Why MUSIC?
Why MUSIC?
Embedded Files
I'm interested in being a part of the music!
by Natalie Pagel, associate director, SMS
As a musician and educator, I often mention the value of "music for music's sake". It's a phrase used commonly in our field, but what does it really mean?
There are many benefits to learning to read and make music, and there is plenty of research to support these benefits. From advances in reasoning and problem solving to increased scores in math and reading, the ways in which music makes a better learner are endless. But these skills can be honed in a number of ways in a number of classes. So what is it that makes music special and unique?
Consider the history of civilization.
For as long as humans have existed, so has art. A flute made of bone, cave wall paintings and ivory carvings, elaborate Egyptian burial decor, a keyboard made of mammoth bones. We see evidence of art from tens of thousands of years ago that surely wasn't created or utilized because of a need to improve M-STEP scores.
Why were the arts important then? Well, why did you brush your hair this morning? Why did you choose your wedding dress or your first dance song? Why did you paint your walls or sing "Twinkle, twinkle little star" to your babies? Why did you pick out that card for your grandma's birthday? What was the point? Surely not simply to meet some physical need, like food and water. And yet, like food and water, we've never existed without the arts.
To understand its role, we have to be willing to look beyond our tangible needs. We are more than the hours of sleep we steal or the pounds we weigh. We have emotions, feelings (dare I say, souls?) and a desire to express and communicate them with one another. How many people today do you know who are out of touch? So many lack the ability to empathize, especially in a digital landscape. But with art, we come a little closer.
Music has the power to move those invisible pieces inside of us. It lightens our bodies when we feel tired or weak, allows us to sink into our sadness and pain, explore our power and motivate our minds. And as we play in the band or sing in the choir, we allow those experiences to become shared ones. We no longer suffer or celebrate or laugh alone. We feel, and we make our audiences feel. Is there a reason beyond that?
Is there a reason needed?
We welcome the opportunity to teach your children the beginnings to a life of music and we hope you will join us in furthering the role of music in our lives... for music's sake. As Karl Paunack said in his welcome address to incoming freshmen studying music at the Boston Conservatory:
You're not here to become an entertainer, and you don't have to sell yourself. The truth is you don't have anything to sell; being a musician isn't about dispensing a product, like selling used Chevies. I'm not an entertainer; I'm a lot closer to a paramedic, a firefighter, a rescue worker. You're here to become a sort of therapist for the human soul, a spiritual version of a chiropractor, physical therapist, someone who works with our insides to see if they get things to line up, to see if we can come into harmony with ourselves and be healthy and happy and well.
Our Values
Our Values
Here at CCS, our success is not defined by any single metric, but by a variety of measures that reflect this distinctive set of values. Look beyond standardized test scores and wonder about what makes a great LEARNER...
CREATIVITY
CREATIVITY
Music works to shift from binary thinking: "right" or "wrong" answers, and instead pushes students to think critically about the choices they make stylistically or otherwise. Students are taught that significance can be made through qualitative, not quantitative information. It is difficult to argue that there is not a “right” or “wrong” answer in music, as a wrong note is certainly in the realm of possibility. We can push students to see beyond right and wrong; that there is a level of understanding achieved beyond “just” right and wrong. This is even reinforced at the state level, for example,, through the MSBOA and MSVMA festivals, for example, where “Style” and interpretation are in their own category and play an equal part in the overall rating of a performance. When it comes to interpretation, there may be many “right” ways.
PERSEVERANCE
PERSEVERANCE
In music, there is no bench. Students are not excluded from participating because of a lack of ability or talent. The expectation is the same for every student in the room, and thus the player's responsibility is to the other members in the group.
SELF AWARENESS AND REGULATION
SELF AWARENESS AND REGULATION
Students learn to hold themselves accountable for the information presented because of an intrinsic desire to improve the quality of music. As they progress, students acquire the knowledge necessary to identify and correct an incorrect pitch or rhythm using their auditory processing skills. They must also have the ability to concentrate on a task while processing what they are hearing, viewing from their conductor, and seeing on their page.
UNDERSTANDING THE ABSTRACT
UNDERSTANDING THE ABSTRACT
Students have to be able to imagine various solutions to possible problems to create a passage of music that is an accurate representation of what has been composed.
DECISIVENESS and RISK-TAKING
DECISIVENESS and RISK-TAKING
It takes courage to create sound publicly every day and share a personal art form. Students play or sing for individually, in small groups, and large ensembles every day and subject their work to critique by peers and instructors.
CREATING UNDERSTANDING
CREATING UNDERSTANDING
"Art is one of the most powerful tools in disrupting the status quo. We see this time and time again, because artists have the ability to use the platform of art to translate difficult, topical, and controversial issues into an accessible medium for dialogue and engagement. Art can break down boundaries—political, socioeconomic, geographic—and can empower communities to protect their rights and legacies." - Nicole Dowd, Program Manager of Halycon Arts Lab
SOCIO-EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
SOCIO-EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
"Music is… magical... you take some seemingly random marks on a page, you blow air through a carefully constructed tube, and what comes out the other side is a sound that can convey things that words cannot... And while we can do a million random things with a million random objects, somehow, when we just blow some air through a tube, we create sounds that can move other human beings, can reach right into our brains and our hearts... That is… magical." – Peter Greene, The Huffington Post
DEVELOPING LEADERSHIP
DEVELOPING LEADERSHIP
A student learns to lead when she feels confident in her abilities, comfortable with those she is leading, and supported intellectually and emotionally by her instructors. We provide these opportunities daily, weekly, in each new ensemble or chair placement test or sectional time. We build our team, year after year, and grow a community of kind, hard working people who all want the best for each other, because it's what's best for the ensemble.
Report abuse