A favorite pastime with my niece, Chelsea, is playing question games. We think of silly questions for each other while laughing and bonding. One day Chelsea asked, “Would you rather have chicken all day or snow all day?” followed by, “C’mon, this is an easy one.” I replied,“ I would rather have snow instead of chicken!” She had this look of why would anyone eat snow? I added, “I enjoy a bowl of Asian-style shaved ice dessert any time, any day. It’s just like snow!” That day, Chelsea learned something new about me through her question.
Incorporating the Question Formation Technique (QFT) in my music pedagogy is like the play between Chelsea and me. This tool allows my secondary-level students to think out of the box and revive light-hearted play in learning. In the keyboard unit, which I usually implement in general music and music theory classes, I want students, regardless of music experience, to view music reading as a skill that is approachable. It can improve with time and it is a window into more music discovery. While a music sheet can seem daunting with its hundreds of floating dots, students can learn to navigate it by decoding what’s on the page and by asking questions. They can also draw from the music bank into which they’ve already intuitively deposited knowledge from their everyday interactions with music.
Hence, I took a dive with my eighth-grade general music classes in Westchester, New York, this past academic year. Instead of starting with notational charts of ABC’s and an easy version of “Ode to Joy,” right off the bat I presented an intermediate-level musical excerpt called “Rush E” to all of my eighth-grade general music classes. These classes consisted mostly of non-musicians with mixed learning abilities. “Rush E” is a popular in-demand piece among them due to the excitement that arises out of its quick tempo and young people’s belief that “Rush E” is one of the more complex songs around. In fact, these students challenged my piano expertise, requesting to hear the piece performed live.
Taking advantage of their high interest, I asked students to investigate the opening section of the “Rush E” sheet music (which I called “a notational sound map”) in the way one would navigate with a map, or by using GPS, when visiting a new place. The process turned out to be fun and effective for the students as they formulated questions they were curious about and as they learned to find reliable resources for their questions. Students’ curiosity went beyond what was on the page and they were ready to dive into the composer’s intention for writing the piece and to develop deeper analysis of the music by the end of this process.
Example 1: Learning to Read Music
Context: Eighth-Grade General Music Class.
Skill Level: Mix of both non-musician beginners and students in the instrumental program, all of whom had varied learning abilities.
Q-Focus: “Rush E” music excerpt, by Andrew Wrangell.
Note: This is a watermarked sample image provided by Musicnotes, used here to provide an idea of what the QFocus looked like.
Procedure:
- A video of “Rush E,” with graphic representation of sound, was watched in class, followed by student observations on the relationship between the graphic and music.
- Images of a traveler holding a map and another holding a GPS were projected alongside a brainstorming activity on how one would navigate a new city with a map or GPS.
- Examples of music notational graphics were shown: a Gregorian chant from the Middle Ages; late medieval “eye music” called “Belle, Bonne, Sage;” and a contemporary minimalist composition called “Observing Squirrels,” by Jason Freeman. This was alongside a discussion on how navigating sounds through each of these music notational systems related to using a map or GPS.
- A QFT activity on an intermediate level Rush E piano excerpt was conducted. Students in groups of four formulated questions, prioritized them, and then shared with the class.
- With teacher guidance, the class discussed how to find answers to their priority questions while other questions were parked on posters hung around the room.
- The piece was performed live as a reward for students’ hard work.
Example of Student Questions
Note: Students first labeled their questions according to categorizations for the lesson: T= Music Terminology / Symbol, N= Music Notation, and O = Other. Then, they labeled with “O” for “open question” and “C” for “closed question.”
Students’ Priority Questions (as phrased by students)
Set #1
1. What are the open and closed notes mean?
2. How many notes can be attached by a line?
3. What does it mean when there is a line crossing through a note?
Set #2
1. How do you read it?
2. What are the different meanings for the notes?
3. Why are the sets split up?
Set #3
1. What is this “ >” called?
2. Does accelerando mean to get faster?
3. How fast is moderato?
For the experienced instrumental students, during one-on-one and small group instrumental lessons, I also used the Question Formation Technique to guide students’ preparation in learning new music and sight reading. I use the technique with two goals in mind:
- As an assessment tool to evaluate how much students have retained about learning to approach a new piece.
- So that students will have ownership of their new skills by creating their own sight-reading checklist.
With any eight-measure music excerpt as the QFocus, students formulate their own questions about the excerpt instead of trying to check off a teacher-approved list of dos and don’ts for sight reading. This takes the pressure off students trying to remember the 20-plus items we remind them about, and it provides an opportunity for them to grow in confidence as they learn to trust their own intuitive thinking and mature into independent musicians. Students will eventually become adept in spotting essential elements in new music and taking in information through their own questioning after repetitive practice.
Example 2: Learning to Approach a New Music Composition (a.k.a. Sight Reading)
Context: Small group lessons for string students and one-on-one lessons for piano-studio students.
Skill Level: Intermediate and up.
Q-Focus: Three sight reading or new music excerpts that are eight measures in length. (As a starter, one excerpt is presented per lesson for three consecutive lessons.)
Procedure:
- Based on an excerpt, students formulated questions relating to understanding and mastering the performance of the piece.
- Students prioritized their top three questions.
- After using a minimum of three different music excerpts for QFocus prompts, students compared their priority questions between excerpts to see which questions are recurring and which questions are unique to each specific piece.
- Students took these priority questions into consideration and formulated their own preliminary sight-reading checklist. They used this checklist when they approached other sight reading and new music excerpts.
Note: As students continue to read more excerpts after creating the preliminary checklist, this checklist may be adjusted with each comparison. Through the practice of asking questions, students will learn to spot main features of a music excerpt in incrementally reduced time. This will eventually lead to meeting the time requirement in music adjudication settings where only 45 to 60 seconds are given to prepare and learn a new music excerpt.
Examples of Student Questions
Students’ Priority Questions on One Excerpt
1. Where are the sharps in the excerpt?
2. Where are dotted quarter notes located?
3. What are the dynamics?
Student’s Preliminary Checklist based on Three Sets of Priority Questions
1. Where are the sharps or flats in the music passage?
2. Where are the “abnormal” notes in the music? (staccato notes in a mostly legato piece, dotted rhythm, etc.)
3. What are the dynamics in the music?
While it is prudent to consider whether students may harness the QFT in the direction we hope for, I’ve found my students often asking questions that are aligned with my intended teaching objectives. The QFT also allows me to design lessons that are exploratory and more challenging in level, while students’ own questioning leads to varied possibilities for in-depth learning and analysis. There is higher engagement and support in the classroom when we teach our students that asking questions is a sign of curiosity and showing interest in others’ work.
I also witnessed firsthand how instrumental students who started as timid and reluctant to express their thoughts opened up to asking questions. High-achieving students are often afraid to give the “wrong” answers and quietly consider whether the questions they want to ask are “good enough.” At first, some would take the entire five minutes to formulate just one question in the QFT process, yet this question was often profoundly insightful. With time, their inquisitive nature took over as they continued to sharpen their question asking skills and develop a more relaxed posture. I feel accomplished when students have the confidence to ask poignant questions to discover the unknown — and as they spread their wings to expand their musical horizons independently and grow their love for music.
Yating Yang is a New York based music educator with M.A. in music and music education from Teachers College at Columbia University. She enjoys walking alongside young people in their music journey. Her professional experiences include coaching secondary school choral and instrumental performing ensembles both large and small, supervising and developing courses in community music school settings, and maintaining her independent teaching studio. Her students range from young children to adults.