Article written by Dr. Louise Pascale, Lesley University
Finding a Bucket to Carry the Tune: Ways to Shift the Paradigm for Non-singing Classroom Teachers
Dr. Louise Pascale
In many of today’s school’s across the United States, we have music teacher’s working hard at delivering a wide range of musical experiences to their students. For many, their curriculum is diverse and reaches a wide range of learners. Singing is one of prominent activities emphasized in a music curriculum. Singing occurs in various settings, often within the confines of the music room, in public performances and very often, led by the music teacher, in all-school gatherings.
For the past fifteen years, I have been working in the Creative Arts in Learning Division of Lesley University, traveling around the country, teaching teachers (most of them classroom teachers) how to integrate music (and other arts) into their basic curriculum. Over the years, I began to notice an interesting and unexplained phenomenon. Every time I suggested to a group of teachers that we sing together, I would first hear gasps, a brief moment of silence and then a series of unrelenting reasons why they couldn’t or don’t sing. “I’m not a singer,” one would say. “Oh, trust me, you don’t want me to sing. I’ll just listen.” “I can’t carry a tune in a bucket.” “I stopped singing a long time ago.” This bantering would continue until they were convinced that I was convinced they were truly “non-singers.”
My first impulse was to persuade them otherwise, and I would try desperately to negate any bad feelings or beliefs they might have about singing. But I discovered that they were equally determined to persuade me that what they were telling me was undeniably true; they really couldn’t sing. Their incredible sense of knowing about their lack of singing ability made a profound impact on me. They were certain, without doubt that they were truly non-singers. No amount of convincing was going to change their mind.
With every group of teachers I encountered, I faced exactly the same scenario: teachers tried to convince me they couldn’t sing and I tried to convince them that they could. I tried assigning books and articles for them to read filled with rationale strongly advocating that everyone is a singer. But they were unconvinced. They simply “couldn’t sing” and they thoroughly resisted changing their attitude.
Finally, my curiosity and frustration got the best of me. I realized I needed to find a way to make sense of this “non-singing” phenomenon, first simply to understand it and, second, to change it, or help shift the paradigm in a substantial way. I needed to find a way to understand what was underneath the meaning of phrases such as “I can’t sing” or “I don’t have a voice.” What in the world could those statements really mean?
The situation was even more perplexing because the paradox I faced was this: despite a lack of confidence about singing, in the case of every group of teachers I worked with, I witnessed them as singers. They participated in the singing activities and from my perspective, they all sang and thus, at least for me, they all qualified as “singers.”
On the one hand, the teachers were telling me they couldn’t sing. They were resigned to this fact and as a result never sang and never even considered singing with their students. This, I found, very disturbing. On the other hand, I saw that they could and did sing. It occurred to me that in order to shift this paradigm, so that they might sing with their students, I first needed to do more than simply “convince” them they were singers. As a first step, I needed to find a way to understand, from their perspective what they meant when they used the terms, “singer” and “non-singer.”
The Research Study: Examination of the meaning of singing
I began my research by surveying a selected group of self-declared non-singers and posing three questions: What is a singer? Are you one? How do you know that? The data interestingly, provided revealing insights into the meaning of what they believed it meant to be a “singer.” People who define themselves as “non-singers” feel they lack the qualities inherent in being a “singer.”
The survey data revealed that “singers” were:
Confident
Able to sing in key
Outgoing
Willing to practice
Musically expressive
Vocally talented
Had a great voice and could hold a tune.
Had a pleasant voice
Like to perform and sing solos
Were often sopranos
Singer and Non-singer: A cultural and social construction
Although there were a few explicit stories about having been told to “mouth the words,” most of the “non-singers” who I interviewed seemed to simply “know” they couldn’t sing, without being able to name of source of their knowing. This source was finally clarified when I interviewed a woman from Barbados. She unraveled the mystery. After some consideration, she looked a bit surprised herself but concluded that when in Barbados she’s a singer but in the U.S., she is not. “Singing in Barbados is for fun, not performance,” she declared. No one cares what you sound like. The purpose of singing is to build community. It is a recreational and social. In that setting she is a singer. Singing in the U.S., for her, is connected with talent, skill, performance, solos, and virtuosity. In that cultural context, she considers herself a non-singer.
Conclusions:
The type of singing that has been and continues to be most often valued and implemented in schools based in an ethnocentric value system, one that emphasizes product and performance and stresses skill building. This type of singing recognizes the existence of the two categories, singer and non-singer. There is another model of singing, one that is rarely equally valued in schools, the community singing model. This model is more process oriented and emphasizes participation, stresses social value and enjoyment only. This model recognizes and functions with only one category: singer.
Both types of singing have a place in our educational system but it was the results of this research study that showed t that is was the community singing model, the model that emphasizes participation, and enjoyment that shifts non-singers over to singers. When the so-called non-singing classroom teachers actually experience this kind of model for singing themselves and take note of what happens when they sing together for the joy of singing, they are willing, if not eager to return to their classrooms and sing with their students. They realize that they do not need to become experts in music. They do not need to teach note reading or conduct vocal exercises. They need to simply provide a place for singing where students feel included, where every voice is heard, where singing literally builds a cohesive ensemble of voices.
Implications:
If music education is going to continue to flourish and be valued, everyone in the school must participate and be part of the music making. We cannot afford to have classroom teachers announcing loud and clear that they can’t sing. They must be included. Here are suggested strategies music specialists can use to begin this process:
- Accept community singing as a valuable aesthetic Organize all-school sings where the focus is on participation and community building, not developing skills. This will provide a venue for everyone to feel comfortable. Pitch songs in an accessible range. Classroom teachers will most likely, at first, claim they can’t sing but the music specialist can bring an awareness of other perspectives of singing which will help to make the shift. Remember: the meaning of singing is an invention of the culture and society. Provide the opportunity to embrace multiple perspectives of making music.
- Encourage everyone to feel they are singers Once classroom teachers are willing to consider singing, they need the opportunity to sing and keep singing. They will shift their thinking when they have had a positive experience with singing by actively singing in an environment that is accepting and encouraging. Avoid teaching vocal skills, using technical terms, labeling them as a “soprano” or “alto,” etc. An elementary music specialist made the following observation when she tried to make this shift,
I watched the classroom teachers in my school who told me they weren’t musical, couldn’t sing, felt scared about singing noticeably change once I began redefining singing in more than one way. They contribute to the musicality of the school as much if not more than the so-called “musicians.” (Elementary music specialist, K-5, New London, CT 7/01
- Assist classroom teachers in finding repertoire that is easy to sing and easy to learn in their classroom Once classroom teachers begin singing, they will be eager to find repertoire that their students will enjoy. They want songs that will “work.” Encourage classroom teachers to build a repertoire from their own experience. Teach them particular favorites among the students. The students will begin to experience that singing is something everyone does, beyond the “music room.” It gives singing a new importance and “normalcy” because everyone (classroom teachers included) is singing.
- Make a visit to the classroom and sing the songs together Help the classroom teacher identify students in the class who are particularly comfortable with singing and capable of leading a song. Model tips for song leading.
- Provide an atmosphere that encourages every voice to be heard. Establish singing opportunities that help create a safe environment such as, putt everyone in a circle, avoid solos, pitch songs in keys that are accessible to all voices. Most importantly, announce to the group immediately that the goal of singing together is for everyone to participate, build group cohesiveness, listen to each other, have fun. Avoid making judgments about voice quality or teaching of vocal technique.
At its most basic level, this research examined the meaning of “singing” and suggests that everyone is a singer and that the meaning of singing must be broadened to become more inclusive. I have presented a case for creating schools where everyone sings, suggesting the possibility of creating more humanistic educational communities that encourage finding, recognizing, listening to and celebrating every voice.
It is time to open doors in the domain of music education and transform the places where and with whom music is created and experienced. Music education is a construct growing out of our particular society and history and now it is time to begin viewing it through a wider, more critical lens. If we expect our students to become open learners, eager questioners, seekers of knowledge, then we educators must begin to perceive teaching and learning through multiple lenses and with imagination. We can no loner be complacent about the current construction which allows some of us to think of ourselves as “non-singers” any more than we can continue to think of ourselves as “non-listeners,” “non-participants,” “non-members of the community” or non-learners.” We must begin to expand, revise, engage ourselves more authentically and adventurously in every component of education.
There is much to gain for everyone in the school community when cultural and societal boundaries are broken down, minds are released and creativity enlisted. We do an enormous disservice to ourselves as educators and to our students as learners to remain singularly structured with boundaries that are created and perpetuated within one paradigm. It is everyone’s benefit to include as many people as possible in experiencing the joys of making music and we are foolish not to do so.
References
Pascale, L. (2002). Dispelling the myth of the non-singer: changing the ways singing is perceived, implemented and nurtured in a classroom. Lesley University Dissertation. Lesley University, Cambridge, MA
Published in Massachusetts Music News, Spring 2006 (p.40-1)
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