Propst Article Review

The Relationship between the Undergraduate Music Methods Class Curriculum and the Use of Music in the Classrooms of In-Service Elementary Teachers

Tonya Gray Propst

The purpose of this study was to determine which experiences in undergraduate elementary music methods curricula were the strongest predictors of the amount of time elementary classrooms teachers used music weekly in their classrooms.
Propst found that there seems to be a mismatch between the content of most music fundamentals and methods courses and the types of activities and skills that classroom teachers find useful or actually use in the classroom. Many undergraduate students spend a great deal of time learning music theory, notation, and developing performance skills on piano, recorder, and other classroom instruments. But when classroom teachers are asked to identify activities that are using and willing to implement, they mention teaching activities based on singing, listening, movement, and integration of music with other subjects.
This study was designed to address 17 specific music experiences in the undergraduate elementary music methods curriculum are the strongest predictors of the amount of time elementary classroom teachers use these same 17 music concepts and activities in their classrooms.
In this study 416 subjects were elementary classroom teachers from the southern mid-Atlantic region of the United States that included Georgia, North Carolina, South Caroline, and West Virginia. The research designed questionnaire was constructed based on an extensive review of the literature dealing with the music preparation of elementary education majors. The questionnaire listed 17 music activities and concepts related to the college music methods course. Subjects were asked to respond to each question selecting a box (never, rarely, sometimes, and regularly) that most clearly reflected the degree to which he or she remembered methods class participation in the activity. The 17 concepts were listed again and subjects were asked to select a box that most clearly reflected the degree to which each activity was being used in the classroom. The validity of this study was established using three professors of elementary music education and one elementary music specialist currently teaching in a public school to analyze the questionnaire.
The results indicated that there does not seem to be a strong relationship between specific activities that happen in the music methods course and the amount of time music is used by classroom teachers.
Elementary classroom teachers in this study were using music activities focused more on creating and responding activities than on active music making and performing activities. There seems to be a relationship between activities relating to creating and responding and the amount of time music is used by classroom teachers. It is possible that many classroom teachers do not feel adequate playing the piano, melody instruments, or singing.
Propst felt that instructors of the music methods course for the elementary education major need to focus on activities that classroom teachers are willing to incorporate in the classroom. However, if classroom teachers are already implementing creating and responding activities in the classroom perhaps the music methods course should place performance activities at the center of the curriculum. Classroom teachers may spend more time in music activity in the classroom with the addition of performance activities.
The dominant time classification group for this study was 15-30 minutes per week, which made up 41% of the sample. It seems that most elementary classroom teachers in the southern mid-Atlantic region of the United States are not using music with any great frequency in their classrooms.
The knowledge of remembered music methods class activities is useful in predicting the amount of time elementary classroom teachers report they spend in music activity in the classroom as shown by the discriminate analysis of this study.
Instructors of the music methods course for the elementary education major must continue to strengthen the content development, assessment, and presentation of this course. The music methods course for the undergraduate elementary education major is an integral part of music education in the United States. It is vital to the continued existence of music education in the schools, and its importance music not be diminished.