Luke Horton

Reimagine Instrumental Music Education

In my experiences and observations, music classes can provide tremendous enrichment

to a student. When I reimagine instrumental music education, I picture a system that provides

creativity, comfort, opportunity, and a sense of community. Within this “new” education, I wish

to see: students with the opportunity to express themselves creativity through music, a

judgement free room that can successfully discuss prevailing topics of the day, more non-

traditional ensembles, and a classroom that established a strong sense of community. In my

undergraduate development, these ideals embody my current philosophy towards teaching.

With this “imaginary scenario” that I describe, I am outlining important areas of music

education that I believe will best construct a classroom that can shape students into well-

rounded, more fulfilled human beings.

One concept that needs to be integrated into instrumental music education more, is

creativity. This aspect of education is important because it can increase a student’s

understanding of themselves and also provides them with control over musical decision making

(Coss). Whether it is constructing instruments in 4th grade or noodling around with “garage

band” in 8th grade, from a young age we should have the chance to be creative in our musical

development. All too often, once we get to high school our chances to express our individuality

through this creativity are often diminished by rigorous expectation to fulfill curricular

requirements. In high school, our minds are still exploring. Expressiveness could be perfectly

captured within personal compositions, however this possibility is often forfeited in exchange

for the disciplinary needs of the larger ensemble.

 Imagine using the “Creative Thinking Process” that Roger G. Cross talks about, on a long-

term scale for a composition. One of the first stages that drives the creative thinking process is

preparation; imagining, exploring, and planning new musical ideas and problems. Let us say one

is starting this project as a 5th grader. One’s imagination would be endless. Another stage in the

process is time away, so maybe one would not see this template until later in middle school.

Next, working through; revising, editing, and forming of more new ideas. When one is in eighth

grade, it is a time for modifying some of their younger imaginations. Then, give even more time

away until the verification stage. That could take place in high school; a point that the student

should have the most musical knowledge and experience to truly dig into their composition.

Joseph Hayden freelanced for ten years, writing music for multiple nations. When he lost his

voice, he was forced to teach and compose, but now he could write whatever he wanted. After

learning new techniques and styles from all these other nations, he had a wider variety of ideas

to write with. His works reflect a diversity of influences. By the time a student finished this

project, they will hopefully have explored multiple musical concepts, genres, and practices, and

now be able to produce something that could represent their entire K-12 musical experiences.

While this idea might seem challenging to complete, a project like this would insure that

students get to integrate a creative aspect all throughout their elementary, middle, and high

school years. When students are encouraged to create music, they are being stimulated to

think critically about music, also helping their performance skills (Hickey). In a perfect world, I

would hope to see creative aspects implemented in every year, for all ages, across all

instrumental music classes. I would like to take a macro approach to students entire education,

applying the micro techniques that Coss would employ within a single project.
 Another concept to this reimagined education that I desire is to create comfort within

the classroom. Within any learning environment, students should always feel welcomed, proud

of who they are, and be accepted. It is important to study music of other races, ethnicities, and

genders. When we become teachers, we should encourage students growth as members of

multi-cultural communities by making them aware of diversity, helping create this sense of

comfort and inclusion. We can establish this and make them aware by guiding discussions,

talking about our own experiences, and by bringing in guess speakers (Fitzpatrick). The more we

understand our students and they understand one another, the better connections,

appreciation, and comfort there will be in the classroom. By understanding our students better,

we can have a greater sense of how to integrate music that is meaningful to them. This sense of

open communication also applies when discussing pressing issues in modern society. My

classroom would be flexible enough to have topical discussions about any issue they wish,

whether it pertains to music or not. Outside of the Social Studies classroom, mass shootings,

hate crimes, and politics are topics that get overlooked because teachers do not know how to

appropriately address them. These are important events that should not be avoided if students

bring them up and fell the pressing need to talk about them with any adult. In the article Yes,

Race and Politics Belong in the Classroom, Richard Milner says, “So many opportunities for

teachers to draw upon these powerful realities as anchors for curriculum and instruction are

lost.”

Designing a classroom from the beginning of the year, in which you can draw from the

broader society as a central topic, will allow for easier discussion of many topics. Furthermore,

a teacher never knows what things inspire students when they compose, therefore all subjects
should be “on the table” in a music classroom. The most important thing to keep in mind when

talking about any sensitive topic with a class, is not to establish your biases as a teacher as

being right or wrong. Dr. Diaz did an amazing job in our freshman year colloquium class to

establish that “these are my biases” and how we did not have to agree with them. Every

student is open to their own opinion, but the important thing is that discussions are had about

these topics. With an environment that is accepting of everyone and their thoughts, more

opportunities will come from the accepting, tolerant, and inclusive band community that has

been created.

If we understand our students better, than we can incorporate a wider variety of

meaningful music for students to learn and appreciate. This goes into another ideal of

“opportunity” within the music classes. When we originally start playing music as a young

student, we are granted with the choice of choosing band, orchestra, or choir. These are three

broad categories that often stick within american marches, typical classical orchestral music, or

American choral music. I would like to imagine a instrumental music education program that

also offered nontraditional grouping such as Mariachi bands, steel pan ensembles, African

drumming groups, or anything that holds substantial meaning to the students. While it might

be impractical to have all these extra groups meeting before or after school, incorporating them

into daily rehearsals can also be of benefit. You can ask the ensemble what groups, songs, or

styles that they want to try. By adding this level of enjoyment, you are sure to get a whole new

level of motivation within their practicing (O’Neill and McPherson). Motivation is a key

component in learning as students can develop their practicing, engagement, passion about

music, and other life skills from it. In allowing the students to have a choice in what music to
play from one of the selected non-traditional bands, not only will the teacher be encouraging

them to practice what they want, but they will be opening students up to a diverse repertoire

of music that one would not receive from a typical traditional band, orchestra, or choir.

One of the last key components of my music education program will be the

understanding of what “community” is. In ten years after their graduation, I want students to

look back at high school and think, “Wow, Mr. Horton created a great community with that

band program.” I want my students to remember how accepted they were in my class, knowing

that what they said was listened to with respect. I want them to feel proud that they had the

chance to perform music that they had ownership of and had value to them, creating not just a

community for the band room, but for the entire school. We would have performances for

more than just homecoming and marching bands, but also for basketball bands, pre-drama

show music with jazz, pep rallies and as many other opportunities to perform in school settings

as we can have. The band will be a part of a bigger community with the whole school, gaining

respect and appreciation for the extra work they do for other events. This sense of community

would go beyond school, too. We would be a program that was known for performing in

nursing homes, retirement homes, or hospitals, giving back to the community. By reimagining a

program that established a great community with a sense of purpose for giving back to others,

then the students will take more out of their music class experiences than just the memories of

a few tunes and notes.

In the end, a lot of my future teaching philosophies have been influenced by my

undergraduate and instrumental methods class. It needs to be understood that my

philosophies will change as I teach, but the ones that I set now will be the foundation of my

career. These are solid goals that will provide my classes with a sense of purpose and direction.