This semester, I was invited to teach a new course: “Intro to Music: Latin America.” I accepted immediately, of course! Teaching an “Intro to Music” course not centered on Western Art Music in a new school seemed exciting. It didn’t take long for the feeling of loneliness to appear. I browsed the Teaching Hub for assignments, syllabi, and ideas, which was very helpful. But I was still missing something. I wanted to have a community to ask for advice, to have conversations about the best policies to teach a course like this, to give and ask for recommendations for books and articles, to ask for some feedback on the assignments I created for the course, to hear from other instructors what was happening in their courses. With these needs in mind, we decided to open a blog to serve as a public forum where we can explore pedagogy and discuss our experiences teaching music at CUNY.
Teaching music is as exciting as it is challenging. Be it music theory, ear training, music appreciation, writing about music, and many other topics in music, each has its unique challenges and experiences. With this in mind, we decided to start this blog, which is still unnamed (help us, please!), so we can have a safe and open space to share experiences and challenges and to think about pedagogy in music.
In this blog, we might consider questions such as: How can we teach non-majors the elements of music? How can we better teach ear training asynchronously? How should we approach grading? How much time should we spend on cultural and social aspects when teaching music history? Should we allow screens (laptops, cellphones, tables, etc) in the classroom? If so, what are the best ways to do it? How should we approach delicate and sensitive topics that might arise in class discussion? Should we use and allow lyrics with explicit content in our courses? How might we better bring our students’ vast musical experiences and knowledge into our classrooms and curricula? What is the purpose of music education in today’s world? These and many other questions will be considered and debated in this space.
We hope this blog will help foster a broader sense of community centered around pedagogy among the GC music department, without being restricted by time or space. Welcome to the unnamed blog, and let our teaching experiences be the starting point for a greater conversation about pedagogy and music.