A Reflective Lens: Music Pedagogical Research to Transform Practice | Page 85

A Reflective Lens: Music Pedagogical Research to Transform Practice Through this research project, I started to explore and question certain elements of my teaching practice and beliefs. This project has motivated me to use self-reflection as a means to improve myself as a music teaching practitioner. Through self-reflection, I have discovered new dimensions of myself, increased my awareness of how I perceive and react to my pupils, and brought to light some of my unconscious assumptions and ways of responding to them (Larrivee, 2000). During my journey, I came to depend on the model for reflection described by Larrivee (2000) which spells out the stages in transforming my teaching practice. The model was only a guide and I did not move neatly from my current practice to my transformation, or linearly through the stages. At times I felt that I was making progress. At others, I felt that I was going backwards through each lesson cycle and each reflection as I questioned my old ways of thinking; doubting my readiness to implement the new pedagogy. According to Larrivee (2000, p. 304), “this uncertainty is the hallmark for transformation and the emergence of new possibilities. This internal struggle is a necessary and important stage in the reflective process.” Inner Conflict Resulting from Reflection I am a strong believer in Kodály’s philosophy and approach. I am convinced that the foundations of a good tone set should first be established for my pupils so that much more could be done at a later stage. With the correct tone set foundation, I can explore moveable do, inner hearing, sight singing, and finally instruct my pupils to improvise on an instrument or with their voice. My assumption was that only those fortunate few who have attended music lessons outside school are able to read music, and thus have the grounding to do creative improvisation work. As a music teacher, I am very conscious of the need to provide good quality music education with a proper grounding to the general population. I held the view that there was no better way to do so than with singing games while incorporating the Kodály method of delivery and the Curwen hand signs. 82