Hubert 1

Kyra Hubert

ENG 112-01

Instructor Douglas

30 March 2017

Voices on Music Programs

Almost any topic that is given to a group of individuals has

multiple sides. There is not just one opinion that everyone agrees upon

because people have different experiences with certain situations. For

instance, individuals who have children and individuals that do not will

have different viewpoints. This is because the individuals who have

children have experience with knowing how to raise a child, verses the

individuals without children. Another topic that can be discussed with

different voices is music programs. Music programs can be efficient,

but different people from society have different viewpoints. There are

many ways we can look at this topic

Music programs can exist in schools and out of schools.

According to Femke Colborne, music programs are known to help

students in ways that other programs cannot; such as learning to

improve their work, help develop language and reasoning, learn

memorization, increase coordination, a sense of achievement, how to

stay engaged, success in society, emotional development, learning

 Hubert 2

pattern recognition, and so much more. Students even increase their

ability to score well on their tests.

Students see a difference between inside school music and

outside everyday music. The music that students would learn in

classrooms is a lot different from the outside. This is because in school,

the teachers have to watch what they show students for policy

reasons. The kind of music we hear on the radio sometimes is not fit

for the classroom, which can be understood. The difference between

inside or outside the classroom music causes students to become

bored and not really enjoy the learning experience. Music programs

differ depending on what they need to cover in their class, but most of

them have to cover the music, such as, Renaissance, Classical, and

Baroque periods. Douglas Lonie says in her article, Becoming

Musicians: Situating Young Peoples Experiences of Musical Learning

between Formal, Informal and Non-Formal Spheres, that music

programs can really help young students to understand the importance

of music and why it exists today. Of course the students who are

involved in music, would say this shouldnt even be up for debate. It

should just be in every school there is. Students, who are not involved

with music, usually dont care. They dont have a strong opinion or

they just dont really know anything about it or what the importance in

it is.
 Hubert 3

The government looks at the arts like a whole. They dont split

up the art from music or the music from theatre, even though they are

all different in there own way. Republicans and Democrats realized they

needed to stay out of the art wars, which is explained in Michael

Lewiss article, After the Art Wars. Lewis says that if they decide to

go against or for the arts, there will be people out there to not vote for

them. Looking at the news lately, Donald Trump might have overruled

that statement. When Colborne is talking about budget cuts, one of

them deals with the arts. Trump is talking about cutting some

budgeting from the school art programs. Donald Trump thinks this way

because we are in such debt as a country and we need to regain our

money back. My professor, Bruce Long, mentioned in class one day

that he believes that art programs should provide for there own. It

sounds like he made this point because if people want them badly

enough, they can fight for themselves. We also have to think about the

students too, though. If the students wanted the art programs bad

enough, they would raise enough money to out rule the government.

The right, always out goes the wrong.

There are many parents who think that there arent enough

music programs out there for students, and therefore they are thinking

they are being robbed from their childhood. Joan Henley explains all of

this in her article, Robbing elementary students of their Childhood:

the perils of no child left behind. Henley notes that parents are
 Hubert 4

becoming angry with schools that lack physical activity. Believe it or

not, music and vocal courses are considered physical activity classes,

which they should be because youre using our diaphragm to sing, or

you are using coordination to hold an instrument. However, there are

some parents who want to give their child everything they can, but

simply can not afford to spend their money on music. There are some

very expensive music programs out there that could cost a couple

hundred dollars, depending how skilled their instructors are. There are

also some music programs that dont cost a penny at all, which is

great. For the parents, it kind of just comes down to whether they can

afford for their child to get involved with the music programs.

In conclusion, all of these people have different viewpoints about

music programs. This is because they are all different, with different

experiences. Students are kind of in between because some of them

believe that music is fun in school, others disagree because of the

music that they have to listen to. The government plays a role in the

money process. It comes down to whether they can afford to spend

their money on music or not. Parents usually think of what is best for

the child and what interests them. Therefore, they will guide that child

in any direction he or she wants to go. Also, all of these viewpoints can

narrow down to money. Maybe not so much the students in this case,

but definitely the government and parents. The local government is

what funds these programs, and the parents are the ones who pay for
 Hubert 5

them. They both have to figure out if its worth it for the students or

not. Would you want these music programs to stay around or are you

agreeing with Donald Trump?

Works Cited

Colborne, Femke. "A Well-Rounded Education." Strad, vol. 127, no.

1517, Sept. 2016, pp. 12-13. EBSCOhost, ezproxy.cpcc.edu/login?

url=http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.cpcc.edu/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=hus&AN=118199621&site=ehost-

live&scope=site.

Henley, Joan, et al. "Robbing elementary students of their Childhood:

the perils of no child left behind." Education, vol. 128, no. 1,

2007, p. 56+. Opposing Viewpoints in

Context, ezproxy.cpcc.edu/login?

url=http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A169960866/OVIC?

u=centralp&xid=f6b50951. Accessed 22 Mar. 2017.

 Hubert 6

Lewis, Michael J. "After the Art Wars." Commentary, vol. 125, no. 1, Jan.

2008, pp. 31-36. EBSCOhost, ezproxy.cpcc.edu/login?

url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=hus&AN=504417277&site=ehost-

live&scope=site.

Lonie, Douglas1, douglas@bop.co.uk and Luke2 Dickens. "Becoming

Musicians: Situating Young Peoples Experiences of Musical

Learning between Formal, Informal and Non-Formal Spheres."

Cultural Geographies, vol. 23, no. 1, Jan. 2016, pp. 87-101.

EBSCOhost, doi:10.1177/1474474015587477.

http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.cpcc.edu/ehost/detail/detail?

vid=2&sid=e642ec31-4ddf-41a3-939c-

51071a1c7170%40sessionmgr4010&hid=4114&bdata=JnNpdGU

9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=111388530&db=hus