ABSTRACT
A number of authors have challenged the connections between school music education and students’ lives outside the classroom or after graduation (Gill & Rickard, 2012; Green, 2004; Mantie, 2009; Regelski, 2005). David Myers (2012) has written that programs often seek to prepare students for successful lives rather than to engage with learning throughout life. Yet, are we as a profession even accomplishing that goal? Regelski (1998) questions the merit of using traditional orchestral instruments in instruction given little evidence of transferability beyond graduation. He further identifies curricular deficiencies in skills such as playing by ear or small group experiences that ostensibly would transfer to contexts other than school programs. Cutietta (2012, p. 614) also challenges the effectiveness of our model of music teaching and learning given that it has seemingly failed to create a culture to sustain its continuation. As a field, our professional efforts have largely focused on improving our processes through questions of teaching, learning, and the efficacy and efficiency of music education approaches, but we have often neglected the larger question posed by Regelski (2005, 220), “What is music good for?”
