Pages: 28

Setting the stage for the somewhat curious topic: thinking in terms of music. From a historical perspective, discussion topics begin by comparing abstract knowledge about music with experiential knowing through engagement. To prepare for an exploration of a new model of Holistic Musical Thinking in later chapters, the focus shifts to considering musical thinking, feeling, and doing as aspects of musical engagement. Combined with the background of societal influences, this chapter introduces an authentic, inclusive, and transdisciplinary (AIT) conceptual framework that justifies later examinations and applications of Holistic Musical Thinking. Supported by contemporary citations in the research literature, this AIT framework provides a rationale for a hands-on and heart-felt pedagogical model for Holistic Musical Thinking. After setting the stage, this chapter concludes by previewing the future acts to follow.

Pages: 24

This chapter provides a behind-the-scenes view of the learning and teaching dimensions that constitute the new pedagogical Model of Holistic Musical Thinking. Beginning with the traditional learning dimensions of knowing, feeling, and doing, discussion topics provide an exploration of each from historical and practical perspectives. With summaries of well-established taxonomies, the first part of this chapter provides important context to understand this three-fold, traditional approach to music instruction. The second section considers two teaching dimensions: curriculum integration and musical engagement. For the purposes of exploring Holistic Musical Thinking, the ideas of curriculum integration and musical engagement are most informative and practical, as supported by the related research literature. To conclude, this chapter describes the need for an integrated model that combines both learning and teaching dimensions into a Holistic Model of Music Thinking.

Pages: 21

This chapter presents a five-dimensional Model for Holistic Musical Thinking, the centerpiece of this book. The first section provides an important exploration of earlier developments as more segmented interpretations of musical thinking. Those include philosophical and pedagogical groundings that have led to more unified approaches. The second section presents a new, holistic approach that combines music teaching and learning in an authentic, inclusive, and transdisciplinary fashion. With links back to the conceptual framework introduced in Chapter 1, this chapter grounds its discussion of the new model in terms of a practical taxonomy for musical engagement. Shown in graphic format, this useful tool includes specific cognitive, affective, and psychomotor terminology that teachers and teacher-educators can apply to classroom settings. This chapter concludes with an example vignette to illustrate the application of this model, and then previews the final chapter that offers a broader application of the Holistic Musical Thinking Model in practical K-12 classrooms.

Pages: 34

This chapter presents the model in action, as a demonstration of its utility for K-12 music educators in general, choral, and instrumental settings. The first section of this chapter contextualizes the model in classroom settings while the second section connects the model with the National Core Arts Standards (NCAS) to provide a broader musical thinking curriculum. For each K-12 classroom setting, three variations on the same lesson illustrate differentiated levels of musical thinking in a holistic sense, by analyzing the intended cognitive, affective, and psychomotor learning along with the curricular integration and musical engagement. Corresponding models for each variation display these differences using the model graphic from Chapter 3. The second section discusses each of the four NCAS processes in terms of music teaching and learning dimensions. A discussion of curricular integration as a connecting theme for a musical thinking curriculum closes this chapter. A final conclusion reflects on the through-lines of all four chapters and articulates future implications of Holistic Musical Thinking for teachers, teacher-educators, and their students.