The Music Specialist and the Classroom Teacher

Abstract

FOR MANY YEARS now, the winds of controversy and confusion have swirled about the topic of the classroom teacher's participation in the elementary school music program. So often, it seems, persons who express themselves on this subject take one of two viewpoints: either that the classroom teacher cannot and should not teach music, or that the classroom teacher makes a wonderful music teacher and by all means should teach music. The resolution of the problem, it appears to us, is essentially one of discerning how the music specialist and the classroom teacher can best work together to teach music, and what the roles of each should be. It should be made clear at the outset that the authors have assumed an active, supplementary, or complementary role for the classroom teacher in the elementary school music program. This assumption is justified by the realities of the situation in which education in the United States finds itself today. One of these realities is the essential place occupied by the classroom teacher in the achievement of adequate musical experiences for the children. Few school districts have sufficient funds to hire enough music specialists to give the elementary school students 100 to 120 minutes of music each week, as recommended by the MENC. Furthermore, even if money were available in a majority of school districts, there would be nowhere near enough specialists to fill the positions, nor would there be a sufficient number available in the foreseeable future. Hence, the problem is not merely a philosophical one of who can teach music best; it is a situation forced upon music education by the realities of the day. The classroom teacher is here to stay in the school music program; here to stay, that is, if the students are to receive adequate instruction in music. This statement should not be construed to mean that classroom teacher participation is necessarily a bad thing, and that the music specialists simply have to make the best of a dismal situation. This is not true. There are many good and compelling reasons for involving classroom teachers in the school music program. Good classroom teachers can bring music into the school day when it best suits the needs of the children, without waiting until the schedule demands it. Good classroom teachers can relate music to social studies, literature, and art. experienced in this way is more meaningful and rewarding to the children. Without classroom teacher involvement, the music program becomes detached from the rest of the school curriculum-an educational side show. When this happens, the students are tacitly told, Music occurs only in the music room with the music teacher present. Carried to its logical conclusion, this