Christine Scott

Philosophy on Music Education

Passion for your craft and passion for your students success are the most important qualities for
an educator. First and foremost you must love what you are teaching. It has to be part of your whole
being, not just something you are good at and feel qualified to teach. Your passion and excitement, or
lack thereof, will show through your teaching and can affect the students desire to learn or not. A very
close second is a passion for your students success. Every educator has the opportunity to create an
environment for active learning. Students need to be excited to come to class every day. Not only do you
have to care about the classroom as a whole, you have to see each student individually and help them be
successful no matter what level they are at.
My passion is music education. Music is not tangible, but it is everywhere. Music is in our
memories and evokes moods and feelings that are difficult to express in words. Music bridges gaps
between cultures where spoken languages often cannot. Someone, somewhere created the music that
fills our lives and they had to learn it somehow. I want to be the one to help shape the future musicians of
our world. While not everyone will become master musicians, my goal is to have students leave my
classroom with a new appreciation for all types of music and an understanding of the impact music has
had throughout time. I want them to find their own musical potential and gain a desire to develop it the
best they can. Through creative music theory lessons and teaching quality repertoire, I hope to achieve
this goal. During my time as an elementary school music specialist, I would take my students on a
musical journey by transforming my room into a time machine and visit Mozart in the 1700s or Elvis in
the 1950s. We would become pirates and sing sea chanties or lounge on the beach at a Hawaiian luau
and learn how to play the ukulele. We would sing Kum Ba Yah around a campfire or sing opera at the
Sydney Opera House.
Throughout time, music has been manipulated and changed to fit the wants and needs of society
from belonging to the church, to the monarchy, to the townspeople, to the virtuoso and now, to the world.
Music from the past gives a historical perspective to what was taking place back then just as music of
today reveals the trends of our present day lifestyle. Through the use of the internet, music from around

the world can be observed with just a click of a button. As a teacher, it is important for me to have an
understanding of all genres of music because each student will bring his/her own likes and dislikes into
the classroom. If I only focus on the music I like, I risk alienating and far worse eliminating many
students from my classroom. In thinking of a way to keep in touch with my students, I plan on having a
daily class opener where I pick a student and have them describe the last piece of music they remember
listening to, whether it be something on their I-pod, a song playing in the car, or a commercial jingle. As a
class we can then discuss the different musical elements of the song such as rhythm, melody, phrasing,
etc. My purpose in this would be to have them really bring music to the forefront of their lives instead of
it always being played in the background.
I believe in creating a safe and enthusiastic environment for all students to explore their own
personal music abilities. Every student has the ability to succeed. My job as their teacher is to provide
the means for them to do so. Very high expectations will be set. Most students will see these
expectations as unrealistic, but by giving them the proper tools and skill sets, they will soon discover that
not only can they meet these expectations, but they can far exceed them. This sense of accomplishment
can transfer to all other aspects of their developing young minds.
One challenge of being a music educator is assessing the progress of a student especially in a
large ensemble setting. By using the adjudicators rubric for festival performance, it is easy to assess the
choir as a whole, but finding the most accurate form of assessment for each individual student is difficult.
Each student comes into the program at different musical levels. Some may have had private lessons and
been in other musical groups for years while others have never opened a piece of music in their lives. To
be an effective teacher, I will assess each students development through frequent informal assessments
and quarterly written tests of basic theory knowledge.
There will always be new and innovative ways to teach a music class. I will strive to be the best
teacher I can by being a learner myself through conference workshops and music journals. With the
support of my school administration and as the parents see the growth in their students, enrollment in the
music programs will continue to grow. The community will be a great support in fund-raising, concert
attendance and helping in general if they see the intrinsic value of music education.