A Reflective Lens: Music Pedagogical Research to Transform Practice | Page 87

A Reflective Lens:
Music Pedagogical Research to Transform Practice

Reviewing my video-recorded lessons challenged my
assumptions about the way I teach; allowing me to critically
examine my beliefs and values about teaching and learning
(Clarke, 1995; Bailey, 2000; Boling, 2007). This method was
useful for me as it allowed me to recognise my blind spots
in the classroom which I was not aware of while conducting
my lessons, just as Larrivee (2000, p. 304) pointed out,

“…reflection during, or simultaneously with, our actions is difficult because
of the multiple demands we have to juggle in the classroom.”
It was not always pleasant to look through my videos;
cringing at my own pitching and inaccuracies in singing,
which in turn led to my pupils’ inaccuracies in singing and
pitching which I consequently had to spend more time to
re-teach and correct.
Through the video recordings, I observed that my lessons
were very teacher-centred and the games played were
highly structured, hampering pupil interaction. In their
own weekly reflections and interviews, the pupils were
able to verbalise the learning objective of my lessons and
understand the musical concepts taught. However, in this
approach of teaching where the musical concepts were
taught at the conclusion of the lesson, the element of fun
and high level of engagement of the pupils was no longer
apparent, and they did not seem to enjoy the solfège and
“theory part” of the lesson. In fact, they struggled through
the solfège, hand signs and the pitching with the sight
reading exercises. It dawned upon me that there was a
need to change my approach.
Reluctant to let go of the “foundation” block belief, I trialled
different strategies to engage my pupils in solfège. I used
more sight-singing activities where my pupils created their
own melodies with the solfège that they had already learnt.
Yet, after a period of experimenting and critically reflecting,
I came to the realisation that solfège and hand signs might
not be necessary for my pupils to show their creativity.
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