The first student I interviewed for my project was my younger sister Rachael. She is 15 years old and in 10th grade and has been playing flute for 8 years. She originally started music because her mom wanted her to play piano. Later, she wanted to play trumpet, but her mom told her to learn flute instead. She plays her flute for study and for fun, which I found interesting. She plays RCM repertoire for fun, rather than popular music. She also plays piccolo for fun. She is really invested in her instrument, and her habits and attitudes reflect that.
Her favorite type of music is classical music. She likes symphonies and other types of orchestral music. She said that she likes the complexity and layers of instrumental music, which makes it fun to listen to. She is also part of a local youth orchestra, which influences the type of music she likes.
She said that having a formal music education helps her in other areas of school, by being a relaxing thing in her life she can rely on. For Racheal, music is a good, relaxing and fun experience which is the point of music. I think it can be easy to forget that music is supposed to be a social, fun leisure activity, especially when you are working with music every day in a highly competitive environment.
Rachael has managed to keep a good and relaxing attitude to music, which I think will help her continue with music throughout her life. She does want to continue with music after high school. She wants to become a music teacher, because she loves music and wants to share music with those around her. I think being able to keep this attitude, while still working hard for her goal will put her at a huge advantage and will help her live a happy and fulfilling life.
The second person I interviewed was Teela, a family friend. She is also 15 years old and plays the flute. She has been playing for 3 years. She first started playing flute because her sister played flute, and she liked the way it sounded. I think it’s interesting that she chose to play music on her own, even though she comes from a very musical family. Outside of flute, she also plays piano, and her little sister sings with her. I like that for her, music is a social thing. Because her family is so musical, she can share music with people around her and use it to bond with people.
Her favorite type of music to listen to is Broadway. She likes this type of music because the instrumentation is a lot more complex than pop or rap music. She also likes the story aspect of Broadway music, which is harder to find in other forms of music. She also likes being able to play the songs she listens to on piano, and these are most of the songs that she plays and sings with her sister.
When I asked Teela about how her music education might help her in other areas of her education, she said that it has really helped her in her visual arts class. She explained that her art teacher would use music theory concepts and ideas to explain art theory concepts and ideas. I had taken the same classes with some of the same teachers when I was in high school, so I could see what she meant. In Visual Arts, there are ideas like rhythm and harmony, but they play out in a very different way. Teela, having known both sides of the explanation, is able to get more out of these ideas. This was an interesting concept for me, relating visual arts and music, but it made sense to me.
She also said that music education teaches people how to learn in a way that other subjects don’t, and the skills she has learned through music has helped her in every subject. She can apply practicing techniques to math and focus on the areas she struggles with. Music builds discipline which helps with academics in all areas. I found that this was insightful, and a good way to look at music education. Even if someone doesn’t want to pursue music after high school, learning music skills is helpful.
Teela wants to be a veterinarian when she is older, because it combines her love of music and animals. I asked her if music would help her achieve her goals, and she said that it would help her through school because she can use it as a calming activity to combat stress. Teela doesn’t want to be a musician, but she still takes a lot away from formal music education.
The third person I interviewed was Serenia, Teela’s younger sister. She is 7 years old, so interviewing her was a lot of fun. She has studied piano formally, but only for a year and a half. Her whole family is very musical, her mom is a piano teacher, her two sisters play flute, her brother plays clarinet, and her dad is interested in music recording, but she is a little too young to really make her own identity. I was interested to see if any of her views of music were influenced by how much her family is into music.
She started to learn piano because she wanted to. She learned from her mom, but her mom didn’t pressure her into learning piano, she chose it herself. She also sings a lot, with Teela, her mom, and at church. She doesn’t think that music helps her in other school subjects. She also didn’t know what her favorite type of music to listen to was, but she sings Broadway, worship music and pop songs, which is what she hears around her in life.
When I asked her why she wanted to make music, she said she didn’t want to be a non-instrumental person in high school. The high school where her two older sisters and me and my sister went to school has a performing arts program. Most of her role models were instrumentalists in high school, and she wanted to be too. I asked she wanted to be an instrumentalist because her sisters were, and she vehemently denied it, but I think having musical role models influenced her goals a little bit.
Serenia is still a very young student, but I liked seeing her responses to this interview. It was neat to see how someone in a very different age range thought about music and music education
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