Music in Arts Education Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Music in Arts Education - Research Paper Example Everywhere you look, someone is listening to music. In today’s day and age, children starting at the young ripe age of six, all the way to nineteen have ear buds permanently glued to their ears. Parents can hardly get a word in because they know their son or daughter is lost in their own world of music. Music varies, and it varies because children have different tastes. Each child has its own perception of what music should look, feel, sound, taste, and even smell like. For many, music brings back memories. Some of them are good, but much too often, bad. Without music, children feel that their world is being invaded. So they may use music as a safety net; a way to connect with their inner souls, and with people around them. Music is a window into the next dimension. Each child adapts to their own style, genre, and even musical essence. A lot of music is used to depict feeling, sensory connection, and telling of a story. Without music today, young children, preteens, and adoles cents feel disconnected from the world. We educators and adults may not understand why students are hooked on music, but if we take time to reflect, we too will remember the importance of our own quiet times we spent being enthralled with the newest album, CD, or cassette tape featuring our favorite group; boy, girl or singles band. All we must do is reminisce and we too will be transported back to what we now may see is â€Å"foreign† and not as important. When music is taught in the classroom, it can at times be considered boring, redundant and trite. Students lose heart because teachers are lacking the connection. Many times students are told what instrument they will play, when they will play it or how. But, when does the creativity begin to flow? When can students create their own rules when learning about music? Music is often taught via a textbook. Students learn about the baroque time, the neo-classical time, and the more prominent times that seem to be less pertinent to students today. Teachers stay away from time periods they are unfamiliar with mainly because they were not taught it in â€Å"teacher† college. But they are missing the connection with students. They fail to bridge the gap between music from the past and music today. If we want our students to appreciate music for what it is worth, it is important for us to start becoming more relevant for the students. Instead of focusing so much on standards and benchmarks required, maybe think about branching out and having a little bit of fun. National testing and school performance tables have been focusing so much on the core subjects that they have left out other subjects that seem less important such a music and the arts. Just because students are not tested on these things, does not mean they are less important. Unless of course a school is only focused on scores. When students study music, they learn about many different cultures. An appreciation for diversity comes to the foref ront and students learn to get along in a more harmonious manner. Students don’t only learn to get along but they learn self-discipline which is a very hard thing to do today because of the amount of overly stimulating activities students are involved in on a daily basis. Take T.V. for example. When kids watch TV, they do just that; watch. They do not interact with the television; they become complacent and are fed information. They are