Philosophy of Music Education
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
October 23, 2003
Il Mio Amore, la mia Passione, la mia Musica, I miei Sogni. My Love, my Passion, My Music, My Dreams. Why teach music? Because music is my passion, it is what I love and I want others to love it the way I do. Music is an instrument of and in our everyday lives. Everyone connects with music in someway and everyone looks at music a little differently. Music is a form of expression, it is written out of joy out of sorrow, out of grief, out of anger, out of love and longing for connection; every emotion imaginable. For some people, music is a form of worship, a form of escape, and/or a passion. In music you can feel the heart of the composer and the performer. Music is the international language of the world. With the strike of the first notes you can understand the story the music tells and the feeling that goes with it. Music is everywhere and in everything. Through music you can go anywhere and do anything, all your dreams can some true through the sounds of the rhythms, the melodies, and the ‘voices.’ For me, music is my passion. This is my calling, what I have been created to do, to teach music.
Music is a doorway to creativity. As a child music can greatly impact our lives with rhythms and beats to move to. Music is one of the first things that we are introduced to in life and should be something we should all continue to learn about as we grow. We are exposed to music everyday of our lives, it has been involved in all of history and so should it be involved in our future. Music tells of our history, it tells of our lives, it tells of how we’ve changed and how some things always seem to stay the same. Music is apart of every culture and is different in every culture. Music can teach us of other cultures and the way that they do things and view things. Almost all of history is told in song. Different styles teach us of different time periods and what went on during those times. You can compare and contrast music of days gone by to music of today to learn of how times have changed and how tastes have changed. Music expresses things that can’t be expressed in history books and storybooks.
Music teaches us about ourselves, others, and everything around us. Music is a way to learn self-expression. A good collection of music can teach of many different cultures and time periods. You will gain respect for those cultures, the people, and their ways of life. Experiencing other types of music gives an appreciation for the different styles. Classical training provides the best discipline and the techniques can be taken and applied to every other style of music one can do. Classical, however, is only one style of music to be taught. Allowing students to do a number from recent times, or giving them a ‘fun song’ to do, can help to loosen them up. More people will want to learn if it can be fun. An added plus is that music can also help in other areas of life. Music helps with motor skills, math skills and science skills.
Music is a part of our everyday lives, it should be encouraged and taught at all levels of education. People have different levels of interest in music, and so should it be taught to them accordingly, but everyone uses music in someway or another. Teachers should be real with their students, they should inspire their students. A Teacher should be passionate about what they are doing. Students should be able to speak to the teacher about all things, not just music. They should inspire students to be everything that they can be in every part of their lives and support them in what they are doing. A teacher is firm yet gentle, respected and yet a friend. A teacher needs to be a teacher and yet be teachable themselves.
What excites me? I can change someone’s life. I have been called to be a teacher; my future is set before me. I have been called to teach, inspire, befriend, and help those that will be my students. Knowing that they as well as I will benefit from our relationship as teacher and student, mentor and pupil, friends, inspires me. I am called to be a music teacher, but I am meant to teach so much more than that. I will teach what I know of life and love and anything else that I can to help my students succeed in music and in life. Being a teacher is not just teaching a subject. We are all students and we are all teachers. Through faith and with help, I will grow to be the best teacher that I can be so that I can help my students be the best that they can be.
Il Mio Amore, la mia Passione, la mia Musica, I miei Sogni.