..........students, thinking?

For the past week or so, I've been working on the Gustov Holst, Second Suite in F. This is one of the staples of wind band literature that every serious band student should play sometime in their career. The piece was written in 1911, and continues to be a real focal point for wind band studies worldwide. Holst set the pace, so to speak, as to what many would do with the wind band for the next 90+ years.

The advances in technology since Holst wrote his famous Second Suite in F are enough to stagger one's mind. Oddly enough, the way that parts for the Second Suite in F were taught in 1911 are much the same technique that I use today in our band room. First, you have to learn to play the instrument and develop the characteristic sound associated with that instrument. This takes self-discipline and a great many hours of practice. Next, you have to learn to read the music. Knowing where to put silence and sound in time by reading a printed part is a lifelong skill for musicians. And finally, you must watch a conductor to receive direction for performance. All the things associated with learning to become a musician are still done the old fashioned way - work and persistence.

So often, we teachers hear the cries of the politicians, business people, and parents; "teach our kids how to think! Don't teach just the facts!" That would be great if we could convince them that thinking was not so obsolete. The age of technology, which was supposed to make our lives so much better, has taken the need for thinking right out of the mix. When I ask a group of students to spend time practicing a part, I get blank stares. These kids have been raised with a bottle in one hand and a wireless mouse in the other! Something that takes time and persistence is not what they want to hear! These people are used to typing something into the computer and having a choice of answers appear right in front of them within seconds. It's almost impossible for teachers to encourage thinking any longer unless you are right there with them and making them do it. Once they're out of your sight, they're right back there on the track to Google or search Wikepedia for the next answer. One doesn't even have to copy it from a book any more. You can just copy and paste the whole thing!

I bet you could bring traffic flow to a complete, grinding halt if all the GPS systems suddenly shut down! When I was a young infantryman of the US Army training to fight off the USSR, I was taught to use a military grid map, a protractor, and an 8-digit grid coordinate to call in artillery fire within a three meter area of my target. Today, it's all electronic, with the map as a backup plan. How accurate do you really thing the old method would be in today's combat zone; and would you want to rely on the skills of the average infantryman to call in some fire without his GPS?

Technology does our thinking for us. In fact, I plan to use "spellcheck" when I finish this post. I recently learned to send a text message while we were at Disney World (my kids taught me on the Disney bus). My mobile phone has a feature that will predict what word I want to use before I finish spelling it - the phone does my thinking for me.

I've been in teaching now for 26 years, and I've seen the difference technology has made in how people learn to think. It's not as much of an advancement as you might believe. The people who have a firm handle on things still read books, and use road maps to confirm that Mapquest is sending them the correct way. My trust is not so much in technology. It is handy and quick; but, it will never be smarter than me!!!