Running head: PHILOSOPHY OF MUSIC EDUCATION 1

Philosophy of Music Education

Michael Canon

Oregon State University

Introduction

A philosophy is the driving force behind purposeful teachers, and the wind beneath the

sail of the educator. Without this wind, the educator has no direction and cannot hope to make

real progress with their students or themselves. An educator’s philosophy helps to guide an

educator’s growth. This paper will discuss the author’s philosophical ideas. These ideas will

pertain to both general education as well as music education, and the many facets that have to do

with them. These philosophical ideas will continue to develop long after this paper is written,

and so this paper serves as a landmark in the author’s experience as an educator.

Why is Education Important?

Education is important because it allows students the space and freedom to build social

skills, both as a physical space and by arming students with knowledge common to people

outside of the physical walls of the school. The school allows children to nurture and cultivate

interpersonal relationships in their formative years, paving the way for this to become a familiar

process as they develop. It also gives them information necessary for common social ground

when leaving the school yard by teaching standardized bits of information. Basic counting is not

considered a complex mathematical concept because it is taught to every student in a way that--

to a certain degree-- lets them discover counting on their own terms.

Paulo Freire writes in “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” that students must understand the

settings surrounding their education in order to become autonomous, thinking students. This

means that students must realize the balance of importance that is placed upon any one subject

by the many deciding forces in their school system, and weigh this with the importance of any
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subject to them. In being made aware of the differences between these two values, students will

be able to pursue things that they want to pursue in ways that they deem appropriate for them.

This creates a free space for students to explore their interests through the critical comparison of

their school system to what they want to be doing as autonomous human beings.

Maxine Greene writes in “Dialectic of Freedom” that it is “through education that

preferences may be released, languages learned, intelligences developed, perspectives opened,

possibilities disclosed.” This is to say that education opens options for many students. Students

that otherwise would not be aware of their potential abilities are given the tools to open many

more options in their lives through education.

Education allows students to become critical thinkers in safe spaces for consequences to

take place. Schools create space for students to explore subjects often at a very critical level.

Teachers are given the resources to give students tools to explore knowledge by themselves. This

passing of the process for understanding is quintessential to what education is for, and allows the

wheel to continue turning. Freire believes in the student-centered constructivist classroom in

which teachers give the tools for students to use, without thinking of themselves as all-knowing

and the students as empty deposits to be filled.

Education gives students the freedom to explore critically, and then gives the freedom to

self-reflect and process information naturally. Education is an ongoing process by which students

filter out the truth from the false in an ongoing series of internalized tests. In order for students to

make sense of the wealth of information that they receive in education, there must be time for

self-reflection. Students must be able to perform and then learn about their performative growths
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and shortcomings. Students must then act on this self-reflection, molding their knowledge into

suitable form for use outside of school.

Education allows students a place for self-discovery. Students learn about themselves and

what they want to be through the trials of many different branching classes. Students perform

well in some places and worse in others which allows them to process what they might want to

focus on once they complete their schooling.

Education exists as a liberating tool. One of the tools for oppression is misinformation

and lack of education. Education must be given especially to the disparaged and the misfortuned

for the purpose of giving them the tools to resist oppression. To this end, education must be

accessible to all races, ethnicities, genders, sexes, ages, levels of ability, and to all people that fall

into other factors of marginalization. It is our job as educators to bring the tool of knowledge to

all of our students, but the students that need it the most are the ones that are actively being

oppressed.

Why is Music Education Important?

Music education exists as a very small part of our contemporary educational system, but

remains an important pillar on which holistic education stands. A steady decline in musical

practice shows an unwillingness from administrative powers to explore subjects that cannot be

easily measured. However blind this stance may be, it is more important now than ever to stand

behind music for music’s sake. Music education does not exist to flank other studies. Music has

its own intrinsic properties that make it worth pursuing for itself. Music does not exist to
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improve other scholastic aspects of a student. It exists to harness students’ creative abilities, and

to allow students to further discover themselves through the medium of music.

Bennett Reimer writes that music should be taught because it “is a form of nonconceptual

cognition that affords a humanising self-knowledge of feeling as a pervasive quality of mental

life.” This means that music provides a real understanding of emotion to the student, and allows

them to understand that emotion is everywhere. This connection to one’s own emotional state is

seldom taught in other subjects, and is never the main focus of other subject studies. Music

performance internalizes emotional discovery, allowing a connection to pathos that can exist

outside of any individual piece. This gives tools to the student for self-discovery that can help

them identify who they are, which is an integral part of the educational system as well.

What Music Should Be Taught?

Music education has existed in the shadow of Western Europe for a very long time. As a

result, music by old, dead, white men are often the highlighted sections of concert programs.

Music education must take a turn to account for the many cultures present in the contemporary

music classroom. Songs must be programmed that help to further the goal of multiculturalism. It

is important to show perspectives beyond the ones present in the classroom in order to cultivate

open-minded students. Classrooms that boast multicultural music help to invite students into new

cultures and perspectives which can give students the foundation for practicing multiculturalism

in other aspects of their lives.

Music should be taught that blurs the lines between school music and home music. Music

for too long has existed in these two realms without much overlap. Zealous music students would
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go home to listen to their performance pieces in order to rehearse, but there is very little

occurrence of students listening to school music in lieu of music that they listen to for leisure.

Bridging the gap by finding pieces that are more contemporary, or including music classes that

provide more modern forms of music creation, helps to promote life-long musicianship by

connecting educational aspects with more easily recognized musical traits in a modern setting.

Hargreaves and North write that music is “more of a process than an object”. This means that

music can never be quantified fully, and is always changing. The state of music has changed

significantly since the creation of the concert choir, and music education must showcase this

change.

There are many histories of music that the American music classroom has yet to

acknowledge. Histories of music from Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, and even

North America before colonization. It cannot simply be enough to teach the historical practices

of old, dead, white men because they were the only ones to keep records we can still read. We

must strive as educators of all people to educate about all people as well.

The ability to create music must be taught in the modern classroom. Composition through

traditional notation, tracking software, and mixing software must be homogenized into students’

tool belts as musicians. Jon Sætre’s 2011 study suggests that music composition is a fragile topic,

and must be handled with care in the classroom. Creation of music is an important aspect of the

skills available in music, and an important part of the identity of the musician. The compositional

process is delicate, and students must be carefully guided when instructed on how to use tools to

explore their compositional expression.

How Should Music Be Taught?

Music is inherently creative, and the creative spark is a very fragile thing at a young age.

Music should be taught in a structured way in order for creativity to be given the correct amount

of space to flourish. Students should be given chances to interact with music through many

different formats. This includes composition, performance, study, rehearsal, and practice. This

allows students to explore creativity in a guided format. Freire believes that students must be

given the tools to explore education themselves. In order to start students on the branching paths

of music-making, the teacher must be able to carefully send students off into creative

music-making through guided instruction that does not stifle their creative ability while also

giving them the proper parameters to become more skilled musicians.

Music should be taught by creating opportunities for students to grow together. Music is a

very social activity and must allow some form of student interaction outside of ensembles. The

interconnectedness of music-making is integral to the positive experience that so many students

carry for music. Music students must be given the space to interact freely outside of their

ensembles. Students are shown to feel a sense of belonging in programs that view performing as

shared experience. (Parker 2010) This aspect of group social activity is important for creating the

sense of community so often lauded by music program alumni.

Students should be allowed the ability to explore music uniquely. Each student has their

own way of understanding material presented to them. Students exist in many different forms

with many different learning methods as prescribed by race, age, sex, gender, ability, social and

financial class, and many other factors. There needs to be some sort of private, internal aspect to

music-making that students go through in order these unique qualities to show. Music-making
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must be internalized by students in order for those students to have their own independent views

on how music operates and how to perform it. These perspectives get shared with other students

through interactions, further shaping how students see themselves through the lenses of their

contemporaries.

As our society reaches higher and higher levels of multiculturalism, many more types of

music reach the common ear. Music must be taught with the idea of ushering in new sounds to

the student ear in order to promote cultural understanding through music.

Where Should Music Be Taught?

Students should be able to learn music in any place that they are willing. This can be

many different environments including the home, school, even when travelling from one location

to another due to recent technological advancements. For the express purpose of the teacher

guiding the student to musical knowledge, though, the classroom should be designed to be the

most optimal place for that experience.

Who Should Teach Music?

The people that should be teaching music to students are formally prepared instructors.

These teachers should be trained in the tasks of being a teacher and dealing with classrooms,

individual students, and general management. These teachers should also be well versed in

music-making, as they are students of music as well. This dual set of skills allows teachers to be

aware of the subject they study as well as how to most optimally help their students towards

musical proficiency.
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Teachers should be heightened versions of what they want their students to be. Teachers

are very influential role-models for some students, and must display the traits that they want to

be inherited in their students. In this case, teachers must be critical thinkers that are capable of

solving problems of aesthetic choice. They must also be globally aware, and inclusive of other

cultures. The teachers that analyze world events can provide more personalized education for

each of their students as time progresses. Kelly suggests that a social perspective helps teachers

teach to broader student audiences.

Who Should Learn Music?

The people that should be learning music are those that are interested. Students should

have the freedom of choice for pursuing any subjects that they want to pursue. In accordance

with this philosophy, music learning is for students that already want to learn music as a practice.

Students should have the option to try music, and then be given full liberty to pursue it no matter

who they are, how old they are, and how experienced they already may be.

Music, among other subjects, must be shown to students at a very young age as an option

that they can pursue later in their education. Student choice is most important in subject matters

across their secondary school career at least. The only part of a student’s education that should be

compulsory is instilling the feeling of being a learner forever.

Education should be an open-access commodity given freely to those who seek it. The

purpose of education is not to be monetized, but to be utilized. Education should strive to remove

barriers that limit students from access.

Conclusion

In closing, music is an essential part of the school that fills a gap in our current

educational system. Music programs help students to build aesthetic value, creativity, social

connections, and team skills in a way that other programs are incapable of doing all at once.

These functions of the trade must be built by a strong-spirited, willful educator that is ready to

help their students develop. In order for the author to be ready to lead students to musical

self-sufficiency, their philosophy must be something they strongly believe in. As they progress,

their ideas may change, but they must be ready to uphold what they believe in when in front of a

classroom.
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References

Daugherty, J. (1996). Why music matters: The cognitive personalism of Reimer and Elliott.
Australian Journal of Music Education, 1, 29-37.

Freire, P. (1972). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Herder and Herder.

Hargreaves, D., North, A. (2008). The social and applied psychology of music. Oxford
University Press, 142.

Kelly, S. (2008). Teaching music in american society. Routledge, 12-27.

Parker, E. (2010). Exploring student experiences of belonging within an urban high school choral
ensemble: an action research study. Music Education Research, 12(4), 339–352.

Sætre, J. (2011). Teaching and learning music composition in primary school settings. Music
Education Research, 13(1), 29–50.

Westman, L. (2018). Student drive differentiation: 8 steps to harmonize learning in the

Greene, M. (1988). Dialectic of freedom. New York: Teachers College Press.