My Philosophy of Music Education
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
October 22, 2002
Music education can be thought of differently according to different thoughts, knowledge, experience, and opinions that people have. Music is something that everyone can and does experience in many different ways. It can have different importance to people, depending on how they view it. Some people think music is important, some don’t. Some people like to be involved in music, some don’t. I feel that the bottom line is that no matter how you feel about music; it affects your everyday life, and is therefore an important part of everybody.
Music is very important in life, because it affects everything. Think back to what you did today. Can you honestly say that music in some way or another did not affect it? That is why I feel it is so important. It is one thing that anyone can relate to. What would life be without music in movies, or TV shows? Or how boring would life be if you couldn’t just sit and listen to your favorite CD? I’d say it would be plain. Sometimes you need music to relax. Other times you use it to get excited for something, like sports. This proves that music can be mood altering, which is also helpful in everyday life.
Music should be taught in schools, because it can help out with so many things, without even realizing it. Have you ever memorized something by a little jingle? One of my favorite examples would be the “Fifty Nifty” state song. This is a song that was taught to me in elementary school. It has all the states in alphabetical order. To this day, I remember this song and could recite every state. There’s no way I would have been able to just memorize all the states, especially in elementary school. That is just one example of how music affects learning. Now that I am older, I still use music all the time. If I am going crazy with school work and I need to “get away,” I can just put on my headphones and listen to something to help me relax. That is something that anyone can relate to. Music can also teach children to concentrate. You have to really know how to concentrate with music, so that can also help out with other subjects.
I think all different types of music should be taught in schools. There should be a big variety, so that it can apply to everyone. Just like there basically already is, there should be bands, orchestras, different choirs, etc. Everyone relates to music in a different, unique way, so there should be different, unique groups that they can join. Different age groups would also need different types of music. You can not try to get very young kids to try to play or sing something that they can’t understand. You also can not have older students playing or singing something that is to easy for them. They need to be challenged.
Music should be open to anyone. Anyone is capable of enjoying and being actively involved in music, therefore, anyone should be able to be a part of it. I personally think that there should be a required music class. I think if they can require Phy. Ed., why don’t they require music? I think that right now, a lot of students don’t join music, because they feel like they are either too behind and it’s too late to join, or they just feel like they don’t belong with students who have been in it longer than them. If everyone was required to take some sort of music, then they would be able to feel like they did fit in with it somewhere. I think once a student gets a background of music, they could really decide whether or not they liked it. A lot of people chose to not be involved with music, without knowing anything about it. I think that everyone should be given an equal opportunity to be involved with it.
I think that music should be taught by people who truly love it. If it is taught by someone who does not have the passion for it, that will get put through in their teaching and will not give a real sense of what music is really about. Music should also be taught by someone who loves to teach. I’m sure you have worked with people who you can tell don’t like what they are doing. It makes the enjoyment of it go away for everyone. If a teacher really loves teaching, then his/her enthusiasm comes through their teaching and affects everyone. A person who teaches music also has to love to work with children. Children are probably not they easiest to work with and you have to be able to deal with that and continue to teach them no matter what. You also have to be able to out yourself at their same level, or else they will not understand you. Overall, in order to teach music in schools, you must love music, teaching, and children.
When you add all of this together, you get where the passion in music comes from, and why it is so important in life.