Music in an integrated curriculum. Why doesn`t everybody do it?

Abstract

After giving a four-week presentation to year 9 students on the history of western "classical" music, I found that I needed to integrate other subjects into these lessons in order to ensure that the students were grasping the broader perspective. Given the miniscule amount of lesson time music receives compared with core subjects, I found this to be very impractical and I asked myself, "Why don't music teachers plan lessons together with teachers from other subjects in order to achieve this integration?" To find the answer to this question became the objective of my research.

To achieve this objective, I have interviewed music teachers with different backgrounds, asking about the practical problems they experience when integrating music with other subjects. I have then analysed the results of this information in connection with the very limited amount of research and literature relating to integration of music with other subjects in Swedish upper compulsory school. This analysis highlights among other things the methods of interdisciplinary teaching used by this group of teachers.

My study has revealed that teachers often experience problems finding connections between music and other subjects, in some cases this can depend on the age of the students. Another difficulty discussed is finding a balance between achieving everything in the music curriculum and having a broader perspective on the concept of knowledge.

I have found that most methods of integration are a step in the right direction, as long as the intention is for better learning, and not for the sake of integration.