ABSTRACT

This three-year study aimed to investigate students’ experiences with alternative seating practices (ASP) in a public-school string orchestra program. Whereas education scholarship has long demonstrated that democratic classroom seating arrangements play a crucial role in the learning process, typical orchestra classrooms maintain a hierarchical seating format assigned to students on a competitive basis. In this study I set out to explore the relationship between anti-hierarchical seating practices rooted in social justice and the musical capacity of a classroom ensemble. Using interdisciplinary methods – ethnography, interviews, archival data collection and analysis –, I investigated ASP’s effects on the learning, motivation, and musical caliber of twenty-five string orchestra students from 8th to 10th grade in a diverse public school in the United States. My research findings show that anti-hierarchical ASP fostered students’ collaboration and increased their motivation and engagement. Moreover, ASP also improved drastically the musical capacity of all students, especially those with no prior music training, and it led the ensemble to win first place at statewide competitions against more affluent and advanced student orchestras for three years in a row. My study therefore suggests that pedagogy rooted in social justice can be instrumental to achieving excellence in music classrooms.

摘要

这项为期三年的研究旨在调查学生在公立学校弦乐团课程中使用替代座位练习 (ASP) 的体验。长期以来，教育奖学金已经证明民主的教室座位安排在学习过程中起着至关重要的作用，而典型的管弦乐队教室则保持在竞争的基础上分配给学生的分层座位格式。在这项研究中，我着手探索植根于社会正义的反等级制度座位实践与课堂合奏的音乐能力之间的关系。使用跨学科方法——人种学、访谈、档案数据收集和分析——，我调查了 ASP 对学习、动机、美国一所多元化公立学校 8 至 10 年级的 25 名弦乐团学生的音乐才能。我的研究结果表明，反等级制的 ASP 促进了学生的协作并增加了他们的积极性和参与度。此外，ASP还大大提高了所有学生的音乐能力，尤其是那些没有接受过音乐训练的学生，并带领乐团连续三年在全州范围内与更优秀、更先进的学生管弦乐队的比赛中获得第一名。因此，我的研究表明，植根于社会正义的教学法有助于在音乐课堂上取得卓越成就。ASP 还极大地提高了所有学生的音乐能力，尤其是那些没有接受过音乐训练的学生，它带领乐团连续三年在全州范围内的比赛中与更富裕和更先进的学生管弦乐队比赛中获得第一名。因此，我的研究表明，植根于社会正义的教学法有助于在音乐课堂上取得卓越成就。ASP 还极大地提高了所有学生的音乐能力，尤其是那些没有接受过音乐训练的学生，它带领乐团连续三年在全州范围内的比赛中与更富裕和更先进的学生管弦乐队比赛中获得第一名。因此，我的研究表明，植根于社会正义的教学法有助于在音乐课堂上取得卓越成就。