TheImportanceofDevelopingACurriculum

The Importance of Developing A Curriculum for Music Educators

Jordan N. Daniels
University of California Los Angeles

TheImportanceofDevelopingACurriculum

Abstract
Whether the subject is science, math, history, or art, teachers needs to develop a
curriculum to guide them in teaching their students throughout the school year. The music
educator has a rather arduous task in planning their curriculum. The reason for this is that
music is not considered as important as math or science for education and innovation.
Music educators are constantly struggling to validate their importance and facing fears
that they may be cut from their school programs. For this project, the importance of
developing a good curriculum is highlighted, and what result a solid curriculum can have
for music education. Whether music should be integrated with other subjects, what
problems are generally faced in developing a curriculum, and the importance of having
an integrated curriculum are all answered in this paper.
Keywords: Curriculum, music education, integrated curriculum.

TheImportanceofDevelopingACurriculum

As a future music educator, it is crucial to understand what problems we will face

and what possible ways there are to address them and find solutions for them. The
curriculum, the guide that shows the goals of what is to be accomplished during the
school year, is an important medium that can be used to address many of the problems
that music educators will encounter. In the first article by Olga Denac (2009), the
problem of obtaining music independence in curriculum is addressed. It shows how
curriculum can give music autonomy and ensures that students are developing musically.
The second article by Eric Branscome (2012) addresses the problems music educators
will face during educational reforms. The last article, written by Nancy Berry (2008)
focuses on the little discussed topic of integrated curriculum.
Article Review
Article 1.) Topic Curriculum ensures autonomy in the field of music and that students
are developing musically.
By observing curriculum reform in Slovenia, the importance of having and
developing a music curriculum can be seen. At the University of Maribor in Slovenia, the
Department of Preschool education and the Faculty of Education underwent a research
project. The goal of this project was to see the difficulties preschool teachers face when
developing music curriculum, their opinions on Slovene Kurikulum za vrtce or
Kindergarten Curriculum, and to determine whether the field of music education was
losing autonomy in the planned curriculum (Denac, 2009, pg. 4).
In the Slovene curriculum for primary and secondary school education, the field
of music is defined as an independent subject field with established general and operative
goals for music education as well as content standard. (Denac, 2009, pg. 2) The author

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states that this is not true. For kindergarten in Slovenia, music is not autonomous, but
rather is looked upon constituently with other arts such as dancing, fine arts, and drama.
Denac argues that developing a sound curriculum is important so that music education in
kindergarten can be seen as an independent subject field.
From 159 respondents, the research data was collected. Almost two-thirds of
preschool teachers face difficulties when it comes to creating concrete music goals.
(Denac, 2009, pg. 6) The author believes that these problems may have come from the
openness of the goals in their national curriculum. The teachers who commented on the
strength of Kindergarten Curriculum generally said that their goals are clear, varied, and
allow the students to be creative. Those who commented on the weaknesses said that the
goals are too general.
In order to determine if the field of music education was losing autonomy, the
researchers took note of how much the pre-school teachers focused on horizontal
integration (the integration of different fields of activity) and the development-process
approach (where the aims of the educational process are defined by the goals rather than
the content (Denac, 2009, pg 3)). The research showed that the teachers did not use the
development-process approach, but rather used the Teaching-content model of planning,
where they focus more on content or information rather than a specific goal. From what I
understand, this means that teachers would be influenced by outside sources or other
school subjects in developing a musical activity. Instead of focusing on developing a
particular musical goal, the teachers would allow their surrounding to sway them and a
musical goal would later be formed from those influences. While this may not seem to be
a bad thing, it does not allow music to become independent and for musical goals to be

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derived from musical content. Within integration data, it was found that music activities
were frequently integrated with other fields of art, hence they followed the general goals
of arts education. (Denac, 2009, pg. 8)
The author concludes by saying that music is losing its autonomy because
teachers are not following the Slovian music curriculum for kindergarten. By integrating
music with other subjects, the author fears that music will lose its independence and will
merely become a subordinate to other subjects.
Article 2.) Topic Educational reforms affect music education curriculum.
Eric Branscome (2012) compares the educational changes during the time period
of launching of Sputnik to the current changes we are facing today. The successful
launching of Sputnik in 1957 by Russian scientists showed America that it was behind
other countries in science and technology. A series of educational conference ensued in an
attempt to make improvements in education. In 1963, music educators also began to hold
conferences to improve music educations. The implementation5 5o5f5 Dalcroze, Orff,
and Kodly5 teaching methods happened around this time. Referencing President Obama,
who said our generation is in a Sputnik moment, Branscome said we must consider the
likelihood that twenty-first-century music educators may experience innovations similar
to those that faced previous generations of music educators (Branscome, 2012, pg. 113).
The purpose of this article is to identify possible trends in the development of
music curriculum, advocacy, and philosophy that may have occurred in response to
education reform at the national level in the United States (Branscome, 2012, pg. 113).
In other words, by analyzing events in the past that led to reformation in music education,
a music educator would be able to predict a new trend that may occur in the near future.

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One trend that was mentioned in this article was the Nation at Risk: The Imperative for
Education Reform trend. During the 1970s and 1980s, America was, once again,
falling behind in education and economy. In order to retain their integrity, the Five New
Basics, which includes Math, Science, Computer Science, English, and Social Studies,
became the focus for educators. In retort to this, music educators published the document
Growing Up Complete: The Imperative for Music Education in 1991. Music educators
argued that music is necessary for a complete education, that this education reform is
near-sighted . . . leaving our students only half-educated. (Branscome, 2012, pg. 114)
In current times, we are experiencing the effects of the No Child Left Behind
Act, implemented by President George W. Bush, and President Obamas New Race to
the Top Campaign Act. To be succinct, these acts focus on teaching mathematics and
sciences, but neglect the importance of music. What is it that future music educators will
do in order to validate the subject they teach?
3.) Topic Importance of Integrating Curriculum
Bresler (1995) identified four different integration styles: subservient integration,
co-equal integration, affective integration, and social integration. Subservient and coequal integrations functions are in its names. For example, subservient integration would
include using a song to memorize the alphabet (Twinkle-Twinkle Little Star) or for
memorizing the 50 states in the U.S. The co-equal integration has music mix with other
subjects equally, or having equally importance. Affective integration serves two purposes,
changing moods and igniting creativity. Social integration supports social functions.
Arts integration is a controversial topic among music educators who may fear
that music (and music teachers) will be placed in a subservient role to other subjects

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(Barry, 2008, pg. 6). Just looking back at the article by Denac with Slovian curriculum
confirms this fact. According to this article, teachers that do try to implement music with
other subjects face problems with not having activities that ignite high cognitive levels, or
end up focusing just on a single subject rather than implementing the subjects.
The author, Barry, mentions that in 1996, Snyder wrote an article entitled
Integrate with Integrity, which states that a music educator must be prepared to deal
with integration. If a music educator poorly integrates music with other subjects, they
will weaken the position of art programs for everyone, making them easy targets for
elimination (Snyder, 1996, pg 28). In order to have a fully-integrated, two-way model
that equally distributes the importance of each subject being integrated, the educator must
have a thoughtful, well-developed curriculum that honors the concepts and skills, as
well as the materials and tools of each discipline.
In all, having a fully integrated curriculum provides a meaningful and rich
learning experience for the students. The author warns that this is not easy to achieve, but
if it can be, the experience is very rewarding for both the students and the teacher.
Conclusion
Having a curriculum that integrates music with other subjects could be an exciting
option to deal with the effects of the No Child Left Behind Act and the Race to the
Top Campaign Act. It is interesting to note that Olga Denac and Nancy Berry, the
authors of the first and third articles, are in disagreement of the importance of having an
integrated curriculum. In Berrys article, the danger of having a poorly developed
integrated curriculum is mentioned. This sort of poor curriculum is what Denac fears.
Personally, I believe that an integrated curriculum could have many advantages, such as

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providing a fuller learning experience for the students. However, by doing this, the
autonomy is removed from the music curriculum, which would allow school systems to
easily remove music from their programs. This integrated curriculum approach can be a
new alternative to dealing with the present problems music educators face now, but
failing to create an effective integrated curriculum could result in the end of music in the
school systems.
References
Denac, O. (2009). Place and role of music education in the planned Curriculum for
Kindergartens. International Journal Of Music Education pg.69-81.
Branscome, E. (2012). The Impact of Education Reform on Music Education: Paradigm
Shifts in Music Education Curriculum, Advocacy, and Philosophy from Sputnik to
Race to the Top Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, Tennessee, USA Arts
Education Policy Review, 113: 112118.
Barry, N. H., (2008). The Role of Integrated Curriculum in Music Teacher Education.
Journal of Music Teacher Education. Vol. 18, Issue 1 pg. 28-38.