ABSTRACT
So let’s get to some specifics concerning change. Considering all the societal, musical, and educational changes that have occurred during the last 100 years, it is no wonder our model of music education, which has remained remarkably unchanged during this same period of time, needs to evolve. As a profession, should our goal be to perpetuate the type of musical experience we enjoyed as students, or should we adapt as necessary to reach new generations with musical experiences that might be more meaningful and relevant to them? That may be the most important question I’ve asked you so far. When we are passionate about something, like many in our profession are about traditional performance ensembles, it is easy to assume everyone else is similarly infatuated. This is unfortunately not true. We know that after elementary school the greater majority of students choose not to participate in our traditional offerings, and most of them do not because they find this musical participation uninteresting. Research by McPherson and Hendricks (2010) indicated that while school-aged students in the United States showed great interest in music outside of schools, their interest level for school music ranked lower than their interest in art, PE, English, math, and science. I hope you find that shocking!
Pause for Reflection
McPherson and Hendricks’ study didn’t measure the numbers of students that actually participated in music, but instead, it concerned student “interest.” Why do you think students are very interested in music outside of school, but not so much in school? Is this troubling? Does it matter? Why or why not?
