I was wondering what everyone thought about music programs in schools. What i mean is do you think that music programs contribute to the content area in which you are qualified to teach or do you think that the music classes are just there to fill an elective in the scheduling? Any comments are welcome both positive and negative.

I think that music programs are excellent. However, I think often times they are used for just filing an elective in the scheduling. In elementary school there are so many ways to integrate other subjects into music. Music can help children learn new academic concepts and they won't even realize it! Music is also a great creative outlet for students. I think when used correctly, music programs are wonderful:)

Save the music!!!!! I think music programs are essential to students. Music can provide a great outlet for students, and can be a great escape from the stresses of typical academic settings. Even if a student does not go on to become a stellar violinist, or to be lead clarinet in a big city orchestra, I feel that students learn skills through the music program that they cannot learn anywhere else. I think music is one of the few subjects where students can see real tangible results from their hard work. The more you practice, the better your music sounds. Plain and simple. Students can carry this kind of dedication into other academic studies, as well as throughout their life. I think the music has gotta stay!

I feel like music is definately important! Just as important as sports teams or any other activity where the student gets to express themselves and enjoy doing it. I could never play any type of instrument but I was in the chorus in school and it was an outlet and much needed break from the paper and pencil academics of school.

Pretty much like everyone else has said, I think music is very valuable. I am not musically talent in anyway but it is one of my biggest passions and hobbies. Life would be empty without it. Just think you can remember every word to a song you haven't heard in 10+ years. If lessons were taught with lyrics, I can't even imagine the things students would remember.
Music is very creative and provides a places were every subject can relate. Music can incorporate math, english, science etc . . I am always amazed by children's songs and the use of different subjects. I think there is so much to learn from music and it is often taken forgrated. I will never forget that I learned my vowels with the Apples and Bananas Songs.

My concentration is music, so obviously I think that music is an important class for the elementary school. Music class is a way for students to express themselves. For some people who are not great at academics, music can be an opportunity for them to excel, boosting their self-confidence. Besides, who doesn't love music? I know if I could take one thing to a deserted island, I would pick my ipod (hope they have outlets on this island for my charger)

As a music education major, I'm really happy to see that people outside the arts understand the importance of music. We need more teachers who recognize the benefits of music in the curriculm.

Many people make a living from music, of course it important to have it avaible in school. Any subject can be related to music. If music wasnt introduced in the classroom then many children would never get to opportunity to enjoy or pursue there interests. Electives are in place for a reason. They help students find areas of interest. Jobs are availible for any elective and regardless of how a teacher relates the content in music or any other elective to the SCOS shouldnt matter. The subject matter in each elective is important in its own right. I am a math major and i think math is important for all students to have a basic understanding, but the amount of people that choose math as a career are slim.

And math and music are intimately connected, though most teachers don't bother to use this in classrooms as they could!

Music is very valuable! I dont know what I would do with out music. What I mean by this is that I listen to music all of the time. I wouldnt be able to listen to all of this music if there wasnt the talented people out there making it. Music can be a wonderful learning experience and should definitly stay in the schools. Music lets students express themselves and then other people can create feelings and emotions from what music they have create. I think music is a win, win situation. It is valuable to the people that create it, as well as to the people who listen to it.

I think its awesome that so many famous music stars contribute to funds for music in schools. These people who have become famous from music, know how important it is to keep it in the schools. Music class just like any other elective class students can take, can be an amazing outlet for kids. Music can easily be connected into content area and I think some teachers are already using music in their classrooms effectively. It really can be used with ANY content area and that is one of the coolest things about it. We should take advantage of all the ways music can be used in the classroom!

I am a music education major so obviously I support music classes. I definitely agree that other subjects can be integrated with music and that is definitely important. I think it can also serve as a way to motivate students. I knew someone in middle school who had a lot of trouble in all of the core subjects and he was always so discouraged that he pretty much gave up. I think if it had continued he would have dropped out when he got to high school. Someone talked him into taking band as an elective and he ended up being pretty talented. After that his grades started to improve. I know this wouldn't necessarily work for everyone but if the music teacher knows what s/he is doing, then music can be a great confidence booster for students and its always nice to have a break during the long school day to have fun.

I think one of the saddest things in public schools these days is the fact that funding is being cut from the art programs. I have always wanted to be a teacher. One great thing about being a teacher the job security, yeah your not making bank but at least you know your job will always be valued and cant be sent elsewhere. However, this isn’t the case for teachers of music or visual arts. I originally wanted to be an art teacher, but my parents talked me out of it because they were scared I would have a crappy degree and no security (they want me to be ‘more’ than a teacher and feel my talents will be wasted by just being a teacher…don’t ask me, I still haven’t found how their opinion makes sense). So, I have decided to double major in english and art; therefore, having some security with English while having the option of art teaching if that opens up. The thing that scares me about people’s mindset regarding school these days is that they believe school has to be a solely academic world. By academic, I’m referring to numbers, letters, books, studying blah blah blah…conventional classroom stuff (dictionary.com says "pertaining to areas of study that are not primarily vocational or applied, as the humanities or pure mathematics"). It seems people have stopped valuing the arts and therefore, the arts are losing their deserving place in our schools today. I believe school is supposed to stimulate the mind, to keep students thinking and questioning their world, the keep them working and achieving. Why cant visual art or music do this? Why are they the first group to go when funding gets cut?

I just wanted to say that I agree with what a lot of people said that music is an essential part of school. I also agree that it sometimes does become a filler and I felt like that was what it was in my elementary and middle school a large amount of the time. I did get to experience some great things through plays/musicals we did, but the actual class felt like a waste. I think that if you are a strong teacher and have a real direction that it can be successful.

I also think that music is a great tool that can be used to teach concepts in other subject areas. This can help reach those students who have a different learning style.

Alright so I'm a little late on reading and responding to this but I wanted to put in my two cents. Like everyone was saying, I think that music class has become a sort of filler class in some Elementary Schools, I don't believe it necissarily has that impact however. I personally loved music class in Elementary school and even went on to play piano and flute. It definitly had an impact on me... without it I would have never even tried learning how to read or play music.

I would love to see music classes become more substantial and relevant at the elementary school level. I don't really know what this would mean, though. I know that my own experience of (elementary school) music class was pretty silly, unfocused, and ultimately rather useless. I remember always wishing that we would actually USE some of those cool things in the room, but we rarely did. I thought they were reserved for the 5th graders. Then I became a 5th grader and I don't even know if we had music class anymore at that point...?

I am a musician (drummer). By that, I mean that I *AM* a musician; as a factor of self-identification, it takes priority over my being white or American or color-blind or interested in UFOs. But I don't feel any connection whatsoever between my experience of music in school and the enormous role that music has played in my life. Here's the breakdown of my perception of (school-oriented) music: in elementary school, it meant chorus (...); in middle school it meant band (very unhip); in high school it meant chorus (ehh not interested in singing), band (ehh, kinda cool I guess), and jazz band (damn I should've taken band in middle school so I could read music). Also, in high school I was in a BAND-band--you know, the kind with guitars and groupies!--so I actually took some (ill-founded) pleasure in being anti-establishment. (i.e., having no background in theory )

Our gut reaction is to say "save the arts!" And I totally agree, but again, I couldn't tell you WHY or what my justification would be. How might we re-imagine music classes to fit into the curriculum for our youngest kids so that the "filler"-experience could be replaced by something more meaningful? Furthermore, outside of using music to help teach concepts in other academic areas (which I'd love to hear more ideas about!), what would we want students in general to get out of some kind of "music class?" I'm assuming we wouldn't just want music classes there to help us identify the students with musical potential. I think I mentioned in a different post that in Plato's "Republic," music is seen to be central to education (alongside poetry and gymnastics). What I like about Plato's description of education in his society is that each component is meant to inform and also to benefit from every other component--music, poetry, and gymnastics go together. The simplicity and nobility of certain musical modes are understood as complementing similarly simple and noble lyrical/metrical arrangements in poetry; likewise for "physical training." (Plato's particular assessments in these areas notwithstanding...)

I like the idea that music could play a central and even "integrative" role in education in our own day and time, but I hesitate to suggest much for fear that anything we might say could so easily come off as sounding "new age." For instance: "Music is important to keep in schools because children need to realize that life is all about rhythm and harmony, and a child that knows how to keep rhythm with others and with the world around her will be a better, more well-rounded person and will be able to understand how the various components of education work together like pieces of a symphony or like a really dank Phish show..." Or maybe we should just cut to the chase and admit that, yes, children as young as 4 or 5 need to be listening to Phish for at least an hour each day. Shows from '93-summer '94 should be on once-a-week rotation, shows from '90-'92 and '95-'98 should comprise the bulk of standard listening, and '87-'89 needs to be reserved for advanced listeners. Remedial listening will consist of studio albums, while requirements for graduation will include demonstrated proficiency of critiquing post-'98 performances ("honors" granted to those who are able to provide socio-historical accounts for the general decline in quality of jamming post-'98...).

You know, I think this could work. I'll run it by the General Education Task Force and see if they've thought of anything like it yet. I bet you'll be seeing "Phish Listening--Integrative Seminar 1101" as a required class by the fall of '08.