Creating Value in Music Curriclum

Our economy is based, or at least should be based, on the idea of giving value to each other. When you buy a taco from Taco Bell, you are expressing that the value to you as you eat the taco is worth the amount of money you paid for the item. Taco Bell is hoping to create something of worth that will be valuable to you for a given price. If Taco Bell decided to charge $100 per taco, likely you would not be willing to pay that price. Or if suddenly it cost $100 to buy 1 corn tortilla from the supplier, then Taco Bell would need to charge the consumer at least $100 per taco to break even. Taco Bell then might decide to buy from a different supplier or no longer make tacos with corn tortillas. At some point, the trade value no longer becomes viable which then alters the result of the product. Consumers seek value when they purchase goods, and suppliers of the goods hope to create the value for the consumer. This is the essence of our economy.

Although filled with potential fallacious thinking, and we certainly are uncomfortable expressing education in terms of economy, to a great extent and in spite of the philosophical pitfalls, a college education is about creating value in students. Each lesson, class, experience should be about adding value to the student in some sort of way. As value is added and layered over several years of a college education, a student becomes ready to meet the demands of his or her chosen profession. For many students, this means they enter the workforce eager to contribute to the economy, but for others they continue their education into graduate school. Regardless of the direction, the students have benefited from the years of creation of value and investment into their lives and their careers.

Giving value to students in a university setting is partly about giving them skills, tools, abilities to be successful while teaching them to develop their own pathway and apply their creative minds and energies to solving problems. We hope that through higher education, students develop the ability to make their own decisions and to keep learning throughout their lives and in their calling. The act of teaching and the learning of the students should be primarily concerned with adding value to all the students through a vast array of learning experiences.

Students receive value at different levels and at different rates and schools offer value in various ways with various types of intensity and results. The greater the value created, the more useful and marketable is the person. Of course a person's worth cannot and should not be measured merely in terms of market value or knowledge and skills. We find truth in relationships, in kindness, in being compassionate and charitable, and in living a life of sacrifice, selflessness, and patience. Value can also be found in the ability to have good judgment and to make good decisions, to be organized, to manage money, to be responsible, and to use the intellect to research information. Developing a strong work ethic and a sense of loyalty is also part of the value package. All these and more shape a student into a contributing, working adult.

Back to economic terms. The student's investment of time, energy, and, yes, money, in order to get a degree is in effect a trade for the value he or she receives after 4 years or more. The process of receiving value in music involves the thorough study of music but also the experience of making music. One of the great ways a music curriculum adds value is through the use of the ensemble experience. Playing an instrument in band, orchestra, or small ensembles or singing in a choir or a small group is fun, educational, enriching, stimulating, and vastly meaningful. The individual effort to be successful almost magically joins with others in a bold expressive of collective joy. It is the ideal demonstration of teamwork and corporate victory! Students are rewarded with value and with the reminder that "together we can accomplish much."

 We also add value through encouraging individual effort. Music performance is best when it is well-prepared. To be prepared requires many hours of individual practice as well as guidance by a professional. When students prepare for the performance and are then held accountable by their peers and their teachers, they achieve value. The system for individual preparation is ultimately a way to create added value by synthesizing musical knowledge and skills with the aim of public accountability. This is not unlike the business world where the continual improvement of a product results in a higher profit margin or value. In the arts, continual improvement of personal skills results in greater excellence and value for the performer and subsequently, the performance.

Lastly we add value through cognitive development in the classroom. Although this system has altered the last few years with the advent of the information age and knowledge at the fingertips of every student, the basic idea remains the same. That is that students learn not just the material they need to know in their future positions, but they also learn how to find, how to discern, and how to utilize the information that is readily available. We create value in our students when they graduate with the ability and the desire to keep learning and to apply their creative and intellectual gifts in their chosen professions.

Truly the responsibility to create value in our students is tremendous and we in college music teaching must take that responsibility seriously by asking ourselves how to improve and how to add more value each day to our students. As we add value to our students, we increase and champion the value of our curriculum and our institutions. This requires continual evaluation of our system, ensuring that we teach with great integrity and relevance for today's ever changing world.