Veblen, K. K. (2012). Adult Music Learning in Formal, Nonformal, and Informal Contexts.
Oxford Handbooks Online. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199928019.013.0017
This chapter was very interesting to me as it was unlike anything I’ve ever read about music education before. I was intrigued by the three different types of music transmission; Formal, Informal and Non-formal and how each learning type will help certain parts of a subject whether it be aural, sight reading, or memorising. I was also fascinated that the environment a person is taught in can differ their level of learning, whether it be one to one tuition, community classes, or in a classroom environment. However, my stereotypes were challenged, regarding the focus of the article being adult education, as I always link education instantly to children. I was pleased to be reading about adult education and how different learning styles (formal, informal and non-formal) can affect adults in comparison to children. What particularly interested me was Cope’s workshops with mixed ages, and his observation on the adult’s frustration due to the children’s quick learning capacity- I would be intrigued to know why this is, without the obvious reason of age and the brain capacity.
As I knew hardly anything about adult education and the different levels of learning there is I enjoyed the article very much. It brought to light how influential education is no matter what age the student is, and this has triggered an interest for me in adult education, how they respond to learning and how because of their age they respond differently to certain methods because of their mental characteristics. Since reading the article I have become frustrated that adult education is not spoken about enough, there are many assumptions when it comes to the topic of education and it is treated like it has a life span but this is indeed not the case, we never stop learning no matter the age- this leads me to feel frustrated that education is not encouraged more in your adult life. I believe that it is crucial to immerse yourself in all three types of music transmission from a young age as each type will teach you something different about yourself whether it be that you work better alone, or in groups, how you interact with people and how you learn. This however should not just regard students, I believe teachers should also teach in the three different ways to immerse themselves on how to teach within contrasting environments.
I would like to thank the author for doing her research on this subject as I believe it is not something that is brought to the forefront of education, with education we seem to link it instantly with children, but we forget as adults we are still growing and learning new things each day so it would be just as important to study how adults learn when their brain is at full capacity as it is to study how a child’s brain thinks when it’s just starting out. This article has enlightened me to a part of education I hadn’t thought of before and has made me want to further my knowledge on the topic and inform myself of more experiments and scholars discussions on the matter.