Re: Stephen 3/9/11

What is music's role in education?

Lowell Mason founded the Boston Academy of Music in the early to mid 1800's and then became the superintendent of music for Boston public schools. He persuaded the surrounding towns to add music into their curriculum, which earned him the accreditation for starting music in the American public school system. He published The Manuel of the Boston Academy of Music which stated seven principles of music education. I couldn't find what these seven principles were exactly, but I do know that they did not explain why music is important in our lives, its aesthetic value, or standards for music education.
Music's role in today's curriculum, as it has been for many years is to teach team work, the application of fundamentals, the concept that you have to "keep going", how to approach goals with the right mind set, to use rules and theory to create something of your own, and many others. Team work as I and others have mentioned in previous blogs, is an important aspect of music. Everyone has to listen to each other and follow the conductor. The application of fundamentals is another important aspect of music, people who have been playing for fifty years still practice their scales and long tones prior to playing songs. Just like basketball players still practice their free throws after years of playing.
The most important thing with music that I have learned is the concept of "keep going." In video games you can just press the restart button, but when you make a mistake in a performance you cannot start over again, you have to pretend that you did not do anything wrong and the audience will forget, if they noticed. This can be very difficult especially if you are relying on your muscle memory, one wrong move and your muscles will not know where to go next. This is different than when a mistake is made in a sport game because since you are playing against a team whose reactions are only estimated when designing plays, that aspect of reaction and adjusting is almost programed into a players thinking. Yet with music it has a strict plan, your moves as well as others are known so when they are offset due to a mistake adjusting and knowing how to react may be difficult.
Another role music has in education is knowing how to set goals. Many people set goals that are difficult and high aspirations, yet they do not plan the steps on how to get there. With music you do not just play through a piece and move on to the next (well I suppose you could, but not in an educational setting). A lot of the time they do a quick read through first to work on sight reading abilities, and then they break it down phrase by phrase, slowing down the tempo, making sure the notes are clear and the articulations are correct. When the notes are clear, the right rhythm is played, and the articulations are correct with a slow tempo, the speed is then increased and the process starts over until the right tempo is reached. After that is completed one moves on to the next phrase and starts that process there. Of course there are many ways to approach a piece but all of them involve patience and practice. Patience and practice are extremely important concepts when reaching difficult goals.
Lastly, one of the important roles of music is learning the rules of theory and composition. There are the concepts of voice leading, 4 bars phrases, predictability, and I, IV, V. Yet after one learns these rules and how notes work together they can very well make a good composition using unpredictable 3 bar phrases while only using vii, vi, ii, iii!

Question: What is the most valuable thing you have learned from music? Or, what is the most important thing you have learned from any subject throughout your educational career?

Beautiful Mystery

Before ear training, dictation lessons, and learning a brass instrument, when I listened music I heard it as a whole -- one harmonious work. After, those skills had been developed I not only heard it as a one harmonious work, but also simultaneously heard all of the individual parts by themselves, and was able to understand how they worked together. It’s almost like I can hear a piece of music subjectively and objectively at the same time, when before it was only an objective view that I obtained. It is irreversible now, I cannot listen to a piece of music without seeing it from this perspective. It is almost like a curse because I can no longer just absorb; I must intake, analyze, and define. The lack of mystery to me, even after our discussion in class, does not appear to maximize a work’s beauty. There is beauty in the unknown. Because of this perspective, I understand music, and what I understand feels less intimidating to approach because it seems less of a challenge. Like with a end goal, if you know how to get there, the journey is less anxious. In the article he stated that beautiful things are difficult. After students learn a piece of music they find it beautiful even if they fist did not. This is not because they understand it more and think that it is more beautiful. The beauty is in the hard work it took, not the music itself. The piece of music is therefore a symbol of their dedication. The more difficult the piece, the more work you have to put into it. I would not be quick to say that the more difficult the piece, the more understanding there is obtain. It is the journey of finding understanding not the understanding itself. From an existential point of view would life be as beautiful if we knew why we were here? It's not meaning itself, but finding a purpose in life that give it meaning. Therefore mystery is beautiful because it initiates this curiosity to find an answer.

Question: If a piece of music is more beautiful the second or third time it is heard, than is improvisation less beautiful?