David Daily

Dr. Palmer
MUSED 375
13 April 2015
Music Education Philosophy
The role of music in society is to evoke meaning and emotion in ways that no
other medium has the ability to. Music education is essential to all students to
create musical skills, knowledge, and experiences that are relatable to their
individual lives. Comprehensive knowledge and comprehensive experiences must
be facilitated by the educator in order to achieve the ultimate goal of
comprehensive musicianship. Comprehensive musicianship is defined as learning
musical knowledge and skills through the use of musical experiences. Music, not
just comprehensive musicianship, is holistically a subjective medium. In order to
give specific numerical value (a grade) to any element of comprehensive
musicianship requires the skilled training and extensive knowledge of a skilled
music educator.
Any teacher in any field is expected to be able to convey knowledge of the
subject to their students. Music can speak in ways that words cannot. However, the
teacher needs to be able to speak in a way that the student is able to describe and
comprehend this indescribable sensation of music. The educator must draw from
their own knowledge and experiences to explain to the students how they can
express, perform, and describe the sensation of music. Having a comprehensive
understanding of the material being discussed will give the highest chance of being
able to teach it well. There is no greater demand for this than in the world of music
pedagogy. Having comprehensive knowledge in the field of music is one of the most
important skills in the process of creating and developing musicianship within
students. A music educator who has higher musicianship level will have a greater
chance of being a better educator compared to those who do not. Although it is not

always true, an educator who performs at a high level on their individual

instrument(s) or voice will generally have a higher level of individual musicianship
to draw upon.
Music has the ability to utilize both convergent and divergent learning
processes, and
Everything about the music-learning and performing process is an experience
that is unique to each student. Music is so much more than anything that can be
taught from any kind of textbook. There are unlimited amounts of variables and
possibilities in which music can be created, listened to, and appreciated. Any
musically illiterate person has the ability to learn the jargon of the musical world.
The dictation and theory of musical notation is no more than arithmetic. It is mere
ink on a paper until the music can be performed. Although it is crucial to learn, this
musical arithmetic is often the largest, if only knowledge taught to early students,
myself being one of them.
A good teacher might make the process of teaching music more interesting to
the students, but if they are not a musician themselves, then they can only do so
much to actually teach the intricacies of music. Having a musically trained ear is the
most important skill that a music teacher can possess. This one skill is one that
requires years of dedication to achieve in the musical world. This skill is possessed
by musicians alone, and is absolutely necessary in creating any kind of music,
instrumental or vocal.
Throughout my undergraduate experiences at Ball State, I have found out
that there is so much more to teaching music than what I previously thought. Now
especially, I see musicians that are not entirely musically literate, and therefore
cannot effectively teach. Often, this lack of knowledge and understanding comes
because these teachers were not taught correctly. The music education philosophy

at Ball State shows that the most effective way to teach music is on the principle of
sound before sight. Introduce concepts and knowledge through hearing and
examples before introducing them on paper. This requires that every music
educator knows how to sing and/or play in a classroom and convey ideas and
concepts through aural stimulation. This idea of comprehensive musicianship is one
that I support and encourage.
In the musical classroom, this is exactly what we need to do. We sing every
day in classes, regardless of our main instrument. We focus on teaching music
uniquely, individually, and correctly instead of reading through any given method
book program. The nine national music standards are the basis for the structured,
educational element of music. All of this information is crucial in becoming practical
musicians. Learning how to teach correctly will help the educator become a better
musician themselves. From my own experiences, simply learning how to teach
music taught me many things about how to learn music; how much immediate
memory most people have, how to utilize solfege effectively, how to structure an
effective practice session, and how to translate musical concepts to other aspects of
learning.
In my teaching career, I will strive to teach effectively in any grade level at
the highest of my ability. To ensure that I will be at the level of musicianship that I
want to be, I must continue to learn all the time. There will never be a peak at which
a musician can reach. The more that I, or any music educator can know about the
intricacies and inner workings of music and music pedagogy, the better teacher I
will become, and the better students I will produce.