The Importance of Music in Public Education: A Historical Look

Music classes in public schools have always been a safe space for

students. Most people would say that music is important for students in

public schools. Opinions on the effect of music on humans date as far

back as 400 BC. Music has always had an affect on people that can

change the way we think and go about our lives. There are many

references throughout history that talk about these effects.

There are many references of how music is good for our minds but no one

can justify that music is essential to our school curriculums, only that it’s

better to have them in schools. But how do we justify that music is

important for students? Does music even stand a chance in our public

schools?
Back in 1830, William Channing Woodbridge wrote an essay, “On Vocal

Music as a Branch of Common Education,” that changed the views of

music instruction. According to Woodbridge, music has an emotional and

religious relationship with the human mind. During this time, church was a

very important part of society. Because music played a role in the church

and Woodbridge’s religious views on music, people saw that music needed

to be included in public education as well. Woodbridge also went on that

education was created to prepare children in society for their place in a

democratic republic and music would help accomplish that.

A century later, James Mursell bounced off Woodbridge’s idea on music

instruction but added a “humanistic” view. Mursell saw music as a way for

children to mentally grow and for them to relate to one another. In the

1950s, we will add a new reference. During this time, science was growing

and the effect of music on the brain was becoming more justified. Susan

Langer’s Philosophy in a New Key and Leonard Meyer’s Emotion and

Meaning in Music gave a philosophical and psychological perspective on

music instruction. Langer studied music through human emotion and

Meyer studied psychological laws between music and emotion from what

he called an “absolute expressionist” perspective. According to Meyer,

music is viewed differently around the world therefore music should be

approached globally in schools.

Two decades later, Abraham Schwadron and Bennett Reimer gave views on

music that were inspired by Langer and Meyer. They argued that music

should not only be understood in its own terms but also improved school

curriculums by giving additional insight to other subjects such as

language, history, science and math.

For music educators and other supporters of music instruction, the

problem is finding the right approaches to music education that is

appealing to educational policymakers. The people who are able to make

changes to music instruction in public schools. Music supervisors started

to disappear from public education when it came to budget cuts and

changes. These people were the only ones who looked over their local

music programs.

Non-musicians don’t understand the different approaches to music.

Francis Sparshott, Philip Anderson, and David Elliot attempted to address

this situation. In “What is Music?,” different writers explained the different

skills involved in making and learning music. Today, in the twenty-first

century, music has a fragile place in public education. The challenge of

today is to show the public enough evidence that music can improve our

schools so that policymakers can provide the conditions that music

programs need to thrive.

Jorgensen, Estelle R. “Justifying Music Instruction in American Public Schools: An

Historical Perspective.” Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, no. 120,

1994, pp. 17–31. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40318631. Accessed 22 Feb. 2021

About The Author

Taylor Alley is from Madison, North Carolina and is a sophomore

Instrumental Music Education major at Appalachian State University.

Taylor plays the clarinet as well as piano and guitar. Taylor is very

passionate about the importance of music in schools and hopes to

change how music programs in public schools are being defunded and

are being cut. Living in a small town and going to a small high school, she

felt that she didn’t get the opportunities that some of her peers at App

State from big high schools got and she hopes to be able to bring those

opportunities to future band students.