8/16/2019 The Importance of Research for Music Education http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-importance-of-research-for-music-education 1/6 The importance af research for usic Education ~ Keith Swanwick • Introduction views of others with-out criticaI comment Or syr; thesis; it is notthe narration of selected anecdotes Is anything research ? I have heard artists and composers claim that in producing works of art or composing they are themselves researching. This assertion is justified by the observation that the artistor musician is exploring newterritory,creating novel ideas in a public formo lt is possible to make the same claim for teaching, that teaching itself is a constant reshaping of materiais and activities and teaching styles to meetchanging circumstances and that in developing curriculum activities theteacher is a researcher. I define research as form of structured enquiry. Composing, painting, writing noveIs and pàetry or developing a curriculum from inside the classroom important activities, indeed I would say that are often more important than research. Re- earch, is different. Let us not confuse professional development with systematic; structured enquiry, which is less ambitious and not so personal. though it can be just as creative. Four essential criteria characterise research: 1. A field of inquiry is placed in a 'Nlder context The implication here is thatany research problem ~ h o u d be seen as contributing to prafessional de ·Vélopment in the fjeld, in our case the field of music ed.ucation. There is no point in undertaking systematic work 011 thicknesses of clarinet reeds, or tests of musical ability,orthe historyof sol-fa, unless we place them in a professionalperspective. 2. The conceptual basis is made explicit The assumptions must be declared. The under j ~ i n g value system must be revealed. 3. A methodology is articulated to move towards . objectivity , . We cannot manoeuvre ourselves into a state of . -total· neutrality: whatwe can do is to see that ali precautions are taken to establish the autonomy ot the findings. Essential!y, the researcher must adopt a seff-critical posture. 4. _ The results of the investigation are shared with others· Public sharing makes it possíble to test the WOiK,S(imetimes torepf icareit irrorder to -reexa mine the credibility of the findings. From this it b-ecomesfairlycleat as to - what ~ e s e a r c h Is noto It is notstating deeply held c o n ~ iêtions without reasoning them through or pre , senting re!evant evidence; lt is not quotingthe to support the case; nor is it the expression of the obvious in difficult language. Research in music education seems to have three main areas of focus. The first area Is to wíth people, our studentb. We are interested in what motívates them. what their attitudes are to musico We are concerned about howthey d ~ v e l o P in musical terms and what counts as achievin in music for them. We would like to knowmore about whatthey bring tomusic lessons in terms of previous experience. social and family background and so on. The second area of interest is to do with musíc itself. What kind of experience c o n s t i t u t ~ s musical experience? Is there a deep structure tothis expe rience that transcends local and historical diffe rences of style and form ? The third area of concern is to do with institu tional settings.the places where musical students meet. Are schools appropriate places for music?! activities ? Can different ethnic and cultural groups relate together to different kinds of musíc in an institutional framework? What size of groups ere optimum for special purposes? Research in the social sciences i8 characterised by complexities unusual in the laboratory. This Is complicated by thé high politicalprofile ofedl,lcatlon. Essentially. thís research involves looking'at people carefully,.trying toc ?rify,to objectify. There really only four major ways of looking at people. 1. By experiment - rnanipulating one or more variable[eg.changing gravitational pull towards weightlessness) and rneasuring other variables (pro blem solving abilities, body weight, patterns of eating orsleep etc.). 2. By observation without intervention as in research ínto the natural habits of creatures or ethnographic/anthropological study 3. By verbal inquiry - asking questions. inter viewing. usiriga questionnaireor attitude inventory, etc. 4. By product analysis - looking at the artifacts of ancient G-reeks orRomans, exarnining the pain ting, writing or music-rnaking of children, analysing tapes of children's language or their written solu tionsto mathematícal problems. Product evaluation is non-interactive, ittakes place atone remove. Experimental. methodology is one towards rnany researchers consciously ar unconsciously aspire, It is the 'scientific' approach. So, we plant seeds, fertilize some but leave others alone and rneaslire differencE?s i l1 .growth. controlling the laboratory conditions of heat, hum.idity and light. man'ipulating . onlithe 'independent' variable (the type of fertilizer)
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8/16/2019 The Importance of Research for Music Education
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ur
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ieve . th
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whEtth
er
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i
s
a
s b f t ~ . J ~
- ª J : : h l º - ' i ~ J : I i i . ~ L r ~ q l 1 . [ E i : s
jhç:..abiJity:to.changeyiable, manageable
activlty
withthese chi Idren.
and
measuring the 'depúndent variable (the size
of the crop). From time to time we come across
some amusing attenpts to carry out experimental
work without controls.
Onelady
once confided in
that she had proved
that talking
to plants made
.Iem grow and
had
three groups of plants in three
different boxes.
One group was spoken to
:n
a kindly kind of
way. a second group was spoken to in a somewhat
abusive manner and the thirdgroup was ignored.
The
plants thrived best in
that
order.
Clearly'all
the plants must have been in a
dífferent
atmospheric
condition and therefore in
different
rooms in the
house ar they would have overheard the conver·
sations. I fear that the plants being ignored were