Philosophy of Music Education

It is incredibly difficult to predict the outcome of human development. Thus, as an educator, the only aspect I can control is the conditions under which my students will begin to flourish. These conditions are created from the philosophical foundation I have developed over time. My teaching philosophy focuses on three pillars: individuality, creativity, and curiosity.

Individuality

The concept of individuality is crucial when examining the process of learning. I believe, at its core, education should encourage the preservation of individuality. I have achieved this as an educator by identifying student's innate abilities and developing them through authentic musical experiences. My goal is to nurture and challenge student's ability to express themselves, collaborate, and operate within the specific vernacular of music. While I provide students with the skills and content needed to be productive in their fields of study, my primary job is to inspire them to strive for more and enable them to have a unique voice that can work individually, collaboratively, cross-culturally, and cross-generationally.

Creativity

One of the principal guiding questions I ask myself when teaching is, “how can I present rich opportunities for my students to embody music, develop musical thinking, and express themselves freely and creatively?” One of my core concepts is being able to engage in “conversation.” This idea of conversation is implemented and ignited through the art of authentic participatory improvisation. Through exploring, imitating, and developing a musical vocabulary of melodic, rhythmic, harmonic, and stylistic patterns through a wide array of repertoire, the student learns to recognize, but more importantly, “speak” the vernacular of music. This enables our students to learn about different cultures, encourage collaboration, develop an expressivity specific to their personality, and become a native speaker in the universal language of the world, music.

Curiosity

For a student to voluntarily develop their musicianship, I as an educator need to foster their curiosity. Becoming an articulate musician takes discipline and necessitates the sustained effort of epistemic curiosity. My purpose is to motivate and encourage my students to make a direct attempt to build an understanding through sustained effort. I fulfill this mission by focusing on open-mindedness and centering everything I do in the classroom around their learning rather than my teaching. The most worthwhile contribution I can offer as an educator is the ability to help cultivate and refine students into becoming lifelong learners. This is achieved through the development of epistemic curiosity.

Closing Thoughts

The learning environment is a critical element of the music education enterprise. The musical actions of learners are enabled by the interactive guidance of teachers that provide goal-directed questions, issues, and knowledge that develop students as musical practitioners and creative individuals. Human flourishing is not a mechanical process; it is an organic process. Thus, music education must create authentic and engaging conditions under which students can thrive; this is my purpose.

Thank you for taking the time to read my philosophy of teaching.

Best regards,

Edward White