Philosophy Statement

Katherine McAllan
 For thousands of years music has existed and brought joy into the lives of many people.

Musicians and composers work for hours to perfect a piece for a big performance, parents rush to

make sure their child makes it to band rehearsal or piano lessons on time. So why music? This

question has lingered in the back of the minds of educators and students for years. It has been

asked by administrators who are trying to stretch a budget, by parents who are working to make

ends meet, and by students who just don’t want to practice. The answer is not simple or concise,

but it is profoundly important. Music is more than it seems, not only a type of intelligence but

also a societal binding agent. For these reasons, music should be available to people from all

walks of life, regardless of age and perceived intelligence level.

Bennett Reimer, a music educator, was convinced that music education was important

and not to be looked down upon. In his book A Philosophy of Music Education he said “Music, I

believe, along with other arts, has been ghettoized in education to a large degree because it is

considered different from- those subjects that require intelligence… resulting in effective

division of the school curriculum into the basics- in which intelligence is the key factor- \”1 It

would be wrong to exclude music from schools because it doesn’t require intelligence. In fact,

intelligence can be defined in many ways. Reimer said, “Intelligence consists of the ability to

make increasingly acute discriminations, as related to increasingly wide connections, in contexts

provided by culturally devised role expectations.”2, giving the word a broader meaning, and

allowing for music to fit perfectly into the definition. Howard Gardner’s The Theory of Multiple

Intelligences also supports this idea. Gardner originally believed there to be eleven different

types of intelligences, including linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, bodily- kinesthetic,

1
Reimer, Bennett. A Philosophy in Music Education(3rd edition) Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey:Prentice-Hall
(2002) pg.203
2
IBID. 203
spatial, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalist, spiritual, existential, and moral intelligence3 This

was groundbreaking, and helped people understand that just because a child performs poorly in

one area, doesn't mean that the child is unintelligent, which is very important in today’s schools.

Children who previously were looked down upon, were now more able to do what they love

without being looked down upon by the school system.

Many people tend to look at music as nothing more than something you hear on the radio,

or hear in the background of a dinner party, when in reality it is so much more than that. It can

bind people together through common interests, enliven a community, and even increase grades

in other subjects. Leonard B. Meyer, author of Emotion and Meaning in Music believed “self

conscious minds tend to rationalize musical processes by bringing their observations to the level

of conscious awareness. They tend, that is, to respond on the aesthetic intellectual level.”4

Aesthetic, as an adjective means concerned with beauty, meaning that people who tend to

rationalize music see it as nothing more than pretty. This is not the case. In a study done in 2018,

Arthur Scavella found that “The results indicated that there was a positive, statistically

significant difference between both the ELA (English Language Assessment) and mathematics

achievement scores of those students that participated in the MPA (Musical Performance

Assessment) and those that did not. ”5 This is a huge advantage for schools that have music

programs, because state and national level testing are required, and show the caliber of the

school. If students who participate in music get higher scores on average, then the music is much

3
Smith, Mark K. “Howard Gardner, Multiple Intelligences and Education.” infed.org, April 25, 2013.
http://infed.org/mobi/howard-gardner-multiple-intelligences-and-education/.

4
Leonard B. Meyer. Emotion and Meaning in Music. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (1956)
5
Scavella, Arthur J. N. “The Relationship Between District Concert Band Music Performance Assessment
Participation and Student Achievement in Miami-Dade County Public Middle Schools.” FIU Digital Commons,
February 20, 18AD. https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/3638/.
more valuable, not only to the school but to the community as well. Micheal L. Mark wrote

about how music serves its community in his book Contemporary Music Education. “Music

education exists to serve society, and every component of it must contribute in some way to the

betterment of the social order that sponsors it.”6 Mark then speaks about music education and the

local community, praising the benefits it could have on society.

“Lifelong music education has been discussed and recommended for decades by music
educators but little has been done to set the process in motion. It is even possible that
after they(music educators) establish a close relationship between school and community,
teachers could prepare their students for the musical life of their own specific
communities. If this were done, school music programs would be their own best
advocates, and communities could not help but appreciate the need for music in schools”
7

Both schools and communities benefit from the addition of music to the options of classes.

Achievement will skyrocket, helping students and society with more involvement in both

community and education

A thorough education in music should be available to all walks of life, regardless of age

and “intelligence” level. This statement alone goes deeper than it may seem. As has been shown,

music paired with academics, can help academic scores go up. When music teachers and

musicians are active in a community, the community is more involved in the school. Music

should be in every school, everywhere, because wherever music is present, success and

achievement follow.

6
Micheal L. Mark. Contemporary Music Education. New York: Schirmer Books (1986) pg301
7
IBID pg301
 Bibliography

Micheal L. Mark. Contemporary Music Education. New York: Schirmer Books (1986)

Leonard B. Meyer. Emotion and Meaning in Music. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
(1956)

Reimer, Bennett. A Philosophy in Music Education(3rd edition) Englewood Cliffs, New

Jersey:Prentice-Hall (2002)

Scavella, Arthur J. N. “The Relationship Between District Concert Band Music Performance
Assessment Participation and Student Achievement in Miami-Dade County Public Middle
Schools.” FIU Digital Commons, February 20, 18AD. https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/3638/.

Smith, Mark K. “Howard Gardner, Multiple Intelligences and Education.” infed.org, April 25,
2013. http://infed.org/mobi/howard-gardner-multiple-intelligences-and-education/.