Instrumental Teaching - Perspectives and Challenges

Nick Beach and Gary Spruce discuss themes from their brand new book for instrumental teachers.

In Chapter 2 of Instrumental Teaching: Perspectives and Challenges, Allsup and Nicholson suggest that in instrumental music education 'nothing has changed and everything seems to be moving too fast.' Many instrumental and vocal music teachers will recognise this apparent contradiction. The context in which instrumental music learning takes place is constantly changing and would be unrecognisable to people from even relatively recent decades. Digital streaming, tools for self learning, social media, and an expectation of instant access and delivery have revolutionised the way music is developed and consumed. At the same time the challenges of learning an instrument remain broadly the same, and although the content may be different, there is much that a visitor from the 19th century would recognise were they to step into instrumental music lessons around the world.

Music education is arguably a well researched field. Some of the finest minds in education research have filled periodicals and library shelves with important insights and understandings about music in young people’s lives and the activities of those who support them. What is less clear is how this body of research influences the learning of musical instruments, and how it might bring about development and change. The central aim of Instrumental Teaching: Perspectives and Challenges is to bridge what can be a gap between academic research and teaching practice. In that sense it might be considered as a lens through which all teachers can view their own work, reflecting on their practice and asking how current themes in academic research might support the improvement which, as teachers, we are all seeking.

Under the editorship of Nick Beach and Gary Spruce the book chapters are written by twelve pre-eminent academics and practitioners in the field, some of whom work purely in a research context while others have day to day experience of teaching musical instruments. To bring the content to life each chapter contains activities designed as “research into practice”, inviting the reader to think about the implications of the chapter for their own practice. This means that while the book tackles a good deal of academic theory, the implications for practical teaching in the classroom or studio are always to the fore.

In order to more deeply understand why instruments are taught the way they are we need to explore something of the history of instrumental teaching, which we do in Chapter 1. The three chapters in this first section concern themselves with how we got to where we are, what instrumental teaching now looks like, and what the main themes in music education research are. The historical context is not always comfortable reading, given that the commonly accepted measures of musical progress, the status of the individual lesson and the value attached to different musical genres have many of their roots in 19th century British imperialism. Right from the start the book encourages us to ask questions about whether the structures that underpin music learning are the most appropriate ones for today, or whether they are merely echoes from an era which has little current relevance. To conclude this section, Chapter 3 surveys recent developments in music education research which have particular relevance to learning a musical instrument, providing a list of references which is gold dust to anyone wishing to delve deeper into our field.

A central idea in Instrumental Teaching: Perspectives and Challenges is that of putting the learner at the heart of their own learning. This shift in emphasis from ‘what is to be learned’ to ‘who is learning’ is perhaps the greatest difference between the master/ apprentice approaches of the past and more contemporary approaches to instrumental teaching. It suggests that the role of the instrumental teacher might not just be to pass on to their students the body of knowledge they hold, but rather it might be to support the learner on their own personal musical journey. The second part of the book considers the nature of musical knowledge, the nature of the learner and the motivation of the latter to engage with the former. We start by exploring what we mean by the often used, and misused, term “musical”, alongside the sometimes challenging concepts of gifted and talented. Then the middle chapter in this section helps us better understand the learner and the stages of development they will go through. Then we come to motivation, and if Chapter 6 contained a formula for encouraging young people to do more practice we would have discovered the Holy Grail and would be able to charge a lot more for the book! But hopefully these three chapters together will help the reader delve a little deeper into what we might mean by student centred learning.

The intention of the book was never be a “how to” guide, or to suggest or favour any particular teaching methodology. So although the third section is titled ‘Practices and Pedagogies,’ it doesn’t propose classroom activities or strategies, but aims to help us dig into the principles which might underpin our approach as teachers. If we accept the notion of learner centred approaches, the four chapters in this section look at some of the pedagogical aspects we will need to consider to make that notion a reality. So perhaps predictably we start with creativity, as it is here that the musician as individual emerges, the thing we all perhaps most want to see in our students. At first glance it might seem strange to include access and inclusion at this point as we often think of this as an organisational, structural or financial issue. But it is vital that we ask questions about the curriculum itself and to what extent it meets the needs of individual students, or alienates them. Social justice and instrumental teaching are often uncomfortable bedfellows but if the benefits of learning an instrument are of value they are of value to everyone. Next, we come to assessment, arguing that moment to moment assessment in lessons is a core skill of the instrumental teacher, and that each lesson is packed with assessment opportunities. But if we are to be assessors, it is important for us to understand that our assessment is never neutral but is coloured by a set of values and beliefs that we need to understand and acknowledge in order to use assessment effectively. The fourth chapter in this section achieves some degree of synthesis of the other three by looking at case studies in how learning an instrument might be viewed in the context of their wider education and musical experience.

The Covid 19 pandemic radically changed the working practices of many instrumental teachers and almost overnight many of us discovered the possibilities, impossibilities and opportunities offered by online teaching. Pity the online classroom teacher who discovered that the supposedly attentive student in the box on their screen was actually a screenshot that the student had put up while they went off to do something more interesting! Who knows what the future holds but, having learned so much, many teachers are choosing to retain some online elements in their teaching. The final section of the book starts by exploring what we know about online learning and its impact on instrumental teaching and learning.

Having quite rightly put the learner at the heart of the book, the final chapter spends some time considering ourselves as instrumental music teachers. Which of the three words in that title is most important to you? Do you think of yourself as a musician first, a teacher first, an instrumentalist, a musician teacher? The list could go on.

However we see ourselves, there is one final quote which seems to sum up the overall message of the book: 'The music profession needs teachers who are reflective thinkers and strong musicians, just as it needs musicians who are knowledgeable about the music they are performing and capable of drawing on pedagogical principles to elevate their own performance or provide education in music to others.'

One final thought. There is no chance that every teacher reading this book will agree with everything it says, and there will be many who agree with much of what the book is saying but who work in settings where it is very difficult to put the chapter principles into practice. But the editors and authors hope to achieve two things. Firstly to provide teachers with a vehicle for reflection on their own practice, through which they can bring about incremental and considered change and development. And secondly to provoke debate amongst instrumental music teachers, those with responsibility for the settings in which such teaching takes place, the music education academic community and anyone else with an interest in instrumental teaching and learning.