Conformity

Because of the very low socioeconomic status of my school, we do not use uniforms, robes, or other similar clothing for concert performances.  However, I have seen my students pressure one another to curl their hair or wear matching outfits with their friends for their performances.  This is a kind of smaller-group conformity that is not influenced by me necessarily, but is still present naturally in my elementary school program.  I should also mention that on field trips or other school-wide activities like assemblies or the attendance of high school or middle school musical performances, there are school rules that apply to the entire school.  While I did not create these rules, as a teacher, I help to enforce them.  The conformity to the three school rules of be respectful, be responsible, and be safe is a constant presence in our school and one of the reasons our school is successful even with such a low socioeconomic status.

In music, the subject matter is so often a group activity.  In elementary general music classes, students often have to learn songs and games to play together.  In order for these songs and games to work, students must subscribe to conformity because the singing games do not work unless the students play and work together.  While presenting the subject matter, the teacher can influence the conformity of the students in the way he or she presents.  In my experience, when I am obviously passionate and excited about a unit, even if it is not a unit I would expect students to be excited about, they mimic my excitement.  I believe this is also related to the fact that they like and respect me as a person.  Since I have never let them down before (in the sense that I have always done my best to make sure that activities are fun and positive experiences), the students trust me to be honest when I say that something is going to be exciting or fun.  

One of the things that is very important to me as a music teacher is to be honest but kind with my students.  It is also in the philosophy of our school to give honest goals and standards for students.  In our school, grades are given according to meeting goals, and goals are written by students and teachers individually.  This is a new advancement that was on a trial run this year.  Students are required to meet their individual goals.  With rewards for students, I award every student a certificate with recorder studies, for example, no matter how far they made it on the recorder.  I do whatever I can to ensure that students meets their individual goals.  The only way that I can teach conformity by giving grades is that I am allowed to give a participation grade for students according to their work with the class.  If a child is not participating with the group, he or she will not receive the good grade.  This emphasizes conformity because the good grades are awarded to those who conform by participating with the group.

In concert programs, I list every child together with an asterisk next to the names of those who have special parts instead of individually listing them.  This, I believe, gives all students the idea that they work together to achieve the show and that each person is important in the making of the show.  The conformity is related to the group effort.

Student decisions are an important part of conformity in my classroom.  I sometimes gives students choices about activities, and the students have to vote on the activities.  I can see, especially with my fourth graders who are the oldest in my school, the influence of conformity on their voting decisions.  Many students will look around before they vote to see what their friends are voting for.  Some students change their votes later when they see that other students chose something else (I don’t actually allow this, but they try).

One other type of conformity that I have noticed quite a lot is in fifth grade band.  At the end of the 2012-2013 school year, it was announced to the fourth graders at the time that I would be teaching fifth grade band the following year.  Many of them reacted with joy and excitement because they respect me as a teacher and enjoyed music class with me.  However, when the 2013-2014 school year started and it was actually time to sign up for band, the students had found out from the older kids who they wanted to be like that band was not cool and was for losers.  Therefore, about half of the students who I expected to sign up for band chose not to.  Additionally, some of the students told me that their parents told them that band was for losers and that they didn’t want them to be left out of things because of their participation in band.  Therefore, the conformist idea that band is not cool was even being fed to students by their parents, who still, even as adults, subscribed to the idea that band was only for losers.  Therefore, I have strived as the music teacher to make band as fun as possible and as “cool” as possible by including a percussion ensemble made of trash can items and tried to perform music that was intriguing or fun for the kids that also taught the concepts they needed.  I think it will take several years to truly change the idea of band, but with the incorporation of ways to make band something that isn’t just for geeks anymore.