Music embodies human culture. Culture is life. What we think, what we do, what we feel. Music is the universal language. It has the power to bring humanity together by reminding us of our similarities. Our innate sense of soul, our vast range of emotions, and many questions from our analytical minds are summoned up in the echoes of music. Music evokes excitement, empathy, and exploration in all of its students.
Music is the organization of sound. When students are given opportunities to explore music, they will inevitably learn how to make order out of chaos. They can learn to take random notes or sounds and put them together in ways that make musical sense. When they do this, something beautiful emerges. A song, a creation, a piece of art. Music is a wonderful conduit for individual and group success. Many valuable life skills can be gained from the study, creation, and performance of music.
Music is an art-form with complex patterns, intricate details, and liberating depth. Music inspires all that hear it, expands all that create it, and fundamentally changes those who live within its flow. George Harrison put it best when he sang, “And the time will come when you see we’re all one, and life [music] goes on within you and without you.”
This is a strong and well-written document, but it does not address music education as much as music in general. What I read is that music exists for its own sake and that it is the organization of sound (which is very true). You do imply that students will be creating (perhaps performing or composing), but mention nothing about how music relates to education. By this I don’t mean that music helps teach other subjects (which would be irrelevant), but all those things that your core values say—that you care for children and have a desire to see them learn this important create art, that all students have a right to learn, and that instrumental music is a product of a community of musicians and that your goal is to foster that community in your classroom. There is much more you could add to this, and I if you did while maintaining the same writing style, you would have a tremendously powerful statement of philosophy!
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