The Power of Music in Education
By Jaimie Hodgens
I am an elementary Music teacher in my fourteenth year of teaching. I teach Pre-K through fifth grade students at Newington Elementary School in Summerville, South Carolina. I have a bachelor's degree in Music Education from Winthrop University and am certified through the American Orff-Schulwerk Association in Levels I and II. Just like most subject areas, Music has state and national standards that I adhere to when planning my lessons and units, but my main focus is exposure. I want to give my students every musical experience possible so that they can make informed decisions on what they like and don't like. I try to have students singing, moving, and playing instruments every time they visit my classroom. I make sure to vary my playlists to include music from every corner of the world and every type of artist.
My classroom is filled to the brim with instruments, thanks to district support and a ton of grant writing on my part. Ukuleles, guitars, handbells, xylophones, and a cool rudimentary brass instrument called PBuzz are just a few examples of the instruments that stock my classroom. We just finished a unit on kalimbas, which opened up conversations about the music of Zimbabwe! Ultimately, I am continuously on the hunt for varied and unique musical opportunities for my students. I feel that it's my responsibility to bring the world into my classroom for them.
Composers and educators Carl Orff and Gunild Keetman created the Orff-Schulwerk method. It is meant to create musicianship through music, movement, speech, and drama. It is play-based and builds off the natural instincts of children; imitation, experimentation, and expression. Much of our music making uses percussion instruments like xylophones, metallophones, and glockenspiels, so that students not only hear their music, but they feel it too.
Music education has lifelong impacts. A study from Northwestern University states, "Research shows that making music changes the brain and that these brain changes have tangible impacts on listening skills, learning and cognition. Individuals who took music lessons as children show stronger neural processing of sound: young adults and even older adults who have not played an instrument for up to 50 years show enhanced neural processing compared to their peers.”- Music, hearing, and education:, from the lab to the classroom; quoted in Northwestern University, September/October 2017.
I have seen music change lives. Some of my students have gone on to pursue music in middle school, high school, college, and beyond. I have had many students audition and be accepted to our district's middle school of the arts, the SC Governor''s School of the Arts, various theatre companies, and performing groups, etc. While this makes me incredibly proud, it isn't my hope for every student. My hope for my students is that they will discover their passion and find ways to be successful within that passion.
Luca is a great example of this. I met Luca when he was in 4th grade. He had just moved to our school and was quiet and reserved. Luca joined NES Singers, our school chorus, where we discovered that he had a wonderful singing voice and lots of other musical skills. I poured into Luca, encouraging him to lead songs, sing solos, and try new instruments. He found a love for steel drums during his time with me and has been in steel bands through all of his middle and high school years. He found an abundance of confidence along the way, and has been brave in exploring his interests. Luca will graduate high school in a couple weeks, and has been accepted to Albright University to study fashion design. I don't know the first thing about fashion design, but I take a great deal of pride in Luca's success, because I know that his music education helped give him the skills he needed to chase his dreams.
