Restructuring Music's Role in the Middle School Curriculum.
Curriculum is more than the syllabus, the required reading list, schedule of test, papers, or homework assignments. It is the manner in which the world enters the school. Curriculum encodes the social relations and the power of these relations with respect to people and knowledge. Music is known as the universal language; therefore, it can be integrated in all curricular studies to promote learning in all academic arenas. ********** According to Schlechty (1990), restructuring refers to changing social systems. Paradigms, roles and relationships need to be altered so that schools can more effectively serve students. Integrating music into core areas to positively influence learning in middle grades is a restructuring strategy. In order to activate this strategy, teachers must be encouraged to improvise utilizing an interdisciplinary core approach to curriculum planning and implementation. Curriculum is more than the syllabus, the reading list, schedule of tests, papers or homework assignments, etc. It is the manner in which the world enters the school. Curriculum encodes the social relations and the power of these relations with respect to people and knowledge. Therefore, teachers and students do not need to have adversarial, split-off, and specialized relationships. Music is referred to as the universal language of the world. Teachers do not need to bring a world to students, especially those in middle grades, that is a jumble of walls, barriers and gates (Gromet, 1989). James Beane (1990) argues that middle grades teachers should base curriculum on the developmental needs and abilities of students in connection with society's values and expectations. Society values and expects music. Therefore, music staff and core staff need to link music to other disciplines. According to Finn (1990), this will allow opportunities for students to use visual and auditory media, in addition to the written word, to express ideas and concepts. Staff members need to be committed to and enjoy working with young adolescents. Personal interest needs to be taken in these students throughout the school day. Administrators need to believe in the total development of students, especially in middle grades and to administer the school with that in mind. The goal of middle grades schools is to improve the success of students in a variety of curricula in order to raise the students' self-esteem. Encore subjects such as music should not be given second class treatment, and music teachers should not be treated differently than core teachers (Larson, 1992). Philosophers and child development experts believe that arts experiences such as music are important for middle grades students (Musoleno, 1990). However, some administrators have been led to reduce instructional time in the arts in order to increase time for core subjects. Instead, middle grades students need expanded time for arts instruction at a level that enables them to experience quality. Glasser (1990) states that students have a good idea of what parts of theft schooling are high quality. Music is viewed by students as high quality because they feel important participating in the group or team work involved in music. Therefore, according to Hackett (1991), music teachers as well as core teachers should be included on curriculum planning teams. Insights of both staff need to be utilized for integrating music into core areas. Music-Core Staff Collaboration The general role of educators is to guide middle grades students and all students in their learning about life. Seldom is life experienced in a series of isolated events. Therefore, teachers should share in collaborative curriculum decision-making in order to shape the world of their students. Because music is an integral part of life, it should be an integral part of school experiences. Administrators need to assure that integration projects are carried out as an expansion of music offerings in the school. …