Musicing

Evan Tobias included a link to the following petition on his blog. I also heard a lot about this at MMEA. As with many other things with musicing and education, I have mixed feelings. I love the idea of a music education for all children, but I have some major problems with this document (no disrespect to Evan who simply provided the link, of course). I’ll mention just three:

First, the only connection made in this petition between music education and life after/outside of school is to the workforce–music helps develop creativity, a vital attribute of an efficient worker. What about all of the joys people experience through musicing that are not work-related? Aren’t lifelong enjoyment and social interaction through musicing just as or more important? Also, music curricula in the United States don’t seem to foster creativity but, rather, conformity and discipline–skills needed in the workforce of the past. As John Kratus pointed out last week, Latin used to be justified in the curriculum for so-called extra-Latin(ish?) benefits for a productive life and, today, Latin is not longer taught in most public schools. In other words, justifying music education based on the development of efficient workers doesn’t place MENC or music educators in a stronger position at all.

Second, as I pointed out in a panel discussion at MMEA with MENC President, Barbara Geer, and retired high school band director, Jim Oliver (I was very honored, BTW, to be on this panel with such wonderful career teachers), we still haven’t achieved the ideal of music for all and we’ve been talking about it for over 100 years (not me, personally, or either of the other two panelists, but the profession). One could argue that we have been successful at providing quality music programs for all middle-class, suburban students, but our music programs still privilege the privileged–rich over poor, suburban over rural and urban, elites over just plain everyday folk. In what other K-12 curriculum, for example, is success predicated on students’ opportunities for private instruction outside of school? I could go on . . .

Third, music is already considered a core subject in No Child Left Behind. This is a publicity stunt from an organization that at least 30 years ago chose advocacy over adaptation to changing musical values and practices. People generally don’t want what we are providing anymore. Let’s get over it and think about what our students might value musically throughout life and give them that.

So, no, I won’t be signing . . .

Here’s the petition . . .

Be it resolved that we, the undersigned, agree that all Americans should work to enhance and support music
education in our nation’s schools. To that end, we call on the U.S. Department of Education and all American
leaders to:
• Mandate that music and the other arts be part of every child’s core curriculum;
• Ensure music and the other arts are included as a part of a balanced education addressing the whole
child, to prepare them for the creative thinking necessary for success in the work force of the future;
• Ensure qualified music teachers and sequential curricula be recognized as the basis for providing
all students with substantive education in music and the other arts;
• Ensure programs in music and the other arts provide rigorous instruction, monitor progress and
performance through meaningful assessment, and take place within a structure of accountability to
school officials, parents, and the community.
Be it therefore resolved that the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, also known
as No Child Left Behind, not only identify music as a core subject, but also recognize music education as a
mandatory component of every public education curriculum in the United States of America.

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