Measuring critical musicality

Inquiry-based learning in music: Indicators and relationships between key pedagogical practices and the quality of critical thinking

“…These results confirmed the gap identified in the literature that music classes lack significant inquiry work that would nurture CT skills and dispositions (Costes-Onishi & Caleon, 2018; Garrett, 2013; Johnson, 2011; Kertz-Welzel, 2008; Laprise, 2018; Shaw, 2014). This claim should be interpreted within the observable behaviors and interactions that our coding method allowed us to investigate.…”

“…A previous study in Singapore (Costes-Onishi & Caleon, 2018, 2019) on critical musicality revealed that the goal of understanding extra-musical connections for meaning-making beyond music-making are lacking in most music lessons. According to this study, even the most well-intentioned approaches tend to emphasize skills in music (e.g., listening, performing, and responding) with the aim of enjoyment through music-making.…”

“…Studies on critical musicality (Costes-Onishi & Caleon, 2018, 2019; Green, 2008) found that extending the cognitive and affective dimensions of music appreciation through distinguishing musical skills and extra-musical knowledge is a learning process that is often neglected in music education. Yet scholars in music appreciation suggest that cognitive knowledge (historical and analytical) may lead to higher enjoyment of listening experience (Halpern, 1992) and that while affective factors are preconditions for music appreciation, cognitive factors facilitate its growth and depth (Lewis & Schmidt, 1991; Payne, 1980; Woody & Burns, 2001).…”

Community music-based structures of learning (CoMu-Based SL): Pedagogical framework for the nurturance of future-ready habits of mind

“…What we theorized though is that when the observed CoMu-based SL are consciously used to approach teaching in a music classroom, two learning outcomes are possible: critical musicality and future-ready habits of mind. These outcomes are desired outcomes in music education and education in general (Costes-Onishi & Caleon, 2018). Furthermore, the dispositions we found as a result of the CoMu-based SL support the hypothesis that the studio habits of mind are indeed something shared with other art forms, in this case, music.…”

“…Similar to the urgency of moving with the new challenges of the 21st century, critical musicality is an important outcome for music education as it encompasses the aims of music appreciation and the critical, contextualized thinking required in moving beyond the tour-around-the world, cultural supermarket, or tokenism in multicultural music education. Expanding on Green’s (2008) conception, Costes-Onishi & Caleon (2018) conceived critical musicality as comprising three important dimensions: critical oral/aural cognition; critical affective response; and critical extra-musicality. Critical oral/aural cognition emphasizes music’s formal structures and qualities through listening and observation of playing techniques, which was subdivided into two dimensions: individual and group contexts.…”