Philosophy of Music Education

Ann Barker
 Music education is a necessary part of creating students who are productive and critical

members of society; people who observe, speak up about and work to solve issues for the

betterment of others and society as a whole. Music in schools helps students become music

listeners and performers so they can continue to engage in music throughout their lives. It

encourages them to have musical opinions and teaches them to express those opinions

productively so they can have open discussions with others. Learning to productively express

opinions can transfer to other aspects of students’ lives and help them become more impactful

members of society as adults.

The public school system is set up to help students find what they are passionate about

and how to pursue it outside of school. The public education system prepares students to be

productive and critical members of society as well as exposes them to as many parts of the world

as it can so they can gain a deeper understanding of how society functions and where they fit in

and can make a difference. The system also strives to expose students to as much as we can so

they find something they are passionate about and want to pursue outside of school. Society

wants students to come out of the public school system with a basic understanding of the world

and an idea of what they want to do with their lives while gaining knowledge, skills, and

dispositions to achieve these goals successfully.

Music is part of the human experience. Music is the intentional arrangement of sounds to

create expressive content. It is something we are all capable of creating and something we all

interact with every day regardless of what you do or where you’re from. Music is part of what it

means to be human. Music creates a sense of community between performers and listeners. The

public school system’s function is to expose students to as many aspects of the world as it can.
Understanding music is a crucial part of understanding the world. Not exposing students to

music in schools would be a failure of the education system.

Music education gives students an outlet and creates students who are able to talk about

music, are critical listeners, and are musically literate. When we teach students how to perform

and compose music in schools, we are teaching students how to express themselves in a positive,

creative way. This skill will help students become creative problem solvers which will help them

become more productive members of society.

In addition, music education teaches students to be critical music listeners and teaches

them how to talk about music in a productive way. Outside of school, students are most likely to

engage with music as a listener. Music education in schools should prepare them for this role by

teaching them how to actively listen, develop informed musical opinions and talk about those

opinions. Becoming a critical member of society is something we want our education system to

teach our students. We want them to have opinions and be aware of the aspects of the world they

do not like so they can help make society better. This includes music. Music is employed in our

daily lives to manipulate how we feel, what we notice, and even how much money we spend.

(https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/08/health/music-brain-behavior-intl). Being able to express how

a piece of music is making them feel and why they think that is or why they do or do not like a

piece of music can give them insight into how music in a particular setting is being used and give

them tools to speak out about it. Our students should be able to listen to music and decide what

they like about it and what they don’t and be able to talk about their thoughts in a productive way

using a musical vocabulary.

Students should also be musically literate through their music education classes. Musical

notation, standard, TAB, or otherwise, is how we communicate music. Being musically literate
gives students the opportunity to communicate their music with the world and contribute their

music to society in a more meaningful way. Without being musically literate in some way,

students won’t be able to engage with music fully. Being musically literate gives students a

deeper understanding of the musical process and music as a whole.

All students should take music classes so they can learn to engage better with music

throughout their lives, both as listeners and as performers/creators. All students have the ability

to create music and become musically informed. A music teacher’s role is to introduce students

to as much music as possible from as many sources, different cultures, time periods, composers,

ethnicities, etc., as possible and encourage students to develop and express their own opinions

about music as both performers and listeners. The music students engage with in school should

be both musics they listen to outside of school and music they don’t. This cannot happen without

a supportive, respectful learning environment. Students may not agree with their peers and need

to feel safe in their classroom to express opinions and ideas. A teacher’s job is to facilitate this

environment so students can have a productive and positive learning experience.

A music teacher should be someone who is musically capable as both a performer and a

listener so they can best teach students both of these aspects of music. They should also be

curious about music and willing to expose themselves to music of all genres and styles so they

can in turn expose their students to that same music. In addition, a music teacher should know

how music impacts daily life and how students can employ music in their daily lives to their

advantage. A music teacher should frequently inspect their own musical opinions so they can

teach their students to do the same.

The role of music education in schools is to help students develop musical opinions as

both listeners and performers. Music is an inherent part of our society and something everyone
needs to have a basic understanding of in order to be a productive member of society. The public

school system’s function is to introduce students to as many parts of the world as it can so

students can gain a deeper understanding of the world. Music is a part of our world that students

deserve to understand. Music is a part of being human. It provides a creative outlet and a sense of

community. It introduces people to different cultures and reflects the cultures of listeners and

performers. Music classrooms should be safe and supportive environments where students can

develop musically and express themselves with their peers, led by teachers who are musically

capable and passionate about music. Music is a part of our lives. Not giving our students the

opportunity to create and gain a deeper understanding of music is a disservice to them and

society.