Muhamad Yusri

I am writing this for my literature review and I was thinking how to craft it. Having left a professional band to focus on teaching school bands, I find myself at a really interesting point of my journey. Am I teaching music or am I teaching band? Is there a difference between the two or should there be a synergy?

From David Elliott, I learnt that music education should be about doing and understanding. Musicking by Christopher Small, makes me wonder, what activity can we NOT classify as. So how can I truly define what I am doing?

I believe at the beginning, we must have an end in sight. What is the desired outcome? A route map if you must of the journey of the music student from the day he or she is “given” an instrument till the day he or she decides to call it quits. This is a sad reality that must be appreciated and understood. For some of us, we continue on the music path till “forever” but for most, the journey may end when they leave secondary school. How do we try to encourage continuity in this group? Or should we be contented that they have had at least 4 years of exposure to music?

So many questions need answering…