Why Teach Music?
Reflections On A Serious Question by Marissa Silverman John J. Cali School of Music Montclair State University
silvermanm@mail.montclair.edu
which they are told to extoll their beliefs of the “why” for music education. As a part of my coursework, I ask my students (both undergraduate and graduate) to consistently revisit the questions: Why teach music? and What is the nature and value(s) of music education? I engage daily in this exercise myself. As such, I thought it was appro- priate to share my answers to these serious questions. Know that what follows will be altered again and again. But, this is how it should be. A “philosophy statement” should not be a static, once-and-for-all document that hangs on the wall to be dusted and ad- mired. It needs to be reformulated often. Though, despite this indeterminacy, it’s valuable to share such thinking, as doing so helps to promote further thinking. Here lies the purpose of what follows. If after reading this (very) brief “philosophy statement” you find yourself thinking about your own an- swers to these questions, then I consider my thinking useful. And, if after reading these thoughts, you find yourself challenging my thinking, then that, too, is useful. Why teach music? I find when I ask this question, I begin by answering it from a personal perspective. I teach because I must: I know no other way of creating a mean- ingful professional and personal life. Why? Because teaching is much more than the or- derly transmission of knowledge and skills. Teaching is a creative and transformative process – for my students and myself. On one hand, I work to insure that my students learn by approaching music from a variety of critical perspectives; on the other hand, I work to insure that I learn from my stu- dents by welcoming their ideas, reflections, and criticisms in our classes. Teaching in this mutually constructive, respectful, and
S JANUARY 2013
tudents of music education are invariably asked to provide a “philosophy statement,” in
empathic way is the basis of my transforma- tive teaching philosophy.
As an educator and musician, I believe
I have a responsibility to nurture each stu- dent’s emotional, social, cultural, personal, and artistic health and well-being. To para- phrase philosopher Clive Beck, education is for life, not just for “job getting”; educa- tion is for my students’ lives in the present and future. I aim to give my students’ lives meaning, purpose, joy, and direction. Following philosopher Richard Pring , I believe teaching is “an activity
(2001)1
in which the teacher is sharing in a moral enterprise”: namely, the initiation of people into an ethical and empathetic way of see- ing and being in the world… “of relating to others in a more human and understand- ing way” (p. 106). From this perspective, I center my professional focus on the lives of people-learning-music and on people grow- ing through musical participation. Another term useful in this connection is “artistic citizenship” (see Elliott, 20122
). Permit me
to explain this concept a little further. I teach music and music educators because I believe it is in our society’s best interests that we enable our students to con- ceive themselves as creative individuals, and artistic citizens. Indeed, we must not over- look the importance of enabling our music students to develop musical replies to social, moral, and political dilemmas by enabling them to create musical expressions that serve the needs of citizens in their schools and communities. Becoming a musical art- ist for citizenship requires all the myriad skills and understandings that make up mu- sicianship. It also requires the disposition to act with a deep awareness of music’s power to move, bond, and heal others, and to mo- tivate people to act for social justice. I am a teacher of future musicians and music educators because, in part, I want to
47
help future generations to reclaim a demo- cratic purpose for music. How? We need to be the kind of artist-educators who can en- able students to create beautiful music in a wide variety of styles and, simultaneously, to enable them to express their social ideas and commitments via musical performanc- es and compositions. In fact, many classi- cal, jazz, rock, and folk musicians have done the same for decades (e.g., Rostropovich, Barenboim, Marsalis, Bono, Seeger, and so forth). So why not music students, too? In- deed, our students should not see the world as it is, but as it could be. And music is the perfect tool that can empower people to be community-minded artistic citizens. Because education and music are so- cial-cultural practices, they are always in flux. That said, there are several basic life- goals that people across time and cultures have always sought and that teachers should seek to achieve in education and music: self-growth, fellowship, happiness, health, wisdom, identity, and community. Across all times and cultures, countless people have sought and satisfied these life-goals in and through musical participation. As a music educator, I am proud to be one small part of this noble endeavor.
(Endnotes) 1
Pring, R. 2001. Education as
Moral Practice. Journal of Moral Education, 30:2, 101-112.
2 Elliott, D.J. 2012. Music Educa-
tion as/for Artistic Citizenship. Music Edu- cators Journal. 99:1, 21-27.
& TEMPO
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76