MUED 376: Choral Music, Materials & Techniques (M2 & T)

A. 1a. WORKSHEET: Madsen- Research-A Personal Perspective

What are the influences of family or lack of family participation in our music programs? When do children begin to come to know
music, and when do they start to make meaningful connections between music and their separate experiences? What are the changing
social and familial contingencies that make a child want to participate or not participate in our music programs or to change their
participation? When is the best time to start various music activities? When and how do we get every child involved in music and,
much more important, how do we ensure keeping each child with us? How might we best use technology to capture and hold student
interest and to teach students? How do we get them through the difficult years? Is it appropriate for fast fingering and loud notes to
prevail, if but for a short time? What are the relationships between a child's needs at different times? Why do children accept or reject
"our" music as opposed to theirs? How do we equip them so that as adults they have their own personal relationship with music and a
firmly developed desire for lifelong involvement?

“Developing a research perspective starts from our own experience.” C. Madsen

1. Early Childhood Experiences: What were some of your pivotal early childhood
music experiences and what research questions stem from them?

One of my pivotal early childhood music experiences was my father bringing his guitar to
my shared room with my sister and singing a few songs before he sang our goodnight
song. This was pivotal for me because if I hadn’t been exposed to singing like that every
night, sometimes storytelling with fingerpicking as well, I don’t believe I would be as
into Rock music as I am now, and I wouldn’t have felt as comfortable in music class
when participating. I was a shy child, except for when it came to music.

A research question that I have is: At how early of an age does a child remember their
first musical experience, and is this a result of interpersonal influences or general music
education?

2. Elementary School Experiences: What research questions do you have that stem from
early elementary school experiences in music?

The clearest and earliest experience I have from elementary school was when I was in the
second grade and we performed We Shall Overcome in a school assembly. This version
was special because after singing through the piece once we started it again on a hum
while someone spoke, but we were also performing the sign language while humming. I
was chosen to be the sign language leader, meaning I stood in front of the class and was
angled towards them instead of the audience, bringing attention to myself. This sticks out
in my memory because it is the first experience, I can tie to stage fright/performance
anxiety. During rehearsal I was excited to be the leader, but when it came time to be on
stage, I became so nervous that my hands were incredibly shaky and my heart was racing,
making me cry after we were done performing.

For me, this poses the research question: The influence of performance anxiety varies
from student to student; are these anxieties stemming from the same influences? Are
those influences measurable?

3. Middle School Experiences: What were some of your pivotal middle school
music experiences and what research questions stem from them?

In middle school I was given my very first choir solo. It was for a song called “Slow Me
Down, Lord!” and I had been practicing the solo with another student during our free
period. After auditions I wasn’t given the solo and was sad, but still excited for the
concert nonetheless because it was with our pyramid schools, meaning high schoolers
would be there. The day of the concert my classmate who had the solo was sick, so I was
 asked last-minute to fill in. It was our closing song for the advanced choir I was in,
however, I don’t remember anything about that particular song except for the immediate
standing ovation I received and how sweaty/sick I felt once I walked off stage and began
to hyperventilate. After the performance my parents took me to get ice cream, but I was
so shaky and weak still that I sat in the car. This was another pivotal moment for me
because it influenced my entire performance career following—I had experienced my
first performance anxiety attack and had no idea how to handle it, so it took me 4 years to
audition for another solo.

This experience posed this research question for me: In what ways does performance
anxiety hinder a student outside of performance opportunities? Are they as participative
in that activity on stage as they are in the classroom (i.e. singing, playing an instrument)?

4. High School Experiences: What research questions do you have that stem from
high school experiences in music?

In high school, I had an extremely pivotal moment my junior year when I discovered my
unyielding love for music. I had been planning on going to college for athletics for a long
time but an injury the semester before took that away from me, leaving me in a difficult
mental space. While trying to fill my days with things that didn’t involve the athletics I
couldn’t participate in, I started volunteering in an elementary music classroom twice a
week—one day with 5th grade and the other with an isolated music therapy group of 3
students. This experience is what showed me the wonders of teaching music to children
and the joy that even the small accomplishments bring.

This posed an interesting research question for me: Music is used as a form of
expression; in what other ways is music used non-traditionally to express the inner self?
How does this relate back to the conscious and subconscious?

5. Undergraduate Experiences: What research questions do you have that stem from
your undergraduate music experiences?

In my undergraduate career I found myself facing changing challenges throughout the

years, so I would consider my entire undergraduate career as a pivotal time in my life.
My philosophies have changed and become clearer as I have grown into the student I am
today. There have been many points where I’ve felt uncertain if I would finish my degree
because I was so burnt-out. These moments are what helped define me as a teacher and a
musician, because even though I was behind on work or physically sick and unable to
practice I could still escape through listening. I’ve been stuck in that pit many times and
it can be incredibly difficult to climb out, but music is what lowered the ladder for me.
Instead of listening to music only at parties, when rehearsing, or in the car, I had my
headphones on constantly and found new styles and sounds that I connected with. Music,
quite literally, has saved me multiple times.

This reflection posed a research question that I found difficult to articulate: The
emotional connection our brain makes to music is incredibly influential—how does this
neurologically happen?

6. Music Job Experiences: What research questions do you have that stem from jobs you
may have already had in music?

I currently am the music director at St. Stephens UCC in downtown Harrisonburg. The
choir is 8 of my SoM colleagues, all whom are great musicians. My main job is to pull
 and file weekly hymns, assist in learning the hymns in morning rehearsal, and teach and
conduct an anthem during the hour-long rehearsal before service. I have done other
business-like things, from booking the choir to sing at outside funerals to creating a
YouTube page of weekly performances. This is an important experience for me because
it is my first paid leadership role as a musician. I am always learning in this role and
expect to be a full-time learner no matter what my professional “status” is.

This posed a research question for me: Today’s technological advancements are allowing
more people to access music consistently. What influences does this have in setting
outside of school?

7. Pre-teaching Experiences: What research questions do you have that stem from pre-
teaching experiences (camps, practica, etc.) in music?

There have been many practicum experiences I have had that posed questions after, but
one particular experience was last year in a 4 th-grade classroom. In summary, we were
learning about Porgy and Bess, looking at a book that illustrated the song “Summertime.”
When asking the students what they observed about the illustrations, one student said,
“The people are all black,” and a student who is on the autism spectrum responded
saying, “That’s racist!” The teacher responded to them both in a few eloquent sentences,
saying that yes, the people are African american and this is an opera with an only
African-American cast, then responding to the other student by calmly explaining that the
other student wasn’t being mean or racist, they were just trying to answer the question.

In what ways can we promote cultural differences in music in the classroom? How do we
do this without overstepping or appropriating?