Juliana Trauberman

Dr. Dunbar

MUED211

15 May 2024

Philosophy of Education

Education has always been a main pillar in my life. A love for school and learning was

instilled in me at a young age by my mother, an educator herself. As I grew to understand what

being a teacher meant, I decided that I wanted to make it my future career. I was unsure what

subject I wanted to teach at first, but then I found choir in high school. I have always loved to

sing, and choir provided a welcoming space for me to explore and embrace that love. When

looking back on my discovery of the subject I wanted to teach in order to help form my personal

philosophy, I realized that a lot of the beliefs I have about education trace back to the experiences

I had in my high school choir classroom. My philosophies are mainly centered around creating

an environment where students feel safe to be vulnerable, explore their feelings, and boldly

express themselves.

I believe that learning in the music classroom should be student centered and based

around finding deeper meaning and real-world applications within the concepts that are

discussed in class. Music can have so many implications beyond notes and rhythms, and I

believe that it is my job as an educator to facilitate the process of my students' discovery of that

fact. Success in my classroom will be defined not only by mastery of musical skills, but by the

understanding of music’s social and emotional impacts.

In alignment with my philosophy, I plan to provide plenty of opportunities for sectional

and individual score study. While a great portion of my classes will also include large group
instruction, it is pertinent to me that students have the chance to work with each other and on

their own to make discoveries about their repertoire. This is an important step in learning about

the real-world applications of musical concepts. Since students will be encouraged to interact

with and learn from each other, this will also contribute to the friendly and respectful

environment that I want to cultivate. To further enrich that environment, I plan to start each class

with an “icebreaker” or quick discussion topic of sorts to get students talking to each other across

the choir, rather than subscribing themselves to their voice part sections. As more connections

throughout my choir form, I hope that my students will begin to feel safer to be bold in their

musicianship and express themselves more freely. Assignments and assessments in my

classroom will be heavily centered around experiences and the progress of students’ musical

mastery, rather than objective assessments that do not reflect the nuances of learning music. The

center of my philosophy truly is the students, so I plan to keep their needs and wants for their

learning at the front of my mind at all times.

My curriculum will be centered around the goal of getting students to understand that

learning about music can have a purpose within their everyday lives. Through my experiences in

my practicum placement, I have learned that students retain more when they find things within

their personal lives to connect the concepts to. For example, students were able to consistently

apply a better sense of expressive dynamics to their repertoire after a class discussion on what

the pieces meant to them. This is absolutely the way I would like to structure my curriculum. Not

only does this method encourage the emotional connection that I find to be so important, but it

also bolsters the mastery of expressive skills when performing. I would also like to provide a lot

of experience-based learning opportunities outside of my classroom, such as working alongside

collegiate choirs and professors. I believe that this will allow students to see that music takes
place outside of my classroom, and I also hope that this opens up their eyes to the world of music

careers.

In sum, my philosophy of music education is shaped around a student centered

curriculum where students are able to discover for themselves how music can connect to the real

world. I truly hope to inspire my students to become strong musicians, whether they choose to

dedicate their life to a music career or simply apply the concepts of strong performing, problem

solving, and teamwork that I taught them to their future endeavors.