Veblen Reading Response The article gives a basic outline of three categories of learning environment that musicians could learn through: formal, non-formal, and informal. I am intrigued by, and wonder how much of an impact that the mindset of learners of each category has on the product. For example, a music student in a music major studies mostly in a formal setting but it is also based on the pretext that the student is likely trained, passionate, and at least thinks about building a future career related to music; whereas, for example, adults that tries to learn a foreign instrument briefly just to aid their understanding of another culture, in which the the learning is intentional but informal. The results are likely to be very different in these situations, but my question would be how much is caused by the style and environment of learning compared to the mindset of the learner. I was thoroughly surprised by the the passage in the Veblen reading (2008) of having to play with “gaida player’s fingers” according to Rice in what is the tactile cue system (p. 251), because although I understand the importance of understanding the physics and kinesthetics of a certain technique and instrument, I had never linked it to style as much as Rice had described. I feel like this theory could be explored further in the teaching and learning of western instruments because traditional compositions and techniques all demand a nice but relatively neutral sound, mostly due to the fact that both the player and instruments were trained and designed to play largely according to a the classical style, but understanding the kinesthetics of how one’s instrument produces sound in general can also aid in improving the skills of producing the ideal sound. Also, players spend most of their time trying to develop that “nice” sound which is embedded to their entire inner system of evaluation, but with the ever expanding music context, as well as globalization, additional training to explore the use of different sounds that a instrument can produce is becoming increasingly important to be able to create sounds that different styles demand. Lastly, although the reading touched upon the subject shortly, I am curious about more examples of if and how tailored teaching to adults can mimic the results of children’s pedagogy and how well those methods would work on children.
Bibliography Veblen, K. K. (2008). Adult music learning in formal, non-formal and informal contexts, In G. McPherson & G. Welsh (Eds.). Special Needs,Community Music, and Adult Learning: An Oxford Handbook of Music Education, Vol 4. Pp. 243-256. London: Oxford University Press.