Music Education

The field of music education is ever-changing. With a multitude of teaching methods available, one would think that music educators would be more adept at meeting the specific needs of their students. In some ways, this is indeed true. As education as a whole has shifted into providing adaptive ways for special needs and disabled students to suit their educational needs, the field of music education is somewhat behind. In a world where many elementary music teachers are not equipped to handle the challenges of educating young special needs students on top of the rest of their students, and secondary education teachers are too preoccupied with the formation of the next generations’ Mozarts and Beethovens, special needs students are often left behind and separated from their peers. Instead of fostering each pupil’s unique creativity and ways of communication, music is often left unincluded in favor of traditional methods of special education.

It is no surprise that when literacy and mathematics scores suffer, art and music programs are the first to go in a last ditch effort to appease whatever board demands that more money be allocated towards more “practical” subjects. Despite substantial evidence supporting that participation in music directly correlates with students’ scores being higher, administrators and teachers alike still appear to have turned a blind eye to this; evidence suggests that music has profound effects on special education students’ growth as well. According to the American Music Therapy Association, music is processed within a separate part of the brain than speech and language, thus meaning that presenting educational materials through music can potentially reach certain special needs students in a way that conventional teaching methods can not. The outcome of this approach to special education? Increased attention, improved behavior, decreased self-stimulation, enhanced auditory processing, improved cognitive functioning, decreased agitation, increased socialization, improved receptive & expressive language, successful and safe self-expression, and enhanced sensory-motor skills. From this it is very clear that in order to accomodate students within secondary education environments, not only is it salient that music educators and special educators work together, but that special needs students are not treated as “other” by students and teachers alike. In order to reap the full benefits of an education enriched by creativity and music, students need to interact with a variety of people, perhaps unlike themselves, in order to apply their creativity in a way that will serve to aid them in real-world experiences.

It is unjust to exclude special needs students from achieving their full creative potential, and quite frankly, education has evolved so much that it is unacceptable to suggest that introducing special needs students into music programs would be “too much work” or “impractical.” When it comes to building an environment within schools that seeks to cultivate creativity, it is of the utmost importance that all students are included in this. Music is a powerful force that is more than capable of enriching a students’ education, and being a positive influence on their development. Every student should have the right to be afforded a quality music education -- special needs or not.