Blog for 1/14

The qualities needed by a music educator can be enumerated almost endless, as class discussion shows. However, one might ask is these can be boiled down to larger qualities? Or perhaps one might ask if there are unique qualities needed by music educators but not needed by others. One cannot succeed as a music educator without showing up to work every day, but then this is true of most professions.

Music educators, unlike other educators, need to possess musical skill and knowledge. Ideally, this should cover multiple domains, including history, theory, performance, composition, and improvisation. Likewise, they need to be able to both construct and deconstruct their knowledge for the benefit of students, thus pedagogy. Educators also need to have the mindsets that will allow them to foster student growth: supportiveness, audacity, a knowledge of when to let students succeed or fail on their own.

One quality that is overlooked in particular in instrumental music might be a rational mind. For many, listening to and playing music is an emotional experience that occurs by feel. However, there is also much musical knowledge, both applied and theoretical, accessible through rational analysis. We often refer to good musicians as "talented" and good mathematicians as "intelligent." However, I do not see how an intelligent and inquiring mind could be anything but a boon as a musician. Music educators need to be aware of this so that they can help their students develop this aspect of their musicianship.

Based on my philosophy of music education, the goal of music education is for students to learn about their musical selves through reflection on musical experiences. Instrumental music is certainly an important type of music, and part of the instrumental music experience is playing an instrument, both alone and with others. Part of the task is giving the students the language for exploration, in this case, technique on the instrument(by this I mean the physical act of playing the instrument, not just right notes), ensemble skills, and so on. In order to have the experience of playing Holst's 1st Suite, one must be able to play Holst's 1st Suite. However, the technique is merely a tool. At the heart of matters, I want my students to be able, when they reflect on their musical experiences, to answer questions they find they have about the music and ultimately about themselves in relation to the music. Why is something good? Or sad? Or triumphant? The answers we arrive at tell us as much about ourselves as they do about the music in question. I want to give my students the tools to answer these questions for themselves and the music they encounter throughout their lives. In the case of instrumental music, this centers around the experience of participating in instrumental music.

Music should be included in the curriculum because it exists commonly in the world and is valued by people. It is difficult to say or demonstrate that music offers unique cognitive, physical, or social development that no other thing or combination of things offers. However, music is uniquely valued by people, and regardless of why, this makes it uniquely important. On a more practical level, whether unique or not, music education does offer many benefits. It prepares student to deal with music later in their lives by giving them tools to describe and explore music. Instrumental ensembles teach the important of both group work and individual responsibility. Music can promote Csíkszentmihályi's flow experiences. These are reasons that music education contributes to students' growth. However, it is also important to emphasize the things that music offers that cannot be replaced by something else: namely music. If music is valuable in the world then music education is valuable and should have a place in the curriculum.