“It’s Just Noise”

When discussing the possibility of increasing or simply even continuing funding for music education programs in schools it is often argued that music education is inessential, a distraction from core academics, and ultimately a waste of time for students. These arguments are often brought on from the idea that music is strictly for entertainment and cannot be a “legitimate career”. Although valid to a certain degree, oftentimes these arguments are made off the basis of misinformation in the ways that music can actually affect a students success in and out of the classroom.

The most common rebuttal against the funding of music education programs is that music education is just a distraction from academics. As stated in the article “The Most Common Arguments Against Music Education,” a staggering amount of people hold the opinion that music is “just noise” and is inessential to performing well in school. It is also commonly said that students waste far too much time practicing, attending performances, and going on trips, ultimately taking away from critical time in the classroom. Adversely, as stated in the article “Benefits of Music Education,” research has shown that music education reaps many benefits including impacting students’ academic successes ranging from improved test scores to even significant positive effects on brain development. Although these effects seem promising in the hopes of keeping Music Education in all schools, it is widely argued that all of these benefits could be taken advantage of outside of school at the leisure of the student without taking away from crucial in-class time and distracting the student from their studies.

Nowadays, virtually any student has the ability to educate themselves in music through the use of blogs, step by step YouTube videos, wiki pages, and even mailing lists catered to those eager to learn music at any age and any skill-level. There are thousands of online music schools that can be accessed for the fraction of the price of an institutionalized music program at ANY time… and that’s just one route that can be taken. Realistically, going along with the idea that the benefits of music education can be explored outside of school without taking away from core academics, private music lessons during a student’s free time are just as good, or even better, than any in-school music program. Who wouldn’t prefer to be taught one-on-one rather than in a classroom of 30+ students? If you asked any student who has experienced a music class in school they would most likely explain how distracting the noise from the other students messing with their instruments was. They might also explain how they couldn’t fully grasp the concepts that were taught due to the fact that they may be at a different skill-level than the rest of the class or simply because they couldn’t focus due to the noise. Private lessons completely eliminate these issues that are often faced by students attempting to learn music in school. Not only do they just simply eliminate these problems but they also help nurture the student in a way that a music educator teaching a room full of students simply cannot.

Even though the route of private lessons or online learning seems to be the best solution for eliminating the “wasted time” that is spent in school on music education, it is easy to disregard the fact that this would all be costing money on top of what is already spent to keep the student enrolled in school. The beauty of music education in schools is that it is already a part of what is being spent on the student attending school. Students get to experience music during school hours, with friends, and can possibly experience massive benefits without ever thinking of being interested in music prior to experiencing it in school. Eliminating music education from schools isn’t just eliminating “wasted time”, it is also taking away the chance of students having exposure to music education at all. If music education isn’t offered then the benefits it can reap are eliminated entirely, at least for the working middle class who can’t afford a subscription service or private lessons on top of school.

As stated in the journal article “Nurturing Towards Wisdom: Justifying Music in the Curriculum,” accepting the views of those who are against music education would deny the basis of the basic human rights that are considered to belong to every human being regardless of their cultural background: one being the freedom of expression. Nurturing creativity and expression, above all else, can have the most impact on a students life during and far far after school. Creativity involves skills like being observant, identifying problems, seeing possibilities, taking risks, making mistakes, rethinking, etc., all crucial in the development of a child and a successful student. During music education, skills like teamwork, creativity, communication, and expression can all be learned in various ways through the exploration and understanding of music. All of these skills are immensely important to any career regardless if it involves music or not. Eliminating the possibility of students ever getting the chance to develop these skills through music in school could lead to the student never learning these skills at all. Ultimately, removing music education from the curriculum is only saving a budget at the cost of many possibly life-changing opportunities for students.

References

Arts, M. &, Music & Arts. (2021, August 16). The most common arguments against music education (& how to counter them). The Vault at Music & Arts. Retrieved April 18, 2022, from https://thevault.musicarts.com/the-most-common-arguments-against-music-education-how-to-counter-them/

Arts, M. &, Music & Arts. (2021, August 16). Benefits of Music Education. The Vault at Music & Arts. Retrieved April 18, 2022, from https://thevault.musicarts.com/benefits-music-education/

Heimonen, M. (2008). Nurturing towards wisdom: Justifying music in the curriculum. Philosophy of Music Education Review. https://doi.org/10.2979/pme.2008.16.1.61