Philosophy Of Music Education

As a music teacher, I believe that all students should be offered the opportunities to discover and explore their innate potential as musicians, artists, and creators, and to increase these natural capacities through formal music instruction. The goal of music education is not to just form an appreciation of music but to encourage children to shape their own personal musical identity, through a variety of experiences and performance opportunities. As a music educator my purpose is crafting independent musicians, able to perform, evaluate, and create music.

In my classroom, my goal is to help students achieve both academic and aesthetic understanding of music along with 21st century skills. Because of this, I center my lesson content on meeting district standards, Iowa Core Standards, and National Standards for Music Education. These lessons encompass sequenced learning goals in music …show more content…
Through a variety of activities in singing, note reading, improvisation, composition, instrument playing, movement and dance, listening, and music history students develop basic skills that everyone should have. Children learn to speak before they can read, so too should they first experience a wide variety of music before music literacy and note reading can begin. By listening and singing developmentally appropriate works, students develop a repertoire of music from their own culture and diverse peoples, which they can use later when studying notation. Because students need to experience music to understand it, participation is essential to learning.

In the elementary classroom, students must be active participants in their music education. Children learn best by doing, not reading or discussing it. Student are able to grow as musicians through experiencing new activities, refining their skills through practice, and reflecting on their growth, and then digging deeper into understanding