Holden Maiorana

Psychology of Music Education

Dr. Avery

July 13, 2020

SELF-CLASSIFICATION

Throughout the past two weeks, a lot of ground has been covered in our Psychology class. I

have found myself reflecting upon exactly what my teaching looks like and which learning theories

align with my own practices in the classroom. I have come to the conclusion that there is not one

specific learning theory that I adhere to, but rather a combination of the learning theories that we

have covered in class (behaviorism, cognitivism, humanism, and constructivism).

I have found that I have several behaviorist practices in my teaching. The immediate example

that comes to mind is our reward system in my 7th and 8th grade chorus. Essentially, if the students

behave well (do things the first time they are asked, stay on task, perform their music well, etc.), then

they receive a tally mark next to their class period on the board. Once they earn 20 tally marks, the

students are able to have a “Music Fun Day” in which we do not rehearse our music, but rather play

musical games all class period. This is a prime example of operant conditioning because I use the

positive reinforcer of tally marks towards a fun day to increase the repetition of desired behavior. I

have also learned that I often use Thorndike’s law of readiness as a guiding principle in my classes.

Specifically in my music theory class, I have come to find that students who are unable to perform

the more basic steps of a process (eg: writing scales or key signatures during a composition project)

tend to become annoyed with the process. Because of this, I often carefully scaffold the concepts I

teach and ensure that students fully grasp them before moving forward in the curriculum. This

ensures that students are satisfied with their progress and not frustrated.

Admittedly, cognitivism is not something that is immediately present in my teaching. That

said, I feel as though much of my teaching could benefit from adopting a cognitivist’s perspective.
Specifically Jean Piaget’s ideas of assimilation and accommodation. I believe that remembering that

students have developed certain schemata and any information I give them must be filed into an

existing schema (assimilation) or filed into a newly built schema could greatly improve how I deliver

new information to them and in what order I give it to them.

Constructivism is an area that I find present in my teaching, but one in which I hope to

incorporate even more. Vgotsky’s zone of proximal development is something I think about during

every lesson I teach, whether knowingly or not. In lessons, I am able to assess that which students

cannot do yet (information that I have picked up on during our group rehearsals) and address it in a

small group environment as the role of facilitator. I am able to form that bridge between what

students can do alone and what they can do with assistance while expanding their overall musical

abilities. Albert Bandura’s thoughts on modeling are also inherently present in my chorus instruction

as it is often very helpful to model for my students different singing techniques and posture that I

would like them to perform with.

I am very intrigued by humanist approaches as chorus itself deals with a lot of emotions and

perceptions of oneself. That said, I have much more humanism to incorporate into my teaching as I

could only find one parallel from humanism to my classroom. This is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. I

have come to find that students must feel safe in my classroom to perform their best.

Upon reflection, I have come to the conclusion that my behaviorist practices are most present

in my teaching. I am not satisfied with this conclusion. The operant conditioning that I impose on my

7th and 8th graders is nice to control their behavior short-term, but I believe I should be shifting my

objective to instill a lifelong interest and curiosity in music. I think I should incorporate more

constructivist ideals into my teaching to get students interested by building off of their own

experiences and knowledge. Not only that, but I think humanism could open many doors for me and

my students. By focussing on the non-intellectual side of my students and creating peak experiences

for our ensemble, I believe that our performances will be all the more impactful and fulfilling.