The Development of Art Learning Model at School (A Review of Music Education Learning in Indonesia)

HARMONIA : Journal of Arts Research and Education 15 (1) (2015), 1-8 p-ISSN 1411-5115 Available online at http://journal.unnes.ac.id/nju/index.php/harmonia e-ISSN 2355-3820 DOI: 10.15294/harmonia.v15i1.3690

THE DEVELOPMENT OF ART LEARNING MODEL AT SCHOOL (A REVIEW OF MUSIC EDUCATION LEARNING IN INDONESIA)

Dieter Mack University of Music, Lübeck, Germany Musikhochschule Lübeck, Große Petersgrube 21, 23552 Lübeck, Germany E-mail: [email protected]

Received: April 22, 2015. Revised: May 5, 2015. Accepted: June 13, 2015

Abstract

At the present time, art education is often ignored. Focus on teaching and learning at school seems to accentuate other subjects, such as: science, economics, and technology. This trend is becoming more concerning for the arts is a field of study, which draws attention to the development of perceptual sensitivity, creativity, as well as social responsibility. However, if art education, in this case is music education, is taught theoretically based on other cultural materials, then the consequences will be worse for students. This study is aimed to draw outlines of music education which hopefully can answer the three aspects of music which are previously described. The outlines are arranged based on recent discoveries in audio perceptions.

Keywords: Art Learning Model; Music Education Learning; Indonesia

How to Cite: Mack, D. (2015). The Development of Art Learning Model at School (A Review of Music Education Learning in Indonesia). Harmonia: Journal of Arts Research And Education, 15(1). doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.15294/harmonia.v15i1.3690

INTRODUCTION Another reason behind the proposed idea is because a Western art has its own Before explaining the core problems culture with its typical history which is of art education learning materials, the- essential can be understood as the Wes- re are three main factors related to music tern cultural context and may influence education at school which need to be no- the awareness of students live in Western ted: countries. In Germany, we also do not ini- The first aspect is that art educati- tiate the music education teaching with on materials need to be based on the local lesson related to talempong or Javanese Ga- cultural resources on each of the students, melan. according to their physiological develop- However, some experts believe that ment. Actually, this first factor does not Western arts have been widely known and need to be explained here since it has be- entrenched in Indonesia, especially in the come one of the concerns of experts in the field of popular music. This assumption is field of music education all this time. It is true, however, there are two comments re- hoped that assumptions related to imple- garding to this, as follows: mentation of Western music as the central First, popular music does not need material of music education can get dec- to be given as music materials at school reased for the sake of appreciating the di- since it has been extensively disseminated versity of local cultures. through the media on a massive scale.

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Second, during my teaching in Indo- the curriculum needs to be revisited and re- nesian schools (since 1992), all experiences vised. Since 1992, the time when I first paid have proven that (with various exceptions) my attention to music education in Indo- the use of Western music’s grammar is still nesia, the curriculum has been amended as being implemented with local awareness, much as four or five times. Unfortunately, such as in the teaching of music intonation. I have not seen significant improvements The majority of Indonesian music in the learning process up to these days. In teachers are still teaching Western musi- my own opinion, the curriculum is not the cal intonation tone by using Indonesian essential part in the learning which needs music intonation tone. As a consequence, to be revised, but the teaching methodolo- the results are not in accordance with the gy that usually does not incorporate in the required necessity. If changes in short in- curriculum. tervals are the characteristic of the majo- Moreover, do not perceive curricu- rity of musical works in Indonesia, there- lum as a text that can be transferred in the fore –with many reasons– what occurred ratio 1:1. Generally, a curriculum can only in Europe is the otherwise. It seems that offer certain suggested ideas related to what happened in the explanation above classroom teaching learning process that is not only resulted from the influence of needs to be adapted and adjusted based on habit, but also influenced by environment. the conditions in the actual classroom. Even, a genetic nuance has determined various standards which are impossible to be PERCEPTION AS THE FOUNDATION implemented at every turn in a relatively OF MUSIC EDUCATION short time. The second aspect is closely related In a recent study entitled “How the to us who have role as teachers. A high- Brain Learns Music?” has been proven that quality art education needs to be opened an education process which is general- to all kinds of art works, in particular tho- ly cognitive is unable to develop musical se which are less popular since popular art competency, even though it has an appre- has been hugely exposed through mass ciative aspect within the learning process. media. Inculcating diversity will develop Edwin E. Gordon states that: the ability to appreciate art as a recent The purpose of music education is complex human expression. However, it to provide one with understanding so that needs to be noted that there are differences he can express himself aesthetically to the between quantitative and qualitative ap- extent his attitudes allow, with both his preciation. It means appreciation towards body and surrogate abstractions. In this a variety of arts in a relatively short time way he will also understand the works of will not instill a series of common sensiti- others. Aesthetic reaction, or appreciation, vity, not only to the musical aspect. It will provides one insight into himself and into be explained further in the following sec- the nature of his relationship to his envi- tion. ronment. The more one understands, the In this endeavor, types of Western more one is able to appreciate, although arts are possible to be implemented as lear- one does not necessarily like all that one ning materials at school by constructing a understands. The assumption that exposu- strong mental representation foundation re to music, with supplementary historical with regard to local arts prior the imple- information and metaphoric descriptions mentation. will produce favorable emotions which The third is related to curriculum. It will endure throughout life is becoming has become a regular activity in Indonesia increasingly suspect. that in every shift of government in power, Audiation takes place when one the education system is one of the topics hears music through recall or creation, the which is often debated under a claim that sound not being physically present (except Dieter Mack, The Development of Art Learning Model at School 3 of course when one is engaging in a per- wers are always filled. What makes it in- formance) and derives musical meaning. teresting, these contents –here are called Aural perception and usually conception as mental representation- are not always takes place when one listens to music actu- stable, even in the process of continuous ally being performed by others. However, change, based on the number of experi- to aurally perceive and conceive music in ences that are collected by people. Until a meaningful manner, one must be capab- now, experts have not agreed about when le of audiating music, for referential and this mental representation will be getting comparative musical purposes, heard at a increased, and when will it is no longer previous time (long-term memory). And developed. Temporary results show that while listening to music, one audiates what the process of change and adaptation are has just been heard (short-time memory) always possible to be occurred. Which has as a basis for audiating what will be heard. been proven is that in the age of 40 above, Without audiation, which is not necessari- the rapidity of adaptation is getting dec- ly nor usually a matter of memorization, reased. even repetition and sequences could not In the knowledge of perception, the- exist and thus there would be no form in re are two types of learning: music (Gordon, 1980). Declarative knowledge is a knowledge Both quotations emphasize relative- which is presented in a form of definition, ly new ideas in the field of music educa- declaration, etc. In other words, (declaration. It is said as ‘relatively new’ because tive knowledge is to know about certain the ideas explained above are considered things and to think about an act). This kno- to be new but not really new. Both ideas wledge should not be a point of foundation above are not new since the ideas stated for the musical experience or the process of above explain the natural process on how music learning. humans learn music, which are by direct On the other hand, procedural kno- experience and practice. Here, the repre- wledge is knowledge through active/ sentation of musical grammatical mental practical activities. In other words, (it is to in music is accidentally developed on its know how, thoughts which are resulted to place. This is one of the reasons why music practical acts). It has to become the start around the students’ environment is con- of every effort in the process of learning sidered essential as the foundation of the music, because this is the only thing which learning process. can develop mental representation. However, the statements are also con- According to the previous statement, sidered to be rather new since these very cultural insights which need to be convey- fundamental thoughts have been ignored ed simultaneously with auditory materials for a long time by practitioners in the field tentatively tend to interfere. The materials of formal education, both in Indonesia and do not support the development process other countries abroad. Most people of- of the musical representation itself. Kno- ten assume that knowledge related to the wledge related to the background and the history, background and theory of music theory of music does not automatically are more important rather than the music refer towards the enhancement of musi- itself. The reasons behind the assumption cal competency, unless when it is initiated themselves will not be discussed further, with the development of a long and deep here. Today, knowledge of perception has musical representation. been able to give a strong natural founda- In the process of learning process, tion in order to fundamentally change the singing and dancing are the basic ways learning process of music. to develop true musical representations. The human’s brain is analogous as In this case, the term “singing” is not allo- empty drawers. Through experiences, wed to be interpreted narrowly, which is practices, and comparisons, those dra- by singing children’s songs, folk songs, or 4 HARMONIA : Journal of Arts Research and Education 15 (1) (2015): 1-8 anthem only. cation to happen (the figural knowledge In this study, what is meant by prac- has been transformed to formal knowled- tical activities in music education is more ge). The process of learning music is more general, which is the vocalization of eve- or less the same. rything that needs to be learnt. As a result Moreover, it is argued that even vi- of this learning process, there will be se- sual aid seems to less conducive to deve- veral strong and stable musical represen- lop formal musical representation: tations. Then, the learning process can be The more we listen and understand in- continued to develop theoretical know- tensively and actively, the more repre- ledge, or cultural knowledge, or cultural sentation can be activated. However, this context. It means, in that stage, we only representation has to be always musical. “recreate music arrangement” (the process Visual aid will avoid the auditive percep- of rearranging data inside the brain) sys- tion development, if it occurs before the tematically from what actually has been establishment of musical representation. known/ represented. Frequently, pedagogical impatience crea- Musical representation is usually tes the willingness to accelerate the process started with the “figural” representation of learning to hear something. Whereas, if (concrete form) as the prerequisite to the it happens, only the actual knowledge that development of “formal” representation can be hindered (Gruhn, 1998, p. 174). (the more abstract structural). Therefore, firstly, music needs to be taught musically Examples (practical/ active) for the sake of develo- Supposed that the theme discussed ping the true “musical thoughts” (“audi- in classroom teaching is the musical scales tion”) rather than only focusing on for- of Balinese karawitan music (the traditional mal knowledge, explicitly or definitively music of Bali island), and the time alloca- (Gruhn, 200). tion is 90 minutes or more. The following If a certain status has been developed are several possible teaching scenarios. with the help of musical representation, Example A: Teacher does not have the relation between cultures can become recordings at all. Thus, he gives the stu- one of the topics that can be discussed. An dents a declarative knowledge related to educational process, on the other hand, ge- two common systems of scales in Bali, pe- nerally tends to be filled. Knowledge rela- log and slendro. Pelog is the system of scale ted to data that are repeatedly asked, as in with the range between tones is conside- the written tests after a series of theoreti- rably different from one to another, ho- cal learning are given, is only give several wever, in slendro, the range between tones representation imagination about certain is relatively similar from one to another . things, since the data are only contained of Here, I will not problematize the truth of information. The knowledge of data can- this definition, since definition still has -se not be equated with the musical competen- veral deficiencies. Possibly, the teacher still ce. relates the material with the Javanese cul- The above issue can be seen as if the ture, or he is making a differentiation with process of learning language. Knowing the statement that: According to the types about the grammar of a language does not of gamelan, pelog is based on the system of 7 guarantee that one can speak the langu- tones, which is dragged by several special age fluently. However, if we examine how scales, each with five tones and different babies learn to speak, it is clear that the distance from one tone to another. process of learning language is initiated Example B: Teacher has recordings by imitation which is then associated with from two types of scales, for instance, from particular meanings. Therefore, network sets of gender wayang and gong kebyar which of mental representations is developed is given to the students to be listened. Af- which allows the autonomous communi- terwards, the teacher’s way in explaining Dieter Mack, The Development of Art Learning Model at School 5 the materials more or less is as same as the to listen to several original audio samples previous scenario. The rest of the allocated from traditional music types with the sca- time is filled by giving declarative -infor les that have been practiced before. At a mation about the culture of Bali as well as time, students also need to be able to sing several existing types of Balinese Gamelan. or improvise several scales which the au- Example C Teacher has a recor- ditive representation has been developed ding with 20 examples of Balinese gending spontaneously, both at the figural and for- which are played one˗ by one. In the end, it mal levels. Students can also be asked to is explained that the 20 types of gending is appreciate several variations of scale that created based on variety of gamelan’s gen- have been represented, so that the intervals res in Bali, however, basically every scale tolerance range can become the aspects of belongs to either pelog or slendro. Then, at consciousness. the next meeting, learning will be conti- Later, perhaps teacher may proble- nued by discussion related to the theme of matize the relation between cultures in ge- scale in other local cultures. neral and discuss the background story of D Teacher starts to sing a song/ the scales in the context of certain culture. the sequence of tone (his own creation) in certain˗ scale, or he plays one of music DISCUSSION instruments (it will be better if he uses his vocal only). Then, students are given the Based on the fourth ways of appro- chance to imitate their teacher. During this aches above we can discuss and conclude process, the teacher is suggested to only as follow: deliver a short melodic phrase and easy to Model A should be completely avoided, be imitated. After that, this model can be since the educative impact is totally in- varied several times. The teacher needs to significant. Knowing two types of scale be aware that those imitations need to be is completely useless if there is no repre- controlled carefully in order to guarantee sentation of the sound during the teaching “the cleanness” of the intonation. Later, and learning music. In fact, an effort in students will be also asked to create their giving students the abstraction of 7 basic own short melody based on the pelog or tone that can be created into several musi- slendro scale. cal scales, each with 5 tone, is significantly At the next meeting, most of the time far from one’s level of perception (not only available is used to repeat the process of for students!). However, in the reality, this practice that has been done by students at model seems to be the current most popu- the last meeting. Then, the teacher discus- lar teaching model applied by music teach- ses results of the students’ homework. ers since by implementing this model, stu- The second process is started with dents are more easily evaluated by using another musical scale; however, the te- written test. aching is done by implementing the same Model B is slightly better, since the method. The third and fourth meetings teacher only presents two samples of au- have the relatively similar processes, alt- dio at a glance without paying attention hough the level of students’ activity can be to the process of auditive representation more intense. development. This model of appreciati- Until now, in model D, there is no on seems to not enough to develop the context or name mentioned, or other theo- functional auditive competence since the ries. All elements of the theory will not be samples are presented too fast and without delivered for the present since students are practices. Thus, cultural information is not expected to draw their own conclusions functional. based on their views or the development Model C is slightly similar to model of their practical experiences. B, even though, seems that teacher has at- On the next step, students are asked tempted to present a variety of Indonesi- 6 HARMONIA : Journal of Arts Research and Education 15 (1) (2015): 1-8 an diverse aspects to students. Up to this ves. Based on their professionalism as an point, the lack is on the presence of quan- artist, they argue that the practice of arts titative data which is not automatically en- at school is no more than one form of art. hancing the qualitative appreciation. It means that the learning of music in this The process of giving a considerable case is the Balinese gamelan needs to be number of materials (examples) apprecia- held by using all music instruments˗ in this tively has not allowed the enhancement genre of music. ˗ of musical competence, but only supports This kind of demand is not wrong, the needs to explain numbers of musical however, it is not realistic. scale’s type to students based on various Learning related to certain music types or genres of the Gamelan itself. instrument cannot depend on the availabi- Model D can be regarded as the only lity of the music instrument. model that can solve the problems in mo- The time allocation at school is com- del A to C. It is said so, since the teacher monly limited, so that, only the simple attempts to first embed the musical rep- form of arts that can be realized. resentation fundamentally, although this The pure art practice can be included process needs longer time. as one of the topics in extracurricular to This competence which initially be- the chosen students; however the theme longs to “declarative knowledge” sooner raised here is the implementation of music or later will turn to “formal˗ knowledge”, teaching in classroom learning. where students are able to transfer˗ their The main problem here is that the knowledge into the abstract systematic process of learning as demanded by ex- network inside their brain. perts in arts mentioned above does not pay If students listen to other types of attention to the educative methodology scale later in the future, they will be able since the term “tradition” is psychological- to give detailed and relative information ly still interpreted as negative by most of about the scales and relate it to the previo- our students. Therefore, we ought to start us information that has been previously with a neutral first step and without cer- received by them. This kind of ability is tain connotations. called as musical competence. Moreover, We only attempt to attract students’ this competence is tentatively apart from attention as well as to enhance the creativi- cultural competence in general. ty of students. However, what is meant by Educational process in that way auto- practice and creativity need to be different- matically needs the teacher’s effort to take ly interpreted. certain decisions on his own. A “complete” One of the possibilities is to arrange music education is an illusion which has the traditional material without changing never been achieved either in Indonesia or the meaning contained in the song. Of cour- other cultures. se, this strategy does not need to be known by students. As for instance, the final aim LEARNING EXAMPLES THAT SUP- of teaching is to make students understand PORT THE REVITALIZATION OF angling dogdog leisure and art awareness in TRADITIONAL ARTS IN MUSIC EDU- its ritual context. During the learning, the CATION teacher is expected to not mention the purpose of learning as stated in the previous The main consequence of every re- sentence. Further, the learning process can quirement and prerequisite of the com- be initiated by presenting a music arran- petencies described above is the need gement. The next step is to allow students to prioritize practice rather than theory. to practice with the given arrangement. In However, the demand of this practice the following paragraphs, the audio results has been often mischaracterized, even by are going to be presented. There are two practitioners in the field of arts themsel- samples shown in this study: the original Dieter Mack, The Development of Art Learning Model at School 7 version of angklung dogdog lojor music as “Ronda Malam” by Slamet A. Sjukur. Even well as the actual arrangement that relates though this work is actually created to be closely to its original version. The samples played by angklung, the Sundanese tradi- are (1) Audio Sample I namely Angklung tional music instrument, an arranger na- Dogdog Lojor, “Bale Agung” by Ciptarasa med Dedi Hernawan has created the vocal from Sukabumi, and (2) Audio Sample II version based on the similar scores struc- “Ala Dogdog Lojor”, by Oya Yukarya. ture. Audio Sample III, “Ronda Malam”, The second audio sample is reali- by Slamet A. Sjukur, angklung version and zed together between teachers and the Audio Sample IV, “Ronda Malam”, by students. Of course, the single song is not Slamet A. Sjukur, vocal version by Dedi sung by the students, but by the teacher Hernawan. himself. It is not a bad idea. In fact, it is Through this practice, students have good to stimulate the students’ activity. In experienced several musical aspects, es- addition to this is the back song which is pecially the rhythmical one. This practical highly possible to be arranged or modified experience supports the understanding as by the students themselves. Here, the con- well as interest towards other traditional tent of the text is considered not too impor- arts. Later, the other traditional arts can tant. Students may create something pho- be presented appreciatively. However, by netically or by using their own language. only appreciating the arts will be wasted if After implementing this model of ex- it is not initiated by doing practical steps as perience, the original version of angklung exemplified above. dogdog lojor performance (appreciation) is generally can be accepted more positively CONCLUSION by students since it brings a practical experience that relates to the following points: If we compare the fourth ways of (1) it is appropriate with the students’ abi- approaches above, only the alternative of lity, (2) it does not interfere the students’ model D that can fulfill the expectation of music world, and (2) it does not feel too learning which is aiming to develop musi- traditional, although the tradition is actu- cal competence as its main purpose. The- ally the source of the music. refore, it is hoped that the concept of de- By using this “secret” or “hiding” ap- veloping musical competence as the main proach, the process of “back to the actual purpose of music department is clearer. source” does not become a problem. Ho- Competency in the field of music needs wever, if it is started with the original ver- to be defined as mental representation of sion, especially by stating a statement, e.g. the music which is the sound itself. This this is the refined traditional art.., students mental representation is obtained through generally tend to directly decline it. practice and audio experience, but not This attempt can be implemented from the descriptive information of mu- to all types of art and is not limited to sical form. Art education, in this study is the example presented in this study only. music, should not be mistakenly under- Another positive aspect of this teaching stood as cultural education. Theories and model is that this model does not need to knowledge about terms do not belong to be equipped with original music instru- the initial competence, but may become ments since all of the musical functions the second part after the practical and ap- can be transferred to vocal or simple tools preciative first part is accomplished. created by students themselves. In addition to this, the core of lear- One other possibility that is closer to- ning music purposes is supposedly not wards the elements of musical competen- resist to the need of cultural education. ce, for instance the popular senggak vocal However, it considers important to sepa- style, can be practiced through the simp- rate the two purposes of the two kinds of le contemporary works, as for example in education during the learning process at 8 HARMONIA : Journal of Arts Research and Education 15 (1) (2015): 1-8 school if the chosen auditive material to Hildesheim: Olms-Verlag. the development of mental representation Gruhn, W. (2000). “Performing Arts and still comes from local culture. Only in the the Problems of Art Education in In- second or third steps, this local foundation donesia” Paper presented in Inter- can be extended to other types of culture national Seminar. Surakarta 2000. or other cultures, but using the same prac- Mack, Dieter. (2002). Pendidikan Musik- tical learning process. Antara Harapan dan Realitas. Band- It may have been clear that the term ung: MSPI “competency” is actually not related to the Mack, Dieter. (2002). Musik Kontemporer. curriculum, but more related to methodo- Bandung: Arti-line. logy, or results of certain methodology. It Mack, Dieter. (2004). Musik aus Bali und is also obvious that curriculum as we app- Westjava. Oldershausen: Lugert-Ver- ly today, is also included at one of utopia lag which has never been totally realized in Roeder, Juan G. (1995). Introduction to the terms of the objective perspective of the Physics and Psychophysics of Music. “competency”. New York: Springer Publication. Schafer, Murray R. (1976). Creative Music REFERENCE Education. New York: Schimer Pub- lication. Diana, D. (1999). The Psychology of Music. Suharto. (2006). Musikus yang Berkom- San Diego:Academic Press. promi dengan Ideologi dan Berbaju Hesse, Hors-Peter. (2003). Music & Emo- Barat. 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