A Personal Philosophy of Music Education Essay - 1036 Words

A Personal Philosophy of Music Education Few would argue against the idea that we educate ourselves and our society so that we have adequate means with which to understand and interact with elements of the world around us. Subjects such as mathematics, language, history, and the hard sciences are granted immediate and unquestioned legitimacy in our schools, and with good reason. We encounter each of these elements of our lives on a daily basis. We need to have an understanding of these disciplines in order to interact with them, otherwise they are meaningless to us. I submit that the same can be said for the fundamental concepts of music. Music is something that we encounter in our society every day. It surrounds us. Indeed†¦show more content†¦This connection is both quantitative and qualitative in that quality of life increasingly benefits from both the amount of education we receive and the quality of that education. To a great extent we define our quality of life based on economic status. Education has been ver y clearly shown to allow us access to employment, and to make us more informed consumers. Thus, an educated society is one that is capable of developing individuals who can both specialize, and who can make informed decisions about goods and services outside their area of specialization. This is a central need to both industries and citizens in a capitalist society. This is one reason why music is such an important thing for every member of society to learn, even if they are not music specialists such as performers or composers. As I stated earlier, virtually every member of our society encounters music every day. There are many objective elements of music that we need to be familiar with in order to successfully interact with it. These include basic understanding of concepts such as beat, pitch, and texture. Furthermore, as music is a form of expression, if one wants to understand what is being expressed, one needs to speak the language in which it is expressed. Just like there is literacy of words and numbers, there is literacy of music. This is not a position held solely by educators orShow MoreRelated My Personal Philosophy of Education Essay1081 Words   |  5 PagesMy Personal Philosophy of Education Some people make things happen, some watch while things happen, and some wonder ‘what happened?’ Which type of person are you? author unknown. There have been times in my life in which I have sat back and watched things happen. I often wondered why they happened. I now realize that it is important to be a leader. Effective teachers need to take charge and make things happen. 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