What are the advantages and disadvantages of a musical education ...

Music performers would not be able to survive without the listeners and consumers. Just the
very fact that the listener can understand and appreciate the music, in itself shows that
everyone is in fact musical in some form or another. Joanna Glover backs up this argument in
her book ‘Teaching Music in the Primary School’:
‘The very existence of a professional performer, depends on listeners who in one important
respect must be no less musically proficient than he is. They must be able to distinguish and
interrelate different patterns of sound’ (2004, P.3).
Without even realizing it people label themselves as not musical, when in fact music is a part
of their everyday life. When a person watches a film it is the music in the background that
helps to convey emotion and tension. If a person were to close their eyes during a film it is
probable that they would still be able to determine what type of scene is taking place, whether
it be a love scene or a horror scene. This very fact shows that they have an understanding of
the music they are listening too. Just because someone isn’t an accomplished musician
doesn’t mean they aren’t musical; just the fact that people buy, appreciate, and understand
music makes them musical. Due to the fact that music subconsciously plays a large part in
everybody’s day-to-day life, means that by the time a child stats school, he or she will already
have had a considerable amount of exposure to it and will therefore be able to make music
and respond to it. Joanna Glover explains that just by being competent adults, primary school
teachers will already have the fundamental skills needed to teach music to their pupils and
that it is more a lack of confidence in knowing where to start that causes the problem: ‘All
teachers, by virtue simply of being competent adults, have the musical capacity to provide a
basis for a music curriculum for their own class, though they may lack the training in music
education to feel confident about where to start’ (2004, P.3). The idea that teachers lack the
musical training, therefore contributing to a lack of confidence on how to structure their
teaching, implies the need of a school music coordinator. The job of the coordinator wouldn’t
be to teach to the class, but to offer support to the teachers to give them a greater knowledge
on how they can use their skills to teach music to their pupils.
Primary school age children shouldn’t be expected to become great musicians but they should
be able to benefit from having an understanding of music and being able to listen and react to
it. ‘An important first step with a new class of any age will be to create some musical ‘play’
situations which will help to uncover the children’s musical liveliness’ (Glover, 2004, P.7). In
the early stages of musical learning it is important that children have the opportunity to
discover their own individual musical abilities. This can only really be achieved through
allowing a period of time during the class where children are encouraged to experiment with
different instruments and listen to different types of music to see how they respond. This time
also gives the teacher a good opportunity to observe the children and their musical abilities. If
teachers are able to watch and observe the children in a play situation it could give them a
better idea and understanding of how to structure the rest of the lesson, and what techniques
work best with certain children. If the government put more thought into the different ways
Music Education in Regard to Children CM6002 Emily McGregor 163930
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