Philosophy of Music Education

The reason for music education is simply so people can create when, how and where they

want on their own terms. For many, it is a therapeutic outlet that allows them to challenge the

mind. For the others, mostly parents, it is a way to promote brain development most often in their

children. For me, music education is a way for me to share the joy that I have had, and will

continue to have, through my musical experiences. Also, for me and my piano technology

education, the only way for pianos to continue to exist is to continue teaching the craft.

As a teacher my job is to first be an empathetic role model that leads by example. There

also must be humility. I cannot and do not know everything, therefore I should not act like it. If

there is something that I do not know I would be wise to say, “At the moment I do not know.

You do some research, and I will do some research and together we can answer this question at a

later time.” My role as an educator is just teaching as it is teaching how to learn. There are

individuals that learn in different ways, and I need to be aware of the differences and how to

teach those to the students. If I know a student is great at mimicking and the student’s problem is

sight reading, then I need to teach said student how to analyze the part; is the student's problem is

their ability to mimic or learn by rote then I need to teach them how to mimic, although this is

much less common.

My students in a non-typical sense would be those that ask me random questions about

pianos at a basketball game because they know I know that I have a pretty extensive knowledge

of the topic. Students can also be non-traditional, like adults that want to learn something new

and growing up never got a really good opportunity or squandered the opportunity when they

had it. I have had many piano tuning customers that bought instruments for themselves just

because they wanted to learn to play. When I would ask them who plays, so that after the tuning

somebody other than myself could check my work, more often than not they would ask me to

play it because they had just started learning and felt embarrassed, so I played it for them and

confirmed the condition of the instrument was good or needed some more work, although

usually the piano was fine. As for who learns music, I think every person with hearing learns

music; some people learn more than others, obviously, but people that have never played an

instrument in their life could still tell you what songs they like and give a pretty good reason as

to why they like it. People learn musical genres and often have an idea that pitch goes up and

down and can anticipate a good bass drop. Everyone that goes to church on a regular basis learns

music to an extent as well. When a new song is introduced at church it may take a few weeks,

but generally vast majority of the congregation learns it, or there are songs that people just

“know” like “Amazing Grace” as it is just a quintessential super well-known song.

I did a quick Google search of “music education philosophy” and I very quickly found a

document on the topic from Kansas State University by Jessica Huey. In her philosophy she

references Paul R. Lehman’s article from the Music Educators Journal. I have to agree with

what she says and actually struggled to not plagiarize it before talking about it now. She says,

1 “Music education is important, not only for the marketable skills it teaches such as; creativity,

discipline, flexibility, and the ability to cooperatively with others, but also because it simply

makes life more enjoyable.” I could not access Lehman’s article without having to pay for some

sort of subscription, so I am unsure of this is a direct quote, but she did not have quotations, so I

assume it is a paraphrase of some sort. As far as the quote goes I have nothing to disagree with

and nothing to add.

For in the typical classroom there is a plethora of ideas that help teachers and students

alike. In the non-typical classroom of piano technology there is not much that I can say is

standard except for proper shop safety that keeps people safe per OSHA guidelines. I know that

may seem like too simple of an answer, but I am not going to tell anyone they are not capable of

working on a piano. There are somethings that are much more difficult than others like tuning,

but setting up an action can be as simple as a young child playing with Legos.

1) Huey, J. (n.d.). PHILOSOPHY OF MUSIC EDUCATION. Philosophy of Music Education.  Retrieved February 9, 2023, from https://www.k-state.edu/musiceducation/eportfolio/archived/jhuey/Jessica_Huey/Philosophy_of_Music_Education.html#:~:text=Music%20education%20is%20important%2C%20not,life%20more%20enjoyable%20(Lehman). 

2) Lehman, P. R. (2002). A personal perspective. Music Educators Journal, 88(5), 47–51. https://doi.org/10.2307/3399826