challenges in music education

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Music Education In The Pandemic And Beyond

Emma Banker, Jessi McIrvin, and Valerie Sanchez record vocals in pop-up tents during choir class at Wenatchee High School in Wenatchee, Washington. David Ryder/Getty Images hide caption

Emma Banker, Jessi McIrvin, and Valerie Sanchez record vocals in pop-up tents during choir class at Wenatchee High School in Wenatchee, Washington.

School budgets have been hit hard in the last decade — and the COVID-19 pandemic hasn't helped matters. Oftentimes, when it comes to prioritizing services and subjects in a budget, one of the first things on the chopping block is music education.

Though they have proven benefits , both academic and social, music classes aren't always available to kids. Sometimes schools can't — or won't — pay for them, but lately, some schools say they don't have the technology or equipment necessary to teach music remotely.

And some educators fear cuts may be coming as we ease out of the pandemic.

Who gets access to music education? Why is teaching kids how to sing and play instruments important? And how are music teachers getting the job done?

Oriana Hawley , Samantha Reid , Ken Elpus and Jamie Kasper join us for the conversation.

clock This article was published more than  4 years ago

Here’s what’s missing in music education: Cultural and social relevance

Lee Whitmore is executive director of the Grammy Music Education Coalition , a nonprofit collective dedicated to expanding music education in elementary and secondary schools.

A former music teacher who says he was trained in “the traditional American way,” Whitmore explains in this post what he thinks is missing from too many music education programs in U.S. schools: social and cultural relevance.

According to the Grammy Music Education Coalition, 3.8 million preK-12 students in the United States have no access to music education and its benefits. Yet 89 percent of teachers and 82 percent of parents rate music education highly as a source for greater student creativity.

This post first appeared on the Hechinger Report , a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. I was given permission to republish it.

By Lee Whitmore

I was trained and licensed to be a music teacher in the traditional American way.

My classes included all varieties of instruments. I sang and learned to conduct bands, orchestras and choirs. I played in ensembles. I took multiple semesters of musical technique, history and theory as well as music education methods.

Almost all of what I just described was traditional. Incredibly traditional. This training has served me well in many aspects of my professional and personal lives but, frankly, these techniques weren’t enough when I got to my semester of student teaching.

I first was assigned to an elementary school in a middle-class suburb of Philadelphia. I worked with young children, sang, moved and danced, and had a blast. Then I got to a middle school in the same district in a neighborhood with children who were less economically advantaged. And the class schedule included a daily session with students who had learning and behavioral challenges.

I struggled. And I was terrified to go to school every day. Especially that last class of the day. The boys in that class, at least in my view, seemed to want to eat me alive. I was scared to teach them, and they knew it.

The last thing they wanted to do was sing folk songs, learn about musical harmony or scales, or watch me conduct them when they sang or played.

Today, with a couple of decades of teaching under my belt, I imagine they looked at me and saw someone flailing away with arm and hand gestures that were completely alien to them.

I’ve developed a very strong opinion about my undergraduate teacher training, and also what teachers typically enter the public education system ready to do.

Here’s what is missing in music education: cultural and social relevance.

We’ve become very well-grounded in traditional education theory, techniques and subject matters. But being culturally responsive means teaching music where kids are, and with what interests them. It means using songs by Bebe Rexha or Wiz Khalifa before an American folk song. It means teaching kids to play a synthesizer, electric guitar or drum kit, not just a violin or recorder.

Being culturally responsive means having students write and record the music they practice, not just playing it onstage at a holiday or end-of-year concert.

In Nashville, I recently got to see some examples of culturally responsive school music programming in the Metro Nashville Public School District.

Nashville is known as the “Music City,” and its “Music Makes Us” public-private partnership works to deliver music to all of the city’s public school students. I was there in my capacity as executive director of the Grammy Music Education Coalition, which advocates for and invests in universal music education participation in the United States.

At John Overton High School, I met the principal on my way in the door and asked her about her school. My usual questions in this situation include how many students are enrolled, how diverse the school is and how many students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.

I didn’t expect her answers, even though I know the demographic makeup of the Metro Nashville Schools pretty well. Overton’s students represent more than 100 countries and 50 languages in its approximately 2,000 students.

Then, I asked the district’s visual and performing arts director, “What music classes does your staff offer in this high school?”

Overton students come from all over the world. Many arrive with limited English. They don’t know traditional American music and haven’t considered playing in a marching band or an orchestra. While Nashville is known by many Americans as the capital of country music, most of the district’s kids aren’t listening to that genre at home or on their mobile devices.

The district’s approach in this high school and its feeder middle schools is impressive and “culturally responsive.” Of the many musical options at Overton — which include band, orchestra and choir — entering students who don’t speak English have the option to take a world percussion class.

It’s a place where they can create music, express themselves and take a break from immersion in a new culture and language that they otherwise experience all day long.

That same day at a local middle school, I also observed a room full of students playing in a mariachi ensemble. It’s an alternative to other traditional music classes and ensembles.

The students in Metro Nashville Public Schools want to come to school and participate in these and many other nontraditional music classes, including “modern band” (with guitars, drums, basses, microphones and songwriting).

To be clear, I’m not just sharing an opinion about relevant music education here. My narrative makes a case for much more. While my traditional pre-service music education was outstanding, it didn’t completely prepare me to be successful with our most important constituent in the public education system: individual students, regardless of their background or path to a particular community or school.

Successful, research-based formulas demonstrate that students who have access to quality music education in schools want to be there every day. Their academic as well as their social and emotional outcomes improve and their lives are more fulfilling.

But to thread that needle, arts programs and their teachers — there are more than 100,000 music educators employed by U.S. schools — need to be ready to offer a combination of the basics with contemporary and culturally responsive approaches to music that draw in and engage all students.

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PHOTO: picture alliance / Contributor

5 Music Teachers Share The Transformative Power Of Music Education

Music education draws passionate instructors — who are often multi-disciplinary musicians themselves — into a rewarding field. Five music teachers detail the importance of and challenges around music education, as well as opportunities for innovation.

For centuries, music education has been noted for positively increasing students’ greater holistic learning and lifestyle outcomes , yet music education across the United States in public and private settings has faced a  stark decline in the past several decades .

Bearing witness to this, a new wave of music entrepreneurs, performers, content creators and instructors are taking the music education space by storm. These instructors are leveraging various forms of technology and their personal social platforms to tell inspiring stories about their journeys and share their best practices within the field. Their work has inspired a new wave of learning in-person, virtually and through hybrid methods.

Below, five artists-turned-educators discuss their inspiration for becoming teachers, the importance of music education, challenges they have witnessed within the field, and innovative ways that music education can evolve in the future.

Darlene Machacon: Elementary general music teacher, choir director, podcaster

Practicing: 20+ years

Teaching: 10+ years

Instruments: Piano, general music, choir

Location: Garden Grove, CA

Darlene Machacon was inspired to teach music by the train scene in the movie The Chronicles of Narnia : "The film composer scored a beautiful musical moment that instantly inspired me to want to make music for the rest of my life," she told GRAMMY.com. Today, she teaches elementary general music for kindergarten through sixth grade, and directs fifth and six grade choir. 

Machacon believes "music is essential because it is all around us," and aims to dismantle the idea that music education is limited to learning how to read traditional notation. "Our youth deserve music education that connects them to what they experience outside classroom walls and challenges them to make a positive impact in their communities," Machacon says.

While this journey has been enjoyable, Machacon notes that music educators are often expected to work beyond contract hours and experience a lack of work-life balance. They often take on larger class sizes, earn lower pay and encounter the perception that music is not a "real" subject. Despite these challenges, Machacon sees a shift in elementary general music classes away from "singing from old school textbooks and reading notes" to creating immediate and relevant connections to keep students interested outside of school performance ensembles.

These connections could include opportunities to play in rock and pop bands, Machacon suggested. While classes for music production and design could pave the way for sound designers, music producers, video music creators and their peers.

Ian Levy: Assistant professor, hip-hop scholar

Teaching: 10 years

Instruments: Trumpet, emcee

Location: New York, NY

Ian Levy recalls being introduced to hip-hop and emceeing as a tool for self-expression and emotional development in college. He then turned to hip-hop-based interventions as a school counselor, using lyric writing, recording and performing as therapeutic tools. In youth-created recording studios, Levy’s students share emotional experiences and systemic injustices by writing and releasing songs, and creating album artwork and music videos.  

And while this work creates a culturally sustaining counseling service, helping youth develop stress coping skills and emotional self-awareness, Levy's methodology has often come into question. Some faculty perceive these courses as the students "just having fun."

"Education tries to define how youth should sound and develop, often in misalignment with who they truly are," Levy says in rebuttal. "A challenge for hip-hop in school counseling is supporting youth in trusting their ways of knowing and being able to live authentically in a world that limits self-actualization."  

In the long run, Levy believes music education must transcend beyond purely teaching music and be leveraged as a counseling and teaching tool in various subject matter classrooms.

Ashley Keiko, Music school owner, performing/recording artist

Teaching: 15+ years

Instruments: Piano, saxophone, flute

Location: Queens, NY

Ashley Keiko ventured into music at the behest of her parents, educators who owned a martial arts studio. Keiko was heavily involved in the studio and, one day, her mother encouraged her to provide piano lessons to a student. Word spread quickly, and Keiko's student population increased. By age 25, Keiko owned and ran her own school, Keiko Studios in Jamaica, New York. 

Keiko's work has evolved dramatically over the years. "For many years I taught private piano/saxophone lessons to students of all ages and recalled being hands-on with my teaching style at countless schools, concert and jazz bands, general music ed, choir and more," she says. "Now, I oversee 14 instructors with over 130 students and focus on big picture projects." 

Yet Keiko is challenged by the lack of others understanding the value of music educators' time and music education as a whole. She hopes that having more conversations about music education will change its perceived value. She finds resolve through creative means, incorporating more accessible technology into the music education experience. With countless music websites, apps, and software, Keiko believes the learning process for students can be more enjoyable and productive.

Brandon Toews, Content Director at Drumeo

Practicing: 15+ years

Teaching: 5+ years

Instruments: Drums, percussion

Location: Abbotsford, British Columbia

Brandon Toews' private music instructors inspired him to branch into music education. When he began working for an online drum education company, Drumeo in 2014, Toews witnessed the exponential global impact music education could have at scale. For the past seven years, Toews has filmed educational content for Drumeo , working with many of the world’s top drummers including Dennis Chambers, Simon Phillips, Jay Weinberg, Hannah Welton and Steve Smith.

While he believes that "music education is key in creating more musicians around the world and helping them find their unique voices," Toews has been challenged to create content that serves and connects those with different learning styles.  

Each of Drumeo's approximately 30,000 students learns differently, he notes. To this end, the platform utilizes "step-by-step video courses to conceptual videos focused on creativity and musicality, or digital tools and technology for practicing exercises with notation." 

Toews finds that music education can be innovative by becoming more engaging, fun and increasing the practice tools and applications available for musicians. "Information is so widely available, but effective practice tools are still few and far between," he says.

Kate Warren, Freelance performer, educator

Practicing: 15 years

Teaching: 4 years

Instruments: French Horn, trumpet

Location: New Haven, CT

"Growing up, regular lessons were not something my family could afford," Kate Warren says. "Because of that, anything I learned outside of the classroom came from pedagogy books, blog posts, podcasts, and YouTube." Using those resources increased her interest in giving back to the field. 

To date, Warren has maintained a private studio, written a book on french horn pedagogy, run a music-education focused social media page and taught marching band. Her most recent project is a beginner french horn video series for students through a partnership with instrument manufacturers Conn & Selmer.

Warren has found that music education can provide students with "healthy outlets, lifelong friendships, and critical life skills." However, she’s witnessed that gender representation is still an issue in music — especially in brass playing.  

To provide an informed solution she is conducting research to help institutions diversify their hiring processes. Warren has also found social media to be influential in changing the way young people interact with and seek learning experiences by disseminating creators’ knowledge and experiences more freely.

Nathaniel Rateliff On Confidence, Education And Giving Back: "Music Provides An Opportunity For Young People To Put Energy Into Something Good"

Graphic & Photos Courtesy of GRAMMY GO

Recording Academy & Coursera Partner To Launch GRAMMY GO Online Learning Initiative

Class is in session. As part of the Recording Academy's ongoing mission to empower music's next generation, GRAMMY Go offers digital content in specializations geared to help music industry professionals grow at every stage of their career.

The Recording Academy has partnered with leading online learning platform Coursera on GRAMMY GO , a new online initiative to offer classes tailored for music creators and industry professionals.

This partnership empowers the next generation of the music community with practical, up-to-the moment digital content that provides wisdom for both emerging and established members of the industry. Continuing the Academy’s ongoing mission to serve all music people, courses cover a variety of specializations tailored to creative and professional growth. 

GRAMMY GO on Coursera includes courses taught by Recording Academy members, featuring GRAMMY winners and nominees and offers real-life lessons learners can put to work right away.

Starting today, enrollment is open for GRAMMY GO’s first Coursera specialization, " Building Your Audience for Music Professionals ," taught by Joey Harris, international music/marketing executive and CEO of Joey Harris Inc. The course features Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee and five-time GRAMMY winner Jimmy Jam , 10-time GRAMMY nominee Janelle Monáe and three-time GRAMMY winner and the 2024 GRAMMYs Best New Artist Victoria Monét . This foundational specialization will help participants gain the skills, knowledge and confidence to build a strong brand presence and cultivate a devoted audience within the ever-changing music industry. 

The partnership’s second course, launching later this summer, aims to strengthen the technological and audio skills of a music producer. " Music Production: Crafting An Award-Worthy Song " will be taught by Carolyn Malachi , Howard University professor and GRAMMY nominee, and will include appearances by GRAMMY winner CIRKUT , three-time GRAMMY winner Hit-Boy , artist and celebrity vocal coach Stevie Mackey, five-time GRAMMY nominee and Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason jr. , and 15-time GRAMMY winner Judith Sherman . Pre-enrollment for "Music Production: Crafting An Award-Worthy Song" opens today.

"Whether it be through a GRAMMY Museum program, GRAMMY Camp or GRAMMY U, the GRAMMY organization is committed to helping music creators flourish, and the Recording Academy is proud to introduce our newest learning platform, GRAMMY GO, in partnership with Coursera," said Panos A. Panay, President of the Recording Academy. "A creator’s growth path is ongoing and these courses have been crafted to provide learners with the essential tools to grow in their professional and creative journeys."

"We are honored to welcome GRAMMY GO, our first entertainment partner, to the Coursera community," said Marni Baker Stein, Chief Content Officer at Coursera. "With these self-paced online specializations, aspiring music professionals all over the world have an incredible opportunity to learn directly from iconic artists and industry experts. Together with GRAMMY GO, we can empower tomorrow's pioneers of the music industry to explore their passion today."

GRAMMY GO also serves as the music community’s newest digital hub for career pathways and editorial content that provides industry insights for members of the industry; visit go.grammy.com for more. For information and enrollment, please visit the landing pages for " Building Your Audience for Music Professionals " and " Music Production: Crafting An Award-Worthy Song ."

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Photo: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

GRAMMY Rewind: Kendrick Lamar Honors Hip-Hop's Greats While Accepting Best Rap Album GRAMMY For 'To Pimp a Butterfly' In 2016

Upon winning the GRAMMY for Best Rap Album for 'To Pimp a Butterfly,' Kendrick Lamar thanked those that helped him get to the stage, and the artists that blazed the trail for him.

Updated Friday Oct. 13, 2023 to include info about Kendrick Lamar's most recent GRAMMY wins, as of the 2023 GRAMMYs.

A GRAMMY veteran these days, Kendrick Lamar has won 17 GRAMMYs and has received 47 GRAMMY nominations overall. A sizable chunk of his trophies came from the 58th annual GRAMMY Awards in 2016, when he walked away with five — including his first-ever win in the Best Rap Album category.

This installment of GRAMMY Rewind turns back the clock to 2016, revisiting Lamar's acceptance speech upon winning Best Rap Album for To Pimp A Butterfly . Though Lamar was alone on stage, he made it clear that he wouldn't be at the top of his game without the help of a broad support system. 

"First off, all glory to God, that's for sure," he said, kicking off a speech that went on to thank his parents, who he described as his "those who gave me the responsibility of knowing, of accepting the good with the bad."

Looking for more GRAMMYs news? The 2024 GRAMMY nominations are here!

He also extended his love and gratitude to his fiancée, Whitney Alford, and shouted out his Top Dawg Entertainment labelmates. Lamar specifically praised Top Dawg's CEO, Anthony Tiffith, for finding and developing raw talent that might not otherwise get the chance to pursue their musical dreams.

"We'd never forget that: Taking these kids out of the projects, out of Compton, and putting them right here on this stage, to be the best that they can be," Lamar — a Compton native himself — continued, leading into an impassioned conclusion spotlighting some of the cornerstone rap albums that came before To Pimp a Butterfly .

"Hip-hop. Ice Cube . This is for hip-hop," he said. "This is for Snoop Dogg , Doggystyle . This is for Illmatic , this is for Nas . We will live forever. Believe that."

To Pimp a Butterfly singles "Alright" and "These Walls" earned Lamar three more GRAMMYs that night, the former winning Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song and the latter taking Best Rap/Sung Collaboration (the song features Bilal , Anna Wise and Thundercat ). He also won Best Music Video for the remix of Taylor Swift 's "Bad Blood." 

Lamar has since won Best Rap Album two more times, taking home the golden gramophone in 2018 for his blockbuster LP DAMN ., and in 2023 for his bold fifth album, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers .

Watch Lamar's full acceptance speech above, and check back at GRAMMY.com every Friday for more GRAMMY Rewind episodes. 

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Photo Courtesy of the Recording Academy and GRAMMY Museum

25 Semifinalists Announced For The 2024 Music Educator Award

Twenty-five music teachers, from 25 cities across 17 states, have been announced as semifinalists for the 2024 Music Educator Award, presented by the Recording Academy and GRAMMY Museum. One ultimate recipient will be honored during GRAMMY Week 2024.

Twenty-five music teachers have today been announced as semifinalists for the Music Educator Award , an annual award, presented by the Recording Academy and GRAMMY Museum , that supports and celebrates music education and music educators across the U.S. The 25 semifinalists, who hail from 25 cities across 17 states, were selected from a pool of more than 2,000 initial nominations from across all 50 U.S. states. F inalists will be announced in December , and t he ultimate recipient of the 2024 Music Educator Award will be recognized during GRAMMY Week 2024, days ahead of the 2024 GRAMMYs .

Nominations for the 2025 Music Educator Award are now open .

Read More: Meet The 2023 Music Educator Award Recipient: How Pamela Dawson Helps Her Students Achieve Healing And Catharsis

Presented by the Recording Academy and GRAMMY Museum, the Music Educator Award recognizes current educators who have made a significant and lasting contribution to the music education field and demonstrate a commitment to the broader cause of maintaining music education in the schools. The Award is open to current U.S. music teachers. Anyone can nominate a teacher — students, parents, friends, colleagues, community members, school deans, and administrators — while teachers are also able to nominate themselves; nominated teachers are notified and invited to fill out an application.

Each year, the recipient of the Music Educator Award, selected from 10 finalists, receives a $10,000 honorarium and matching grant for their school's music program. The nine additional finalists receive a $1,000 honorarium and matching grants. The remaining 15 semifinalists, among the group announced today, will receive a $500 honorarium with matching school grants.

The Music Educator Award program, including honorariums, is made possible by the generosity and support of the Chuck Lorre Family Foundation. In addition, the American Choral Directors Association, National Association for Music Education, NAMM Foundation, and National Education Association support this program through outreach to their constituencies.

Read More: 5 Organizations And Scholarships Supporting Music Education

The full list of the 2024 Music Educator Award semifinalists is as follows :

Learn more about the Music Educator Award and apply to the 2025 Music Educator Award program now.

Photo:  Rachel Kupfer  

A Guide To Modern Funk For The Dance Floor: L'Imperatrice, Shiro Schwarz, Franc Moody, Say She She & Moniquea

James Brown changed the sound of popular music when he found the power of the one and unleashed the funk with "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag." Today, funk lives on in many forms, including these exciting bands from across the world.

It's rare that a genre can be traced back to a single artist or group, but for funk, that was James Brown . The Godfather of Soul coined the phrase and style of playing known as "on the one," where the first downbeat is emphasized, instead of the typical second and fourth beats in pop, soul and other styles. As David Cheal eloquently explains, playing on the one "left space for phrases and riffs, often syncopated around the beat, creating an intricate, interlocking grid which could go on and on." You know a funky bassline when you hear it; its fat chords beg your body to get up and groove.

Brown's 1965 classic, "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag," became one of the first funk hits, and has been endlessly sampled and covered over the years, along with his other groovy tracks. Of course, many other funk acts followed in the '60s, and the genre thrived in the '70s and '80s as the disco craze came and went, and the originators of hip-hop and house music created new music from funk and disco's strong, flexible bones built for dancing.

Legendary funk bassist Bootsy Collins learned the power of the one from playing in Brown's band, and brought it to George Clinton , who created P-funk, an expansive, Afrofuturistic , psychedelic exploration of funk with his various bands and projects, including Parliament-Funkadelic . Both Collins and Clinton remain active and funkin', and have offered their timeless grooves to collabs with younger artists, including Kali Uchis , Silk Sonic , and Omar Apollo; and Kendrick Lamar , Flying Lotus , and Thundercat , respectively.

In the 1980s, electro-funk was born when artists like Afrika Bambaataa, Man Parrish, and Egyptian Lover began making futuristic beats with the Roland TR-808 drum machine — often with robotic vocals distorted through a talk box. A key distinguishing factor of electro-funk is a de-emphasis on vocals, with more phrases than choruses and verses. The sound influenced contemporaneous hip-hop, funk and electronica, along with acts around the globe, while current acts like Chromeo, DJ Stingray, and even Egyptian Lover himself keep electro-funk alive and well.

Today, funk lives in many places, with its heavy bass and syncopated grooves finding way into many nooks and crannies of music. There's nu-disco and boogie funk, nodding back to disco bands with soaring vocals and dance floor-designed instrumentation. G-funk continues to influence Los Angeles hip-hop, with innovative artists like Dam-Funk and Channel Tres bringing the funk and G-funk, into electro territory. Funk and disco-centered '70s revival is definitely having a moment, with acts like Ghost Funk Orchestra and Parcels , while its sparkly sprinklings can be heard in pop from Dua Lipa , Doja Cat , and, in full "Soul Train" character, Silk Sonic . There are also acts making dreamy, atmospheric music with a solid dose of funk, such as Khruangbin ’s global sonic collage.

There are many bands that play heavily with funk, creating lush grooves designed to get you moving. Read on for a taste of five current modern funk and nu-disco artists making band-led uptempo funk built for the dance floor. Be sure to press play on the Spotify playlist above, and check out GRAMMY.com's playlist on Apple Music , Amazon Music and Pandora .

Say She She

Aptly self-described as "discodelic soul," Brooklyn-based seven-piece Say She She make dreamy, operatic funk, led by singer-songwriters Nya Gazelle Brown, Piya Malik and Sabrina Mileo Cunningham. Their '70s girl group-inspired vocal harmonies echo, sooth and enchant as they cover poignant topics with feminist flair.

While they’ve been active in the New York scene for a few years, they’ve gained wider acclaim for the irresistible music they began releasing this year, including their debut album, Prism . Their 2022 debut single "Forget Me Not" is an ode to ground-breaking New York art collective Guerilla Girls, and " Norma " is their protest anthem in response to the news that Roe vs. Wade could be (and was) overturned. The band name is a nod to funk legend Nile Rodgers , from the "Le freak, c'est chi" exclamation in Chic's legendary tune "Le Freak."

Moniquea 's unique voice oozes confidence, yet invites you in to dance with her to the super funky boogie rhythms. The Pasadena, California artist was raised on funk music; her mom was in a cover band that would play classics like Aretha Franklin’ s "Get It Right" and Gladys Knight ’s "Love Overboard." Moniquea released her first boogie funk track at 20 and, in 2011, met local producer XL Middelton — a bonafide purveyor of funk. She's been a star artist on his MoFunk Records ever since, and they've collabed on countless tracks, channeling West Coast energy with a heavy dose of G-funk, sunny lyrics and upbeat, roller disco-ready rhythms.

Her latest release is an upbeat nod to classic West Coast funk, produced by Middleton, and follows her February 2022 groovy, collab-filled album, On Repeat .

Shiro Schwarz

Shiro Schwarz is a Mexico City-based duo, consisting of Pammela Rojas and Rafael Marfil, who helped establish a modern funk scene in the richly creative Mexican metropolis. On "Electrify" — originally released in 2016 on Fat Beats Records and reissued in 2021 by MoFunk — Shiro Schwarz's vocals playfully contrast each other, floating over an insistent, upbeat bassline and an '80s throwback electro-funk rhythm with synth flourishes.

Their music manages to be both nostalgic and futuristic — and impossible to sit still to. 2021 single "Be Kind" is sweet, mellow and groovy, perfect chic lounge funk. Shiro Schwarz’s latest track, the joyfully nostalgic "Hey DJ," is a collab with funkstress Saucy Lady and U-Key.

L'Impératrice

L'Impératrice (the empress in French) are a six-piece Parisian group serving an infectiously joyful blend of French pop, nu-disco, funk and psychedelia. Flore Benguigui's vocals are light and dreamy, yet commanding of your attention, while lyrics have a feminist touch.

During their energetic live sets, L'Impératrice members Charles de Boisseguin and Hagni Gwon (keys), David Gaugué (bass), Achille Trocellier (guitar), and Tom Daveau (drums) deliver extended instrumental jam sessions to expand and connect their music. Gaugué emphasizes the thick funky bass, and Benguigui jumps around the stage while sounding like an angel. L’Impératrice’s latest album, 2021’s Tako Tsubo , is a sunny, playful French disco journey.

Franc Moody

Franc Moody 's bio fittingly describes their music as "a soul funk and cosmic disco sound." The London outfit was birthed by friends Ned Franc and Jon Moody in the early 2010s, when they were living together and throwing parties in North London's warehouse scene. In 2017, the group grew to six members, including singer and multi-instrumentalist Amber-Simone.

Their music feels at home with other electro-pop bands like fellow Londoners Jungle and Aussie act Parcels. While much of it is upbeat and euphoric, Franc Moody also dips into the more chilled, dreamy realm, such as the vibey, sultry title track from their recently released Into the Ether .

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• 1 5 Music Teachers Share The Transformative Power Of Music Education
• 2 Recording Academy & Coursera Partner To Launch GRAMMY GO Online Learning Initiative
• 3 GRAMMY Rewind: Kendrick Lamar Honors Hip-Hop's Greats While Accepting Best Rap Album GRAMMY For 'To Pimp a Butterfly' In 2016
• 4 25 Semifinalists Announced For The 2024 Music Educator Award
• 5 A Guide To Modern Funk For The Dance Floor: L'Imperatrice, Shiro Schwarz, Franc Moody, Say She She & Moniquea

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Do We Need Better Music Education?

A guest essay argues that we are teaching music the wrong way. Do you agree?

By Jeremy Engle

Do you play any musical instrument — or have you ever? Do you think music should be an essential part of every child’s education?

In “ We’re Teaching Music to Kids All Wrong ,” Sammy Miller, a Grammy-nominated drummer and the founder of a music education company, writes:

Each fall, as school starts up again, music educators witness a familiar ritual: Eager first-time students squeak on a clarinet, suppress giggles at the noises coming from the tubas and zealously hit a bass drum a little too hard. It’s a moment characterized by excitement, enthusiasm and the anticipation of new beginnings — which is why it’s so disheartening to know that many of those kids will eventually quit their instruments. The fact that many children don’t stick with music is bad news not only for the state of self-expression and joy but also for education. Studies show that students who play an instrument do better in science, English and math and are more likely to want to attend college . They also may have less anxiety and be more conscientious — they are the kids you want your kids to be friends with. I have never met an adult who is expressly thankful to have quit music as a child, but I’ve met many who have regrets. So why haven’t we, as parents and educators, been better able to encourage our own kids to continue? In my 15 years as a musical educator, talking to countless teachers, I’ve learned one thing: There is no magical fix. Making music education more successful doesn’t need to involve expensive digital accessories or fancy educational platforms (and I say that as someone who developed an online educational platform). There’s no technological or financial program that will convert children into lifelong music lovers. Instead, we need to start by rethinking how we teach music from the ground up, both at home and in the classroom. The onus is on parents and educators to raise the next generation of lifelong musicians — not just for music’s sake, but to build richer, more vibrant inner personal lives for our children and a more beautiful and expressive world.

Mr. Miller urges parents and educators to take a new approach to musical education:

It’s often been repeated that “music is a language,” yet we’re reluctant to teach it that way. When we learn a language, we don’t simply memorize phrases or spend all day reading — we practice the language together, sharing, speaking, stumbling but ultimately finding ways to connect. This should happen in music class, too. Music should be a common pursuit: Ask any dad rock weekend band or church ensemble how it experiences music, and the performers are likely to tell you it’s not a chore but a way of building community. Most important, we need to let kids be terrible. In fact, we should encourage it. They’ll be plenty terrible on their own — at first. But too often kids associate music in school with a difficult undertaking they can’t hope to master, which leads them to give up. Music does not have to be, and in fact, shouldn’t be, about the pursuit of perfection. And the great musicians have plenty of lessons to teach students about the usefulness of failure.

Students, read the entire article and then tell us:

Do you play any musical instruments? If so, how did you learn? What role does music play in your life?

Mr. Miller writes that after great “excitement, enthusiasm and the anticipation,” many children eventually quit their instruments. What kind of musical education, in or out of school, have you had? How effective has it been?

If you are one of the many people described by Mr. Miller who have started an instrument but later quit, why did you give up? Do you think a different approach to musical education, like the kind described in the essay, might have helped you to stick with it?

While saying there is no “magical fix” for converting children into lifelong music lovers, Mr. Miller shares several recommendations for improving musical education, such as, letting kids to be terrible and make a lot of mistakes or encouraging students to write their own simple songs using a few chords. What do you think of his proposed approach? What other suggestions would you give to parents and educators who hope to spark a love of music in young people?

Mr. Miller writes that studies show that students who play an instrument do better in science, English and math, and may have less anxiety and be more conscientious. What benefits of music education have you seen or experienced? Do any of these benefits, or others not mentioned in the essay, come to mind when you think of the value of learning music?

Does reading Mr. Miller’s essay make you more excited about playing music? Why or why not? If you could learn to play any instrument (or one different from what you already play), what would it be? Why?

Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public and may appear in print.

Find more Student Opinion questions here. Teachers, check out this guide to learn how you can incorporate these prompts into your classroom.

Jeremy Engle joined The Learning Network as a staff editor in 2018 after spending more than 20 years as a classroom humanities and documentary-making teacher, professional developer and curriculum designer working with students and teachers across the country. More about Jeremy Engle

• Our Mission

How Music Primes the Brain for Learning

To reap the benefits of music on learning, kids need consistent and abundant musical practice, according to the latest cognitive research.

Ten years ago, musician Angélica Durrell began teaching a small group of Connecticut high school students how to play different percussion instruments, including the charango and toyos —musical instruments native to Central and South America, where many of the students had recently immigrated from. They learned to play Pachelbel’s Canon and then moved on to master “Will You Love Me Tomorrow,” the sixties doo-wop hit by The Shirelles, singing the lyrics in both English and Spanish.

Within a few years, the after-school music program—aimed at Latino students, many of whom were struggling academically—became renowned in the school district, recast from a “nice-to-have” extracurricular into a strategic tool for addressing some of the district’s persistent challenges. Durrell’s students, teachers and school leaders noticed, were attending school more consistently, their English was improving, and they seemed increasingly comfortable making friends.

Today, Durrell’s non-profit program Intempo serves more than 3,000 students each year in Stamford and Norwalk schools, underscoring music’s profound impact on learning from both a cognitive and a social and emotional learning (SEL) vantage point. “We went from approaching it from a music perspective,” Durrell says, “to approaching it from an immigrant inclusion, language acquisition, and grade-level reading-acquisition perspective.”

Consistent exposure to music, like learning to play a musical instrument, or taking voice lessons, strengthens a particular set of academic and social-emotional skills that are essential to learning. In ways that are unmatched by other pursuits, like athletics for instance, learning music powerfully reinforces language skills, builds and improves reading ability, and strengthens memory and attention, according to the latest research on the cognitive neuroscience of music.

Experts are hoping this body of evidence might alter the current state of music education in schools—which is extremely uneven and, in some places, downright nonexistent. In a 2014 survey from Americans for the Arts, a nonprofit advocacy organization, teachers reported that 1.3 million elementary students didn’t have music classes in their schools, and nearly 4 million didn’t have a visual arts class. More recently, data from the 2016 National Assessment of Educational Progress showed improvements in some areas, though arts participation and access varied greatly by region . For example, while 68 percent of eighth-graders had music class in 2016, students in the Northeast were twice as likely to attend music class compared with students in the South and the West, where only one-third of students had access to music classes.

Now, following months of pandemic-related learning disruptions, organizations that track arts education like the federally-funded Arts Education Partnership say it’s difficult to even get a handle on who’s learning music at school.

The Cognitive Benefits of Music

The key to understanding music’s advantages, researchers say, lies in how the brain processes sound, the raw material of music, language, and—perhaps counterintuitively—learning to read. The sounds that come in through our ears travel along an anatomically complex “auditory pathway” that’s deeply connected to parts of the brain that determine how humans move, how we think and speak, what we know, and what we pay attention to. “The hearing brain is vast,” explains neuroscientist Nina Kraus, author of the new book  Of Sound Mind , in an interview with Edutopia . “People think of the hearing brain as being a silo within the brain. In fact, our hearing engages our cognitive, sensory, motor, and reward systems. That’s huge. From an evolutionary perspective, being able to make sense of sound is ancient and has engaged all these different perspectives.”

What makes music learning so powerful is how it engages all those different systems in a single activity. To play the violin, for example, a student needs to coordinate their motor, cognitive, and sensory systems to be able to put their fingers on the correct strings and move the bow at the right time; to read musical notes on a sheet of music and know what sounds they represent; and to hear if the pitches and rhythms are correct and coordinating with other players at the right time. Then there’s how the sound of music makes the student feel, which lights up the brain’s reward system. Engaging all these different systems makes learning how to play music one of the richest and deepest brain activities that humans perform. “Teachers resoundingly tell me that children who play music also do better in school,” Kraus writes. Young musicians also tend to have stronger language and reading skills than non-musicians because their brains have spent more time actively “engaging with sound.”

The type of instrument doesn’t matter: flute, violin, accordion, piano, voice—even abundant exposure to music can make an impact. “What is important is that engaging with sound changes and strengthens how the brain responds to sound,” Kraus says.

Music as Academic Strength Training

At Durban Avenue School in Sussex County, New Jersey, music teacher Shawna Longo calls out a particular rhythm, and then her kindergarteners play it on their Boomwhackers , tuned percussion tubes that come in different sizes and colors to symbolize different pitches. “Now only the red ones! Do ‘I like pepperoni pizza,’” she calls out, and the children play ta-ta-tee-tee-tee-tee-ta-ta. “They can only play when I hold up their color,” she says. “They have to learn when to wait, and when to play.”

The ability to keep a steady beat and anticipate the next beat, research has shown , are reliable indicators that a child is ready to learn to read. But keeping rhythm isn’t the only musical skill that paves the way for language development and reading, notes education researcher Anita Collins in her new book, The Music Advantage .

Learning to read music—decoding musical notation and connecting it to sounds—activates the same “phonological loop” in the brain as when kids learn to read words, deepening sound-word connections. Collins describes the process in her book:

• The eye sees a symbol on the page, whether it’s an eighth note D or a letter t at the start of a word

• The brain hears the sound, pulling it from the memory of music and speech sounds all brains possess

• The brain instructs the body to make that sound, whether it’s hands playing an instrument or the mouth shaped to make the t sound

• The brain listens to be sure the correct sound was made, and then makes adjustments

(From page 54 of The Music Advantage )

Processing sound strengthens the same areas of the brain that are responsible for learning language and learning to read—and while neuroscientists are still teasing out the how and the why, Collins writes that the latest research indicates that “music and reading may well be complementary learning activities,” with music functioning as a robust tool to improve language learning.

The Sound of Social Cohesion

When Covid-19 lockdowns first spread across the globe in March 2020, multiple videos showed people in Italy singing together from their balconies. At a time of extreme stress and isolation, Italians turned to music to connect with their neighbors.

Music and song are among the most basic ways humans have connected with one another for thousands of years. “Music lives in the oldest part of our brain,” Collins tells  Edutopia . “Music and song are at least as old as language and the spoken word.”

In a landmark 2018 study , researchers from the University of Toronto found that an adult singing and moving to a musical beat with a one-year-old child in tow increased social cohesion: the child was more likely to help when the adult later “accidentally” dropped an item. The study has been replicated many times, Collins writes, and shows how music taps into a primal bond that may encourage prosocial behavior like empathy and helping—the very behaviors that adults want children to develop as they grow, and behaviors schools strive to teach using the tenets of social and emotional learning.

When students belt out the school song at basketball games, or sing the clean-up song in kindergarten, it’s a potent practice for strengthening basic human social bonds. “Singing is a very powerful tool to make children feel in community,” says Kelly Green, vice president of education at Kindermusik, which creates research-based music curriculum for early childhood learners. “It’s deep SEL.”

Like Italy’s balcony singers during lockdown, social singing and music-making might be especially helpful to students now, when loneliness, anxiety, and depression are skyrocketing among young people. But Green says that kids in school sing a lot less than they used to. We tend to think “that learning music is only to develop as a musician,” Collins remarks. “People don’t feel confident to sing anymore. The fear that sits under ‘I can’t sing, I’m not musical’ is incredibly deep. When I start singing with students, they often realize singing is just a practiced skill. All these things start happening. They feel this sense of euphoria.”

Kids Benefit From Deep and Consistent Engagement

Facing limited budgets, increased academic expectations and testing , and a music teacher shortage , some schools and districts are increasingly looking to nonprofit organizations and community partners for help. Groups like Save the Music Foundation provide grants for schools to purchase student instruments and provide teacher training. The Harmony Project brings intensive music training and support to underserved students in the Los Angeles area. The Soulsville Charter School, a music-influenced middle and high school in Memphis, Tennessee, taps into the birthplace of American soul music and legendary Stax Records with the support of the Soulsville Foundation .

“You have to be willing to say, ‘We can’t do this alone,’” says Tamu Lucero, superintendent of Stamford Public Schools, where Durrell’s Intempo program is now a critical component of the district’s new-arrivals program. Even though Stamford schools already offered regular music programming, Lucero says, “we were willing to be open to the idea of how we could use an outside partner to enrich the learning environment for students.”

Researchers will continue to untangle some of the reasons behind why music learning is so beneficial to students—but know enough to conclude that listening to music or writing a song for a class project only begins to scratch the surface. To get maximal brain benefits, students should actively engage with music by learning to play an instrument or studying voice, preferably in a group setting. The evidence is strong enough to recommend music education as a discrete class for all kids—and across the grade levels—as a critically important investment.

Or as Nina Kraus states, “Music should be a part of every child’s education. Period.”

Paul Hamlyn Foundation

https://www.phf.org.uk/reader/inspiring-music/key-issues-challenges/

Inspiring Music for All

Next steps in innovation, improvement and intergration.

• Background and Scope of Review
• Research team, methodology and evidence base
• Overall findings
• Musical Futures findings
• Conclusions
• Recommendations for the music education sector
• Introduction
• Overview of findings
• The good news

1. Low teacher confidence stemming from insufficient depth of ITE and lack of engagement with post-qualification CPD and professional networks

2. weaknesses in curriculum and pedagogy, 3. retention and progression in music, 4. insufficient support from senior leadership teams, 5. insufficient local and national  support structures, 6. impact of recent education policy changes.

• Musical Futures
• Recommendations for Paul Hamlyn Foundation
• Recommendations for the music education sector
• Illustrative details of proposals for Paul Hamlyn Foundation
• Areas for Further Investigation

Key issues and challenges

The quality and reach of schools-based music education is still unacceptably variable and inconsistent – at both primary and secondary – despite the focused interventions of the last decade and considerable levels of government and charitable investment.

There is still too little music-making in many classroom music lessons reported at both primary and secondary levels 1 Reasons for this vary  according to context, but are concentrated around;

• lack of teacher confidence,
• poor spaces and / or resources,
• teaching strategies over-weighted to verbal and written analysis.

Pupils’ own musical interests, skills and aspirations are still not sufficiently taken into account in planning and delivery of classroom-based learning, and given the degree of non-school engagement pupils are likely to have with music this is a significant missed opportunity. Music technology is not yet sufficiently integrated into school-based music, and many teachers do not capitalise on pupils’ confidence and facility with technology.

The power of music as a force for good in the lives of children, their families and the cultures of schools is not yet widely understood nor consistently realised at the school level. Whilst music remains firmly placed as a statutory entitlement for nine years of a child’s life, there is ongoing 2 evidence that it is not consistently delivered as such. The over-arching message of concern coming through the interviews and the literature is that the gap between the best and the worst music in schools is getting wider rather than narrower.

“What I’m seeing is an increasingly exaggerated version of what we’ve been looking at for quite a long time now, which is a sort of polarisation of some schools where there is seemingly a lot going on and other schools where there is nothing going or almost nothing going on.” “The key message is that the gap between best and worst provision has widened. There are schools that do a terrific job and there are more where sadly that’s very far from the case.” “It’s very variable – as it ever was, despite national curriculum being mandatory – depending on provision , confidence, competence of Head Teacher and commitment from Governors…but variability appears to be more acute than at any time in the past.”

There is a clear sense that NPME and the establishment of Music Hubs have not – yet, at any rate – made significant headway in equalising the education postcode lottery, and there is disappointment with the current perceived disjunction between policy and practice from many colleagues.

“Policy statements are positive and supportive but the structural changes that are happening now are generating unintended  consequences and having unforeseen impact. Future proofing is not happening –  there is a mismatch what was thought and what is actually happening on ground…. there’s fragmentation, not enough in place to incentivise music teaching and not enough incentives to counter the disincentives” “Policy intent and rhetoric around music education and cultural education is not supported structurally by curriculum frameworks and qualifications and especially not now by new performance measures for schools. So the centre is saying one thing but doing the other.”

There was a striking unanimity across interviewees, literature and survey data in identifying six interlinked key issues underlying the variable – and in some cases very poor – quality and reach of music education in schools. These are here explored in turn.

Only 8% of primary teachers in the online survey reported feeling confident about teaching music, 16% were engaged in a professional network for music and 15% had regular opportunities for professional development. Only 32% of secondary teachers were engaged in a professional network or had regular opportunities to participate in professional development[32. IoE online survey analysis, appendix III].

This finding is not new, and successive Ofsted reports have pointed to the correlation between lack of CPD and professional networking and poor classroom practice. It is frustrating in its ubiquity, however, and interviewees were consistent – and in some cases vehement – in their analysis. Changes in teacher education leading to most or all of the student/beginning teacher experience being school-based are having a potentially detrimental impact on quality of music teaching, as students/beginning teachers (and NQTs) are not experiencing a sufficient range of high quality teaching role models, nor pedagogical approaches. This in turn may be contributing to low retention of music NQTs in teaching. The lack of time for music in primary initial teacher education was a serious concern for all interviewees, and there was also agreement that the position of secondary music PGCE training is under threat as a consequence of recent changes in education policy and arrangements for school-based  ITE:

“ITE needs to be more in depth and include more time on music to develop confidence and technique relevant to individual teacher” “Numbers of ITE students dipped at the point E.Bacc was being discussed and we have trouble recruiting to fill places… Message is given that music is not important as a subject.”

There is a crisis of continuing professional development at all levels, with many teachers not engaging in regular CPD, networks, professional conversations about music, nor even keeping up their own musical skills and practice. Primary teacher confidence about teaching/supporting music continues to be a major concern, and engagement in CPD,networks and professional conversations about music is low. Secondary music teachers are still too often isolated, and the range and quality of provision are generally lower across the board than they should be, given that this is a specialist workforce. In addition, we are failing as a sector to draw on the extraordinary research resources of our Higher Education colleagues in a systematic and structured way to support teacher development, pedagogy and curriculum 3 .

“Practice has gotten much worse. No support now, no music advisor, lack of regular inset and music CPD…it (CPD) is now often generic, dealing with whole school issues, internally focussed, Tougher for teachers to access CPD, therefore lack of breadth of CPD offer as demand isn’t there”

There was a general view – again born out in the literature 4  – that there are consistent weaknesses in curriculum and pedagogy across the country. These may relate to inadequate training and CPD, lack of support, insufficient access to information and new ideas:

“I am worrying about next generation of teachers….I tell them to….read John Paynter’s Sound and Silence because I keep meeting classroom teachers that haven’t read it….the rot set in with keyboards and in terms of creativity it has just gone downhill since then. I never see any wild creative music – it all seems so buttoned down and just joining the dots. It seems that in this authority gone are music departments with practice rooms with kids in them making noise – now they keep them all in the same room with computers – I see very little live interactive or creative group work going on any more.” “…sometimes what I see is very performance driven, not seeing so much creative work – a lot to do with the fact that the people that are coming in to do the teaching in schools may not be qualified teachers, may have traditional view of what music teaching is – focused on acquiring skills to perform, and the schools don’t put them under pressure to work in any other way.”

“There is a sometimes a false correlation between vibrant community activities and good quality music making – good extracurricular music doesn’t always connect to good  classroom teaching – high profile music activity in school productions, orchestras, jazz bands etc. can mask weaker provision in classroom lessons. The reverse is much rarer.”

There is a widely shared concern that music pedagogy in schools is narrowing – that teachers teach the way they were taught or are unduly formed by the way the department they enter is structured, and that the lack of consistent engagement in professional networks and CPD means that teachers are less inclined to challenge and innovate in their practice if that isn’t valued in the culture of their school or department. At secondary level this can generate a ‘narrow-specialist’ culture, in which the range of musical opportunities is confined to those areas that the individual teacher(s) feel confident in, and the pedagogical approach doesn’t flex. If the department is outward facing and engaged in positive partnerships this can work very well, with the teacher acting as guide or broker to ensure a breadth of experiences. This partnership based approach is not yet the norm however.

“You need a very clear philosophy of what is good music teaching. School based training doesn’t give a wide enough view of what’s going on, alternative practices etc. They end up copying the practice of people they are working with.” “Young teachers coming to the classroom from training are for the most part full of enthusiasm, life and ideas and they have clear philosophies of inclusion and diversity. The pedagogy is less clear and it becomes very difficult to sustain within the school environments they find themselves in…the negative impact of assessment requirements…being asked to show progression every 20 minutes can be difficult in music….” “One person can’t deliver everything. In each school there needs to be a Music Leader who coordinates the resources and makes sure that they are distributed equitably. The Music Leader must know about the quality and content of what’s needed and must work with the outside agents to build partnerships for that delivery. We got quite close to this but now we seem to be moving away because of funding. We need to work on this – when head teachers see the value of this approach and its impact they will support and find funding.”

There is often a lack of innovation and reflective practice visible in the approach of music coordinators and Heads of Music to interpreting the National Curriculum – the flexibility and choice available are either not understood as such, or are too broad for non-specialists (primary) or narrow-specialists (secondary) to make sense of. Both non and narrow-specialist teachers continue to struggle with making effective choices about curriculum and pedagogy, and fail to make the connections between classroom activities and music outside the classroom in mapping entitlement.

“Some Heads of music are not really making any changes for the new curriculum – many are just bringing old schemes of work into the new framework because there is no guidance….and the same with assessment levels. This could be a missed opportunity to create something innovative….” “…People are confused. Music theatre shows, bands, choirs – these are powerful experiences – then why not have them be where we deliver the National Curriculum?”

There was a concern that the sector lacks a consistent philosophy and understanding of the purpose of music education, which in turn leads to a lack of clarity for teachers and senior leaders about the role, value and position of music in school, and about curriculum and pedagogical choices.

“As a community we have some responsibility for this ourselves. I’ve never felt that we’ve very clearly articulated a message about what the intrinsic benefits of music are – we’ve been very good at the extrinsic advocacy and the kind of neo-liberal compliance agenda; we’ve been much less good at expressing the musical perspective in respect of purpose, defining place and position in the world and ways of understanding.” “There are different philosophies of music education at play….for example some might say that inclusion, participation and diversity are the pedagogy by which community musicians do their work; others might say that is just ‘good teaching’ and it be just qualitatively rather than fundamentally different. All sorts of things accrue from those viewpoints, which are to do with the acculturation and cultural component of the arts in general, but in this case music….” “There is a fundamental problem of music in schools – which is that they try to treat it as a school (academic) rather than a life subject.”

There is also more progress to be made on inclusion and diversity although practice has certainly improved over the last decade, as noted earlier in this report. There was a general consensus that poverty and challenging circumstances continue to undermine young people’s chances in music – as it still does their wider education.

Music is widely understood to have enormous untapped potential as a tool for empowering young people to develop efficacy, confidence and creative authority[35. Hallam, S. (2010) ‘The power of music: its impact of the intellectual, personal and social development of children and young people’, International Journal of Music Education, Hallam, S. & Creech, A. (Eds) (2010) ‘Music Education in the 21st Century in the United Kingdom: Achievements, analysis and aspirations’. London]. The body of by organisations and individuals in the community, voluntary and arts sectors focused on music as a site for social and personal development of vulnerable young people is extremely valuable 5 and yet under-used in the planning and delivery of schools-based music. This is perhaps a subset of the all-pervasive observation that the growing  ody of practicebased research in music education and engagement seems to be largely unreferenced and under-utilised by teachers and other practitioners. This is frustrating, as many of the weaknesses in curriculum and pedagogy identified not only in this review but also in successive Ofsted reports might be in part addressed by application of insights from this dynamic and fast-evolving body of knowledge.

“…it’s great where this kind of (social) inclusion work is not considered on the edge – just what a Hub does and there are resources dedicated to it. Where Hubs are working well you can see that… In practical terms what that means is we see can see an out of school initiative that is succeeding in engaging young people in challenging circumstances, and then there is cross-referral and people making the most of that. It comes down to the basics of working with schools and their communities in a very detailed  way understanding what the need is.” “Music is important for all children but essential for SEN children – unfortunately this is still often overlooked. The value lies in the role music plays in early childhood development as it precedes language acquisition – many children with SEN are still at this early stage (e.g. establishing language patterns etc). However often SEN schools focus on literacy and numeracy and overlook music – but music should be a mandatory core element in SEN delivery” “The important question for me is what  kind of inclusion is this. It seems to me to be reasonably healthy in terms of children’s contact with the objects of different cultures. The extent to which they get to work through the practices of those cultures is much more variable…if you are learning a pop song from notation are you really engaging with popular music? There are challenges about authenticity… music isn’t just the sound it makes; it’s about the practices. There’s no point in musical tourism – it doesn’t produce depth of development and I’m not sure we’ve quite grasped that.”

There is also much more to be done on including and respecting young peoples’ voices in their own musical learning, although Musical Futures is widely acknowledged as a good example of a pedagogical approach to this. Notwithstanding that, young people consulted as part of this review 6 reported that they and their peers often perceive their musical experiences in schools as disconnected from their musical passions, and had clear, sophisticated views on what was needed to improve their experience of music in schools:

• More external visits and access to more musical influences to help broaden horizons and really understand what music can be, this is especially important where there is limited access to music through family and community background
• The music curriculum should be based on continual feedback between students and teachers and should include opportunities to steer the direction of the programme of study through ongoing active pupil voice
• Earlier opportunities to learn notation and instrumental teaching and exposure to a range of genres.
• Link older pupils with younger ones as musical buddies to learn together to create an accepted musical community in schools.
• Authentic and credible teachers who shouldn’t pretend to know everything  or try to communicate with students on their level by acting ‘cool’ and trying to assume the young people’s culture. They should be honest and acknowledge that they don’t know everything but that they will try and incorporate young people’s interests and facilitate a musical learning journey that they all go on together.

It is worth noting that these perspectives align well with the NPME.

Weaknesses in curriculum and pedagogy need to be addressed within and by the sector through dynamic reflection, the use of evidence, peer-networking, training and support for innovation. This is a professional community, made up in the main of highly committed individuals who want to facilitate excellent outcomes for children and young people. A better integrated open system of well-structured CPD, engagement with research and evidence and dynamic peer networking would transform weaknesses into strengths and create a powerful platform for innovation.

Retention and progression in music continue to be poorly understood and imperfectly tracked. Schools, teachers and music leaders are often unclear on how to consider retention and progression; with a range of flawed measures, inappropriate assessment strategies and unhelpful targets being deployed. Challenges in understanding retention and progression connect to questions of pedagogy, teacher experience, and understanding of pupils’ wider music lives as well to the structure of the National Curriculum. There is often a lack of effective connection between music within the classroom and music beyond the classroom. This means that young peoples’ engagement and progression are not always fully recognised, nor well-supported. “Most teachers do the very best that they can, where system works and the young person meets teacher’s profile of what a musician looks like but what about the other students who aren’t bringing their musical experiences into school or are missed through school system – we need to keep teachers’ profile of a ‘musician’ fresh.”

It is difficult to draw conclusions about individual progression from, e.g. WCIVT at KS2 into continuing instrumental or vocal study, as schools and Music Hubs don’t hold enough data on what young people may be doing outside of their fields of reference. Having said that, only 10% of Year 7 pupils were recorded as learning an instrument in England in 2012 7 , which is disappointingly low, given that all those pupils should have  had six years of music in the classroom and at least one year of instrumental learning through WCIVT. Economic factors are widely cited as central to the problem, although increasingly Hubs are implementing carefully targeted strategies to minimise the impact of poverty on progression as best they can. Many Hubs are also working hard on sustaining excellent ensemble provision despite resource challenges, seeing that as an important means of enabling young people to develop in music.

“…progression is very difficult and fragmented….I did used to think it was linear and continuous but I have completely changed my view….there are all sorts of social, economic and psychological barriers to instrumental progression….human progression rather than skills progression as a measure would be really useful.” “I still think it is socio-economic class based – there is a hierarchy which needs to abolished….The School Proms are a good model – if you compare the Schools Proms  programmes there is an enormous acceptance and integration and inclusion of a range of musics. Young people need to know that their music is equally valued.”

Inadequate transition management39, with secondary schools either not being provided with or not taking on information about pupils’ musical experience and abilities, is undoubtedly also a factor in what appear to be poor progression rates, and in some areas there is also insufficient access to an appropriate range and quality of instrumental tuition matched to pupils’ interests.

“The logjam is the movement from primary to secondary – mismatch of structure and content…there is good practice around that has been established over many years but it is not widespread….we must set the expectation that all children will have good experiences and be supported to  make progress….”

Assessment of music remains a contested area, and Music Mark is about to lead a piece of work to produce guidance on appropriate strategies.

“Are children learning musically and do they know how to assess their own musical progress? Very often the levels and sub-levels are misused by teachers and hold the learning back and don’t lead to pupils’ understanding.” “Too often we are not thinking about developing musicians – we are thinking about tasks rather than the development of musicianship – so no progression in anything. It becomes touristic collection.”

More widespread integration of digital technologies – and particularly the use of mobile devices – could help to make better connections between in and out of school musical experiences, and make a contribution to development of meaningful assessment and progression tracking.

“Strengthen in school and out of school music making using technology strategically – it is now practical, realistic and achievable. It could work now – just needs stronger partnerships with Music Hub – equal partnerships between teachers and Hub staff. Both need to take a role in this. Young people are interested in music and we haven’t exploited this intrinsic interest. We need to join up in and out of school music making through the use of technology.”

Clear, comprehensive guidelines and definitions to help frame planning for progression and retention are badly needed. From this greater clarity it should then be possible to put in place appropriate tracking measures to understand what is working and what is not, which could then feed practice at local and national levels.

School senior leadership teams often don’t see the arguments for investing in music or prioritising it in the face of other curriculum and budget pressures. In addition, where key senior staff are not confident about judging the quality of musical learning and teaching they are not able to provide appropriate support to music teachers / external partners in terms of quality, CPD and progression for pupils 8 Interviewees and the literature were in agreement that the attitude of senior leadership – particularly Heads but also other senior teachers and Governing Bodies – was critical in determining the degree  to which music was high quality, inclusive and impacted on the culture of the whole school.

“What are those schools with great, inclusive, high-quality music doing that the others are not doing? I think it is the support within the whole ethos from top downwards supporting the leadership and imagination of the musicians (teachers and students) within the schools” “The Head is crucial…if the Head values music you see space, time and investment; programme and activity developed in keeping with what best for school, practice rooms, instruments, activity happening in classroom time, lunch breaks, after school community offer. In schools where Heads don’t value it, it just happens at bare minimum under the radar and is not strategically hooked into life of the school.” “Head Teachers often have positive attitudes, but are misunderstanding and underestimating how significant it could be if music was working really well in their schools. They don’t know what good music education looks like so can’t challenge their staff….”

There is understanding of the pressures Heads and Governing Bodies are dealing with in respect of narrowing the attainment gap, managing complex accountability and financial frameworks and dealing with structural and policy changes. However, it is clear that there is important work to be done to help school senior leaders to understand how music can help with those pressures – so music becomes part of the solution.

“Head teachers and governing bodies are sometimes not brave enough to see how music could transform their schools….they often go straight for literacy and numeracy and neglect music. But what about school improvement from a music point of view? Music helps with listening skills, focusing, learning, team work….people still fear using music as their main tool for school improvement but they shouldn’t.” “…This sort of relentless focus on performativity, league tables, testing, literacy, numeracy – the curriculum is overloaded; although on the face of it schools are begin given a choice, there is no choice because you have to achieve particular targets or you are punished. Whether people are doing quite well or not they feel under the cosh. To stick your head over the parapet and say that to do really well we could foreground music and the arts is courageous and needs particular individuals who have the background and the values – and then it works.”

This sense of music not being well understood by senior leadership teams and governing bodies as a powerful asset in their overall school improvement missions relates to the observations about insecure place and status of music in schools, despite the  statutory entitlement. Addressing this core misalignment of policy and practice would have a profound impact on the capacity of teachers, Hubs and the wider music education sector to improve the quality, range and reach of schools-based music.

The National Plan for Music Education does not yet appear to be widely embedded in local level planning. Notwithstanding some inspiring examples of excellence in leadership, partnership and provision, many Music Hubs are not yet fulfilling their remit to bring together music provision across a range of local partners to meet identified needs.

“…it’s just recycling the old funding. Where’s the needs analysis? Where’s the focus on quality of teaching and learning? Where’s the consistency?”

In many parts of the country there is a reported lack of expert advisory support for schools and teachers in developing strong music plans and improving quality of provision for their pupils, and the lack of deep seated partnership and dialogue between Music Hubs. The generally acknowledged variable quality of school-based provision is associated for many people with a lack of expert advice and support.

“…terrible inconsistency in teaching and leadership –same picture as ever – we need peer to peer support and buddying – Hubs could cluster schools together but  in many places it just seems as if schools have no advisors, no supporters to help with music….” “Definitely see lack of advisory role. Noone’s there to do it. Who is supporting the teachers to develop the content that meets curriculum goals with rich and full engagement….Hubs should provide that pool of expertise to help schools – ultimately schools are responsible for music at KS 1-3, but the Hub should be driving change, partnership and challenge.” “The Hubs ought to be convening sharing and expertise in communities of practice….reflecting and networking…. meeting with other organisations to share their practice with each other in side by side relationships. What often then gets discussed is quality – and it really matters that what we do is excellent practice.”

The recent Ofsted report 9 was seen by some contributors as a useful challenge with one interviewee describing it as “a wake-up call and a shake-up”, and others seeing it differently.

“Ofsted report shameful – criticising hubs and schools for not working together when that wasn’t their plan. Maybe hubs is a 20 year down the line solution as curriculum advice centres but at the moment they don’t all employ the right people to do that work nor do the have they the capacity or the financial resource.”

There is however a general sense that the best Hubs are more proactive about helping to broker partnerships and working schools as stakeholders.

“We are looking for a much closer relationship between out of schools and in school activity – a much closer relationship for the young person. Teachers in schools could have much closer relationships in delivery terms with partner organisations.” “Where collaboration is working well there is leadership in that Hub with a confident definition of music education….working across genres, in and out of schools and with a clear sense of what the Hub partners are there to achieve. Where it’s like that there seems to be really good progress”

The urgent need for improved local support structures for schools has been recognised by Arts Council and Ofsted. It is to be hoped that the good practice that some Hubs have pioneered will be used to inspire and benchmark progress on this front in other localities.

The national music education sector continues be perceived as fragmented, leading to a lack of consensus and leadership around professional standards in relation to curricula, pedagogy and professional development. This in turn has an increasingly negative effect on professional practice and, therefore, on children and young people’s experiences. The membership associations – Music Mark, ISM, MEC, Musicians Union, Sound Sense 10 – are not perceived to be well aligned. This leads to a vacuum where a strong subject association should be, which in turn contributes to the increasing isolation of music teachers.

“…I hear no leadership voice at the moment….I hear platitudes about we must all work together – so what’s new? What does that mean now? What are all the organisations doing?” “We need a real curriculum development organisation which we’ve lost – the notion that somebody’s leading on content and subject has gone.”

“About five years ago there was more sharing (across organisational and sector boundaries) and now there is less sharing – the lack of leadership from the national organisations is really depressing…also there is less money so people are starting feel a bit protectionist again whereas in the old days we knew where we were and knew we were valued….”

More unified and music-focused national leadership for music education would have many benefits. The diversity of perspectives, pedagogies and contexts that make up the music eco-system undoubtedly contribute to the richness and strength that characterises the best provision. However, the lack of practitioner engagement with a shared organisational forum for the development of the subject in all its  omplexity leads to fragmentation and isolation, which as we have seen earlier, in turn impacts on quality, as well as on the place and status of music.

The impact of shifts in education policy and funding frameworks is strongly felt – recent changes do seem to have had the general effect of lowering the status of the arts in schools, with numbers progressing to GCSE in music amongst the lowest of the arts subjects at 7% last year 11 . Many contributors ascribe the issues of senior leadership support and patchy provision directly to changes in education policy.

“There is an obvious danger at the moment which is that music’s perceived status in relation to education policy in general is vulnerable, particularly around the E.Bacc, which is a threat at KS4 and beyond, and that is also beginning to have an impact at KS3…there is a lot of anecdotal evidence at the moment of music being reduced in the curriculum at KS3…in some places students are getting music once a year for a term or a half a term, but not with consistency – it becomes almost impossible to get any progression going or any idea of developing musical understanding and learning within KS3 and KS4”

“…in the period when funding was at its height there was a real resurgence of music….we saw the importance and effectiveness of WCIVT and that really brought home the importance of reestablishing a lot of music at KS2. Since that point although the funding has decreased, some schools have really held onto to it and are committed to sustaining it. The problem now is that it is really difficult to do that. Ofsted targets and progress measures can lead to music really being squeezed… it is increasingly difficult to get students out of classes at KS3, and for some schools the lunch hour is so short there is not time for extra-curricular activity. It is getting worse and some schools are cutting down the KS3 to a carousel so they are not even getting the full quota of music input.”

School assessment strategies and timetabling protocols at secondary level (and to some extent primary) are constraining good practice – and may even be breeding bad practice – when applied without variation to music 12 The de-regulation of education more broadly, with academies and free schools effectively released from the national curriculum and more and more disconnected from networks associated with local authorities, including Music Hubs, means that the very notion of the entitlement itself is challenged – albeit perhaps unintentionally.

“The school landscape is changing rapidly with new trends emerging as a result of policy (e.g. introduction of academies and free schools and loss of LA support services). Policy intent and rhetoric around music education  and cultural education is not supported structurally by curriculum frameworks and qualifications and especially not now by new performance measures for schools. So centre saying one thing but doing the other.” “Music is only secure if it is part of the statutory provision through the school’s full provision including the National Curriculum. That gives it status, parity, funding and staffing. It is a distinctive mode of learning because it is: ephemeral; abstract and simultaneously complex. That is why it is part of a balanced education – and not additional. It is also a very significant employer and exporter.”

Whilst all contributors to this review welcomed the financial investment of successive governments, there is a view that more resources are needed to realise the potential music has in the lives of children and young people. Over half of the respondents in the online survey felt that they did not have sufficient resources to deliver consistently high quality music experiences, and this finding was born out in the parallel York Consulting Musical Futures research survey[45. York Consulting, ‘The Impact of Musical Bridges on Primary to Secondary School Transition: Hub Survey’].

“There is not a full understanding of what is the real cost of providing good quality music education. This needs to be understood in more depth by decision makers at a school level and policy level.”

Many of those interviewed were of the view that funding was not the prime driver of quality, but did agree that public funding resources were insufficient to realise the vision of NPME, and therefore that better partnership working and identification of additional sources of support at local and regional level was essential to bring more resources into the sector.

• 1 Ofsted, ‘Music in Schools: Wider Still, and Wider’ Ofsted, ‘Music in Schools: What Hubs Must Do’
• 2 Ofsted, ‘Music in Schools: What Hubs Must Do’, Ofsted, ‘ Music in Schools: Sound Partnerships’, Ofsted, ‘Music in Schools: Wider Still, and Wider’, Ofsted, ‘Making More of Music’, Ofsted Primary Music Report 2005
• 3  Welch, G., Purves, R. , Hargreaves, D. and Marshall, N.(2011) ‘Early career challenges in secondary school music teaching
• 4 Ofsted, ‘Music in schools: wider still and wider’; Music Teacher Magazine, ‘Should Music stay on the National Curriculum?’; Welch, G. et al. (2011). Early career challenges in secondary school music teaching;. Daubney, A. ‘Music in schools: building collaborative advocacy in a climate of uncertainty’
• 5 Youth Music ‘Impacts and Outcomes Report 2009 – 2010’; Saunders, J. Welch, G. (2012), ‘Communities of Music Education: a pilot study’
• 6 Wired for Music, hosted by Sound Connects ‘Findings from a focus group on music education’; Sage Gateshead Young People’s Action Group Response to Paul Hamlyn Review appendix 4
• 7 Robin Hammerton, interview
• 8  Ofsted, ‘Music in Schools: Sound Partnerships’
• 9 Ofsted, ‘Music in Schools: What Hubs Must Do’
• 10 UK Association for Music Education www.musicmark.org.uk; Incorporated Society of Musicians www.ism.org; Music Education Council www.mec.org.uk; Musicians Union www.musiciansunion.org.uk; Sound Sense www.soundsense.org
• 11 Presentation by Robin Hammerton (Ofsted) to Arts Council Bridge organisations February 2014
• 12 Cultural Education in England Schools: February 2014 briefing: ‘Disincentives Cultural Learning Alliance’

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/    News Posts    /   Ethical Issues and Conundrums in Music Education

Got Ethics?

By NAfME Member Paul K. Fox © 2019 Paul K. Fox

Don’t try ducking these essential questions on ETHICS!  

• What in the world is “The Code”?
• How do ethics inform a teacher’s personal and professional actions?
• What does it mean to be a “moral exemplar” or “role model” in the community?
• How and why should teachers control their public “brand,” reputation, or persona?
• When was the last time you reviewed your state’s code of ethics?

iStockphoto.com | patpitchaya

One more question: Are you able to navigate that sometimes “foggy” pathway towards understanding the overlapping concepts of:

• Personal morality? (values and beliefs derived from an individual’s life experiences)
• Regulations of law? (policies, statutes, and judicial activity)
• Professional ethics? (standards that guide decision-making)
• Professional dispositions? (agreed-upon attitudes, values, and beliefs held by educational practitioners)

With serious allegations of professional misconduct, incidents of sexual harassment or discrimination in the workplace, or violations of trust involving CEOs, managers/supervisors, celebrities, politicians, and even teachers in the news every week, now might be a good time for a “refresher course” on school ethics . . . that is, if you ever had one! (From personal experience, nearly all of the music teachers I polled during the last two years of our local fall marching band festivals and halftime shows admitted to me that they had never seen our state’s “code of professional practices and conduct.”)

Regardless of whether you are a music education major, first-year teacher recently hired or transferred, or someone who has had many years of experience, little in-service training is provided for you to resolve perplexing contradictions in the moral decision-making “compass” expected of all educators.

So, what are you waiting for? Let’s “get ethics!”

Photo courtesy of Paul Fox

As an introduction, the absolutely best set of definitions and example of “The Code” comes from the National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education Certification in “Model Code of Ethics for Educators.” Their core principles:

• Responsibility to the Profession
• Responsibility for Professional Competence
• Responsibility to Students
• Responsibility to the School Community
• Responsible and Ethical Use of Technology

Download and read the complete document . See an annotated list of activities related to the endorsement, adoption, or use of the MCEE by jurisdictions, educator preparation programs, and local education agencies.

Then, make sure you are familiar with your own state standards . . . ethics, conduct, and/or discipline codes.

Inconsistencies and even paradoxes regarding the language and practice of teacher ethics are prevalent across different state, county, and district lines. For example, a teacher might be advised to never have a closed-door counseling session alone with a student (promoting a possible inappropriate relationship?), while in another jurisdiction, the recommendation may be to only promote private one-on-one meetings for confidentiality concerns (Family Education Rights and Privacy Act). A veteran teacher may solve this apparent discrepancy by meeting with a student in a room with windows that offers privacy but allows for possible interruptions and direct sight-lines.

iStockphoto.com | monkeybusinessimages

As you would imagine, Hollywood does not offer much clarity on the subject of ethics. Do you remember “Mr. Holland’s Opus,” a 1995 American drama directed by Stephen Herek and written by Patrick Sheane Duncan? Starring Richard Dreyfuss in the leading role of a music educator, our hero “Glenn Holland” was a musician and composer who took a teaching job to “pay the rent” while, in his spare time, he strived to achieve his true goal—compose one memorable piece of music to leave his mark on the world. As the years unfold, Holland soon discovers that the joy of sharing his contagious passion for music with his students becomes his new definition of success, at least until he is forced into retirement, and the school board decides to eliminate music from the curriculum.

However, viewing that 15-minute segment with his student Rowena, this movie is also a “classic” demonstration of the “slippery slope” leading to a totally inappropriate student-teacher relationship. Many say that Mr. Holland should have been fired from teaching and even “arrested for sexual misconduct!” Had I even considered taking a female student of mine to a bus stop to travel to New York to seek her “fame and fortune” without the knowledge of her parents, and kissed her good-bye, I would have been “tarred and feathered” and “ridden out on a rail . . . ”

Another movie brutally exposes the question, “Is it ever ethical or in the students’ best interest to ignore an existing rule?” “Lean on Me,” written by Michael Schiffer and directed by John G. Avildsen, starred Morgan Freeman as Principal “Crazy Joe” Clark trying to clean up Eastside High School and get his students to pass the minimum proficiency exams. Knowing he is breaking the fire code, Clark orders all doors chained during school hours to keep drug dealers out and enlists security guards to prevent the fire chief from enforcing the law. His unusually ruthless methods lead him to clash with numerous teachers and his vice principal, and eventually, he is jailed, and the superintendent is pressured to remove him. This biographical film begs the question, “Does the end ever justify the means?”

iStockphoto.com | saemilee

It’s time to put on your thinking caps! What are your initial impressions of a few more “conundrums”? How could these incidents lead to violations of law, your “moral professionalism,” and/or ethical code, or other state/district policies? In each situation, what are some potential negative consequences for the teacher and the student?

• Acceptance of congratulatory “musical hugs” versus the practice of avoiding all physical contact with students?
• Refusal of gifts from music industry vendors versus acceptance of “free” offers or dinner meetings?
• Publicly maligning a colleague’s questionable actions (character assassination) versus protecting your reputation and standing up for your students’ rights.
• Use of social media networks to support student learning versus the risk of crossing the student/teacher boundary with inappropriate informal communications?
• The sharing of anecdotes or details of an incident that occurred during a class or school activity with family members or colleagues?
• Communications with parents versus resolving disputes with “stage mothers.”
• The exercise of a teacher’s “freedom of speech” rights versus maligning school administrators or their decisions in public?
• The exercise of a teacher’s “freedom of expression” rights in having tattoos, body piercings, or wearing certain fad or provocative clothing versus compliance to school policies and norms?

Where are the answers? Just in time, two new videos have been added to the NAfME Academy Professional Development Library to explore the professional nature of teachers’ relationships with students, parents, and other professionals, appropriate student-teacher boundaries, the rationale and values set forth in sample educator codes of professional practice and conduct, a review of conflicts in pedagogy, enforcement, and resource allocation, and common ethical dilemmas and avoidance of unacceptable appearances/actions in the daily decision-making of music educators.

The framework for ethical decision-making has no easy solutions or hard-and-fast rules, and a lot is open to interpretation. Hopefully, these Academy webinars will “make you think a little” about these divergent concerns and perhaps warn you about the need to be proactive and consider a few modifications of your behavior in order to avoid possible conflicts or even the resemblance of improprieties.

“It’s Essential, Not Sexy – Ethics 101 for Educators” (Video #1)

Do you know what it means to be a “fiduciary”? What do the terms “slippery slope,” “moral professionalism,” or “The Code” have to do with teaching? “Thou shalt not stray!” as we take a moment to review and share new perspectives in definitions, problems, research, recommendations, and real-time scenarios of ethical decision-making in education.

“Resolving Dissonance! Ethical Decision-Making in Music Education” (Video #2)

From the real-life experiences of rookie to veteran educators, here are additional tips for maintaining the highest standards and appearances of professionalism, moral aspirations, ethics, and codes of conduct in the workplace. We will “empanel the jury” to assess and trouble-shoot ethical disputes requiring problem-solving, refining “best practices,” and evaluating unique case studies of music teachers.

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Did this blog spur new ideas for your music program?  Share them on Amplify!  Interested in reprinting this article? Please  review the reprint guidelines .

The National Association for Music Education (NAfME) provides a number of forums for the sharing of information and opinion, including blogs and postings on our website, articles and columns in our magazines and journals, and postings to our Amplify member portal. Unless specifically noted, the views expressed in these media do not necessarily represent the policy or views of the Association, its officers, or its employees.

Catherina Hurlburt , Marketing Communications Manager. April 24, 2019. © National Association for Music Education ( NAfME.org )

Published Date

April 24, 2019

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April 24, 2019. © National Association for Music Education (NAfME.org)

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