Music Education

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Recommended: The advantages and disadvantages of music education

When you think of high school teachers, what comes to mind? Popular answers are math, science, and history teachers, but why is this true? Too often, the fine arts departments get pushed to the side behind these typical school subjects. Music education is more than just a group of students singing mindless songs, or the obnoxiously loud pep band you hear at every sporting event, it’s an important academic that all growing students can and should benefit from. High school music teachers do a lot for their students. Among the countless hours of music ensembles and practices and the four years of music theory and music history on top of everything else, music education is not an easy degree. It takes a true love for music for someone to pursue a music education degree. This is clear by observing the history and significant impacts of music education, the declining income and benefits, and the quality of the music lovers that take on the challenges of being a music educator.

Music has played a major role in humanity for several centuries, but music education didn’t appear in schools until the 1950s. At this time, school administrators viewed the curriculum to be imbalanced, lacking the arts. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 provided support specifically for music education, permitting low-income-area school districts to receive funding to hire music teachers and purchase instruments and equipment (Hartley). “No matter what economy waves may surge over the educational system in the near future, music education is now so firmly incorporated into the curriculum that it is unlikely to suffer more severely than any other field (Shaffer).” Shortly after this time, high schools and universities, such as Julliard, were ...

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...es and why it is important that they carry on this fundamental core curriculum.

Works Cited

Hartley, Linda A. "Music Education." Encyclopedia of Educational Reform and Dissent. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 2010. Credo Reference. Web. 28 May 2014.

Shaffer, Helen B. "Music in America." Editorial Research Reports 1956. Vol. II. Washington: CQ Press, 1956. 847-65. CQ Researcher. Web. 28 May 2014

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2014-15 Edition, High School Teachers, on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/ooh/education-training-and-library/high-school-teachers.htm (visited May 27, 2014).

Petress, Ken. "The importance of music education." Education 126.1 (2005): 112+. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 29 May 2014.

"music, n. and adj." OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2014. Web. 28 May 2014

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