Philosophical Statement
Just as technology has irrefutably redefined society in the last 25 years, so must it redefine music education in order for the classroom to be accessible and relevant to “digitally native” students. Regardless of an educator’s personal music education philosophy - of which the suggested readings for this assignment have conveyed there are an infinite array of combinations and permutations - the need to substitute, augment, modify, and redefine what has worked for centuries of music education is undeniable if we wish to create classrooms in 2025 and beyond that are child-centered, democratic, encourage life-long engagement, attempt to hold students accountable to high standards, to build community, and to derive meaning and agency from society at-large. I am adopting the definition that philosophy is the process of developing arguments for and against concepts, claims, theories, and beliefs.
To put it more simply, I like to call it “getting curious.” I define my personal philosophy towards music education as just that: a commitment to getting curious when it comes to integrating technology into the music classroom. In a world where the societal norm is becoming frighteningly “cancel now, critique later,” there is no better classroom model that I wish to demonstrate for students than one where new technology - hell, where ANYTHING - is allowable as long as it is presented critically (with the use of the scientific method, the testing of ideas, experimentation and exploration, collaboration, interrelated curricula, a system of rules and procedures, etc…). My philosophy as an educator is to build critical, curious, and confident humans. The highly refined tools I have to do that with are musical, but my true passion and true purpose is wholly non-musical. Instead of piano, had my parents enrolled me in private mechanic lessons as a child, I hope I would be developing my pedagogical and technical skills to use enhanced driver assistance systems, navigation systems, and biometric authentication to build critical, curious, and confident humans, too!
I frame my music education philosophy in three tenets:
“Living In The Orange” (the zone of proximal development),
“Arts as Advocacy” (decolonizing, democratizing, education towards societal changes, “the extra musical having a decisive impact on the meaning of the music for the listener” (Higgins 1991))
“Better Tomorrow” (search for truth, high standards, learning as a life-long process, positive future outlook)
LIVE IN THE ORANGE
There are three modes that one can use for any task: Green (comfort zone), Orange (zone of proximal development) and Red (trauma zone). I have found this simple color-coded way to communicate these zones/boundaries to be very helpful with students to encourage them to live in the zone of proximal development. When teaching a class of 20+ students, the mentor-apprentice model of individualized scaffolded learning is not possible. Creating an environment for students to “live in the orange” empowers them to scaffold their own learning and to take agency over challenging themselves and building their own modifications and extensions. Many students who are actively experiencing harm or suffering from trauma, especially those from food-insecure, shelter-insecure, or income-insecure communities, may see the world through a purely “green” and “red” lens. Explaining the difference between red and orange (Lee and Chang referred to this as the “adaptation” period, and Cowles referred to it as the fear that many educators feel when faced with new technologies) affords the most at-risk and in-need students the opportunity to settle their nervous systems enough to engage with new concepts.
ARTS AS ADVOCACY
Not only are the students we work with today “digital natives,” but they are also unfortunately natives to the barrage of the world’s trauma via 24-hr news cycles that have been metastasized by the disinformation machine of social media. Teaching in a manner that pretends students’ engagement lies within the four walls of the classroom is no longer an option. Savvy students are challenging capitalism and no longer accepting work-place readiness and grade-point-average as acceptable answers to “Why should I learn this?” and “Why should I care?” The rich, white, male case for aesthetic enlightenment and music appreciation is falling on outraged ears. Students demand a participatory relationship with music that values their social and cultural identities (especially when those identities are aggressively being marginalized), and activities, lesson plans, and curricula must reflect that.
BETTER TOMORROW
Students need to know that what they are learning is important in a family, local, national, and global context. What is the social usefulness of this curricular benchmark? What is the ethical action of this learning outcome? How is what we are doing in class answering actual, everyday social experiences and practices? How is what I am doing today going to make a difference in the world tomorrow? Committing to project-based learning allows students to engage in activities and use tools that real professionals employ everyday, preparing them not for a “work-force” but for a “change-force.” They will be ready to enter adulthood with capacities that far exceed falling in line and following directions, but with capacities that encourage critical thought, challenge neoliberalism, avoid falling victim to determinism, and claim agency over heuristics.
