Music Philosophy

Music is essential to our world. It can create and suppress any emotion imaginable. It requires a level of concentration that most other activities dont give you the opportunity to develop. By mentally contributing, audible unity usually seems to happen on its own. Music allows someone to experience, learn, and understand aesthetics. Aesthetics is a philosophy of art and beauty. It deals with our senses and how we perceive something as beautiful around us. We need music in public schools to teach our children about this feeling and perception. There are many reasons why music is important. Our students today are asked to all know the same information, and be able to produce the same results on tests as their neighbors. Whats so great about music is that every test or in this case performance is different. Interpretation and the aesthetics of the performer allow for them to make it their own and explore each childs creativity. According to Eriksons eight stages of development music is an excellent way to get through the Industry vs. Inferiority stage that occurs at ages 5 to 13. Children in this stage question themselves How can I be good? They are fighting being a part of their groups at school and for the praise of their parents. Children who dont successfully go through this stage often feel unmotivated, have a low self-esteem and lazy. Music education allows students to express themselves in a way that shows accomplishment as well to feel important. The bass trombone player will know that he/she is important because they are responsible for their part in the piece that will eventually be all put back together into a masterful artwork that everyone contributed to its greatness. He knows that the piece wont sound the same without him/her. This gives the child a sense of worth.

Having a sense of self worth is very hard to find in schools. Today, all students are held to the same standard and are compared to one another. If student A is mediocre at math and student B is great at it, then Student A feels inferior, and knows that the other student has an easier time succeeding in that subject creating a feeling of unimportance for Student A. In band this doesnt happen like that. The 1st flute player is just as important as the last chair flute player. Band creates an environment that all students are just as important as the others. There are very few, if any, activates and classes out there that promote this. Students who have a sense of importance are most likely to be more successful in life because they have that sense of motivation that the students who arent involved in fine arts dont have. Music has always been an important part of our curriculum. The Ancient Greeks viewed music to be just as important as dialect and arithmetic. Whats changed? Math hasnt changed, communication has changed; it has just gotten better and more diverse, just like music. Music has grown and is a part of our culture and our history. Its important for students to be brought aware of this. Each day can be a success on its own. Allan McMurray - Director of Bands at the University of Colorado-Boulder-says that the only thing he tries to do, is to be a better conductor and teacher than the day before. As long as the program is just a little bit better each day, then thats success. The band program is always changing. Yes, its one of the only classes that students spend more than one year in, but the seniors leave, and there are new musicians entering the ensemble each year. The program should always try and better itself and grow. When students leave the band program and graduate they will have learned how to connect to others on a deeper level. They will understand that music is a universal language. They will know what it feels like to enjoy aesthetics and the beauty that come with the music.

They will have then have obtained a sense of individuality and importance that will guide them through their lives to be successful in whatever they decide to do. All of the reasons I listed are important reasons why music is essential in schools. The most important of them all however is the very first one that I mentioned. Music allows us to aesthetically connect and understand the world around us. It teaches us to appreciate what we have and to be confident in ourselves. It teaches us to be passionate and to express our inner self and take risks. Aldous Huxley once said, After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.