Philosophy of Music Education

Music is a pervasive aspect of our society. By teaching music, students can hone social and

emotional intelligences, become culturally aware with musical context, and become artistic and creative

people. Teachers must remember that learning happens across all classrooms, and that learning music

can reinforce key competencies that allow students to be successful citizens in multiple contexts.

To access student’s interest and make learning enjoyable, students will need to learn and

analyze familiar music and music that is challenging for them. There are many structures of analyzing

music such as form, lyrics, and orchestration that satisfies creative and emotional learning. Through this

process, our students will be able to simultaneously practice literacy skills and musical skills.

A responsible music classroom includes learning through multiple mediums, such as discussing,

creating, analyzing, reflecting, and collaborating. To achieve this, the structure of the classroom must

remain true to the fundamentals of learning about music, performing music, assessing each student’s

progress. To avoid teaching to assessment, teachers must remember to address all these areas and

realize that improving the process will affect the product. Whereas, focusing on the product will not

necessarily improve the process. Additionally, being responsible by using a variety of music in the

curriculum will engage students from many different backgrounds and allow teachers to be culturally

aware and responsive.

The result of these methods is that students will have engaged with different kinds of music, can

interact with music after leaving the classroom, and the teacher will have improved practices through

teaching responsibly for a variety of individuals. The end goal for the music classroom is the same as

American education – to be an active, engaged, and responsible citizen under context.