New Approaches to Music Education Pedagogy, Using Narrative Ways of Knowing

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 1:45 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: Zooming Out: Broad Perspectives in Music Education (Table 5)

Abstract

Engaging with narrative ways of knowing is a new and underused pedagogical approach in music education in the United States. Addressing this shortcoming requires critically examining systemic performance-preparation-driven practices and the dependence on notation within music education. In this article, I argue that narrative-based methods create openings for music teaching and learning that support reflexive understanding and reconnecting with innate abilities of self-expression. When such undertakings are valued and embraced in music education, barriers to meaningful music-making through creativity and improvisation can be challenged. Through analysis of data from a narrative inquiry study, I introduce a cyclical method of storytelling, group improvisation, and revisiting experiences through stimulated recall. I draw implications from this analysis for narrative-based music education practices.

Author

• Shane Bordeau, University of Massachusetts - Amherst