ACADEMIA Letters

Teaching Who You Have: Music Belongs to Everyone

Jody Blake, University of Tennessee Martin

The purpose of this paper is to briefly investigate one of the major philosophical challenges
facing the music education profession – who does music belong to? In other words, who do
we (music educators) teach? This question has persisted since the beginning of the profession,
as many philosophers have attempted to answer it (Elliott, 2014; Reimer, 2003). Furthermore,
the following paper is designed to provoke conversation and thought among professional music
educators regarding this topic.
Humankind is the custodian of musical art. Since the beginning of time immemorial,
humans were innately musical. The art of music resonates within us and speaks through us,
transcending all cultures, races, religions, creeds, languages, and any other barrier one can
devise. Slobin and Titon (1992) state it best, “So far as we know, every human society has
music. Music is universal…“ (p. 1). Our musical experience begins before we are even born,
as research suggests that babies respond to music in their mother’s womb (Ilari, 2002). Thus,
music does not belong to any one entity, institution, or being – it belongs to all. Do we, as
“professional” music educators, truly believe that? Are the musically talented the creators and
scholars of music, and the musically mediocre the consumers of music? This question would
inevitably be answered 100 different ways by 100 different people, each answer as unique as
the person answering.
So, first let us attempt to answer this: Who are the “musically talented”? As a child, I had
a gorgeous boy soprano voice trained in the boy choir tradition. I was constantly praised for
my “talent”. Taken at face-value, it appeared that I was endowed with a gift (i.e. “talent”);
however, when my voice changed around age thirteen, it was not near as beautiful and singing
did not come as naturally as it once had. Did my “talent” disappear? Three words that are
often used interchangeably and incorrectly in our society are talent, skill, and ability. While
all three are interconnected, they cannot be used interchangeably (though they often are). For

Academia Letters, March 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Jody Blake, jodynblake@gmail.com

Citation: Blake, J. (2021). Teaching Who You Have: Music Belongs to Everyone. Academia Letters, Article
638. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL638.

1
example, talent is a naturally endowed ability, but skill and ability are developed. Jaap and
Patrick (2015) herald the use of the term “high ability” over “talent” or “gifted” for the very
reason mentioned above – ability is developed. They state, “…giftedness is conceptually
linked to the notion of fixed, heritable talent” (p. 263).
Research suggests a plethora of factors involved when becoming a skilled musician. This
is where the “nature versus nurture” argument begins. Are “talented” musicians born or cre-
ated? Personally, I err on the side that musicians are created. For example, as a child, my
mother sang to me continuously, and when I grew older I studied piano and gained musical
training in choirs. The allusion of talent persisted, but I was not born that way. No, the talent
was not miraculously conceived before birth, but imbedded throughout my formative years
as a young child. Another example might be the great Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Labelled
a prodigy from birth, Mozart remains one of the greatest musicians of all time. Forney and
Machlis (2011) label him “The most extraordinarily gifted child in the history of music…”
(p. 167). By age five he could play full keyboard sonatas and composed full compositions.
Is this because he was born with talent, or was the ability nurtured and developed? Many of
the great composers were born into musical families, thus, skills developed throughout their
upbringing. Music was not just a trivial pastime, it was a way of life.
Some might contend that this is an erroneous way of thinking. Some might argue that not
all great composers were born into musical families (e.g. George Frideric Handel). To counter
this “nature” argument, it must be realized that all musicians are nurtured through teaching
and must labor diligently to attain any level of skill. Johann Sebastian Bach once said, “I was
made to work; if you are equally industrious will be equally successful” (Kavanaugh, 1996,
p. 23). Is this to say that musical skill or “talent” is all “nurture” and no “nature”? I think
the answer is no. Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences supports the notion that
not everything is learned. Gardner and Hatch (1989) stated, “…intelligence is presumed to
be a universal, probably innate, capacity…”. One can have innate musical ability, but without
being cultivated, that ability is like a seed that goes un-watered.
Olszewski-Kubilius, Subotnik, and Worrell (2017) contend that “The type of creativity
an individual manifests changes over time and is one of the features that distinguishes ability
from competence, competence from expertise, and expertise from eminence” (p. 63). Thus,
development of skill is often a life-long pursuit, depending on the specific area of study. Eric-
sson, Krampe, and Tesch-Romer (1993) contend that attaining professional-level performance
skills requires a minimum of ten years of intense practice.
So, now that “talent” has been defined or obscured (depending on your stance), who should
be the musicians and who should be the musical consumers? I propose that music educators
examine the following:

Academia Letters, March 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Jody Blake, jodynblake@gmail.com

Citation: Blake, J. (2021). Teaching Who You Have: Music Belongs to Everyone. Academia Letters, Article
638. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL638.

2
 1. Location of the institution where you teach. Location often determines the mission
of an institution.

2. Mission of the institution. Who is the institution trying to reach? What is the primary
purpose of the institution you are serving? Not every school is a conservatory of music,
nor should it be.

3. Personal philosophy of music education. What is your personal philosophy of teach-

ing and how does that impact who you serve?

4. Background of the students you serve. Where are your students coming from? What
is their personal and educational background? Teaching in rural community will differ
from teaching in an urban setting.

5. Flexibility of standards. Maintaining high, yet flexible standards are important, as

there is no such thing as a “standard” student. Each student is unique and requires
something different.

It is important to note that Reimer (2003) supports the notion that all people should learn mu-
sic, and that schools should promote active musical involvement for students. Furthermore,
he describes three levels of musical involvement: aficionado, amateur, and professional, thus
incorporating all levels of learners within his framework. Additionally, he suggests that Gard-
ner’s theory does not effectively explore the levels of musical intelligence, as there are many
ways to exhibit musical intelligence.
How many times have you been in a public venue and heard someone perform and thought
“oh my gosh, that’s awful”? As music educators, we often times are guilty of musical egotism.
We often believe our music degree gives us some sort of superiority and grants us special
esoteric knowledge to lord over the musically illiterate public. However, this type of thinking
is counterintuitive for music educators, as one of the primary tenets of being an educator is
to educate. It is important that future music educators be taught to teach all students. In the
same sense, collegiate music education programs should adopt the same philosophy.
I close with a thought from the great music educator and composer, Zoltan Kodály. He
stated, “music is a spiritual food for everybody. So I studied how to make more people ac-
cessible to good music” (”Who Was Kodály?,” n.d.). Kodály truly believed music belongs to
everyone. Music educators at all levels would do well to adopt this thought as part of their
personal philosophy.

Academia Letters, March 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Jody Blake, jodynblake@gmail.com

Citation: Blake, J. (2021). Teaching Who You Have: Music Belongs to Everyone. Academia Letters, Article
638. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL638.

3
References
Elliott, D. J. (2014). Music matters: A philosophy of music education. Oxford University
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Ericsson, K. A., Krampe, R. T., & Tesch-Romer, C. (1993). The role of deliberate practice
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doi.org/10.1037/0033-295x.100.3.363

Forney, K., & Machlis, J. (2011). The enjoyment of music: An introduction to perceptive
listening (11th ed.). W.W. Norton & Company.

Gardner, H., & Hatch, T. (1989). Multiple intelligences go to school: Educational implica-
tions of the theory of multiple intelligences. Educational Researcher, 18(8), 4-10.

Jaap, A., & Patrick, F. (2015). Teachers’ concepts of musical talent and nurturing musical
ability: Music learning as exclusive or as opportunity for all? Music Education Research,
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Kavanaugh, P. (1996). Spiritual lives of the great composers. Zondervan.

Olszewski-Kubilius, P., Subotnik, R. F., & Worrell, F. C. (2017). The role of domains in the
conceptualization of talent. Roeper Review, 59-69. https://doi.org/10.1080/02783193.
2017.1247310

Reimer, B. (2003). A philosophy of music education: Advancing the vision (3rd ed.). Pearson
Education, Inc.

Slobin, M., & Titon, J. T. (1992). The music-culture as a world of music. In J. T. Titon (Ed.),
Worlds of music: An introduction to the music of the world’s peoples (2nd ed., pp. 1-15).
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Who Was Kodaly? (n.d.). Organization of American Kodály Educators. https://www.oake.

org/about-us/who-was-kodaly/

Academia Letters, March 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Jody Blake, jodynblake@gmail.com

Citation: Blake, J. (2021). Teaching Who You Have: Music Belongs to Everyone. Academia Letters, Article
638. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL638.