In the past several years, and even decades, the question of how important music is to a child’s education has come up time and time again. Despite the fact that music is such a major part of the lives of many individuals, people are still uncertain as to how they feel; yet quite a few good reasons exist for music to remain in schools.
Part of the World
Isolating a major part of society means that youngsters are not receiving a full education. Yes, they will still hear their favorite tunes on the radio in the car and when they download them to their electronic devices. However, they won’t understand the great composers or the names that accompany the different keys on a piano or tunes in a melody. Failure to teach music to children means that they won’t have the same opportunities to participate in this field as did those who came before them.
Learning the History of Music
For children who want to learn how to play music properly, these types of classes are vital. However, singing songs and playing an instrument are not the hobbies of everyone, but that doesn’t mean these individuals have to stay outside the musical domain. Instead, they can focus on the history of music. They can learn how music has a role in certain theatrical productions, and they can read the biographers of great musicians who lived in the past and who are now prolific in the present. They can still have a well-rounded sense of music even if they don’t participate.
Incorporating Entertaining Disciplines
Decades and decades came to pass where children would enjoy running off to their music classes. After a rote day of reciting the times tables and practicing grammar skills, they were able to go to a class that was more fun. Although education has changed as more and more classes are taught online via learning management systems, and teachers are actively working to incorporate more enjoyable lessons into their every day plans, young learners still love that break from the day when they get to go and practice for the big concert or the recital that is coming up.
School Concerts and Plays
Not only have children enjoyed going to music class for a long time, but they have also loved the opportunity to participate in school concerts. In the event that music is eliminated from the school curriculum, putting together a concert is going to be rather difficult. While early elementary school teachers often have their students sing little songs for their parents, orchestrating a production that involves all of the classes and that focuses on a central theme, all the while the music teacher plays the piano or leads the band, will disappear from existence.
Connection to the Theater
In the early years of school, the plays are often based on a simple story that is easy for children to learn. However, as they grow, they begin to see the connections that exist among the theater, song and dance. Yet if schools pull music from the curriculum, students are going to be left without the great musicals of the past and present. Plays without songs are, of course, suitable opportunities for children who are interested in theater on a casual level, but these type of performances will not prepare the Broadway-bound star or the future leader of the local playhouse.
Artistic and Creative Expression
No matter how many threads of creativity teachers work to infuse into their lessons about chemistry and history, it’s unlikely that they will be able to make these disciplines quite as creative as music is. Other fields serve their own purposes, but children need the time to be creative in school. Learning the basics of playing an instrument, even a small tambourine in preschool, can help them to carve a path for their future and really dabble in the arts. Creative expression needs to be a part of schools for those who learn in that way.
Musical Learners
Those who are familiar with Howard Gardner will know about his famous Theory of Multiple Intelligences. In this theory, Gardner posits that different students learn in different ways. For example, some of them are logical/mathematical learners, and they benefit from learning how to order items. Others are kinesthetic learners, and they do particularly well when they have the opportunity to move around the classroom. Musical learners are another group of Gardner’s. If music is removed from schools, then students who learn in this manner are not going to be given the opportunity to have their learning needs addressed.
Connections to Other Disciplines
Many educators are concerned with interdisciplinary connections. It’s interesting that some of these same people want to ban music from schools because music can actually be an extremely valuable tool in helping students to learn. Even for those students who are not musical learners according to Gardner’s theory, they could use a song to help them remember facts for a history class. They might hear the song in school and remember the beat, or they might develop their own tune when they are studying for a test. Music can also be connected to a gym class where students are taught a particular style of dance, and the gym and music teachers work together.
Inspiring Hobbies and Careers
When students are not presented with a full range of potential hobbies and/or careers, they are not going to know all of the possibilities out there. As a result, music needs to stay in schools. Youngsters might find that they want to pursue playing the guitar or the piano for a hobby, or they may be so inspired that they want to become a music teacher or an orchestra leader when they are older. We don’t need more lawyers or paralegal to fill up the ranks of our workforce, there are plenty who actually enjoy working in the legal field. On top of that, students may wish to join after school music clubs or a band at the school, organizations that would also start to vanish if music was taken out of schools.
Having music in schools is very important for a number of reasons that directly relate to the children’s health as students.
