2 Simple Ideas for the Profession of Music Education

I began thinking about the subject of ‘change’ in music education many years ago during the internet boom. Remember those exciting days? Web developers across all disciplines were frantically working to change (or at least trying to change) just about every aspect of our lives.

That was a ‘can-do’ time when quick thinking individuals and small teams of pioneers were giving us amazing advances on a daily basis. And it seemed nothing was immune from innovation; from business models and marketing, to the way we bought pet food and groceries. Even the way we accessed and listened to music underwent incredible advances. Surely if there was ever a time that music education would expand its scope, this would be it!

But…here we are more than 2 decades later and our profession is no better off. School music programs are being cut at alarming rates, yet we still hold on to the same old tired ideas. We repeatedly cite any number of suspect studies regarding the benefits of music education to justify our programs and have done little else to help our cause. Big mistake.

So here are two simple ideas that I thought might help change (and dare I say even save) the profession of music education.

1. Stop training future music educators to (only) be ‘band directors’.

I am not in any way demeaning band, choral and orchestra directors or general music educators for that matter. It is a noble calling that many embrace with almost a theological passion. And I am a firm believer in the importance of music programs in schools. I am the product of a magnificent program from Westborough High School in Massachusetts where Bill McManus worked tirelessly, even writing a curriculum for jazz ensemble then lobbiying passionately for an increase in funds to make it a for-credit course. Anyone interested enough in this post has most likely benefited from their own experiences in a school band, chorus or orchestra program.

That being said, it is amazing to me that with all of the business and technological innovations of the past 25 years or so, the profession of music education and the direction of our training has changed very little... if at all. If the profession as a whole is going to survive current trends, it won’t be due to ‘save the music’ programs or the American version of ‘El Sisteme’ (I’ll reserve comments on the ‘system’ for another post). It will be through innovation, team work, marketing and packaging. So let’s give future music educators the tools they need to take innovative and definitive action.

2. Infuse university music education curricula with mandatory business, technology and marketing classes.

Let’s look at the facts. We are currently training future teachers to work in public schools at the same time that those positions are dwindling. In the mean time, a large contingency of tech savvy adults and older music enthusiasts with disposable income are willing to pay for the professional help that we can provide.

It doesn’t take a marketing or business genius to see what a potential boon this group can be to our profession. What it takes is a shift in thinking and a willingness to adapt. To that end, books like ‘The Tipping Point’ by Malcolm Gladwell and ‘Good to Great’ by Jim Collins should be mandatory reading for all music education majors.

Recognizing that ‘private practice’ is a viable option for music educators is only a beginning and training for the business of music education needs to be included in university curricula immediately. There’s no reason to wait until attrition in school music programs makes private practice the only option for future graduates.

5 Things to Change in Music Education

The following is an insightful post by Nancy Flanagan, a 30 year music education veteran from Hartland, Michigan. It's always great to hear from colleagues who have similar feelings about our profession. And who isn't intrigued by a blog titled 'Teacher in a Strange Land' or a post that begins in part:

'If I were named Divine Minister of All Music Education, and could change five things about music education in America, these would be my picks'.

Well written Nancy, keep up the great work. Your students are lucky to have you!

Click on the image below to read the Divine Minister's 5 Things to Change in Music Education.

Thinking for a Change in Music Education

In best selling author John Maxwell's book Thinking for Change, he offers some compelling ideas and a step by step approach to creative and successful thinking. The idea of copying successful people or 'thinking like successful people think' is not new. Can music educators benefit from these tactics? Will they even try? In the book Maxwell addresses the following issues (among others):

Big-Picture Thinking - 'seeing the world beyond your own needs and how that leads to great ideas'. Musicians are great at this on many levels. Understanding how our parts add to the whole band, orchestra or choir comes with the territory and is part of our basic training as a musician.

Focused Thinking - 'removing mental clutter and distractions to realize your full potential'. This is a critical skill that we as musicians hone from very early on. The ability to concentrate on our own playing from a simple duet part to playing in a large group setting is practiced at an early age.

Creative Thinking - 'stepping out of the "box" and making breakthroughs'. Musicians are some of the most creative folks I know, but I can't help but think that music educators have fallen short in this area, especially given our recent past. I am surprised that as music programs are being cut with alarming efficiency, the best defense we've come up with is the argument music education leads students to 'more successful standardized test scores', 'better self esteem' and 'improved spatial reasoning'. Hardly anyone is talking about changing the profession of music education to allow it to thrive 'outside the box' of academia.

Shared Thinking - 'working with others to compound results'. Musically we have this skill in spades. Any trip to a live performance proves that musicians know how to work together to make a great feast for the ears. In a professional capacity however, we tend to fall woefully short in this area.

Our profession (as it exists mainly in academia) allows for very little shared thinking; that is the kind of thinking that actually benefits the profession itself. We gleefully share ideas on how to make the winter concert better or how to get kids to be quite during rehearsal, but we generally do not tend to share ideas about the actual profession itself - as do other disciplines like law, medicine or accounting.

Reflective Thinking - 'looking at the past to gain a better understanding of the future'. Our profession seems doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past with heads in the sand. We hope against hope that our programs remain funded and turn very little attention to thinking of new ways to make fundamental changes that could at the very least, provide a different option for our future educators.

At DSM and MusickEd.com Maxwell's Thinking for a Change and others like it (Good to Great by Jim Collins, The Tipping Point by Maclolm Gladwell to name just two) are strongly suggested reading. We embrace a corporate culture and seek to develop long term and fundamental changes in our profession by thinking 'outside the box'. I recommend this kind of thinking for members of the music education field and challenge our universities to include material like this in their curricula for our future colleagues.

If You Teach Anything....Watch This

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It began in 1984 as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader. The home page includes pictures of thinkers from wide walks of life; Billy Graham, Malcolm Gladwell, and Richard Branson to name just a few.

Sir Ken Robinson is a visionary cultural leader, he led the British government's 1998 advisory committee on creative and cultural education, a massive inquiry into the significance of creativity in the educational system and the economy, and was knighted in 2003 for his achievements. At the 2006 TED Conference, Sir Ken made 'an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity'. I think all educators would be wise to invest 20 minutes and watch the following lecture. It is inspiring and thought provoking and it may just make you rethink your teaching style from student to student.

The talk was especially compelling to me as a music educator in a community school that services very young children, teenagers, professional adults and senior citizens. Regardless of their age, they seek the tools with which to be musically expressive and my challenge is to deliver students quality information without educating them 'out of their creativity'.

So grab a cup of coffee and be prepared to be entertained, to laugh and to learn.

When the Well Runs Dry

Where will the profession of music education be when school systems no longer support K-12 general ed. programs? Are band, orchestra and choir programs next on the chopping block?

I just read an interesting post from an English teacher in the Bronx who has been told he will be teaching music this coming fall. There's just one problem; he has never played an instrument and knows nothing about music, let alone how to teach it. If this is the type of solution that school boards and administrators are proposing, how long will it be until traditional music programs simply give way to attrition altogether? What state will the profession be left in when the well runs dry?

This is not a new or recent problem. Music programs in schools have been on the decline for 25 years yet our college educational systems continue to groom future teachers for these ever dwindling positions. This is the 'elephant in the room' for the profession of music education but current curricula rarely if ever offer any alternatives to traditional academic teaching.

Many of the universities I researched employ a standard mantra within their core curriculum that goes something like this; '..our goal is to help the student become eligible for licensing to teach in a public school..'. They of course omit the rest of the sentence...'of which fewer and fewer jobs are currently available'.

Perhaps the opportunity that the internet provides as a delivery system for information and real time communication will create a stronger market for music education in the private sector. And if the old adage proves true that 'success breeds success', maybe more universities will begin to include business oriented courses into their degree programs. Then future educators will not only be well prepared for these options but they may begin to embrace them as an equal or even more enticing opportunity.