Sydney Seed

MUED 273

1/17/17

Reading Response One: Allsup Learning in Laboratories p.66-85

Randall Allsup had a lot of interesting points about questions we should ask ourselves as

music educators, and thoughts on the standard master-apprentice approach. He begins the

chapter with a story of a supervisor monitoring a teacher, and commenting on the length of time

it took the teachers students to put their books away. The question is, how much can a

difference of 12 seconds make, and is it really in the best interest of the students or the instructor

to attempt to control lessons down to seconds? In string techniques we are given the task of

teaching a new piece of music in 7 minutes, while also touching on the fundamentals of how to

hold a bow etc. To succeed at completing every aspect of the through rubric, I have to create a

detailed lesson plan down to how many seconds I will spend on each exercise. If I had not read

Allsups realizations regarding this custom, I probably would have continued this practice

through the rest of my schooling, and into my career, believing that the goal of each class period

is to teach as much as possible and operate similarly to my collegiate ensemble directors. But I

dont want to create an environment where I am thinking for my students; I want to encourage

students to have their own ideas.

I really like the way Allsup phrased things like: Teachers can refuse the tensions that

define their work to embrace the discomfort of the new. (74) and Improvisation is about

finding something out as much as expressing something learned (76). Both of these quotes pull

into the question of whether we should prioritize teaching our musical inheritance the way we
were probably all taught, or whether we should instead prioritize creating opportunities for our

students to create new musical ideas. Allsup made an interesting point about how our state mark

composers got to do the exciting part and create music, and instead of allowing a new generation

to do the same, we are making them learn the standards. I think the key will be finding a balance

of both, but while I spend my career figuring that out, I will prioritize engaging students in

critical thinking skills so I dont create an environment where students only receive, memorize,

and repeat. (84)