STEM to STEAM: The Essential Subject of Music Education
The entire buzz
in education right now is STEM. This acronym for science, technology,
engineering, and math has been gaining more power in an effort to increase the
chances for success of young Americans in a global economy. At first glance
this initiative seems like it would be positive for the learning environments
of students but something is missing. With this focus of STEM and budget cuts
occurring, music education in high schools is being overlooked. Convincing my
readers that music education is essential in the learning process of becoming
successful adults is my goal, you the readers are the solution. The goal is changing
STEM to STEAM.
I first want to
give a little background on my involvement in music. I went to high school in a
small central Iowa town where music was quite established as being successful.
I started to play the trumpet in 5th grade and continue to play today, in Iowa
State's Wind Ensemble and Symphony Orchestra. What playing the trumpet taught
me is indescribable. The confidence, friendships, and things you learn through
music have made me into the person I am today. I didn't really participate in sports
so music was my personal outlet to show people what I was good at. I've also
been given the opportunity to travel to Europe for band once in high school and
will be on tour with the Iowa State Wind Ensemble this summer in Europe. Music
was a very good experience for me as a student and as a person as a whole and I
truly believe this would be the case for the majority of students.
Performing High School Band |
According to
Webster's Dictionary music is "the science or art of ordering tones or
sounds in succession, in combination, and in temporal relationships to produce
a composition having unity and continuity." Music is a science. It is
exact, specific, a conductor's score is a graph that requires specific
harmonies, and it requires exact control of time and tempo. Music is
mathematical. It has rhythms that are subdivided into fractions of their
original value. Music is a foreign language. A great portion of musical terms
are in German, Italian, French and Latin. Music is a physical education. Music
requires precise coordination of the fingers, eyes, hands, arms, lips, tongue,
diaphragm, and facial muscles. Music is an art. Music is created through the
emotions of the individual who is playing it. It combines all subjects into
one. It can only enrich the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics
guided curriculum. "Musically trained students can do several things at once mentally." (Deutsch)
According to the
National Education Association, "If the United States is to hold a
competitive edge in a rapidly changing global workforce, bolstering the
nation's STEM workforce is essential." With an endorsement like this how
could music education really be essential in the learning process. Looking into
the NEA's values we see that they might actually be going against themselves.
They believe that every student has the right to education that develops their
potential, independence, and character. How is this done through only STEM? Is
it actually possible to develop these things by simply doing
"technical" studies? The answer is no. There is no way that a student
can develop themselves as a person without some sort of creative catalyst. What
better way to develop creativity and character than music. The Ohio Alliance for Arts Education seems to agree. In their article STEM to STEAM they say
that, "Music and the arts are essential educational components for all
students to learn and to be successful in the global economy." We need to
integrate music education into STEM to give our students the best opportunities
to succeed. The State of Iowa and National education codes recognize music
education as one of the core courses in high school.
To get a better
understanding of why music education is essential we need to analyze STEM.
STEM's main focus is to get students to do better on standardized tests and to
better prepare them for college and future jobs. This seems like a completely
logic thing to do but by only focusing on science, technology, engineering, and
math we lose focus on one big key idea of learning. As a student you need to
learn how to solve all sorts of problems not just technical ones. Although STEM
can give you the backbone of solving the problems, music can force students to
teach themselves how to solve all sorts of problems. The keyword here is
"how". This comprehension of knowing how to solve problems is
critical in a students future learning process. "Music teaches students basic skills in a more abstract way." (Catterall) To show this we will be looking
at a study from the Louisiana Department of Education.
Figure 1 |
With budget cuts
happen around the country, because of the state of the economy, people think
that they need to cut music. Public schools actually get funding based off how
many students are enrolled and how well they perform on standardized tests. If
studies show that music is actually helping students get better scores then why
would you want to get rid of it, it's making the school more money. So music
education in high schools is giving students the chance to gain independence
and build character while making the school money. Liane Rockley gives a better
understanding of this.
"No one is
against music education." This was said by Liane Rockley a music advocator
from Lakewood, Colorado. She went on a trip to Washington, D.C with the
National Association of Music Merchants to debate for music education. She
learned that people in Washington believe that music education is important but
that it is "easy to give it a backseat to all the other demands"
(Rockley). Her main concern is that if music education isn't provided in public
schools that not many students will get a chance to participate in it because
of the high cost of private lessons. With nobody being against music in
Washington we need to think of a solution to provide all students with the
opportunities of music education.
For the most
part I have been discussing why music should be in high schools but I want to
talk about what is gives each student beyond improved standardized test scores.
I've already touched based with the fact that it gives students the ability to
learn how to problem solve from its source instead of just teaching a student
how to do something, but I want to get into the responsibility you learn,
confidence, and overall character you get from music. According to the
assistant band director at West Marshall High School, Brandon Weeks, students
gain responsibility by having to take care of their instruments and learning
their music for themselves and for the other ensemble members. Confidence is
gained by having to learn how to play something over and over again and slowly
getting better until they can play it correctly. He also said that when
comparing a band student to someone that isn't in band that band kids generally
seem to have a better attitude, better grades, and seems to be more happy and
friendly. Mr. Weeks also talked about it giving students a since of accomplishment
and an identity in high school when they might not have been an athlete or an
honor roll student. These are the things that we want our students to come out
of high school with to be ready for the real world.
Now that we know
that music education integrated with STEM helps students achieve higher
standardized test scores and that it makes students more rounded and
knowledgeable citizens, we need to help make it important enough in the eyes of
schools to not get rid of it. This is where you, my readers, come in. When you
have children make sure that you create a positive learning environment for
them that includes music. This will make them overall a more rounded person.
Through being more creative, goal oriented, problem solving driven, confident
and many other things music education in a student's life is 100% necessary. By
people simply talking about music education as being important and getting
parents involved people will have to start listening. Getting students to
become successful adults is the goal and now you must go and reach out to the
public. The solution to this problem is simple. All we have to do is talk about
it. Slowly but surely the small spark of talking will become a full fire of
debate that music needs to be in schools. By getting more and more individuals
and groups involved in music education advocacy it will soon not be the
backdoor of education but near the front of a students learning curriculum. You can visit the National Association for Music Education's website for more information.
Works Cited
Baker, Richard. Arts Education Policy Review. 2011, Vol. 113
Issue 1, p17-25. 9p.
Catteral, James. 1997. Champions of Change, Americans for
the Arts Monograph, I. 26-50
Deutsch, Diana. 2010. Hearing the Music, Honing the mind.
The Scientific American, 4. 22-26.
Rockley, Liane. American Music Teacher. Aug/Sep2009, Vol. 59
Issue 1, p23-23. 1p.
Weeks, Brandon. Personal interview. 7 April. 2013.
Wilkins, Jesse. Journal of Curriculum Studies. Nov2003, Vol.
35 Issue 6, p721-734. 14p.