Is there an importance to teaching just popular music or is there benefit in teaching a broad range of music genres? Are students able to develop skills in literacy and musical critical techniques using western art music? My philosophy on teaching music is somewhat evolving as has been the case since I started teaching, approximately 12 years ago however continues to evolve through my quest as a lifelong learner. I truly feel that a range of resources strengthens the ability to engage students and develop their skills and understanding. The late, Richard Gill OAM, music advocate explains that singing should be at the core of early education and beginning learning in a formal setting. He points out that singing can be a wonderful thing for individuals, building community within the class and is directly related to student’s development in how to read, how they learn to write, how to improvise, compose, and it’s so cheap. Gill states, “Children should have a wide range of music, and they should know lots of music that they haven’t hitherto fore known, that’s what school’s about”. Anita Collins, research has found that “music education could positively and permanently improve cognitive skills, physical development, and emotional well-being” (Collins, 2013). The benefits of music education on brain development, social skills, and literacy are vastly undervalued and has limited research regarding the potential to engage our students and deeper their learning. I feel we need to continue to identify learning experiences which have a positive effect on our students to harness their thirst for knowledge, whether it may be popular music first and moving into other avenues or starting with music they are interested in and moving into learning opportunities using technology.
http://earplaying.ioe.ac.uk/index.html – Lucy Green (2012) Informal Learning project website, Department of Arts and Humanities, Institute of Education, University of London
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261634603_Music_Education_and_the_Brain_What_Does_It_Take_to_Make_a_Change Anita Collins (2013) Music Education and the Brain: What does it take to make a change? National Association for Music Education, SAGE, XX(X) 1-7.
Is music really that important? 