What is your favorite type of music? Now what would happen if that music was taken from you or just slowly faded away? That is what we are risking in our societies. Music and arts funding is slowly dipping and being cut. Some schools have even had their programs completely cut. Why is this such a big deal and why do we need to fix it?
At Charles E. Jordan High School, I attended music classes all four years and continued my involvement in music at NC State. I have had the joy of experiencing five years of marching band, four years of concert band and five years of jazz band.
Over the course of these classes, I learned more from band than any other class. Ask me simply about jazz history and I can write you a novel thanks to my amazing band director Christopher Hathcock. When he spoke in class, you could tell his absolute love for music. He spoke on many occasions about how music teaches you every subject.
For example, many musical terms are noted in Latin such as volumes, tempos and different stylistic details providing the introduction to another language. Moreover, musical pieces are often written about historical events or current problems such as “Apotheosis of this Earth,” which we performed my junior year. This piece was written by Karel Husa as a warning of what the world will end up like if we continue treating it like we do.
The list of educational benefits through music goes on and on, from math through to counting time signatures and beat subdivisions to the science behind sound waves. In other ways music also is used to express feelings. The Greeks “believed that music was a mathematical expression of the cosmic order. Music was also held to have certain therapeutic benefits, even medicinal powers over physical and mental illnesses,” thus showing the importance of music in society.
Sadly, this ability for students to learn and express is being taken away. In my time in band we had to work to raise hundreds to thousands of dollars just to function. One reason why this is come to light is that our district did not like that we do not have numerical evidence of improvement. They just want numbers and grades.
Music is not measured in numbers or grades, but in practice and improvement. Even efforts of playing recordings that we took at every single concert to show improvement were not enough. Taking music programs from schools will cause a downward slope in kids that learn to play instruments and compose. Private lessons are expensive as are instruments which the schools provide for students.
Taking music out of our school systems would be detrimental because the arts are crucial to every culture. In the study of ethnomusicology, one discovers that music is influenced by social context and what is going on in that time so what happens if we just slowly decompose this art form? If music is so popular and such a sought-after career, why are we putting this profession at risk? Music is not a number, and neither are the people that perform it. We need to fight harder to keep music study in our school systems.
Jennifer Thomason is a first-year studying elementary education with a STEM concentration.
