Our music education
Blog
for parents and students.
Have you ever had a time in your life where one song / artist seemed to be the soundtrack of that season? And now every time you go back there in your memory, your brain can’t help but to play that music in the background?
Think about what was going on in that memory; Where were you? Who were you with? What did you feel? If you indulged me and followed along, you probably can easily equate the sense of emotion of that season with the music of that season.
Music can be tricky.
Like most things in life, it requires a lot of attention, focus, and discipline. We at Vibe are constantly updating our curriculums and our approaches to help your students flourish as musicians. We celebrate success, but also understand that new challenges are always on the horizon. If you aren’t careful it’s easy to get bogged down by this cycle of short-lived victory only to be followed by another hurdle. We don’t use music to get through essential daily routines like we use math and reading skills. We don’t always see results like we do when we dedicate ourselves to the gym.
So, honestly, what’s even the point?
With the new school year beginning in whatever form that takes for you (whether in-person, online, at home, or a mix of them all), many parents may be tempted to let music lessons fall by the wayside. Schedules get crowded with homework and other activities, and if your kids already have music class in school, then there’s no need for lessons too, right? …
Students in today’s secondary schools often have a myriad of different courses to choose from each year. As a band director, I admit that I am certainly biased, but I believe that enrolling your son or daughter in the band, orchestra, or choir at school has many incredible benefits. One of these benefits, in the form of a macro-level life lesson, is the ability to collaborate.
As time goes on, more and more research proves that playing music is beneficial to your brain in more than one way. According to studies done by Harvard Health, music has “major effects on many aspects of health, ranging from memory and mood to cardiovascular function and athletic performance.”
Music has a profound way of bringing people together. Whether it’s through performing in school choir or band, singing together in religious services, or jamming with a few friends, music has the power to form bonds between people who are otherwise very different from one another—people of different ages, genders, and sometimes, even people from different cultures.
“When words fail, music speaks.” This quote, paraphrased from Hans Christian Anderson, expresses the reality that many of us experience when we listen to music. Words may feel insufficient to describe the way we feel, but when expressed through music, our emotions can seem remarkably clear.
In these uncertain times, I’m sure that many of you have taken refuge in the solace of music, but music’s ability to express emotion has greater implications than just its therapeutic benefit. By studying music, students also have the unique opportunity to habitually examine their emotions and to develop greater their emotional intelligence as they learn to express emotion through music.
Every instrument has milestones that you have to hurdle to reach the next level as a musician. Whether that’s getting over the break, mastering shifting, or playing bar chords that actually make a sound, we all experience a moment when what was easy and fun suddenly becomes anything but. These hurdles can leave you with all the pain of bruised shins and skinned knees, but they are a valuable opportunity to learn the lesson of perseverance.
In a culture that relegates music to a “secondary” status among academic subjects, many perceive music as little more than a hobby. The “practical” knowledge and learned in other subjects diminishes music’s place in the schools, crowding it out of class time and students’ schedules. But what if I told you that the lessons learned in the music room are as deeply practical as those of other subjects—perhaps even more so?
The New Year is upon us, and you know what that means… We start dreaming up all the ways that we want to improve ourselves and live a more fulfilling, healthy life.
As you might guess, around this time of year we hear about a lot of folks who have set goals (for themselves or for their kids) of learning to play music in the next year, and we think that’s terrific! Because whether you only end up doing it for a few months or find your life-long passion, there is a personal and creative benefit for making the effort.
If you’re thinking about picking up an instrument or improving your singing, you really should find a qualified teacher and take weekly private lessons. Here’s why:
