Chapter 1

3. Why is music education the wrong profession for people who are lazy, faint-hearted, and lack imagination?
Working in secondary schools presents a unique challenge, as teenagers can sometimes be difficult to work with and get through to from the teacher’s standpoint. This is especially true in music classes. Many students are only in band or choir because their parents force them to be, or because they already have a study hall, and as music teachers, we have to be able to use motivation and imagination to keep these students interested. There is also a wide variety of students that music teachers must deal with. Teachers must juggle students with different levels of skill, ambition, and desire to be involved in music. Not only do music teachers work hard to teach their students, but we also strive to continue to learn and perform. A book titled “Teacher to Teacher” compiled by the MENC says that music teachers should continue to learn new instruments to be able to pass on the enthusiasm to their students, and, if possible, teachers should join a community ensemble to continue performing from the ‘other side of the baton’ (Teacher, 85). Obviously, music teachers need to be motivated and strong-willed people or they wouldn’t be able to juggle all the different aspects of being a successful music teacher.

7. Why are specific “cookbook” suggestions for how to teach this or that in music seldom very effective?
Music teachers would struggle if we tried to use “cookbook” suggestions to teach music. There are many variables in teaching that we as music educators must deal with such as geographical region, socioeconomic status, and upbringing. An example our textbook gives says that “teaching seventh-grade general music class in rural Montana is likely to be quite different experience from teaching such a class in inner-city Chicago or Los Angeles” (Hoffer, 5). However, we don’t need to consider just the students, but we as teachers obviously differ from each other. One constant in music education remains: be yourself. Clifford Madsen, in the book “Contemporary Music Education” says that children can detect phonies and fakes easily, and if they think teachers are being fake, they will not relate to them well (Madsen, 57). If we as teachers want to get through to students, we need to act natural. We each have our own strengths and weaknesses that help to create the way we teach, and we need to understand these in order to get the best performance out of ourselves and our students.

“Teacher to Teacher.” MENC. Reston, VA; 2004.

Madsen, Clifford K. “Contemporary Music Education.” Contemporary Publishing Company of Raleigh, Raleigh, NC; 1994.