Assignment 16-Andrew

Why music? Why should one study music? If you ask Frances Rauscher and Gordon Shaw it is because music gives a small boost in special reasoning. And through that came the “Mozart Effect”, the notion that music education is beneficial, only because it slightly boosts test scores. This idea was grasped onto by our education system and music became a something of an enzyme. A way to speed up the process of learning, and nothing more. Only use was to boost grades on standardized testing. However, music is so much deeper and richer than what we have classified it as, and we must acknowledge and understand what true music education really is, and how it plays a key role in a student’s education, not a means to an end.

First, music is a universal language. Lou Rawls once said, “Music is the greatest communication in the world. Even if people don’t understand the language that you’re singing in, they know good music when they hear it.” Music speaks to every person, that’s why there are so many genres of it. Everyone in this room has been exposed to countless of hours of music in every capacity, from watching a movie to eating in a restaurant. Music exists on a global scale in our world and its evident that language doesn’t matter, from even this past summer with songs like Despacito crushing American Billboard rankings and Korean-Pop music stars BTS performing at American Music Awards. Music genuinely has no boundaries.

Students can derive many other benefits, such as experiencing group effort. In schools, there are multiple music programs that are made up of many large groups of individuals. When assigned parts, students are held accountable for his or her individual part. This requires each student to practice their own part then cooperate with other students to create a complete piece. Thomas Südhof, a Nobel prize for medicine recipient in 2010, named his most influential teacher, “My bassoon teacher, Herbert Tauscher, who taught me that the only way to do something right is to practice and listen and practice and listen, hours, and hours, and hours.” It’s that type of practice, that only music can deliver, which instills determination and a hard-working spirit into students who receive this education.

Music allows for students to express themselves in ways that other facets of education cannot. In the same quote I mentioned before, Südhof also said, “You cannot be creative on a bassoon if you don’t know it inside out, and you cannot be creative in science if you don’t have a deep knowledge of the details” As you can see*, music education transcends its subject matter and providing necessary resources for all students in multiple different fields of study. Even if you only study music education through high school, the benefits of it you will reap for the rest of your life. For Südhof it was his scientific field of work that greatly benefited from his bassoon playing.

Although music education should be kept for many reasons besides increased test scores, I will concede that music does boost test scores. But, all of us in this room either are (look at Mr. Logsdon) or will be adults who will desire to provide their child with the best education possible. One that lets them discover new things, express their creativity, and to prepare them for any career we wish to choose.

I will leave you today with a quote from Plato. He once said, “Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. So I ask you, do we intend to clip the wings of the mind? Or, do we recognize the need for music, set into flight their imagination’s, and deliver life unto us all.