First and foremost, it’s fun to sound great. Creating beautiful sounds is fun; getting better (and knowing how to get better) is fun; striving for greatness is fun. Conversely, making poor sounds with bad posture in a room with others doing the same thing is not fun. Not knowing how to practice and, in turn, not getting better isn’t fun. Performing in public and knowing the product is not good (trust me — young students know this, even if they can’t quite put their finger on it) is certainly not fun.

Getting better and learning is fun. When teachers identify students’ comfort zones and find that magical place right beyond that zone where each student can achieve great things with a little bit of struggle — everyone has fun. It’s not fun to be stagnant during what should otherwise be an exciting learning curve. It’s fun to put away the instrument at the end of each day and know you got just a little better.

Balancing rigor with play is fun. Instrumental music class is a place where children make friends, solve problems by doing, and overcome their fears by experimenting, taking risks — and even failing — in a supportive environment. Our schools are becoming more and more standardized, and in the process they are eliminating opportunities for play to occur in the curricula. Without clear expectations and rigor in the music classroom, however, play becomes nothing but fooling around with noisemakers — not fun.

Being exposed to great musicians is fun. When students have a chance on a regular basis to have a connection with great performers, their motivation increases several-fold. It’s fun to have a vision of what you want to become, and then strive to realize that vision a little every day. It’snot fun to be directionless and lack clear goals.

Taking ownership over learning is fun. When a student understands “why”, “how”, “where” and “when” to practice, they have been given power. They will feel a sense of responsibility, which will then lead to self motivation and routine. Ideally we want our children to have ownership over their own learning in every aspect of life, and music education is a wonderful way to teach this. It’s not fun to have little or no understanding of how to get better at playing a musical instrument.

Experiencing beautiful music in an ensemble is really fun. Music is fun when it builds a team. Much like sports, when an ensemble sounds great it is like a team playing well; when a piece is played well it is like a team “winning” a game. But a lot of work goes into molding a great ensemble; it takes time, and everyone has an important role to play. When executed correctly, working on and performing a piece of music is really fun.