ROCK AND ROLL IS HERE TO STAY: ENHANCING EXPERIENTIAL PEDAGOGY WITH MUSICAL EXERCISES Developments In Business Simulation & Experiential Learning, Volume 24, 1997 ROCK AND ROLL IS HERE TO STAY: ENHANCING EXPERIENTIAL PEDAGOGY WITH MUSICAL EXERCISES Walter J. Wheatley, The University of West Florida OVERVIEW The old adage that music “calms the savage beast” probably was based upon centuries of folklore. Today, the research on the benefits of music is growing at a pace faster than a rolling stone. In addition, there appears to be no limit to the efficacy of music. For example, music research is found in medicine, agriculture, horticulture, psychology, and education to name just a few. There already exists a multiplicity of studies reporting the benefits of music as a pedagogical technology. While this research was an impetus for this workshop, it is not the main focus of this workshop. This workshop will engage its audience in several exercises (see attached) that can be utilized in the classroom for a variety of purposes. While the proposed design of the workshop is quite simple, it should prove to be quite effective. It consists of several exercises that revolve around musical themes. Some of the exercises will actually have live music as the focus point of the exercise while other exercises will involve knowledge of types of music, musical artists, song titles, musical themes and/or lyrics. One experiential exercise that will employ live music, for example, is the ageless game of musical chairs. This simple, but high energy game, can be used to determine who gets a job promotion, who will receive a pay increase, or as a down-sizing exercise. Another live music based exercise is “music bingo” which will be presented as both an effective listening exercise as well as a team- building exercise. Exercises that do not involve live music will include activities such as matching musicians & quasi-metaphors, music cross-word puzzles, and other related music trivia projects. These exercises can serve as ice breakers, energizers, or to enhance creativity, group dynamics and cultural diversity. Once students have participated in these exercises they can then be divided into teams. Each team will be assigned the task of developing their own musical exercise that will be presented to the class. This task will allow them to experientially engage in all of the basic management processes. This workshop will present more exercises than can probably be covered in the time allotted. However, it will allow the audience to experience the excitement, exhilaration, interest, and innovation that experiential exercises with a musical theme can generate. Drawing from the related literature and the author’s own experience of using music in the classroom, the lessons learned leave a very positive and lasting effect on the students. This workshop represents the culmination of two years of work in this area by the author. All ABSEL members who attend this workshop will be invited to participate in, as many exercises that time will allow in order that they can experience the excitement and fun that these exercises will generate. Again, while it is part of the overall scheme to provide a relaxed and enjoyable learning environment, I will emphasis the necessity that these exercises need to be fully debriefed after they have been completed to insure that learning takes place. Finally, I will discuss the configuration of my sound system. This may seem like a trivial topic, but in order for music to be utilized in the classroom, it must be of sufficient sound amplitude and quality. Most classrooms are not designed to handle the necessary wattage required and the 211 Developments In Business Simulation & Experiential Learning, Volume 24, 1997 majority of portable CD players and boomboxes are extremely inadequate. It took me over a year of research and many conversations with audio experts to come up with a portable and reasonably priced sound system. THE LEARNING ROBUSTNESS OF MUSICAL CHAIRS In my experience as an educator and a trainer for over thirty years, this favorite child’s game has the robustness to be one of the best learning tools available today. It is very simple to set up, an extremely exciting exercise to participate in, a very enjoyable and energizing activity for the audience to observe, and its educational potential is only limited by the instructor. The process is simple. Chairs are arranged in a row in alternate positions. There will be one less chair than participants. The participants walk around the chairs in a circular fashion while the instructor has some up-tempo music playing. When the instructor stops the music, the participants sit in the closest available chair. Obviously one participant will not find a chair and is removed from the exercise. The music is started again and the process repeats itself until only one participant is left. The instructor should exercise caution to stop the music at differing intervals and in a manner that is oblivious to the participants. In addition, since this exercise generates a very high excitement level, the instructor needs to urge caution to prevent injury to the participants. Not only is this exercise an excellent icebreaker, but, it can be used to award the last participant in the activity a job and/or a promotion or an incentive bonus. Several iterations of it can be used for a massive layoff where all of the participants who are eliminated from the game are selected to be terminated. As was mentioned above, the games pedagogical potential is virtually limitless. HOT POTATO This exercise is an adaption of musical chairs with the added benefit that it is designed to facilitate more participants. A sponge ball, the “hot potato" is given to one of many students standing in the classroom. When the music is activated the student tosses the ball to another student who in turn tosses the ball to another, etc. until the instructor stops the music. The student holding the “hot potato” at that time is eliminated from the game, assumes his or her seat, and gives the ball to the closest standing student. The music is activated and the game resumes until only one student is left standing holding the “hot potato”. The learning outcomes follow the same lines as those stated above in musical chairs. The major differences between this and musical chairs is that the instructor can involve an entire class, is a faster paced game, and is a little easier to utilize a sponge ball than the row of chairs which may or may not be convenient to use. MUSIC BINGO This musical exercise shows cultural diversity in- groups. If you have a diverse work group, you have a better team concept and can work together to obtain goals or results. In this exercise, each team is given a Bingo Card with sixteen song titles and/or recording artists on it. A variety of songs are played for approximately thirty seconds each. The teams will have to identify the song title and/or recording artist and mark the appropriate space on their bingo cards. The first team to get BINGO is the winner. Since this exercise uses a variety of types of music the team having the most diverse group should be the winners. MUSICAL STOP & GO This exercise is designed to be used in courses where the students are taught in teams. Thus, the intent of this game is to demonstrate the impact that one-team members performance can have on the entire team. 212 Table of Contents Volume 24, 1997 Incorporating Computer Telephony into the MIS Course A Learner Oriented Infrastructure for videoconferencing Based Distance Education Courses The Identification of Temporally Related Structural Elements of the Experiential Component of Electronic Spreadsheet Tasks Does Involvement Influence Learning from Simulation Participation? Some Relationships with Helpfulness and Performance Outcomes Musings on Business Garne Performance Evaluation Performance on a TE Simulation: What does it represent? The Business Policy Game: An International Simulation - An Assessment Tool Students in Free Enterprise as Experiential Learning The Role of Computer Models in Wargames: A Practitioner's view Using Focus Groups as a Tool to Research Learning: A Demonstration and a Discussion Using Medical Simulations to Teach Multi-Cultural Diversity Using the World Game to Internationalize International Exchange Game Community Services Needs Assessment: An Innovative Approach Introducing Students to Potential Total Quality Management Ethical Dilemmas Privacy in the Workplace: A Situational Analysis Antecedents of Learning in Simulations Demonstrating the Learning Effectiveness of Simulation: Where we are and Where we need to go The Use of Computer Simulations as a Pedagogical Aid in Teaching Management Information Systems Evaluating Simulation Learning in a Distant Learning Instructional Model Financial Engineering of Global Investments The Labor History Game: Playing with the Past Perks Participation Assessing Negotiator's Proficiency with a Negotiation role-play The Art of Negotiating Enhancing Learning and Employee Development through the Assessment of Learning Pedagogy Preferences across selected Dimensions of Culture: A Preliminary Investigation Cooperative Learning: What are we Learning? Effective Use of Mastery Based Experiential learning in a Project Course to improve skills in system analysis and Design Simulations and Learning: Can we prove a relationship? (Seminar) Predicting and Reviewing NYSE Stock Prices by use of Basic Statistical Analysis and Logic Toy Car Depreciation Exercise ABSEL as Home Community: An Interactive Exploration Service Learning: Linking Academic Study to Community Development and Business Enhancement Ability of Efficient Evaluation of Knowledge-Based Management Strategies Corporate Ethics Training Programs Modeling Attributes in Demand Functions of Computerized Business Simulations: An Extension of Teach's Gravity Flow Algorithm Expert Systems Combined with Neutral Networks: Tools to Benefit the Marketing Researcher Computer Game Design: New Directions for Intercultural Simulation Game Designers Consistency in Simulation Performance over Time and Across Simulation Games The Impact of an Artificial Market Leader on Simulation Competitor's Strategies Business Plans, Case Studies, and Total Enterprise Simulations: A Natural Co-existence An Exploration into the Non-Use of Business Simulations The Market Game: Interactive Learning Through Market Simulation Plotting Brand Trajectories with the COMPLETE PPM package: A Market Segmentation Analysis and Positioning Tool Me and Mine Inc: An Exercise in Management Theory Learning to Differentiate Leadership from Managerial Position Business Ethics Survey: A Perspective from the Retail Industry Experiential Learning in Demand Analysis for an Agricultural Commodity Marketing on the Internet: A Pedagogical Exercise College Students Need Simple Computer Simulations, Especially for International Business Courses An Analysis of Student Attitudes, Performance, and Strategies in a Simulation Competition Based on a Controlled Product-Market-Entry Game Structure The Crystal Enterprise: Application of a Non-Computerized Simulation Model in a Process of Organizational Change Threshold: A Windows-Based Behaviorally Oriented Total Enterprise Simulation Coaching Business Game Teams Using a Decision Variable Optimizer Rock and Roll is here to Stay: Enhancing Experiential Pedagogy with Musical Exercises An Example of Business Process Analysis Simulation for Customer Software Support The Use of Business Gaming in Hong Kong Academic Institutions Using the Integrative International Simulation INTOPIA Mark 2000 in a Concentrated MBA Curriculum A Group Experience as an Integrated Part of the Core Management Course Empowered Learning in the Classroom The Inter-Group Interaction: An Innovative Approach to Cooperative Learning Courses that Utilize Student Team: An Approach to enhancing their Effectiveness Thoughts about the Measurement of Learning: The Case for Guided Learning and Associated Measurement Issues Measuring Student Learning Using Business Simulations: A Theory Based Perspective On the Use of PC Fingame in an Undergraduate Finance Course How Managers get Things Done: A Virtual Soundbite Internet Experiential learning in the Principals of Marketing Classroom: A Pedagogical Approach Current Student Perceptions Relative to Business Simulations Beyond Capitalism: Designing Business Policy and Social Justice The Use of Boards of Directors to Evaluate Reports and Presentations in an Undergraduate Business Policy Course Beacon Lumber: An Experiential Introduction to Financial Accounting The Application of Organizational Motivation Principles: The Experiential Business Simulation Motus Manufacturing Avoiding a Bogey: Grading Case Discussions Scientifically Communicating Consumer Behavior II: A Modified Exercise Using Personal Consumption Journals in Condensed Courses Designing Instruments for Assessing the Effectiveness of Simulations, (Seminar) 360º Performance Feedback: Appraisal vs. Assessment The Cafeteria Approach to Managing an Academic Career: Remaining Non-Perishable while Doing Your Own Thing An Experiential Exercise Related to Person-Organization Fit and it's Consequences For Today's Dynamic and Changing World, Business Simulations need to be expanded to encompass Much Greater Complexity: A Demonstration The Incident Process: A Case in Reverse Contextually-Anchored Business Simulations The Energy Factor: Building Motivation in the Simulation Gaming Environment The Design of an Internet Game