Time: Horizons of Possibility
Janet R. Barrett
 
 

Dr. Janet R. Barrett is Associate Professor of Music Education 
at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and President-Elect 
of the Wisconsin MEA.
 
 
 

Janet Barrett with EMEA president, Gary Bogle

 

    I was pleased to be a guest on a bright autumn day at the recent EMEA Conference in Amberg. The conference presentations were stimulating, and the conversations lively. MENC president June Hinckley’s address helped us put into perspective the educational initiatives and professional opportunities that influence our work as music educators now and in years to come. I learned a bit about the triumphs and tribulations of teaching music in DoDDS in an era of declining resources, rapid change, and uncertain futures. I appreciated the balance in the day’s schedule between large-group presentations and informal opportunities to share ideas, issues, and concerns about our work.
    As I listened throughout the day, I was reminded of music educators’ perennial struggles to devote our daily energies to students while simultaneously serving as advocates for and guardians of our programs, our colleagues, and ourselves. So many demands­such limited time! I thought several times of an intriguing book I’ve been reading during my sabbatical semester as I recharge and reflect. Andy Hargreaves, a Professor in Educational Studies at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, is the author of a wise and perceptive book about teachers’ lives and current proposals for educational reform. Changing Teachers, Changing Times: Teachers’ Work and Culture in the Postmodern Age, published by Teachers College Press,1994, is based on a study of elementary teachers’ and principals’ perceptions and use of planning and preparation time. I couldn’t help think that some of the insights Hargreaves offers might be of special interest to the EMEA community, particularly in light of the issues of planning time, travel time, and contact time with students that were raised at the conference and that seem eternal and ubiquitous.
     Hargreaves speaks of “four interrelated dimensions of time” (p. 96). They are: 1) technical-rational time, the objective framework of calendars, schedules, minutes per week, quantities; 2) micropolitical time, the way that teacher and student time is parceled out within a school, with different allocations for different subjects or grade levels; 3) phenomenological time, or the way time is experienced by teachers and students within schools­how time feels; and, 4) sociopolitical time, in which time is used to gain and maintain power for particular administrative purposes. Music educators are well aware of these political dimensions of time as we strive to preserve time for music in the curriculum, or seek preparation time that is equivalent to that granted to teachers of other subjects. We feel the effects of administrative decisions that seem to encroach upon our time with students. Music educators are notoriously vigilant about matters of time­in classrooms, within school settings, and as advocates for arts education. It is the third dimension, experienced time, however, where we exercise the greatest control and discretion, as Hargreaves addresses in this passage:

“Time is a fundamental dimension through which teachers’ work is constructed and interpreted by themselves, their colleagues and those who administer and supervise them. Time for the teacher is not just  an objective, oppressive constraint but also a subjectively defined horizon of possibility and limitation. Teachers can make time and take time, just as much as they are likely to see time schedules and time com-mitments as fixed and immutable.” (p.95).
     Time as a horizon of possibility and limitation seems to be a particularly apt metaphor for our work. Music teachers manage the objective time of clock and calendar in order to maximize the lived time of moment and experience. Within the limited raw material of minutes, we hope for moments of insight, communication, aesthetic response, the development of skill, the coming together of the ensemble. As I reflected on Hargreaves’ work, I thought of four themes that you might consider within your own horizons of possibility and limitation. First, think about the importance of giving ourselves permission to linger over unexpected events in the classroom that show a depth of musical understanding, or a students’ fresh insight. I find that it takes conscious effort to ignore the unrelenting march of the clock in order to savor the moment. A second thought relates to our stewardship of time, and consideration of the trivial matters that we can eliminate. What non-musical aspects of the daily routine can be dispatched in a quick and unobtrusive way?
      Our decisions about content are fundamentally related to time, especially considering the principle that “less is more.” Selection of musical literature is a good example. Can we maximize the time students spend with engaging, dynamic musical works by choosing fewer pieces and studying them more fully? 
      Finally, I thought about the ways we “make time and take time” for personal and professional renewal and regeneration. The ever-elusive balance between our lives at school and our lives outside of school is an ongoing dilemma for many of us in music education. Time to follow our intellectual and musical curiosities, visit with our colleagues, enjoy our families, find quiet and solitude­these are essential to our well being.
       The distribution and uses and meanings of time are many, as Hargreaves reminds us. Proposals for restructuring schools, he argues, will fail unless they address the culture of teaching and the dimensions of time that are part of that culture. In my view, this work underscores the importance of giving time to teachers for their wise, discretionary use in making the educational experience rich for our students and satisfying for us as teachers.

References
Hargreaves, A. (1994). Changing teachers, changing times: Teachers' work and culture in the postmodern age. New York: Teachers College Press.