Kevin Jackson

February.04/16
ED3601-D

Music Education Advocacy Statement

(Start Adagio for Strings)

Thank you all for meeting with me today. I understand that it is

your intent to remove funds from our music program and I am here to
tell you why this is a decision that will hinder our students for the rest
of their lives.
Without music, life would be a mistake. This is a quote by the
German Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche which I agree strongly with.
Music Education is a class that promotes divergent thinking ,as stated
by Sir Ken Robinson, which most other subjects can not say they do.
On top of this music class teaches teamwork, collaboration, creativity,
discipline and many other things.
You may think that music is not as important as other core
subject but I am here to tell you otherwise
- Music is a science. It is exact, and specific. A conductors full score
is a chart or graph which indicates frequencies, intensities, volume
changes, melody and harmony.
- Music is mathematical. It is rhythmically based on the subdivision of
time into fraction which must be done instantaneously and with the
most exact control of time.
- Music is a foreign language. Most of the terms are in Italian,
German, or French and the notation is a highly developed kind of

shorthand that uses symbols to represent ideas. The semantics of

music makes it the most complete and universal language.
- Music is History. Music usually reflects the environment and time of
its creation, often even the country or racial feeling.
- Music is Physical Education. It requires coordination of the fingers,
hands, arms, lip, cheek, and facial muscles, as well as extraordinary
control on the diaphragm, back, stomach and chest muscles, which
respond instantly to the sound the ears hear and the mind interprets.
- Music is all of these things, but most of all music is art. It allows a
human being to take all these skills to create what most other
disciplines can not; feeling and emotion.
Music is essential for all humans. Zoltan Kodaly, a Hungarian
music educator and philosopher, states that Music education should
be a subject that provides a key to music for everybody. If the eternal
treasury of music is to be opened with this key, it can be done easily:
however, if this opportunity is not desired then it is lost. No one should
be deprived of music because their parents are too poor and thus
unable to provide music lessons.
If music is cut from our schools students who can not afford to
take private lessons will miss out on something that could truly change
their lives in a positive way. Without music, life would be a mistake.
And I hope that I never have to see a world where it is not part of our
childrens education.

Bibliography
Kodaly, Z. (n.d.). Music Should Belong to Everyone.
Philips, C. (2014). Twelve Benefits of Music Education. Retrieved 0, from
http://www.childrensmusicworkshop.com/twelve-benefits-of-music-education/
RSA Animate - Changing Education Paradigms. (2010, October 14). Retrieved January 30, 2016,
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U&feature=youtube_gdata_player.
Wasiak, E. B. (2013). Teaching instrumental music in Canadian schools. Don Mills, Ont.: Oxford
University Press.