Music is a subject that is one of the most consistently threatened to be terminated at our schools.

As someone who is preparing to enter into the field of education, I have decided that a clear philosophy on the importance of music would allow others to understand why I do what I do. I feel that music is one of the most important subjects a student could take and present this idea with various research that validates my beliefs. Music Education is something that I find extremely important in today's society. As we strive towards the future I feel that we sometimes lose sight of what makes us human. When we are young, we feel that sense of discovery all the time. Every opportunity is a learning opportunity and we are introduced to the world through wondrous sensations. We tend to purposely search out those new discoveries and marvel at the beauty of existence. As we grow older, the beauty begins to fade and the stresses of life start to take over. We forget about discovery as we start to search for a career that will support ourselves and our families. Sadly, education helps to foster this pathway by placing more emphasis (and funding) in core subjects. This in turn causes a downgrade or worse yet, a cancellation of the arts programs which help students feel that wonderment of discovery. But how do we solve this ongoing problem? I feel that a clear understanding of the importance of music education helps us to answer this question. Throughout this paper, I plan on clearly defining my personal music education philosophy by answering a series of smaller questions that I have been asked by people who wanted to learn of my beliefs. What is Music? At first, I didn't really have an idea of what music meant to me personally. I knew what I liked and knew that music was important but I couldn't answer why it was important. As the first family member to choose the career of music education, I realized quickly that I better have a concrete answer to not only satisfy my family and friends but to satisfy myself as well. There is a part of music that is scientific (organized displacement of air that eventually reaches your ear to be changed into musical tone) but music is so much more than that. Researching Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences, music is outlined as one of the basic human forms of intelligence. 3 The beauty of music, however, is that it allows us to foster many other forms of intelligence that Gardner has pointed out in his theory. The logicalmathematical intelligence is defined as the ability to detect patterns and think logically. 4 Music helps us to see patterns in chord progressions when we are analysing classical music or preparing to improvise a jazz solo. Another example is how bodily-kinaesthetic intelligence is defined as using your whole body or parts of your body to solve a problem. 5 Not only do we use our fingers, hands and diaphragm to create musical pitch but we also pay attention to body position and breath support to make that pitch more pleasing to the human ear. What is Education? I agree strongly by what was stated in that the purpose of education is to open minds and to provide the substance and enthusiasm for continued learning 6 . I believe the words opening minds does not mean to tell the students the information and let them assume that there is only one correct way, but rather have the students use and develop their own critical thinking skills and learn how to discover the information on their own. As free thinking human beings, we

should ask questions and challenge each others thoughts and opinions to come up with our own educated view, therefore coinciding with the logic of discovery. I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with a stand and deliver approach because some classes need that type of teaching method (imagine a free thinking calculus class) but education must allow students to learn critical thinking skills in order to determine the person they are. The Importance of Music Education Bennett Reimer states that music education exists first and foremost to develop every person's natural responsiveness to the power and the art of music. 8 Although I agree that this is one reason that music education exists, I wouldn't say that it is the only reason. As stated above I feel that music is multi-faceted, therefore the importance of music education is also multifaceted. I find that every student that takes music class leaves with a positive experience in some form or another. Some students enjoy the physical challenge of learning to play an instrument. Some students enjoy how music makes them feel emotionally. Some students enjoy the fulfillment of working together to achieve a common goal. There are even a certain amount of students who take music to get what they think will be an easy credit. Whatever the case, the goal of music education is to allow a student to experience success within a musical environment. I further believe that music should be integrated into what education considers the core curriculum of subjects in all schools (public, private, home, catholic, etc). People are told that a strong education in these core subjects will help prepare them for a great career. Music allows students to experience a much more realistic view of the common job market with its emphasis on teamwork and as well as developing a student's active listening skills. Music is a subject that is one of the most consistently threatened to be terminated at our schools. As someone who is preparing to enter into the field of education, I have decided that a clear philosophy on the importance of music would allow others to understand why I do what I do. I feel that music is one of the most important subjects a student could take and present this idea with various research that validates my beliefs. Music Education is something that I find extremely important in today's society. As we strive towards the future I feel that we sometimes lose sight of what makes us human. When we are young, we feel that sense of discovery all the time. Every opportunity is a learning opportunity and we are introduced to the world through wondrous sensations. We tend to purposely search out those new discoveries and marvel at the beauty of existence. As we grow older, the beauty begins to fade and the stresses of life start to take over. We forget about discovery as we start to search for a career that will support ourselves and our families. Sadly, education helps to foster this pathway by placing more emphasis (and funding) in core subjects. This in turn causes a downgrade or worse yet, a cancellation of the arts programs which help students feel that wonderment of discovery. But how do we solve this ongoing problem? I feel that a clear understanding of the importance of music education helps us to answer this question. Throughout this paper, I plan on clearly defining my personal music education philosophy by answering a series of smaller questions that I have been asked by people who wanted to learn of my beliefs.

Bennett Reimer Bennett Reimer said, Whenever and wherever humans have existed music has existed also. Throughout history, cultures have expressed their joys and sorrows, triumphs and defeats through the beauties of music. There are wide variety of reasons to teach music, regarding both music itself, and musics effects on a person. The true reasons to teach music are those that are fundamental to being affected emotionally by it. Music is beautiful. Through sound, we can feel the complete spectrum of human emotion; both the deepest despair to elation beyond which most peoples lives will ever reach. Beyond motor skills, reading notation, and an understanding of theory, a music education allows students to develop themselves as more expressive human beings. Learning to perform music develops many skills in a student. Joanne Erwin in her book Prelude to Music Education outlines five main values of music. Music affects people intellectually, emotionally, physically, personally and socially. The theory of music is an intellectual skill, governed by physics yet guided by how humans perceive sound. Music theory is more often taught in a classroom setting similar to other school subjects, although its lessons permeate (and assist) musical performance as well. Emotionally, no subject matches music in its expressive breadth. The organization of sounds in melody, harmony and form allow musicians an expansive palate of ideas and emotions to work with. Music can even be expressively complex yet technically simple, allowing young students insight into these feelings well before they are capable to find this emotion in other subjects, for example reading classic literature in English class. Music develops complex and precise mind and body connections. Performing on musical instruments develops intricate motor skills that people would not otherwise come by. Music is very effective at developing coordination in even the youngest students. The emotional aspects of music are closely and personally tied to the performer. Music affects the body to feel, ranging from the thrill of a first kiss to the despair of losing a loved one. Making music can be an escape from the daily grind for anyone, even if it is not your profession. The study of music develops maturity and responsibility. In their practice students will advance their skills in time management, as they will quickly learn how to effectively allocate their attention and problem solving, learning how to work past stumbling blocks in their practice without a teachers immediate guidance. Leading students to this point, when they are thinking critically and independently about music is the ultimate goal for any music program. The social aspect of music is akin to playing on a team. Communication between players is crucial in a one-hundred piece band, a jazz combo and between a soloist with a pianists accompaniment. Sharing the emotional experiences of music with the other members of your ensemble has been every one of my most potent musical experiences.

A balanced attitude toward lifelong learning should be cultivated in every person. The benefits of music education have been well-documented and should be considered a necessary component of the curriculum of every child. Music should be included in the recreational activities of every adult as well. Music does not have to displace other activities, but can be worked into a schedule even if only twenty minutes a day are available. Every effort should be made to find ways to incorporate the various components of the music lesson metaphorically into the rest of our lives. The lessons from music study are various: patience, problem-solving, creativity, self-expression, concentration and memorization, to name a few. A student should be able to look forward to attending the lessons and practicing. A good teacher will know how to adjust his or her teaching methods according to the learning style of the student. The student should be guided through the challenges of learning new skills with patience and understanding. Everyone can enjoy playing a musical instrument at a level that is appropriate for the individual. Although not everyone can expect to be able to perform music for the benefit of a paying audience, everyone can experience some success with the rudiments of music, even if just to learn to recognize a simple melody or some rhythms in music as listeners. A good teacher of music does not look for future celebrities in the arts, but should regard every student as an individual star of that studio. If music lessons are not pleasant to the child, we must find out why and improve those aspects of the lessons. If the teaching style is not appropriate for the student, it must be modified. Some suggestions for parents will come in handy: Dont use condemnation of the child for playing poorly. Dont dredge up past failures long after they have passed. Dont point out errors in front of other students or compare the child to siblings or others who may be more talented. Dont ridicule the child or raise your voice unpleasantly. Dont expect that your child is going to become a professional in the arts simply because she or he is curious about music. Do praise the child and show respect for efforts shown. Do be convincing in your praise of the child. Do remember that when a child makes a mistake, she or he is trying. Do try playing your childs instrument yourself and be a positive role model about learning new things. Above all, make the experience of music lessons fun so that if the lessons end due to lack of interest, the child will feel that the door is open in the future for music again, if she or he wants it.

The Praxial Philosophy: An Overview This practice make perfect suit with praxtial by david J Elliot. What is the praxial philosophy of music education? Very briefly, the praxial philosophy offers an explanation of the nature and values of music. Based on this foundation, I go on to explain the nature and values of music education. I suggest that "multidimensional" captures the essence of this philosophy. In Music Matters I argue for a multidimensional concept of music and musical works, a multidimensional concept of musical understanding, a multidimensional concept of

music's values in human life and a multiple approach to achieving these values. How? In short, by developing the musicianship of all music students ('general' music students and others) through the critically reflective and codependent actions of: performing-andlistening, improvising-and-listening, composing-and-listening, arranging-and-listening and conducting-and-listening. For the reasons I explain in Music Matters I suggest that music making (of all kinds) --and, of course, the rich kind of music listening required to make music well --- should be at the center of the music curriculum. Recorded music and 'talk' about music have an important place in music teaching and learning (but not the central place). Recordings and information about music should be included in music teaching situations in such a way that they weave continuously in and out of a teacher's ongoing efforts to teach students how to listen intelligently and make music well (to perform and improvise music and, whenever possible, to compose, arrange and conduct music). I propose, also, that developing our students' musical creativity (in all forms of music making) overlaps and extends the process of developing our students' musicianship. In summary, the praxial philosophy urges a comprehensive and reflective approach to music teaching and learning. It is based on detailed arguments for the view that: (a) musical works involve many kinds of meanings; (b) 'musical understanding' involves many closely related kinds of thinking and knowing; and (c) that the significance of music in human life can be explained in terms of many important "life values." Accordingly, the aims of music education include the development of critically reflective listeners and musical amateurs who possess the understanding and motivation to give music an important place in their lives and the lives of others in their communities. This philosophy recommends, further, that to achieve the values of music, music teachers ought to emphasize the interpretive nature of music as a performing and improvising art and that composing, arranging and conducting (all of which demand keen listening) should be taught frequently (and in direct relation) to a reasonable diversity of Musics (genres, or musical practices) during the course of our students' musical education.

1. Aims

The praxial philosophy holds that music has many important values. Self-growth and self-knowledge --- and the unique emotional experience of musical enjoyment that accompanies these --- are among the most important values of music and music education. These values are, therefore, the central aims of music education.

These values and aims are accessible, achievable and applicable to all students providing that we develop our students' musicianship and listenership --- their music making and listening abilities --- progressively and in balanced relation to a variety of significant musical challenges over time. To the extent that we enable our students to achieve these values, music education will also contribute to the development of students' self-esteem and self-identity. In addition to these values, musicing and listening extend the range of people's expressive and impressive powers by providing us with opportunities to formulate musical expressions of emotions, musical representations of people, places and things and musical expressions of cultural-ideological meanings. When this range of opportunities for musical expression and creativity is combined with the opportunities presented by texts in vocal and choral works, music makers gain numerous ways of giving artistic form to their powers of thinking, knowing, valuing, evaluating, believing and feeling which, in turn, challenge listeners' conscious powers and musical understandings. Based on the cognitive richness of musicing and listening, the praxial philosophy also argues that musical works play an important role in establishing, defining, delineating and preserving a sense of community and self-identity within social groups. Also, teaching and learning a variety of Musics comprehensively as musiccultures (through a praxial approach) amounts to an important form of multicultural education. Why? Because entering into unfamiliar musical practices activates selfexamination and the personal reconstruction of one's relationships, assumptions and preferences. In the process of inducting learners into unfamiliar musical practices, music teachers link the basic values of music and music education to the broader goals of humanistic education.

2. Knowledge What should music teachers teach? Asked another way: What knowledge is most worth learning by all music students? My answer is: musicianship. Musicianship is the key to achieving the values and aims of music education. Musicianship, which includes listenership, is a rich form of procedural knowledge that draws upon four other kinds of musical knowing in surrounding and supporting ways. Musicianship is context-sensitive, or situated: that is, the precise nature and content of musicianship and listenership differs from musical practice to practice (see Music Matters, Chps. 3 and 4). Although verbal knowledge contributes importantly to the development of musicianship, verbal knowledge about music is secondary to procedural knowledge in music education. Howard Gardner (1990) supports this view when he argues that in a domain like music, verbal knowledge (or "talk" about music) is "an ancillary form of knowledge, not to be taken as a substitute for 'thinking' and 'problem solving' in the medium itself" (p. 42).

3. Learners Musicianship (which always includes listenership) is not something given 'naturally' to some people and not to others. Musicianship is a form of cognition --- a rich form of thinking and knowing --- that is educable and applicable to all. Accordingly, all music students ought to be taught in the same basic way: through performing, improvising, composing, arranging, conducting and, of course,listening to live and recorded music whenever possible. Listening ought to be taught and learned in direct relation to the music that students are learning to make and, also, in relation to recorded music presented in relation to and in the context of their active music making. Howard Gardner (1991) agrees with this position: . . . in the arts, production ought to lie at the center of any artistic experience. Understanding involves a mastery of the productive practices in a domain or discipline, coupled with the capacity to adopt different stances toward the work, among them the stances of audience member, critic, performer, and maker. (p. 239) The differences between and among music education programs across grade levels, school regions (and so on) are not the contents of the music curriculum (musicianship and listenership) but, rather, the kinds and levels of musical challenges chosen for (and, perhaps, with the cooperation of) one's students. In addition, music programs will differ in the kinds of music-making media (e.g., wind instruments, voices, string instruments, electronic instruments) chosen for (or with) one's students.

4. Teaching-Learning Processes How, more specifically, should music education be carried out? Music education is not only concerned with developing musicianship and musical creativity in the present. An essential part of our task is to teach students how to continue developing their musicianship in the future. The praxial philosophy holds that the process of developing musicianship is a particular kind of learning process that students can engage in and learn how to employ themselves. I argue that the growth of musical understanding depends on progressive musical problem solving, problem finding and musical problem reduction (see Music Matters, p. 73). These processes require that students learn how to target their attention on more and more subtle aspects of the musical challenges they are attempting to meet. Achieving musicianship also involves learning to reflect critically on the creative promise of the musical ideas (interpretations, improvisations and so on) one generates and selects. Implicit in all these processes is the broader requirement that all music students be engaged in rich and challenging music-making projects in classroom situations that are deliberately organized as close approximations of real musical practices. Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner (1990) reinforces these principles from a developmental perspective: students learn effectively when they are engaged by rich and meaningful projects; when their artistic learning is anchored in artistic production; when there is an easy commerce among the various forms of knowing . . .; and when students have ample opportunity to reflect on their progress. (p. 49)

5. Teachers How . . . should music education be carried out? Music education should be carried out by teachers who are musically competent themselves. Musicianship and teaching ability (or educatorship) are interdependent. One without the other is insufficient. To teach music effectively, we must know our subject: music. We must embody and exemplify musicianship. This is how children develop musicianship themselves: through actions, transactions and interactions with musically proficient teachers. Becoming an excellent music teacher depends heavily on learning to reflect in and on one's efforts to bring the musicianship of one's students into matching relationship with appropriate musical challenges. For this to occur, novice music teachers require music education professors who can model musicianship and educatorship through their own vivid examples. Teacher education programs ought to be deliberately organized to prepare future artist-teachers through excellent models of teaching and excellent examples of diverse musical materials.

6. Evaluation How . . . should music education be carried out? There is an important distinction between evaluation and assessment. The primary function of assessment in music education is to provide feedback to students about the quality of their growing musicianship. Learners need constructive feedback about why, when and how they are meeting musical challenges (or not) in relation to musical standards and traditions. Overall, then, the assessment of student achievement gathers information that benefits students directly in the form of constructive feedback. Assessment also provides useful data to teachers, parents and the surrounding educational community. Building on the accumulated results of continuous assessments, evaluation is primarily concerned with grading, ranking and other summary procedures for purposes of student promotion and curriculum evaluation. Students also need to learn how to assess their own musical thinking by learning what counts as good music making and listening in a given musical style. To become independent judges of musical excellence in the future, students need regular opportunities to reflect on the results of their musicianship and that of their peers. It follows from this that assessment is the joint responsibility of teachersand students. Because musicianship differs substantially from the kinds of verbal knowledge taught in scholastic settings, there is no justification for using standardized tests in music. There is justification for (a moderate number of) paper and pencil tests and written assignments about the verbal knowledge components of musicianship (music theory and music history). But overall, conventional methods of evaluation are inappropriate in music education because they rely too heavily upon linguistic thinking.