Music Is Music -- Or, At Least, It Should Be
ASTA Arizona's Spring Newsletter | January 2015
Last month, my violin duo partner and I visited an elementary school to play for and visit with a small group of students in grades 3-6. After demonstrating a variety of styles of music (everything from the Prokofiev Duo to fiddle tunes), we invited the students to have a dance party with us. The students spread around the gym and danced along to beautiful melodies, fiddle tunes, pop hooks, and movie music. They did so with abandon, lacking any prejudice against or awareness of what any of the styles may or may not have symbolized.
This experience, along with my varied work as a violinist, fiddler, and educator, reaffirms much of what I’ve come to believe about fundamentally valuing all music; however, it also stands in contrast to some interactions I’ve had with adults. For example, while I was on tour with the world-music fiddle group Barrage, a high school orchestra teacher introduced a student to me and noted the student’s admiration for a pop musician, with an implication that the artist’s music was of marginal value because it was pop music. Encounters like these make me wonder why—of all people—an educator would be so quick to dismiss music different than that which he or she teaches, practices, or even enjoys.
It’s hard not to judge music. Really hard. Because society judges us for what we choose to listen to; what we listen to (or don’t listen to) theoretically says a lot about who we are, where we come from, and what we value. And, perhaps most confusingly for us as educators, it often seems that popular music isn’t directly correlated with easily discernable talent or skill. We want students to value “quality,” so we tell them certain things aren’t “good” in hopes that they will somehow learn from what we say. But what does “good” even mean? By what standards are we judging? And how are we, if at all, articulating these standards for our students?
I write these questions rhetorically, but I ask them earnestly.
Over the past few years, I’ve come to believe that music is music, and any genre of music is capable of having works worthy of studying, imitating, and even performing. If we judge the quality of all genres by the standards of only one, we are necessarily preventing ourselves from seeing value in other music. Moreover, merely saying something is “good” or “not good” does nothing to help us understand it better. Just as we can point to and explain wonderful and terrible examples of quality in classical music, aficionados of jazz, rap, folk, or any style can do the same.
That being said, here are some thoughts on actions we can take and questions we should ask ourselves:
1) Reflect: What genres of music are in my music library? What genres aren’t represented? Why? How do I talk to my students about different styles of music? How was I talked to about different styles of music?
2) Listen and learn: What music excites my students? What music excites my musician and non-musician friends? Why? How do they value quality in their music? How does that differ from what I know?
3) Explore: Nearly all styles of music can be played or recreated on string instruments. How can I challenge my students to explore new styles of music on their instruments? How can I challenge myself to explore new styles of music on my instrument?
Should we have standards in teaching music? Absolutely. Should we have opinions about music? Definitely. On top of this, however, we should also strive to acknowledge—for both ourselves and our students—that all styles of music have the ability to teach us, challenge us, represent us, move us, and inspire us. It’s not our job to understand the best qualities of every type of music or even like every type of music. But, it should be our job to understand that all types of music can be of quality and be liked.
This experience, along with my varied work as a violinist, fiddler, and educator, reaffirms much of what I’ve come to believe about fundamentally valuing all music; however, it also stands in contrast to some interactions I’ve had with adults. For example, while I was on tour with the world-music fiddle group Barrage, a high school orchestra teacher introduced a student to me and noted the student’s admiration for a pop musician, with an implication that the artist’s music was of marginal value because it was pop music. Encounters like these make me wonder why—of all people—an educator would be so quick to dismiss music different than that which he or she teaches, practices, or even enjoys.
It’s hard not to judge music. Really hard. Because society judges us for what we choose to listen to; what we listen to (or don’t listen to) theoretically says a lot about who we are, where we come from, and what we value. And, perhaps most confusingly for us as educators, it often seems that popular music isn’t directly correlated with easily discernable talent or skill. We want students to value “quality,” so we tell them certain things aren’t “good” in hopes that they will somehow learn from what we say. But what does “good” even mean? By what standards are we judging? And how are we, if at all, articulating these standards for our students?
I write these questions rhetorically, but I ask them earnestly.
Over the past few years, I’ve come to believe that music is music, and any genre of music is capable of having works worthy of studying, imitating, and even performing. If we judge the quality of all genres by the standards of only one, we are necessarily preventing ourselves from seeing value in other music. Moreover, merely saying something is “good” or “not good” does nothing to help us understand it better. Just as we can point to and explain wonderful and terrible examples of quality in classical music, aficionados of jazz, rap, folk, or any style can do the same.
That being said, here are some thoughts on actions we can take and questions we should ask ourselves:
1) Reflect: What genres of music are in my music library? What genres aren’t represented? Why? How do I talk to my students about different styles of music? How was I talked to about different styles of music?
2) Listen and learn: What music excites my students? What music excites my musician and non-musician friends? Why? How do they value quality in their music? How does that differ from what I know?
3) Explore: Nearly all styles of music can be played or recreated on string instruments. How can I challenge my students to explore new styles of music on their instruments? How can I challenge myself to explore new styles of music on my instrument?
Should we have standards in teaching music? Absolutely. Should we have opinions about music? Definitely. On top of this, however, we should also strive to acknowledge—for both ourselves and our students—that all styles of music have the ability to teach us, challenge us, represent us, move us, and inspire us. It’s not our job to understand the best qualities of every type of music or even like every type of music. But, it should be our job to understand that all types of music can be of quality and be liked.