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by this subject. If their profession is not going to be connected with music, they do not
think they will need it. According
to some of the pupils, music education is important
only to children who also study at elementary music schools. This is a place they can
go to if they want to sing. Another thing they do not like about music education is its
interest in old styles. Again, this supports the idea that music education is to entertain
the pupil and not to burden them with lots of demands if they do not want to make
a living by music.
Pupils have also discussed changes to music education.
Some pupils have focused on the equipment of the music classroom where les-
sons of music education usually take place. Pupils would welcome the use of modern
appliances and technologies, more frequent use of the Internet and computers, better
aids and more frequent use of the television.
Other respondents would prefer more activities in music education, especially
singing (they are usually unhappy with the songs choice and they would like to have
more popular songs). Some would prefer to have more
opportunities to solo sin-
ging or to have only singing activities in music lessons. On the other hand, some
pupils would prefer less singing activity. One respondent has stated they would like
to analyze lyrics of popular songs which is an interesting idea although not all the
texts of popular songs are worth this. However, sometimes pupils can face a deman-
ding text which requires an explanation. The need to work with text is not only with
popular songs but generally with all songs presented in music lessons. The teacher
should prevent situations when pupils are singing a song without understanding. At
the same time, the song should be suitable for the given age and school environment
without unnecessary “censorship” which would seem brutal and would cause pupils’
dissatisfaction. Pupils also judge the proportion between classical and non-classical
music, usually in favour of non-classical music which they would like to listen to
more and sing more. According to the popularity of hip hop which the survey has
proved, it was interesting to fi nd out that one respondent stated they would prefer
fewer hip-hop songs.
Some respondents would like to listen to music more in music lessons, but it is
not clear whether only to a specifi c type of music or whether
they lack the chance to
listen to music generally. Most pupils have been specifi c about the type of music they
would like to listen to. We have already mentioned that some of them prefer popular
music, further some pupils would like to listen to more genres. Among mentioned
music activities, pupils would like to dance more but not the embarrassing dances
such as Avignon but some more modern dances. Some respondents would like to
have more musical instruments in the lesson or to work with instruments more, some
of them would like to play more musical instruments, some of the pupils have stated
that they are not interested in playing the fl ute. Respondents have also named the
individual instruments they would like to familiarise with, namely drums and electric
guitar. This proves the fact that teachers sometimes use musical instruments less of-
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ten than their pupils would like to. This may be caused by
their worry not to disrupt
the lesson by too much noise which destroys every attempt to “producing music”.
Moreover, pupils would like to learn about instruments used for example in rock
bands without thinking how to do this as it is impossible to teach them for example
playing the guitar in lessons of music education.
Some respondents would like to visit concerts free of charge or go to a musical
or at least watch it on video or DVD, others would like to watch fi lms. Some pupils
suggested they could compose their own pieces. Some would like to play music or
other games. One of the pupils surprisingly expressed that they would reduce the time
devoted to learning of notes. The question is to what extent the pupils are interested
in music and cultural experience, and to what extent they just need to weather music
lessons with a minimum effort made.
53 respondents out of the total number 1839 would dissolve music education
completely. 788 respondents do not only want to dissolve it, they do not want to
change anything about it either. Very rarely pupils mentioned they would like to
have more
lessons of music education, they also wish the lesson to be shortened to
30 minutes or to take place less frequently or to be only voluntary or as an after-
school activity. There were pupils who blame music teachers or who are not satisfi ed
with the teacher’s explanation and lessons topics. Exceptionally, pupils think that the
problem is in evaluation, that there should not be any examinations or there should
be lower demands on “non-musical” children. This is connected with their request to
learn less classical music, to gain less information and not to make record of teacher’s
explanation. They want music education to be funny and relaxing.
It seems that music education is demoted to the role of entertainment in eyes of
some pupils which they do not consider equal to other subjects. Interesting comment
has been made by one pupil (girl) who has stated she wished music education would
not be regarded as a minor subject which shows that pupils themselves are aware of
the position of music education in both their and public awareness.
According to the fact that educational framework in the
educational fi eld Art and
Culture mentions that education in this area offers different learning about the world
than only rational (it enables to capture the world in aesthetic way), it is impossible
to ignore signifi cant contrast between pupils’ view and the ideas of the educational
framework. Pupils do not perceive music education as a means of learning about the
world in an aesthetic way, they do not perceive music as a tool for learning about the
world at all. If we ignore the part of the respondents who are satisfi ed with music
education and we focus on the criticism, we will fi nd out that a big discrepancy is
given by the fact that pupils usually do not want to consider music education an equal
subject, a means of their education, but an entertainment, something minor, a sub-
ject where they want to relax and where they do not want
to be disturbed by some
demands and requirements, they do not want to be forced to listen to music which no
one else listens to.
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The educational framework says that music education guides the pupil through
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