Abstract
This article outlines the rationale for the development of an instrumental music education methods course devised around core practices. First, I provide a brief history and context of how teacher educators in the United States, over the last half-century, have negotiated a tension between teaching behaviors and dispositions. Second, I describe some of the guiding principles of practice-based teacher education and its proponents’ critiques of current conceptions of teacher education. Third, I define the concept of core practices and derive a set of core practices of instrumental music education. Fourth, I outline the pedagogy of practice-based education, including the concept of approximations of practice, and demonstrate its application to the instrumental methods course. These approximations of practice include providing feedback, structuring and pacing rehearsals, eliciting thinking through questions, selecting appropriate repertoire and materials, teaching higher-order thinking, and creating a student-centered pedagogy. Finally, I conclude with areas for future development.
Recommended Citation
Abramo, Joseph
(2016)
"Developing Core Practices for an Instrumental Music Education Methods
Course,"
Visions of Research in Music Education: Vol. 27, Article 2.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.lib.uconn.edu/vrme/vol27/iss1/2