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Papers from the National Conference on Music/Arts for the High School General Student suggest ways of combining technology with creativity…. More >>

Music in the High School: Current Approaches to Secondary General Music Instruction

During primary and secondary education, learning music is not exactly given much attention. It is but one of those “filler” subjects. But for a few more artistically-inclined people, this serves as a foundation for their future interest, or even way of living. And when one does decide to enter schools of music, one would know for sure that it is a passion, a dedication.

It is during these formative years that music teachers play their pivotal roles as future musicians’ mentors, even inspirations. Teaching is indeed a noble profession, more so a vocation. Yes, it is far from teaching math, or science. Said subjects are purely academic subjects that entail a teacher’s thorough knowledge. Teaching music, on the other hand, necessitates both knowledge and aptitude…and, probably even more importantly, passion.

Music teaching possibly started as a way of passing on a community’s tradition. India has in their ancient scriptures references to Indian classical music. The “Great Book of Music” or Kitab al-Musiqi al-Kabir was written by the Arab scholar al-Farabi in the 9th century.

In the Western world, music teaching may have started from the church, with cleric/monks teaching their hymns to those next in line, or to the religious. In fact, in the U.S.A., the first singing school was created by Reverend Thomas Symmes in 1717 in Boston, Massachusetts for “the purposes of improving singing and reading in the church”. With the continued popularity of music and its commercialization, organized instruction evolved and schools of music sprung forth around the world.

Albeit the acclaim of many musicians who graduated from these schools, music education does not seem to receive the recognition it deserves. Thus, an organization, the International Society for Music Education, was formed in 1953 in a conference convened by UNESCO. It aims “to stimulate music education as an integral part of general education”. It is now considered to be “a worldwide service platform for music educators” for their works to be recognized. It now has affiliations with national music education organizations of different countries to promote music and teaching to as many people as possible, if not to all.

Music instruction has evolved through time, in tune with the evolution of music. It also has changed, along with the changes of the times, of the people. Somehow, music teachers, of all levels, are now given the commendation they are rightfully due. More importantly, music teaching is slowly but surely winning the respect, it has earned. For what is, the worth of music if it is not taught, hence, shared.

Educators and music teaching experts believe that innovative music teachers resources are indeed effective and beneficial in motivating their students. Most of them even reiterated that these educational resources that include innovative and creative strategies are most appealing and interesting to learners. Their levels of motivation and enthusiasm will surely increase as they get more excited to attend each music class.

Innovative music teachers resources enable the students enjoy each session while learning and acquiring new ideas and skills in music. When technology, internet, use of blogs and online research and communication, as well as innovative musical tools and instruments are incorporated into the learning process, students always look forward to attend and eventually excel in class. Integration of technology into music education has been proven effective and operative over the years – making the teachers and students enjoy each experience.

There have been many different innovative products and services on teaching music made readily available worldwide. Therefore, a music teacher just needs to spot for the most suitable and reliable aid or tool in making your teaching methods more loved and appreciated by students.

Below are some innovative and creative ideas that may be of great help to you, dedicated and inspired music teachers:

• Integrating technology – use of electronic mails, blogs, online research and the likes are strongly encouraged. Thus, maximum supervision and guidance are also advised as these innovative ways may risk the students and somehow expose them in such liberated society.
• Cooperative learning – students working as groups or teams heading towards one goal can bring them closer to building self-confidence and establishing camaraderie. Yet, remember that when integrating cooperative or collaborative learning strategies into a course, careful planning and preparation are essential.
• Hands-on Learning Activities – knowing your students by name gives them a kind of feeling that makes them more special – you taking some effort to memorize and know their names. When you give an activity, try to get closer to each student. Tapping their back and stroking their hair embedded with praises and appreciations as well as kind and motivating words indeed play a vital role. Personalizing your teaching approaches will surely make a great impact on the learning process itself.

The abovementioned strategies will definitely assure such quality of music education to your students as they also give in much of their interest, time and hard work into it – trying to love music more. Music teachers resources like these accredit the future of the learners, which include the adaptability to meet students’ changing learning styles, and create opportunities to develop life-long learning strategies.

So, to all music teachers out there who have devoted and committed their precious time, countless effort and hard works, congratulations; not all can possibly do that. You all deserve such recognition and acknowledgment for putting in your heart into teaching – molding young minds and touching many lives. Cheers!

Music is a very powerful subject – It has been used since the Greek times for healing, communication, relaxation and for enjoyment. Even before birth we are aware of our mother’s heartbeat and during infancy are relaxed by the song of a lullaby. Every day everybody hears some form of musical pitch or rhythm and it can even be found in nature such as how birds communicate through a song-like speech.

Music is such a powerful force, it creates deep emotions in humans – it is played at weddings for happiness, in horror films and during war for fear and at home for happiness and because of this lends itself to relaxation, stress relief and health therapy – and the connection between music, body, and soul has even been shown to improve physical and mental health.

Skills such as working in teams, communication, self-esteem, creative thinking, calmer attitudes, imagination, discipline, study skills and invention are learnt and improved through the study of music and by focusing on the fact that young children are mostly highly receptive to pitch and rhythm – one of the main ways a child learns its language – that we can drive education in music to children to help them with benefits ranging success in society and in life.

“We believe the skills the arts teach -creative thinking, problem-solving, risk-taking, teamwork and communications – are precisely the tools the workforce of tomorrow will need. If we don’t encourage students to master these skills through quality arts instruction today, how can we ever expect them to succeed in their highly competitive business careers tomorrow?”

-Richard Gurin

Chief Executive Officer, Binney and Smith, maker of Crayola crayons

Music is a part of our society and a part of all communities – every human culture uses music to carry forward its ideas and ideals. A study of the arts provides children with an internal glimpse of other cultures and teaches them to be empathetic towards the people of these cultures. This development of compassion and empathy, as opposed to developing greed and a selfish attitude, provides bridges across different cultures that lead to a respect of other races at an early age.

Music has a great value to our economy – it creates jobs, increase’s tax base, boosts tourism and spurs growth in related businesses. Music study develops skills that are necessary in the workplace such as teamwork skills and discipline – during musical performances all members must work together to create the sounds they wish to achieve and for this regular practice is also required. Music favors working and ‘doing’ as opposed to observing, and these are the ethics employers are looking for.

Because of music’s ability to relax, calm and heal, and its optimal platform for emotions, the involvement with music helps to carve brighter attitudes – more optimism towards the future, less TV and non productive activities, low use of alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs and desire to develop individual abilities.

Music requires study skills, communication skills, and cognitive skills and as these are learnt and developed they expand the student’s abilities in other academic areas and help them become better students. – Students with coursework/experience in music performance and music appreciation scored higher on the SAT: students in music performance scored 57 points higher on the verbal and 41 points higher on the math, and students in music appreciation scored 63 points higher on verbal and 44 points higher on the math, than did students with no arts participation. — College-Bound Seniors National Report: Profile of SAT Program Test Takers. Princeton, NJ: The College

Entrance Examination Board, 2001.

The discipline of music, particularly through participation in ensembles, helps students learn to work effectively in the school environment without resorting to violent or inappropriate behavior – According to statistics compiled by the National Data Resource Center, students who can be classified as “disruptive” (based on factors such as frequent skipping of classes, times in trouble, in-school suspensions, disciplinary reasons given, arrests, and drop-outs) total 12.14 percent of the total school population. In contrast, only 8.08 percent of students involved in music classes meet the same criteria as “disruptive.” — Based on data from the NELS:88 (National Education Longitudinal Study), second follow-up, 1992..

Many studies have been conducted on the effects of music in the brain. Scientists say that children who are exposed to music or those who play an instrument do better in school than those who don’t. Recent research suggests exposure to music may benefit a child’s reading age, IQ and the development of certain parts of the brain.

It can be shown that some measures of a child’s intelligence are increased with music instruction – a connection between music and spatial intelligence (the ability to perceive the world accurately and to form mental pictures of things) helps people to visualize and imagine solutions. This helps people to solve problems creatively and is critical to the sort of thinking necessary for solving mathematical problems and even general daily tasks.

“The musician is constantly adjusting decisions on tempo, tone, style, rhythm, phrasing, and feeling–training the brain to become incredibly good at organizing and conducting numerous activities at once. Dedicated practice of this orchestration can have a great payoff for lifelong attention skills, intelligence, and an ability for self-knowledge and expression.” — Ratey John J., MD. A User’s Guide to the Brain. New York: Pantheon Books, 2001.

Along with mental development music study can support the brains physical development – it has been indicated that musical training physically develops the parts of the brain known to be involved with processing language and reasoning, and can actually wire the brain’s circuits in specific ways. Memory can be improved through the linking of familiar songs with objects just as linking images can – past memories and emotions can be triggered by audio.

“Why arts in education? Why education at all? The purpose of education is not simply to inform but to enrich and enlighten, to provide insights into life as it has been led and as it may be led. No element of the curriculum is better suited to that task than arts education.”

-David Kearns

Now retired Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Xerox Corporation

Ideally we want our children to experience “success” throughout life itself. The benefits may be psychological, spiritual and physical and with the challenge of making life meaningful and fulfilled and to reach a higher state of development by participating in music we develop self expression which in turn leads to self esteem – ultimately helping us to succeed at these challenges.

“Casals says music fills him with the wonder of life and the ‘incredible marvel’ of being a human. Ives says it expands his mind and challenges him to be a true individual. Bernstein says it is enriching and ennobling. To me, that sounds like a good cause for making music an integral part of every child’s education. Studying music and the arts elevates children’s education, expands students’ horizons, and teaches them to appreciate the wonder of life.”
— U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley, July 1999.

Conclusion

Music is a powerful tool and as seen can dramatically improve and enrich everybody. It makes sense to push music education and to allow young generations to gain these wonderful benefits – higher intelligence through increased creative thinking, problem solving and physically stronger brains, a higher perception of life including better attitudes, strong desires to achieve and fulfil and higher self esteem, better developed discipline, study skills, concentration, communication and team skills which transfer from education through to career and a better understanding of communities and society