Music Education on the Verge is a collection of narratives by music teacher-educators describing how they responded to the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic. Each chapter offers examples of innovative music pedagogy that can be adapted and applied by music educators and music teacher educators with their students.

In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic swept the world causing physical, emotional, economic, and social upheaval in every part of the globe. It also catalyzed a renewed interrogation, by music education faculty in higher education, of philosophies and practices that had long gone unexamined.

Music Education on the Verge: Stories of Pandemic Teaching and Transformative Change is a collection of narratives by music teacher-educators describing how they responded to the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic with, and for, their students. Through these stories, the authors step back and reflect on the events, challenges, triumphs, and innovations discovered as they prepared the next generation of music educators in this time of crisis. They tell stories of reexamining old frameworks, discovering new affordances of technologies, humanizing pedagogy, deepening culturally responsive and sustaining experiences, and creating space for democratic practices. Each chapter offers examples of innovative music pedagogy that can be adapted and applied by music educators and music teacher educators with their students. Collectively, they paint a picture of possibilities, challenging music teacher-educators— and educators in all fields— to seek out openings and pursue pedagogies of change as we move forward into a post-pandemic world.

List of Figures

Foreword

Randall Everett Allsup

Prologue

Judy Lewis and Andrea Maas

Acknowledgments

Part I: Flint Stones and Foundational Frameworks

Chapter One: Reflecting on Pandemic Teaching and Technology

Emmett James O’Leary

Chapter Two: A Thriving Form of Communication: Understanding Chat Within an Online Discussion-based Course

Sheelagh Chadwick

Chapter Three: Discovering Potential in a Pandemic: Performing, Responding, Connecting, and Creating in Instrumental Music Teaching

Jonathan G. Schaller

Chapter Four: The Digital Audio Workstation in the Aural Skills Classroom: Using Reason as a Tool for Dictation Practice

Jerod Sommerfeldt

Chapter Five: Sound Learning: The Pedagogical Pivots of Teaching Artists

Michelle Amosu Thomas, Michelle Mercier-De Shon, Patrick K. Freer, and Luiz Barcellos

In Dialogue: Letters Across the Pond

Marsha Baxter and Marie Louise Bowe

Part II: Culture, Care, and Community Hearths

Chapter Six: Reclaiming the Musical Kauhale: Kanikapila and Mo’Olelo a Choral Curriculum

Jace Kaholokula Saplan

Chapter Seven: The Playlist Project: Exploring Culturally Responsive Practices Through Online Learning

Tamara T. Thies

Chapter Eight: Learning to Be Human: The Art of Care, Compassion, and Empathy in Music Education

Nicholas Ryan McBride

Chapter Nine: From Wide Roots to Connected Branches: Perspectives on Early Childhood Music Education Across Brazil During the Pandemic.

Tiago Madalozzo, Vivian Agnolo Madalozzo, Angelita Vander Broock, Regiana Blank Wille

In Dialogue: The Courage to Change—A Dialogue of Experience

William L. Lake Jr. and Albert R. Lee

Part III: Democracy and Dumpster Fires

Chapter Ten: Remodeling Choral Experiences: Historic Preservation or Gut-Job Renovation?

Andrea Maas

Chapter Eleven: Curating Open Spaces: Digital Learning and Democratic Pedagogy

Judy Lewis

Chapter Twelve: Choir Disrupted

Nils Klykken

Epilogue: Transformative Change and Music Teacher Education

Andrea Maas and Judy Lewis

Appendix

About the Contributors