Mumford reverses the dynamic, putting FACET members on the ‘hot seat’ of song
(Editor's note: The 2009 Class of FACET has been named and new members of the elite group of IU faculty are listed in today's edition. Click on HEADLINERS on today's front page.)
"I've always believed that if you can talk, I can teach you to sing," said James Mumford, emeritus director of the IU Afro-American Choral Ensemble and a member of the university's Faculty Colloquium on Excellence in Teaching (FACET).
And so, the stage was set in May 1997 for the ultimate teaching challenge. Was Mumford, recognized as a master teacher, as good as he promised? Could he take the untrained voices of 24 white IU faculty FACET volunteers, and during the organization's annual three-day, summer retreat, turn them into a respectable choir?
"I learned a long time ago, and not from books, that singing is nothing but extended talking. It is impossible to hold a long vowel sound without singing," said Mumford. "Most people just think they can't sing, because they are thinking in comparisons. And that's all learning is -- every person has most of what they need to learn, but if the mind says, 'I can't,' then that person will say,'OK. I can't.' A teacher's duty is to reaffirm their students' capabilities."
The teaching experiment Mumford led was designed to put accomplished and award-winning faculty-who had mastered teaching disciplines as diverse as journalism, environmental science, business and social science -- back into the hot seat, the same seat students occupy in their classes. The faculty could remember what it felt like to learn something new, to be put on the spot, to be tested, to risk failure.
"I was petrified at first by the idea of teaching the most brilliant minds at IU to sing," said Mumford. "But I told myself that I already teach the most challenging students in the world -- my students at IU. I wouldn't change who I am or how I teach because my students at this retreat had Ph.D.s. I knew I had to come to them as an open book, just like I was going to ask them to come to me."
Like Mumford, choir members were challenged to think about what it is to be a teacher. What is the teacher's role and purpose in leading the students to mastery of a new subject? How do people learn something new and sometimes intimidating? How does a teacher make it safe for students to make a mistake and to try again?
FACET members are nominated by IU colleagues to become a part of the organization, which was created in 1989 as a Presidential Initiative. The group's purpose is to provide a community of faculty who are dedicated to excellence in teaching and learning. More than 400 faculty now belong to the group.
Mumford, emeritus director of the IU African American Choral Ensemble, directs the FACET singers.
On the first day of the retreat, a Friday, the group performed "Now Behold the Lamb," cold and with no coaching. "They sounded terrible the first time, and I didn't lie," said Mumford. "But I found absolutely everything they did good and played heavily on that. Students can tell when you are sincere. And I told them that I was holding them to a high standard, and that they wouldn't get off easily just because they were white professors trying to sing gospel."
Mumford joked and teased as he began to shape the choir. He created an atmosphere that was accepting and defined the task at hand, as well as his expectations for the group. He demonstrated sounds he did and didn't want to hear, he helped his "students" to see the humor in the situation, cajoled them through their solos, and praised them for taking a risk.
The solos were a surprise.
"Well, I kind of snuck it in on them," Mumford said. "I said, 'By the way, with my IU choir, I have call outs. Once we know a song, there is a period of time that any student can be called upon to sing a solo.' I told this choir of professors that no one would be exempt, and that if we were going to move forward that, all the wheels on the bus had to turn. If your wheel isn't turning, you will slow us down. I also promised that the group would be there to support them.
"Some of them really didn't want to sing that solo," Mumford said. "Mostly the men and I knew who they were. I waited to call on them when the time was right. But they all learned what it means not to say, 'I can't.' They had to find another way to say they were having difficulty. They could say that they were struggling with this right now, but they couldn't say, 'I can't. They could say, 'I'll try.' And some of them were moved to tears by their own solo or those of others."
On the final day of the retreat, Sunday, the group performed for around 90 of their fellow FACET members. In rehearsals, Mumford had shared his own emotional response to "Now Behold the Lamb," and then challenged his students to reflect on the meaning of words as they sang.
"Everyone came to understand that feeling was the most important thing -- it didn't matter if they were those most accomplished choir in the world," said Mumford. "They all began to sing like they were holding a baby lamb and comforting the creature. It was beautiful. Everyone recognized it, and the audience broke into applause. It was a sincere reaction to what they had done.
"And when they began to sing at their performance, it was the same thing," continued Mumford, who said that the experience was as moving and informative for him as it was for the singers.
"There was not a dry eye in the choir. They hadn't known the gift within them. We all had come from mile one to mile 500, with nobody left behind. It was a little strange at the end, all of the uncontrolled sobbing, but they were so thrilled at what they had done and there was a sadness that it was over."
Mumford, along with other FACET members, believes that the topic being taught doesn't matter. The basic concepts of excellent teaching are the same for physics as they are for social work.
"These techniques are transferable," said Mumford. "Ask anyone in FACET. It is about being positive and not proclaiming something closed. It is about instilling the skills to say, 'I will get it. I'm going to get it.' I do believe that subject matter is not the important thing in life. It's keeping the mind open and teaching for 'utility.' There should be a reason someone should know this, even if it is just to stimulate the mind.
"If none of those professors ever sing again," said Mumford, "and some of them did -- they went right out and joined their church choirs -- they still had a renewed experience of testing themselves, of learning something new and challenging, and of being part of a successful group."
To watch the video of Mumford and the FACET choir, go to: http://homepages.indiana.edu/asset/page/normal/6494.html.
