intentions for their musical ideas. The dialogue that emerges through storytelling and sound becomes a pathway to understanding the many layers of musicianship that unfold when the educator approaches their role as a facilitator of sonic experiences rather than merely a transmitter of musical concepts, especially when working with children. I then explore how sound-centered, narrative-based processes in music education can reshape teacher preparation and reframe children’s musicianship as something rooted in dialogue, exploration, relationship, and meaning-making.

Author

• Gabriela Ocadiz, University of Arizona