For some Canadian students, music class also means turntables and MIDI controllers
Enticing students who 'wouldn't normally be participating,' says MusiCounts president
A class of university students listens with rapt attention as Shadrach Kabango, better known as the award-winning rapper Shad, shares his thought processes when feeling stuck while creating a new track.
Maybe it needs to breathe, or a part of it can be dropped, he suggests. Perhaps he might sharpen a lyric, inject some noise or introduce a call-and-response element to get some audience participation.
Not long after, a smiling Shad is nodding along as his students try beat-making for themselves. It's a hands-on opportunity to apply what they're learning from his lessons, steeped in "a very hip-hop kind of mentality."
Step into a music class today and you might find laptops, turntables and MIDI controllers joining the expected clarinets, recorders and violins. From elementary through post-secondary schooling, some teachers are expanding music education and encouraging more students to try more contemporary forms of music-making.
Music educators always want students to appreciate and make music of their own, but that also requires showcasing more genres and "people who make different kinds of music," says Cynthia Johnston Turner, dean of Wilfred Laurier University's faculty of music.
A student today might spurn a trumpet or violin, but be making music on a laptop at home, she said.
"So we need to figure out: 'How do we embrace this?'"
Enlisting Shad to help broaden the Waterloo, Ont., school's music offerings was a no-brainer for Johnston Turner, who called him the perfect choice "to have this conversation about 'What does it mean to bring hip-hop into music curriculum and higher education?'"
For his part, the acclaimed rapper and host of the Emmy-winning doc series Hip-Hop Evolution is thrilled to be exploring hip-hop — with "its own cultural priorities and values and esthetics and history" — alongside other musical traditions at his alma mater.
"Education is about that exchange and that expansion," he said.
His course, Hip-Hop to the World, marks an important step forward, says Lucy Gill, a third-year music student taking the class.
"We focus so much on Western European art music, and we don't allow a lot of space sometimes in these music programs for other disciplines to be equally studied and respected," said the vocal major, who's also anticipating a class on Afro-diasporic music next term.
"It's exciting to me that our school is ... integrating genres like this."
DJing, music tech resonates with students
Last year, Toronto teacher Michael Jameer's high school enlisted DJs, graffiti artists and breakers for mini workshops with students as a celebration of the 50th anniversary of hip-hop.
The music educator saw how engaged students were in learning from these artists, and a light bulb went off. He pushed to think of new ways to respond to that interest.
Jameer's taking it further this fall with a slate of new turntables, mixers and other DJ equipment — procured with the support of music education charity MusiCounts — that he's testing first with his extracurricular music production club ahead of an upcoming senior-level, for-credit course come February.
In addition to potentially inspiring some to consider a career in music production, Jameer thinks learning the same tools their favourite artists use to create the songs they listen to (or that their favourite streamers use to mix audio) can resonate deeper for students.
Rather than learn music through a composer they've never heard of before or by playing songs they have no interest in, he sees students have more fun and develop an authentic connection "when it comes to work in popular music, whether it's hip-hop, EDM or other genres that students … are excited about."
Furthermore, "there's no reason why the curriculum expectations can't be met with things like laptops and controllers and DJ hardware."
Over the past four years, Toronto-based MusiCounts has seen a surge in grant applications for non-traditional and technology-forward school music programs, says president Kristy Fletcher.
The traditional program — think ukuleles, guitars, drums and saxophones — is the foundation of Canadian music education, Fletcher says, but she also believes DJ recording equipment and beat-making programs are also valuable additions.
"Sometimes a traditional music program might be a little bit intimidating," she said.
"When we introduce the technological components … all of a sudden we see certain students getting really involved in music, music production and music education that wouldn't normally be participating."
Computer programming was already an interest for Erfan Saffari, a Grade 12 student who came to Canada from Iran, but he never imagined he'd so enjoy using a computer to make music.
"When I tried this, I found out I like it," he said, noting that he's particularly enjoying mixing together different sounds, styles and genres.
A different avenue for musical expression
Building a musical foundation with younger students (with singing and tactile music-making, like learning ukuleles) before introducing music technology to older grades is the exactly how Michael Meroniuk inspires his students.
His students in grades 6 and 7 learn about composing, beat-making and MIDI editing, for instance, to create voice-overs, foley sound projects and more.
"I love being part of bands," Meroniuk said, "but knowing how to use technology to make music, to share music, to create music is just so important."
Exposing students to a wide variety of musical genres, tools and ways to create can both help them develop real-life skills and express themselves musically, said the elementary teacher, who created a digital music program called The New Sound that's also being used by other educators in B.C. and in the U.S.
"I'm not trying to make prodigies. I'm not trying to make pro players. I'm trying to allow these kids to cultivate a higher understanding and relationship with music, which can be incredibly helpful in their journey through life."
With files from Tess Ha and Deana Sumanac-Johnson
