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An essential part of cultivating a culturally responsive music room is developing a learning community where young musicians feel affirmed and safe enough to take the risks necessary to move past surface level knowledge into deep understandings.
Let’s talk about why building a strong community is important, and 3 tips for how to build community in your music room.
What does it mean to build community in the music room?
According to Merriam-Webster, the definition of community is “a unified body of individuals.”
In the music room specifically, our learning community is a unified body of individuals engaged in the artistic process of music.
Culturally responsive music learning communities are focused on moving past surface level knowledge into deep understandings. To get to those deep understandings, it requires risk and vulnerability. Building a strong music classroom community that provides affirmation and safety (physically, emotionally, and psychologically) for our young musicians allows for them to feel safe enough to take the necessary risks to get to those deeper musical understandings.
An affirming and safe musical learning community does not happen by happenstance. It requires intentionally on the part of the music educator to thoughtfully guide their young musicians from a scattering of individuals to a unified body of individuals all working together in the artistic process of music.
3 Tips for Community Building in the Music Room
- Foster Connection
Humans are wired for connection. Our young musicians want to know about you as their teacher, as well as each other. Fostering connections amongst your young musicians helps to draw them closer to each other, develop caring relationships, and build community.
Consider how you’re making time and space for students to make connections between themselves and each other, as well as connections between themselves and you. Jam packing your lesson with non-stop musical activities, doesn’t leave much room for students to talk and make connections.
Instead, make time during your music lessons for them to share pieces of themselves and their perspectives. Allowing them this time to share, gives them the opportunity to see what connections they have with each other and you. Without this time, they simply won’t be able to see what connections exist which will hinder the ability to form strong relationships.
This could look like chatting with students in the hallway during a transition, or leading community building discussions.
One of my go-to ways to ensure I make space for community building and connection is by leading a quick discussion every class period with students before diving into the main lesson with a “Would You Rather” question or a “This or That” question. I also like to lead discussions about what they think about something they learned in the previous class or a discussion on something they will learn in the current class meeting.
2. Play together
On a similar note of fostering connection, making time to play together increases positive rapport amongst students and joy! Music making is a joyful activity after all, so the more we lean into this aspect, the more we can increase the positive connections and feelings our young musicians have for each other and music making in general.
Also, kids love to play! Jean Piaget said, “Play is the work of childhood.” While we as adults may view play as a break from learning time, actually play is how children learn and begin to make sense of the world around them.
This could look like engaging your young musicians in playing singing games, or making a game out of learning and practicing a new concept. One of my go-to teaching strategies is teaching my young musicians a singing game and just playing it for a few minutes over many classes, then one day we use the song to learn or practice a particular musical concept or skill.
To my students, it was all a game and a playful way to engage in making and learning about music. To me, it was a playful way to introduce and practice important musical concepts and skills.
The more we can lean into joy and having fun in our music rooms, the more positive feelings our young musicians will have towards each other and their time in the music room.
3. Acknowledge and celebrate differences
We each have things that make us the unique individuals that we are. As musicians and performers, some of us like to be in the spotlight on stage, and some of us prefer to be supporting from back stage. Some of us want the solo, and others prefer to be in the chorus. While these are different roles, they are all important to the overall success of a performance.
It’s no different in our music classrooms. Some students will prefer and excel at being the leader of a musical learning activity, while other students will prefer and excel at serving a supporting role.
As a society, we often get negative messages about diversity: diversity of culture, diversity of thought, diversity of ability. In reality, what makes a strong community is not having a unified group of people who are all the same, but having a unified group of people who all excel at different roles. It’s in the diversity that makes the community strong.
Think of it like this: a beautiful choral sound doesn’t come from 20 different solo voice timbres, instead it comes from the ability of the various sections to each have their own role to play in the overall sound that blends together. Basses, tenors, altos, and sopranos all have their own unique parts to play, but together they make for a beautiful piece.
In your music room, make it a point to acknowledge the differences that exist amongst the musical learning community and celebrate them! Encourage your students to acknowledge and celebrate them. Diversity and differences are not a bad thing! There are many roles for your young musicians to play in the musical learning community; no one role is more important than another, but all are needed for the community as a whole to be successful.
Building Community: An Important Facet of Culturally Responsive & Accessible Music Rooms
How do you build community in your music room? I’d love to know!
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Until next time,
Ashley
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