Student Knowledge

I am a musician. It has been a lifelong journey that began in my childhood. It wasn’t without dramas, though. I lost count of the number of times I wanted to give up. Unbending parents always sent me back to it. Good for them. They weren’t musical, but they saw something in it.

I am genuinely grateful for the gift of being able to make music. I spent years in pub bands, wind ensembles and playing solo, both paid and unpaid.

One of the joys of music was bringing its magic to school students. It was a rare classroom day that didn’t feature music of some kind. We would pick a song of the week and a dance tune of the month.

We’d analyse the music’s beat, structure and emotional content. This led to the formal aspects of the music curriculum.

Note that I haven’t once mentioned playing a musical instrument. On occasion, I did, but it was done in the larger context of bringing music to life. Music for students is more than a sing-along. To only focus on pitch (which we do when we’re singing) is to miss the deeper aspects of the art form.

Rap music uses rhyming couplets, a feature of Shakespeare’s writing. Seventeenth-century Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach gave us the basic form for modern rock music.

Sharing this information with students doesn’t require a diploma in music or formal study of an instrument. If done in an engaging classroom program, it will deepen student knowledge and engagement.