"Adapting Music Education to Contemporary Society and Participatory Culture" - summary and response

Tobias, E. S. (2013). Toward convergence: Adapting music education to contemporary society and participatory culture. Music Educators Journal, 99(4), 29-36 

This article focuses on how teachers can make goals for students to connect with what they learn in the music classroom to ways they can engage with music outside that learning environment. The article defines this as a participatory culture. There were many examples given of how students generally engage with music. Some of these examples included covering and arranging songs, creating mash-ups, and making parodies of songs. The article discussed that most people build off of existing creative work and make creative adjustments to the original idea to make it their own. This way of engaging in music has low barriers and it's more about the "social connection" according to this article. The focus shouldn't be if the students are participating in school ensembles or not, but how they are participating in music. To apply this participatory culture in schools, the author recommends an activity of comparing existing covers of songs to the ones students make. Another suggestions was having students engage in contests for song arrangements. Music teachers can help students reflect on their creative engagement according to this article. 

Implementing a participatory culture would require to structure the class so that it is student centered. Activities and objectives would be based on what the student is exposed to in popular culture with music and what they want to explore creatively. The article talks about converging the new and the old methods of teaching. There can still be room for classical instruction in school ensembles, but teachers can still incorporate creative activities within that kind of structure. For lesson planning the focus can be on creating the broader concept that connects to the activities. This way students are engaged and each activity has meaning and they can apply what they learn. This method helps to foster lasting learning and helps to engage the students. 

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In what ways can digital technology be incorporated in school bands and orchestras? 

What aspects of traditional music classes like school ensembles can be changed to incorporate more creative opportunities and implement this participatory culture? ​