This is part of a Master of Education research project called Gender in Music Education: Lessons Addressing Gender in Music in Grades K-12 (PDF 4.8 MB) completed by Laura Anne Smith.
In the first grade, children are at a stage where they are drawn to binary rules and rigid ways of looking at the world around them (Bear Bergman, 2022). This can cause students to believe that there are right and wrong ways to express gender (Bear Bergman, 2022), and in this case, how to be a musician. Scholars stress the importance of providing students with opportunities to explore and experience different perspectives (Whitford, 2022). Whitford emphasizes that educators should support each other in coming up with ways to provide students with these opportunities (Whitford, 2022).
Young children learn a lot of their perceived rules about society from media and from the way adults perpetuate gender in their presence (Sharmin, 2015). Educators can use this knowledge to guide their students to interpret music in different ways by encouraging creativity in their classrooms. Sharmin suggests that teachers decenter themselves in storytelling, allowing children to take the lead in unlearning gender norms (Sharmin, 2015). Because of a historic lack of gender inclusion, students that don’t identify as a boy often have a hard time feeling valued in their elementary music classes (Culp & Robison, 2021). Scholars suggest that teachers get to know students as individuals in order to successfully incorporate their ideas, specifically in musical listening activities (Culp & Robison, 2021). They suggest that allowing students to have individual ideas while listening to music will allow them to embrace more diversity and flexibility in their music experiences going forward (Culp & Robison, 2021).
This lesson asks students to listen to a piece of music and interpret what they think the story might be about through drawing. Students will be encouraged to exercise their imaginations, think outside the box, and to go with any vision they have, even and especially if it is different from their peers. This approach will ideally encourage students to embrace their individuality in music and aims to shape their perception that they have choice going forward in their music careers. By asking students about the gender of the characters in their imagined stories, teachers have the chance to interrupt stereotypical thinking and remind students that certain qualities do not belong to certain genders.
Grade 1 - Thinking Outside The Box
Lesson Objectives
- Students will be able to create images that are not driven by gender stereotypes.
- Students will be able to appreciate the perspectives of their classmates as a different option for understanding.
Materials
- Device to play music
- Paper and drawing utensils
Lesson
This lesson asks students to listen to a piece of music and interpret what they think the story of the music might be about through drawing. Tell students that you are going to play them some music, and that you want them to think about what story they hear happening. Is there a hero? A villain? Is the main character a person or an animal? What are they doing? Then, play a short piece of instrumental music for students and have them raise their hands to tell you what they hear. Draw what they hear on the board so they can visualize it. Encourage differing opinions of what story they might be hearing by drawing multiple ideas on the board.
After doing the example on the board…
- Play an instrumental piece for students and have them imagine what might be going on story-wise in the music, just like they did before
- Have students draw what they imagined
- Have students hold up their drawings
- Bring attention to the fact that all the drawings are different because everyone interprets music differently
- Ask students what would happen if the characters in their stories changed gender identities. Would it change the story? Could someone with a different gender do the same thing? (Yes, they absolutely could!)
- OPTIONAL: Repeat steps 1-4 as many times as you would like!
Song suggestions:
Ludvig Van Beethoven - Symphony no. 5
Errollyn Wallen - Mighty River
References:
Bear Bergman, S. (2021, January 4). How to talk to kids about gender: An age-by-age guide. Today’s Parent.
Robison, T., & Culp, M. E. (2021). Promoting gender inclusivity in general music: Considerations for music listening. General Music Today, 35(1), 104837132110160.
Sharmin, S. (2015). Early childhood storytelling: Development and gender impact. Journal of Education and Social Sciences, 1.
Whitford, A. (2022). Understanding and addressing gender stereotypes with elementary children: The promise of an integrated approach. Theory & Research in Social Education, 51(2), 1–32.