Educational Philosophy

Teaching students to reach technical proficiency on their instruments is rewarding in its own right, but it is not what makes teaching music so worthwhile. There are many, many people who participate in music programs in school. There are far fewer who continue playing their instrument into adulthood and only a miniscule percentage of those go on to build careers as musicians. Less than 1% of middle school band students will go on to pursue a career in music, but I still choose to make a career out of teaching middle school band. To me, teaching music is not about teaching fingerings, tonguings, and breath control. Teaching music is about teaching a love for the medium.

Music is part of everything that we do. It’s on in the background while we exercise, eat dinner, and travel. It manipulates our emotions when we enjoy film or television. It is a ubiquitous force that makes us feel more strongly in everything that we do. Having the opportunity to teach students to make music is wonderful, but the real value in music education comes from being able to understand why music affects us the way that it does and to understand what we like or don’t like about certain music.

One way that I help build students’ understanding of what they like and don’t like about music is through a bellringer that I do in my classes called Album of the Day. Students enter the room to a song playing on the stereo. On the television, I have a slide with information about what they’re listening to and a question for them to answer. When the song ends, they have one minute to discuss the question with their neighbor and then I call on students to answer using equity cards. The music ranges in genre from popular music to obscure music from cultures that they are unlikely to be familiar with such as Indonesian gamelan music, Peruvian pan flutes, and Afro-Beat. Through Album of the Day, I encourage students to think about the way that music affects them emotionally and teach them to speak academically about what they like and don’t like about the music they’re listening to. I’ve noticed a greater degree of appreciation for more challenging listens than the previous, “this is trash,” response that you would expect from middle schoolers hearing something unlike anything they’ve listened to before. It also allows me to build my connection with my students. For example, last year I played a song by a fairly obscure Indie band called Rilo Kiley and noticed one of my baritone players mouthing the words in his seat in the back row. This gave me a jumping off point to get to know him a little bit better.

The opportunity to teach music is a gift that I appreciate very much. Music is such an integral part of our lives and helping students build their understanding of it as a subject has an effect on almost everything they do. Their furthered appreciation of the medium is the best gift I can possibly give to them.