Talent Untapped
This literature review reveals, among other things, that although elementary schools throughout North America are on the threshold of grasping perhaps the most fruitful methods of teaching music ever devised, (in their endorsement of constructivist approaches in music pedagogy), sadly enough, interest and funding for music programs are on the decline. Vast amounts of talent are lying dormant, and untapped, in the minds, hearts and souls of today's children. Furthermore, it will be put forward that there is, in fact, a correlation between music education, and enhanced cognitive development, particularly in Piaget's preoperational stage (ages 2-7), and concrete operations stage (ages 7-11). Therefore, it would stand to reason that lack of public support for K-6 music programs are in fact detrimental to the intellectual growth of today's youngsters. This paper will also reveal my own personal experiences as a substitute teacher at Christmas Park Elementary School, in Beaconsfield, Quebec, Canada, during the spring of 2004, expose my skills, and shortcomings, in utilizing modern constructivist approaches, and my observations on the correlation between music education and the beneficial spill-over effects it has on enhanced learning of other subjects. Conclusions about the state of elementary school music programs in the province of Quebec will also be drawn. Constructivism, and pertinent Piaget concepts pertaining to cognitive development will be clearly defined before the analysis of the articles. How in fact these concepts are relevant to modern pedagogy of music will be revealed within the analysis of the articles themselves.
When educators allow their students the freedom to build, or construct, their own unique understanding of the space in which they dwell, by reflecting on their own distinctive experiences, they are practicing a learning philosophy called constructivism. In this scenario, children make "heads, or tails", out of their personal...
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