early childhood education
Fostering Lifelong Joyful Music Making Alena V. Holmes, WMEA State Chair, Early Childhood Education
“I hate playing violin and I am not going to do music anymore!” I heard my 10-year old son’s cries after his music lesson. He had a wonderful teacher with a very successful perform- ing career, but she
also employed a very demanding and strict teaching style. I tried to convince his teacher to be more flexible and find “an easier and more enjoyable learning route” for my son, but she was determined. “Either he will do what I tell him (practice passages and scales every day for extended amounts of time) or he had better not do music at all!” As a music educator my phi- losophy was (and still is) to help my son become an educated and musically orient- ed person. So… we decided to find a new teacher and, fortunately, my 14-year-old teenager is still playing. He has recently been accepted to the advanced level of the Wisconsin Youth Orchestra.
As a mother of two children and as a music educator, I often contemplate about the role of music education in my children’s and my students’ lives. Do I want my chil- dren to become professional musicians? I surely would love it! However, that will be their choice later on in life; for now, I want them to be well-rounded individuals who enjoy and appreciate different forms of arts. I surely want my children and my students to find musical success in many different ways – by joining community orchestras, bands or garage bands, playing socially with family and friends, sing- ing and playing for their own children, supplementing their income through per- formance or teaching, or simply playing and improvising for their own pleasure.
Famous French poet and novelist Ana- tole France wrote, “The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds for
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the purpose of satisfying it afterwards.” How many people spent hours learning a musical instrument as a child but lost interest when they became teenagers and never touch an instrument again in their lives? I do not mean to undermine the non-musical benefits of music instruc- tion; there are numerous studies which provide evidence on the high correlation between music instruction and academic achievement, cognitive development, social and behavioral traits etc. However, I have witnessed several cases where talented musicians lost interest in music as a result of an over-demanding musi- cal schedule and performance pressures. One of my close childhood friends was a winner of a piano competition during her elementary years. Since high school graduation, however, she has not played piano and, unfortunately, she does not want her children to enroll in private music lessons. She argues in defense of her posi- tion, “I want my children to have a normal and happy childhood.” World-renowned violinist Itzhak Perlman said, “For every child prodigy that you know about, at least 50 potential ones have burned out before you even heard about them.” There have been strong voices calling attention to the importance of producing a well-rounded musician and a well-rounded individual. The stated missions of Curtis Institute, The Juilliard School and Yale School of Music in the past were about “edu- cating young musi- cians for careers as performing artists,” whereas today, more and more institu- tions are adopting goals such as “ar- tistic, personal and intellectual growth” and “producing cultural leaders.” I believe that musical
success lies not only in professional per- formances and winning awards, but also in lifelong, joyful and creative musicianship. If my students sustain the love for playing and creating music into their adulthood, then my goal is accomplished.
Balancing Pleasure and Pain
The famous Greek philosopher Plato defines education as the means by which “pleasure and liking, pain and hatred, become correctly arranged in the souls of those who are not yet able to reason and then, when the souls do become capable of reasoning, these passions can in con- sonance with reason affirm that they have been correctly habituated in the appropri- ate habits.” (Laws, 653b, p. 32) What is the right balance between “pleasure and pain” and “liking and hatred” in music instruc- tion – to develop musical skills and talents to their full potential and instill love and passion for lifetime music making? How can we “correctly habituate” passion for music and learning using the appropriate lifetime habits? I believe that there is no single recipe for all students. It greatly depends upon each child’s personality, values, motivation and musical aptitude. Context for learning, the culture of the family and community, and support from family and peers are highly influential
Tony Holmes performs for family during a Christmas party. September 2013
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