Music education, unfortunately, has been on a downward trend over the last twenty-five years.

The percentage of students in music classes has dropped from 16.45 percent in 1985 to 11.67 percent in 2005, according to the article, The Elephant in the Room, by David Williams. The numbers are staggering and concerning to everyone in the music education community. This is commonly due to the increased focus on math and science curriculums in high schools, as well as the new trends in musical interest in the younger generations. However, this does not mean the music education has lost any of the values it has been teaching for generations. Music Education is important for a number of reasons, including fostering a love for the arts, creating a place where students belong, and through creating a sense of community. Music education should help to foster a greater appreciation for the arts in those students involved in the program. The goal for music educators should be to develop this passion in their students by sharing with them their own passion for music. During my interview with my high school band director, Jules Haran, she talked about inspiring students in this way, saying, Passion is contagious. This means that one way to stir passion within your students is to be passionate about what you are teaching them. Some teachers choose to use theatrical flair to display this passion, while others utilize their fertile imagination and a drive to work hard to inspire their students, as written by Manny Brand in the article Master Music Teachers: What Makes Them So Great. However, some students will not be moved simply by the motivational power of the teacher. Many students will choose to not join in music classes simply because they do not enjoy the experiences of classical music in a large ensemble setting. There are numerous genres available now in this modern age, more than Bach and Vivaldi. For this reason, it is

imperative that teachers have classes that relate to different styles of music other than standard classical styles, classes that relate to rap, hip hop, and guitar ensembles, to name a few. This would be in addition to large ensembles, which would still be an important part of the music curriculum. However, these other classes would help to include more members of the school in music education, and help to avoid the decreasing numbers of students in music classes. When I was in high school, the band room was more than a classroom for learning. The band room served as a home away from home, a place that I almost spent more time in than my own bedroom. It was not just the excessive amounts of time I

spent in the room, however. The atmosphere of the band room was always friendly and welcoming to outsiders. The diverse group of students helped to make every student find a place where they belonged in the band program. One way that I as a teacher could help promote the idea of this safe environment would be through the use of multicultural education and culturally relevant education. Using multicultural education to introduce students to a broad spectrum of cultures will help students to see different cultures as equal in the musical world, which can translate to their own lives. As stated in the article Cultural Diversity and the Formation of Identity: Our Role as Music Teachers, by Kate R. Fitzpatrick, culturally relevant education can help to bond the existing culture of the community and create positive peer relationships with others of the same cultural groups. I believe one of the most important parts of music is the fact that it is not always about one individual. While there are plenty of musical pieces that focus on one individual, including concertos and etudes, most music involves groups of individuals

working together to create beautiful art. When playing in groups, students must learn to listen to one another and play together as a group. It was common for my band director to pick out instruments that stuck out and reaffirm the need for listening to one another, whether it was for tuning, blending, or making a phrase more musical. This is prevalent in small chamber groups as well, where the students must not only learn to play together but to rehearse on their own and work together instead of relying on one conductor to provide feedback. By encouraging students to work together more closely as a group versus a more every man for himself approach, students gain skills that will help that work together better with others in other applications as well. Plato believed that by educating students in the arts, it made them more civilized human beings, based on the article Source Readings from Ancient Greece to Today, by Michael L. Mark. Through this, they would be able to live much more harmonious lives in society. Music Education in the American public school system is just as important as any other subject that a student may take. It teaches valuable lessons to students and provides so much that cannot be obtained in a standard curricular class. Music Education has lasted for countless decades and will continue to persevere through these changes.