When Music Goes to School

Experts in child psychology and pedagogy concur that how children are schooled today seriously conflicts with how they learn and develop. Children are being left behind and the promises and possibilities of childhood are slipping away. This book aims to disclose a deeper understanding of music's importance in children's lives and their need to know, explore, wonder, and play. Directed toward music teachers, teacher educators, and scholars, this text invites inquiries and provides insights into contemporary challenges to learning and teaching in an era of standardization. A compendium of essays, classroom voices and vignettes is supported by relevant research in music education and companion disciplines in psychology, philosophy, and sociology. Storytelling with scholarship contributes authenticity and strengthens the premise of this book.

Danette Littleton is a former professor of music education and elementary school music teacher. She lectures and writes on children's musical development, specifically the relationship between music learning and play.

Preface: A Child's Mind is a Terrible Thing to Standardize
Introduction: Toward Individualism, Imagination, and Inventiveness
Essay 1: Individualism: A Curriculum of One
Firsthand Perspectives on Learning and Teaching Music
Discovering Music
Playing with Mozart
Music in Context
Repertoire and Resources
Follow the Children
Essay 2: Imagination: The Musical Culture of Children's Play
Problem Seeking: The Play Factor
Observational Studies: Free Play with Music
Primary Source: The Pillsbury Studies
Music Setting, Instruments, and Materials
Theories of Children's Play
Cultural Perspectives of Play
Aesthetic Perspectives of Play
Historical Perspectives of Play
The Nature of Nurturing
Mother-Infant Music Play
Children's Cognitive Music Play Behaviors
Children's Social Music Play Behaviors
Pedagogy and Play
"Why Can't We Play?"
Essay 3: Originality: Voices of Children
Childhood's Markers and Talismans
Neotenous Traits of the Child
The Goodness of Children
Influences of Great Educators
Ecology of Learning
Pedagogy of Culture
When Children Hurt
Pedagogy of Possibility
Finding Your Way
Essay 4: Inventiveness: Making Meaningful Music with Children
Musical Teaching
Music Repertoire
Music Instruments
A Music Lesson Plan Format
Ideas, Procedures, and Materials for Instruction: Shiver Me Timbres!
Ideas, Procedures, and Materials for Instruction: American Indian Legends, Songs, Drums, and Dances: Dancing Drums and Singing Clay
Ideas, Procedures, and Materials for Instruction: American Composer George Gershwin, A Jazzy Classic
Ideas, Procedures, and Materials for Thematic Instruction
Musical Evaluation and Assessment
When Children Sing
Unwelcome Incidents in the Classroom
Making Music Classroom Rules that Matter
Essay 5: Perspectives: Voices of Teachers
Teaching Music Under New Rules
1994 National Standards for Music
2014 Common Core Standards for Music
Toward Constructing Curriculum
The Big Picture
Education for the 21st-Century
Epilogue: On the Cusp of Possibility
Bibliography
Works Cited
Index