F A R M E R: The Free Alliance for Rural Music Education Research
I have started another blog for anyone interested in research topics related to rural music education. There are a lot of possibilities: advantages for teaching music in rural schools, challenges for teaching music in rural schools, trends for teaching music in rural schools, rural school music vs. rural music education, teaching and learning about rural music, rural children, rural music, rural schools, school size, small schools, similarities/differences between rural and urban issues, etc. I will keep blogging here about rural music education and, from time to time, I will post there as well. Anyone else who would like to blog on either site is more than welcome. Chances are, you may not agree with me and that’s okay. I would like to emphasize that, like the Mayday Group and ACT, this association is free–it’s open to anyone and it doesn’t cost a dime. The link to the F A R M E R blog is provided over on the right side of this page.
Rural Community
One of the greatest advantages/positives/joys about teaching in small rural communities is the sense of community. Of course, one could argue that community can be found anywhere, not just in rural places. And, that is true. However . . . if we follow one of the founders of sociology, Ferdinand Tönnies’ definition of community, rural places do tend to have a greater sense of community than do urban places. According to Tönnies, community (Gemeinschaft) is a familial-type of social arrangment consisting of necessary relationships within a specific place. Put more simply, when we interact with the same group of people daily and over extended periods of time, we simply have to learn to get along. Especially when the group is small, we can’t just limit our associations to those with whom we might naturally agree. Understandably, close-knit communities maintain common traditions and values. For example, in Eureka, Utah where I taught music for 12 years, the Christmas Operatta was one such tradition. Each Christmas the sixth graders would put on a musical play in which each elementary grade K-5 performed a song and dance. The parents association made costumes, I taught the songs, and the classroom teachers taught the dances. For quite a few years the first grade teacher, Linda Stout, and I wrote the Operatta together–she wrote the script and lyrics and I put the songs to music. When I was teaching in the 1990′s this tradition of a Christmas Operetta was already about 100 years old. And, it was the most well-attended community event in Eureka.
The advantage of community or Gemeinschaft is that it is very effective at satisfying human needs for love and belonging. The opposite of Gemeinschaft if Gesellschaft usually translated as “society” or “civic society”and is “characterized by a high degree of individualism, impersonality, contractualism, and proceeding from volition or sheer interest rather than from the complex of affective states, habits, and traditions that underlies Gemeinschaft” (Robert Nisbet, The Sociological Tradition, Basic Books, 1966). This contrast helps explain how it’s possible to feel alienated in a large city. In actuality, of course, Gemeinschaft is not strictly rural and Gesellschaft urban. However, many (if not most) rural places do still tend towards community and, in my expericne, and when I speak with other rural music teachers, community is usually given as one of the greatest advantages of teaching music in small rural schools.
Ethos Rural Music Education Program
I came across this article about a rural music education program in Oregon. I have mixed feelings, of course. The author, James Bash, writes: ”If you ever grew up out in the middle of nowhere, you might have an understanding of how hard it is to acquire a music education. Some small towns might still have a church organist or someone who plays a little piano or guitar, but others have no one at all. That’s where the Ethos’ Rural Music Program and its coordinator Megan Moran come in. Ethos, a Portland-based non-profit music organization, has offered several ways to bring affordable music education to rural areas across Oregon, and Moran is the program’s coordinator. She grew up in Vancouver, Washington, played in the Portland Youth Philharmonic, and graduated from Lewis & Clark College. She balances her rural coordinator job with freelance work as a music librarian at the Oregon Symphony, freelance violin gigs with ensembles like the Bach Cantata Choir Chamber Orchestra and the Oregon East Symphony, and teaching at summer music camps.”
I am sure that these are all well-meaning people. However, as someone who grew up in a very rural area, I find some of the assumptions to be rather offensive. First, like so many other rural folk, I did call where I came from the “middle of nowhere.” But, think about the connotation–that some places are nowhere with nothing to see and nothing to do. In fact, friends from the city would often ask us, “What do you do out there? Don’t you get bored?” The thing is, we were never bored growing up. There is always something to do and much to see. Some people have started turning “middle of nowhere around” around and saying “halfway to everywhere”, but I’m not sure that’s much better–the implications are similar. Anyway, that’s my first critique.
Second, the idea that rural children don’t have access to music or have less access than suburban or urban children is an anti-rural cultural assumption; it’s biased. It is true that suburban children may have more access to a sequential music curriculum in schools and formal private music instruction. They may also be more likely to listen to classical music. However, school music and classical music do not constitute MUSIC. There is much music outside of school and many genres of great music other than classical music. You can even have access to music without a radio. Also, formal instruction is not the only way to learn to play a musical instrument. I grew up in an extremely rural area (see previous posts) in a musically rich environment. We played guitars, accordians, and piano. We had cassette tapes and records to listen to even though we lived well below the poverty level. And we weren’t “exceptions to the rule” because there is no rule–only biases about social class and place.
There are some things in the article that I like. I am glad that people are interested in rural places and I was encouraged by the interest in teaching rural children how to play the guitar. Hopefully it’s not a classical, notation based guitar curriculum. Also, it’s cool that the project involved partnerships with local music groups.
Overall, I hate to be “glass is half empty” when well-meaning people are interested in assisting rural children, but I would be less-than-honest if I only spoke out in the affirmative. What can we do for rural children and their music education? Let’s embrace and help rural children deepen understandings of local musical cultures and even local preferences for popular music. How about experiences in Country or Tejano music, for example? Maybe a school could develop country music bands like this one in Australia (I can’t find any in the US !)
So Long Joe Bageant
I was saddened to learn last week that Joe Bageant, author of Deer Hunting with Jesus, Rainbow Pie, and a whole bunch of critical essays, had passed away. His straight-forward critiques of unsustainable modernity (from a rural perspective) are priceless. His essays can be accessed in pdf form at: http://www.joebageant.com/joe/2011/04/joe-bageant-poet-redneck-revolutionary-rip.html. Of course, I say that his was a rural, working class perspective, but he was also critical of aspects or rural and working class culture. It can be a little bit confusing, I’ll admit. In fact, I was trying to explain to someone the other day about my own very short journey from rural conservative to a more radical point of view. I didn’t move gradually from far right to far left, however, through all the shades of the in-between. There is a space where far right actually meets far left going the other direction, where those who live off the land meet those who have returned (or wish they could return) to the land–all joined under a subscription to the Mother Earth News. In that space, it’s just a jump further to the right into communitarianism and new-agrarianism. Anyway, in my view, that’s kind of the space where I found Mr. Bageant’s work. Thanks, Joe, for some great reading. Rest in peace.
Rural Music Education Bibliography
For anyone interested in rural music education research here’s a brief bibliography that could serve as a starting point for background readings.
Cappaert, Thomas (2004). Member 2 Member: Outreach—Introducing Strings to a Rural Town in Latin America. American String Teacher 54:2, 53-54.
Cooper, Shelly (2005). Marguerite V. Hood and Music Education Radio Broadcasts in Rural Montana (1937-39). Journal of Research in Music Education 53:4, 295-307.
Dunbar, Julie (1995). The Impact of Federal Education Policy on Rural Music Programs: Evidence from Wisconsin Farm Communities, Dialogue in Instrumental Music Education 19:2, 46-59.
Hunt, Catherine (2009). Perspectives on Rural and Urban Music Teaching: Developing Contextual Awareness in Music Education. Journal of Music Teacher Education 18:2, 34-47.
Isbell, Daniel (2005). Music Education in Rural Areas: A Few Keys to Success. Music Educators Journal 92:2, 30-34.
Lee, William R. (1997). Music Education and Rural Reform, 1900-1925. Journal of Research in Music Education 45:2, 306-26.
Mountz, S. W. (1901). Music in Rural Districts and Small Towns. Music 20:1, 201.
Rottsolk, Rebecca (2002). Repertoire & Standards Committee Reports: Children’s Choirs—Reaching Out to Your Community: Taking the Chorus to the Child; Choral Music Classroom: Singing in Rural Settings—A Partnership Model. Choral Journal 42:10, 49-50.
Shand, Patricia. Teaching Canadian Music in a Rural Setting. The Canadian Music Educator 48:3, 19-20.
Wilcox, Ella (2005). It All Depends on You: A Music Educator Who Won’t Quit. Teaching Music 12:4, 26-31.
