What are my values of music and education?
Teaching music is also more than just an exchange of facts and knowledge from the teacher to the student. This philosophy of helping students expand on their musical roles and identities takes education to the next level. As an aspiring educator, I like to emphasis more on the musical roles/intelligences an individual possesses rather than just their skills and abilities (or lack of). Also by focusing on musical roles/intelligences, it advocates a higher purpose of music education versus assessing or evaluating a student for a letter grade. In chapter seven of Reimer’s A Philosophy of Music Education, titled “From Theory to Practice: Musical Roles as Intelligences,” he goes into a deep discussion of the idea that there is not one musical intelligence/role, but various others. “In all cultures diverse roles exist within the general domain of music, each requiring distinctive discriminations and connections to be made as pertinent to that role’s differentiated involvement with expressive sounds.” Music offers a wide range of ways to be intelligent. According to Reimer, these various musical roles/intelligences include composing, performing, improvising, listening (both passive and active), music theory, musicology, and music teaching. Another aspect of this theory of musical roles/intelligences that explains my reasoning for emphasizing it in my philosophy of music education is that no musical role/intelligence is superior. A musician who excels in improvisation is not more or less intelligence than a musician who excels in music theory. These musical roles/intelligences are not comparatively measured. I find this theory to be a constructive approach to educating a classroom of youngsters because it implies everyone potentially possesses a form of musical intelligence. According to music education philosopher David Elliott, music is a domain of human activity that is applicable and achievable to all.