The three biggest words of a music educator’s life are music, teaching, and learning.

But
the trouble of how the role of music is changing in society is becoming a huge issue for the
future of music in schools. It’s necessary for teachers to understand the definition of music in
today’s society, what teaching means, what learning means, and how they all fit together in order
to create a better future for music education.
Music in today’s society has been deemed almost “untouchable”, as the majority believe
that they are not or could not be musicians. One of the jobs of future and current music
educators, is how to break this block to music. Cecilia Roudabush said, “Everyone can make
music. It’s up to me to figure out how they can” (Alternative Approaches in Music Education,
Clements). She stated this about her program she had to create for students who were not
enrolled in any ensembles, after it became a state regulation for students to have to take a general
music course. Keeping music in students’ lives should be one of the primary goals of all music
educators, and Roudabush was able to inspire students to pursue music after their required class.
Even if students didn’t choose to join an ensemble or create an ensemble after the class, they
were given more information about music that can prepare them to have a more fulfilling future
in music.

However, it is hard to ignore the elephant in the room that is the loss of students in music
programs. In a study from the California Department of Education, there was a 50% drop of
students from music courses from 1994-2004 (Tipping Point, Katus). Is this due to the fact
society does not care about music programs anymore? Or is it due to teachers not adapting to
society changing?

One of the important jobs of an educator is learning to adapt, whether it be small scale or
society. One of the issues that Katus brings up in Tipping Point is that teachers can’t adapt to the
change that music has made in society. People can now have a more personal connection with
music, as someone could pull up music on their phone instead of a performance. Teachers need
to learn to develop a way to connect in-school music and out-of-school music.

Teaching is learning, or at least a byproduct of it. In order to teach something, one has to
learn it. Learning is absorbing knowledge well enough to apply and teach it to others. Teaching
is the action of passing knowledge from one person to another. In order to accomplish this
action, it’s necessary for teachers to know information well enough to where the student(s) can
understand the concept as well as the teacher. It’s hard to talk about teaching without learning,
as it’s a cycle of knowledge being passed, absorbed, and passed again. This cycle can also be
applied to music, and should be. Music educators need to understand their content enough to
teach students so they can become as knowledgeable as their teachers. It is the job of music
educators to continue this cycle, and to continue it to where their students can create a better
cycle of learning and teaching.

It’s easy to ask the question, why is this cycle important and how does it relate to music?
Music is sounds and silences, organized in a way to convey emotions or ideas. Music has
connected people for thousands of years, and will continue to connect people. In today’s society,
it has become easier to enjoy music without this connection. The job of a music educator, is to
continue this connection with the cycle of learning and teaching. It is important to bring this
connection back, as music should always be a way to convey emotions and ideas with one
another like it has for thousands of years.

When music educators understand the roles of music, teaching, and learning and how
they all fit together, it creates a path for a better future for music in schools. Students will learn
to pass their teachers and will possibly become better music educators than who taught them. If
teachers learn to understand these concepts better and put them into practice, it will create a
better future for music all together.