Philosophy of Music Education

Meagan Thorlakson February 2016

Having a concrete philosophy is such an important part of being an

educator, it really makes one think about what is important to them and
why? Through creating a philosophy, answers are found to some of the most
difficult questions in education. The following is my philosophy of music
education. Though, to understand the importance of music education, one
must first understand the importance of music.

What is Music?
What is music? Where does it come from? Why do some
sequences of sounds move us so, while others such as dogs
barking or cars screeching make many people
uncomfortable? (Levitin, 2007)
Music is different for every single person, yet the same for everyone.
This can be seen through generational gaps, music to one person might be
Skrillexs Bangarang, whereas their grandparents might classify this as mere
noise and claim that this is not music. This can also be seen between
cultures, music to someone might be Tanya Tagaqs most recent album
Animism, whereas someone from another culture might regard her
contemporary use of Inuit throat singing as nonsense. In this regard, music is
different and individual for every single person. I have yet to meet someone

who has the exact same taste in music as another, let alone liking the same
aspects of a piece of music to the same depth. However, this means that
there can be a unifying definition of music as a collection of sounds that
come together to serve a purpose, intentional or not, that are appreciated by
the listener. For myself, I find music in the birds twittering in the trees on a
brisk January morning, this is a collection of sounds that are coming together
to communicate and I enjoy and appreciate this as it makes my soul feel light
and gives hope for the spring to come. This being said, the purposes for
music can be infinite, this is proved through cultures and history. Be it
communication, religion, entertainment of an audience, entertainment of a
performer, to make the time pass, to advertise, to heal, and many more, all
of these are purposes of music and often overlap, but there is always a
reason for music.
Furthermore, it needs to be noted that there can be absolutely no
substitution in our lives for music, regardless of how large or small of a role it
plays. It is a true phenomena of the human species: What an odd thing it is
to see an entire species billions of people playing with, listening to,
meaningless tonal patterns, occupied and preoccupied for much of their time
by what they call music. (Sacks, 2008) Even when we do not notice it,
music is there, and it has been for all of recorded human existence. Music is
unusual among all human activities for both its ubiquity and its antiquity. No
known human culture now or anytime in the recorded past lacked music.
(Levitin, 2007) All of this points to music being an innate aspect of humanity,

and for this reason, it is impossible to ignore but is so easy to take for
granted. My goal as a music educator is to impart such an appreciation for
talent and music that it is no longer taken for granted.

Should Music Be Taught in Schools?

Music is an indispensable part of universal human knowledge.
He who lacks it has a faulty knowledge. A man without music
is incomplete. So it is obvious that music should be a school
subject. It is essential. (Kodly, 2002)
As can be seen throughout cultures and histories, music is integral, just
the same as language, so why would something this important ever be left
out of a public and free education? Music is just as important as math,
languages, and in fact involves a lot of the same elements as the sciences,
and therefore deserves just as much credit and deserves a place alongside
reading, writing, and arithmetic in todays educational institutions. For the
artist, the goal of the painting or musical composition is not to convey literal
truth, but an aspect of a universal truth that if successful, will continue to
move and to touch people even as contexts, societies, and cultures change.
For the scientist, the goal of a theory is to convey truth for now to replace
an old truth, while accepting that someday this theory, too, will be replaced
by a new truth, because that is the way science advances. (Levitin, 2007)
In saying this, Levitin claims that music transcends time or place in order to
describe universal truths, whereas science is limited to describing current
truths. Music has so much to say about history, context, and cultures through

these universal truths, that it would be a crime to limit the understanding of

these truths by not providing students with an adequate music education.
In addition, as described by Sir Ken Robinson, there are four basic
purposes of education: personal, cultural, social and economic. These
purposes are the reasons we teach, and no one purpose should ever take
precedence over another. Sadly, this is not the case in the North American
school model as the economic purpose takes priority. It is so important to get
back to these four core purposes, and this can be easily achieved through a
thorough music education. Music is a personal learning experience as it is a
student developing their musical talent and skill, be it through learning an
instrument, finding their voice, or developing their ear. Anyone who has gone
through this process may attest to just how personal this can be. A student
learns arguably infinitely more about themselves in a music classroom than
in a math classroom. The adventure of having such a personal learning
experience is so powerful in showing a student how talented they are and
what they can do. It is empowering and provides the student with a sense of
accomplishment. Next, music is cultural in so many ways. Not only does
music provide us with a fabulous sense of our own culture, but also that from
the far reaches of the world and from 500 years ago. Music also allows
students to have a hand in contributing to their own culture and to have an
understanding that can really only be experienced through music.
Furthermore, music in many ways can be a very individual act, however at its
very core, is a social experience. For millennia stories and histories have

been shared around the fire through song. During the 18th Century, it was
common for a group of friends to assemble in a living room and play string
quartets together. In the music classrooms of today, students from an array
of cultural backgrounds and socioeconomic classes (which can in many cases
be dividing factors) come together in a choir or band to create a musical
experience unlike any other. Eric Whitacres Sleep cannot be sung alone.
Finally, in a music classroom, there are lessons that can be achieved
effortlessly that would take so much more work in other contexts. It is in the
music classroom that students learn the value of the individual, the right to
self-determination, our potential to evolve, what it means to live a fulfilled
life, the importance of civic responsibility, and respect for others. All of these
contribute to the development of active, compassionate citizens, an aspect
that is so important to a healthy economy. Ultimately, the role of teachers,
including music teachers, is to enable students to understand the world
around them and the talents within them so that they can become fulfilled
individuals and active, compassionate citizens. (Robinson, 2015)
To expand upon the idea of developing students to think with an
economic mindfulness, the world economy of the 21st Century needs creative
thinkers. It is no longer a matter of climbing the economic ladder, but rather:
develop the concept that no one else has, and do it before one of the 7
billion other people on this planet does. Now, of course this is a bit of an
exaggeration, but maybe not quite as much as one may think. What we need
to do as educators is give the students the tools they need to understand

just how much they are capable of, (Robinson, 2011) so that they may
participate in the 21st Century economy. This is contradicted by the rate at
which schools are eliminating the subjects which awaken this creativity and
are instead focusing on the standardized subjects that, in many instances,
deaden creativity. This is a grave mistake.
Of course there are many other reasons that music education should
be taught in all schools. Many people will declare associative benefits such
as: improved language abilities, increased emotional resilience, increased
empathy, increased attention span and focus, increased self-confidence,
(Royal Conservatory of Music, 2014) as well as many others. These
associative benefits are very important and it should be noted that in most
cases they are true! However, the most important thing is the understanding
of the world that students obtain through music and creative expression that
can be seldom experienced anywhere outside of the music classroom.

Who Should Receive a Musical Education?

The most urgent task is to make the means of music culture
accessible for as many people as possible, primarily through
the schools. (Kodly, 2002)
I very strongly believe that music education should be no different
from language education, math education, or the education of any other
core subjects. Every sound child with good eyes and ears is able to learn
music and should learn music, (Kodly, 2002) there is absolutely no reason
that any individual should be held back from a thorough music education. It
would be a crime for an individual to be barred from the education of music

due to their race, age, gender, or socioeconomic status. No one should be

deprived of music because their parents are too poor and thus unable to
provide music lessons. (Kodly, 2002) It is the duty of educators to provide
the most comprehensive and thorough education to all, without putting
barriers in the way, to this music education should be no exception.

Who Should Teach Music?

Gardeners know that they dont make plants grow. They
dont attach the roots, glue the leaves, and paint the petals.
Plants grow themselves. The job of the gardener is to create
the best conditions for that to happen. Good gardeners create
those conditions, and poor ones dont. Its the same with
teaching. Good teachers create the conditions for learning,
and poor ones dont. (Robinson, 2015)
This quote from Ken Robinsons book Creative Schools sums up the role
of teachers better than I ever could. This shows what it means to be a good
teacher, a teacher should be someone who creates the conditions for
learning, this is no different in a music classroom. The person who is capable
of creating the conditions for learning in a music classroom must have an
extensive and intimate knowledge of the field. Music is such a specialized
area that in order to truly give the students what they need to find success
through learning, the teacher must know what it feels like to find success in
music themselves. One of the biggest aspects of being an educator is
modeling, music educators must be great musicians themselves to
appropriately model this to their students, a rudimentary knowledge and
experience is simply not enough.

What Should Be Taught in The Music Curriculum?

Only relatively recently in our own culture, five hundred years
or so ago, did a distinction arise that cut society in two,
forming separate classes of music performers and music
listeners. Throughout most of the world and for most of human
history, music making was as natural an activity as breathing
and walking and everyone participated. (Levitin, 2007)
I believe that music should be taught as something that everyone
should participate in. Music should be taught as an experience, rather than a
performance. The likelihood of having a student from a music classroom
continuing onto further education in the field may only be one a year,
anywhere from one in thirty to one in five-hundred. If I go in as a music
teacher and am teaching specifically so a student feels inspired to become
the next Nicola Benedetti, then I have already failed the other 29 or the
other 499 students that have come through my door. My goal as a music
educator is to teach all aspects of music so that every single student
continues to not just listen to, but actively participate in, music for the rest of
their lives. This being said, the curriculum of a music classroom should not
be the pieces leading up to the concert, but rather overarching musical
concepts that are demonstrated through strategically chosen pieces. This is
true for all levels of music education. Music educators damn themselves,
their colleagues in music education, and their classrooms by picking some
cool pieces, or some fun activities, without mind to what the purpose of the
learning experience is. This blatant disregard for the concepts of music and
the purpose of music education makes the learning experience irrelevant.
The mindfulness that is applied to lesson, unit, and year planning in math,

biology, English, social studies, and every other area, should also be applied
in music. Furthermore, teachers in all other subjects are always craving to
make their subject material relevant to students, this again, should be the
same in music. The classics of music education of course have a place in the
music classroom, but they have a place alongside the current music of the
day. Just because the value placed upon the music might be different, does
not mean that value of a learning opportunity through that piece of music is
any less. As a matter of fact, I would argue that the learning potential is
greater due to the fact that the students are connected to the music in a way
that they simply cannot be with the dead white guys of the classics. Now,
of course, selecting repertoire when incorporating current music into the
classroom requires just as much mindfulness as when selecting classical
repertoire. Just because it takes work, does not mean that this amazing
potential should be ignored. Music educators across North America need to
remove themselves from their ivory towers of Beethoven, Bach, and Mozart,
before they snob themselves into extinction.

When Should a Childs Musical Education Begin/End?

Where Should Music Be Taught? How Should Music Be
Taught?
The smaller the child, the more easily it learns, the less it
forgets.
(Kodly, 2002)
There is no age too young at which to begin music education. The
sooner a student begins their music education; the more time they will have
with this wonderful world open to them. When it comes to public education,

beginning in kindergarten at the age of 5 is fantastic. Students at this age

can learn the amazing things that music has to teach all of us with such ease
and fluidity that this really begins their journey on the right foot.
Furthermore, music education at this age is so based in the playing of games
and singing that it cannot help but be enjoyable to all. This sets up a sense of
success that will hopefully continue throughout the childs music education
career.
There is also no age too old at which to end music education. I believe
that many us into our 80s will be continuing our music education, albeit
informally, but this does not count any less. Now, in regards to music
education in the public school system, I really dont believe it should have a
point at which 90% of the student population decides to no longer continue.
Mandatory middle school and high school music is the world of music
education that I would love to see develop. I believe that due to the points I
raise throughout this philosophy, a general music class in middle school and
high school would be extraordinarily beneficial. I believe that a music class
has so much to offer students, particularly in a cross curricular context, that
to halt their music education at the end of grade 5 and to make them choose
is awful. They, at this point would need to choose between band or choir, a
choice which I do not believe they should have to make, students should be
able to do both if they so wish. I also do not believe that they should have to
do either in order to continue their music education, this is why the general
music class has so much to offer. While performance is a very important

aspect of music making, this may not be what everyone wants to do, and we
should not make students choose between their music education and
whether or not they want to perform. Music education has a place from the
beginning of an individuals education, right through to the end. To limit this
potential education at any point, is a travesty.
Music should be taught wherever, however, and whenever possible.
Music should not be limited or constrained in any way shape or form. Not by
walls, roofs, dollar signs, methodologies, or grades. There is a place for music
in every school: private, public, home. Wherever music can be made and
wherever music can be taught, it should be. In whatever way music can be
made and in whatever way music can be taught, it should be. To put
boundaries such as these on music would be about as effective as damming
the ocean.

A musical education provides our young people with the skills to

appreciate music. This will always be there for them and can provide an
escape, a bliss, a reason to get out of bed in the morning when life gets too
hard an appreciation for the beauty in the world, even in the darkest of
times.

Bibliography
Kodly, Z. (2002). Legyen a zene mindenki: 120 idzet irsaibl s
beszdeibol = Music should belong to everyone: 120 quotations from his
writings and speeches. Budapest: International Kodly Society.
Levitin, D. J. (2007). This is your brain on music: The science of a human
obsession. New York: Plume.
Robinson, K. (2011). Out of our minds: Learning to be creative. Oxford:
Capstone.
Robinson, K. (2015). Creative Schools: The Grassroots Revolution That's
Transforming Education. New York: Penguin Publishing Group.
Royal Conservatory of Music, The. (2014, April). The Benefits of Music
Education: An Overview of Current Neuroscience Research. Retrieved
February 3, 2016, from
https://www.rcmusic.ca/sites/default/files/files/RCM_MusicEducationBenefits.p
df
Sacks, O. W. (2008). Musicophilia: Tales of music and the brain. Toronto:
Vintage Canada.