‘Music in STEM’ vs ‘STEM based Music’

So, a conceptual problem I have wrestled with for a while… What is the difference between a music class in a STEM environment and a STEM based music classroom?

First, you may need a refresher on what STEM is (a general review).

…that being said, here is THE question I continually ask myself…

What is the difference between a music class in a STEM environment and a STEM based music classroom?

A STEM based environment has a hyper focus on the Science-Technology-Engineering-Math aspects of our educational process. The learning in these areas provides a trendy approach to curriculum. But, without defaulting to the ‘STEM should be STEAM to include the Arts’ position, we need to deconstruct the components of this perspective. Why should we include the Arts? What value is there in including such a ‘feel good’ and ‘vague’ aspect of the school community? After all, the Arts are “FUN” (…my favorite position!!).

Before we do anything, we MUST acknowledge that music exists beyond the formal school ensemble that dominates our current system. In addition, we also MUST acknowledge that musicking (the verb of doing music) is a process that individuals around the world participate in on an everyday basis.

If students regularly engage in musicking, shouldn’t our classroom quickly move past STEM? The inclusion of the ‘A’ becomes a formality and STEAM becomes the accepted norm. Incorporating music in a school community that embraces and narrow confines of STEM as the structure eliminates the inherent activities of students as human beings. The Arts, as an an act of ‘doing art,’ embraces that students may not realize or identify that they are engaged in ‘Art’ but by nature of being members of the community, are musicking (doing ‘art’).

So, creating music within a STEM school is simply tying musical concepts into the tenets of STEM (Science-Technology-Engineering-Math). Creating music in a STEAM environment encourages students to evaluate their ‘musicking’ within the focus of STEM. Regardless of the label attached, music in STEM is far beyond thinking about music as a mathematical activity. It is beyond including the iPad in the ensemble classroom (“technology”). STEM based music is about changing the viewpoint of  musicking. How we think about the process of musicking (idea, experimentation, feedback, refinement, sharing, risk taking, etc…) is inherently different in this newer perspective.

So, can we music within STEM beyond YouTube and loops? How does STEM embrace musicking?

#TimeTEAM16
#STEMvsSTEAM
#musiced
#vernmus