I completely agree that analysis should be left until the student is older. At a younger age however exposure to music both in passive listening and active participation is essential to develop a basic ear which will be necessary for the later analysis. Just as students learn language by participation they don't begin analysis of the language until later and progressively build upon the knowledge. A difficult part I have had in teaching many college courses for non-music majors lay in teaching students to hear past the lyrics. So I develop many exercises to have them actively listen, memorize and sing back portions of the music in the various layers that are not lyric / melody dependent. beginning with the bass as it provides the structural harmonic, metric and rhythmic foundation for form in most common forms of western classical and popular music since the invention of Opera ca. 1600. I am currently working on some of my own videos to help explore these topics as a guide for listening. Here is one video I quickly threw together for some desparate college students a few years ago, which uses the Childrens tune, BINGO as it relates late Baroque era themes. Here is the corresponding analysis text (for older students) https://www.academia.edu/3092592/BINGO_-_Ritornello_Form_and_Chords_KCMcGuire_ I have also created a number of playlists here: https://www.youtube.com/user/mue129/playlists === And for what its worth, I only cite Dorothy Sayers (and CS Lewis for that matter) as popularizers of Classical education. I would never use them as expert sources. Being a Classicist whose research specializes in the transmission of Ancient Greek music theory and philosophy into the Latin West, I tend to use those sources and blend them with the best modern findings research in Cognitive development have shown.. Christian McGuire http://www.christianmcguire.com/

I am a professional musician, historian, music educator, and Liberal Arts Education advocate who holds a Master of Arts in Musicology from the University of Minnesota and B.A.s in Philosophy and Classical Languages from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. I teach private students in Electric Bass, Classical Guitar, and beginning Piano and have taught Music History and Theory at Augsburg College and the McNally-Smith College of Music. I also have been the K-5 Fencing coach at Nova Classical Academy since 2009. I am a Fencing Foil specialist and a practicing black belt in mixed martial arts under Master Jake Erling from The Art Martial Arts in Falcon Heights, Minnesota. Christian McGuire http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/551967-music-as-core-curriculum-in-classical-education-part-1/ http://www.christianmcguire.com/p/blog-page.html Collegium Musicum Novae - organizaer

I have a number of music choices and station links on the resource page of Collegium Music Novae. Although sometimes I just go to Youtube and look up a live concert and play that while cleaning the house. (my favorites and playlists found in my youtube channel accessible below) Christian McGuire http://www.christianmcguire.com/p/blog-page.html Collegium Musicum Novae - organizaer Christian McGuire is a professional musician, historian, music educator, and Liberal Arts Education advocate who holds a Master of Arts in Musicology from the University of Minnesota and B.A.s in Philosophy and Classical Languages from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. He teaches private students in Electric Bass, Classical Guitar, and beginning Piano and has taught Music History and Theory at Augsburg College and the McNally-Smith College of Music. He is a Fencing Foil specialist and a practicing black belt in mixed martial arts under Master Jake Erling from The Art Martial Arts in Falcon Heights, Minnesota.

Music is an absolute essential at all levels. As it weaves together all of the disciplines and exercises every part of the brain. You can refer to this as a primer on the rationale and explore the links on Collegium Musicum Novae to get started. http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/551967-music-as-core-curriculum-in-classical-education-part-1/ Christian McGuire http://www.christianmcguire.com/p/blog-page.html Collegium Musicum Novae - organizaer Christian McGuire is a professional musician, historian, music educator, and Liberal Arts Education advocate who holds a Master of Arts in Musicology from the University of Minnesota and B.A.s in Philosophy and Classical Languages from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. He teaches private students in Electric Bass, Classical Guitar, and beginning Piano and has taught Music History and Theory at Augsburg College and the McNally-Smith College of Music. He is a Fencing Foil specialist and a practicing black belt in mixed martial arts under Master Jake Erling from The Art Martial Arts in Falcon Heights, Minnesota.

I am sharing the three (3) 100+ page number of music history study guides and audio examples (covering 2000 years of music) which I wrote for the Minnesota High School Music Listening contest between the years 2004-2008. These were designed to be written in a casual easy to read manner at a 13 year old reading level. I am also making many of my study guides, audio examples, and video playlists for my own private students and college students freely available to anyone interested. You may access them here: http://www.christianmcguire.com/p/music-education.html In addition, I am the organizer for the Music Support Group at Nova Classical Academy in St. Paul, MN. (Collegium Musicum Novae) and I have included quite a number of links and articles on the history of Music in Classical Education as well as the most recent available research regarding music in cognitive development. You may access those articles here: http://novamusicsupport.blogspot.com/p/resources.html Remember, Music is not an Extra-curricular but the central component of Classical Education. Christian McGuire Christian McGuire is a professional musician, historian, music educator, and Liberal Arts Education advocate who holds a Master of Arts in Musicology from the University of Minnesota and B.A.s in Philosophy and Classical Languages from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. He teaches private students in Electric Bass, Classical Guitar, and beginning Piano and has taught Music History and Theory at Augsburg College and the McNally-Smith College of Music. He is a Fencing Foil specialist and a practicing black belt in mixed martial arts under Master Jake Erling from The Art Martial Arts in Falcon Heights, Minnesota.

When Dorothy Sayers advocated for a return to the traditional methods of Medieval Education in her public speech "The Lost Tools of Learning." (1943) , she was referring to a tradition steeped in the works of the 6th century Scholar and Roman Statesman Anicius Manlius Seuerinus Boethius. Boethius is the most significant figure in the transmission of the Classical Learning into the Latin West. For over a 1,000 year span, his works were the most widely disseminated and utilized as authoritative texts in Classical Education. This is in large part due to the efforts of the 10th century scholar Gerbert d'Aurillac (Pope Sylvester II), who organized the familiar classical curriculum on Boethius works, Fundamentals of Arithmetic, Fundamentals of Music, Psuedo-Boethius Geometry, as well as the Calcidius Commentary on Plato's Timaeus. While this history is intimately known by Classics scholars, it is often missed entirely by many schools who desire to provide a Classical Education. Take a moment to read Boethius best known work, The Consolation of Philosophy for it is the essential handbook for Classical Education. It is a guide for how to think about issues, how to think clearly and deeply with a heart and mind toward understanding Nature and our role in it, how those forces impact and influence our decisions and the strategies we employ to overcome faulty reasoning from our emotional likes and dislikes. It is understanding that harmony between our individual Rights and our Obligations to our community and nature. Education after all is primarily a Philosophical quest. It is perpetual questioning to arrive at understanding. Music's Classical Pedigree Classics scholars know from surviving and paleographical evidence as well as contemporary written accounts, such as those written by Boethius, that the ancient epics and plays (Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid, Beowulf, Sophocles, Euripides, Ovid, Mesmodes) were sung and accompanied by instrumental music. In Boethius, Music is the primary voice of Lady Philosophy. This is because in the Classical tradition, music is known to influence human behavior AND it can be measured and manipulated. It is the conduit to understanding the Cosmos (The "Good Order"). The Western tradition of classical education holds that those without Music lack true understanding and are doomed to be passive reactors to the whims of its power. In the Holy orders of the Catholic Church and in the theology of MartinLuther, it is the voice of prayers because in their traditions God is the creator of the Cosmos. The 12th Century German Saint and Doctor of the Church, Hildegard von Bingen takes this tradition further in her morality play, Ordo Uirtutem in which all of the parts, from the "Soul" to the "Virtues" are singing roles. The ONLY voice without song is the Devil - who bellows and shouts without true understanding trying to sway the weary soul to the false goods of wealth, power, and prestige. In his treatise De Musica, the influential classical scholar, Saint Augustine of Hippo writes that anything dealing with sound is the study of Music. On its basic level we have all experienced the power of music on our emotions from the rhythm of a dripping faucet, taking cues as to when to shift gears in our manual transmissions, judging emotion or meaning (satire or serious) by tone of voice. These are all extremely basic musical elements, but they provide the starting point in the Classical Study of Music. Pythagoras demonstrating Ratio in Sound via the Tectratys While I cannot use this time to provide a basic understanding of and how music influences the meaning of a text, emotions, philosophical concepts et al. (which it so often does by referring our minds in one direction as the text moves in another) it has always been understood as an essential component of Classical Education. The active engaged practice of music exercises the mind to understand these nuances. Think about it another way. If Music did not have power and importance, why do movies, tv shows, commercials, and especially political ads routinely exploit its power? Would the meaning of a political ad change if the timbre of the speakers voice were different, if the music sounded "happy" during a negative attack ad? I do not want any of our students to grow up ignorant of this and to have their minds swayed by "shiny objects" without substance. It is for this reason the mind requires active participation in instrumental and vocal music. The exercise of which tunes the mind into these nuances, these complex and layered cues of timbre, pitch, rhythm, harmony, dynamics, contours, expression complex textures. Just as the weight lifter cannot hope to gain muscle through reading about weight lifting, so too is it true with the musician athlete. There exists readily available extensive historical evidence and so much peer reviewed and vetted cognitive research supports the findings of these 2,500 year old assertions as to the value and power of music. (refer here for a brief list of sources http://novamusicsupport.blogspot.com/ ) Which makes it frustrating when otherwise intelligent people continue to degrade Music as an extra-curricular. Why do some continue to ignore these facts and regard Music as if it were merely some market driven commodity for entertainment with no more value than soda, junk food or video game? Music is the Core of Classical EducationUnderstanding Music, how it is produced, its effects upon human motivations, and how this power is utilized has been the greatest source for the development of the Physical and Behavioral Sciences. Since Pythagoras first applied ratio to sounds, understanding Music is the clearest window into knowing the Whole of Nature. It is the voice of Philosophia of which scholars in the Ancient Greek traditions stressed its importance. It is why the ancient epics, plays, and prayers were sung and accompanied by instruments. Its influence and effect on humans is now confirmed by modern research in Cognitive Science. All of the STEM fields are indebted to this tradition of Understanding Music. We know music in many ways: singing, instruments, theory. It can motivate us, inspire us, annoy us, compel us to buy, or vote for a certain candidate. The Language Arts are indebted to the Understanding of Music. For whatever is conveyed in the best Rhetoric can be supported or undermined through its learned application. http://novamusicsupport.blogspot.com/p/resources.html For the classical mind: Rhetoric and Music only lead to Virtue when they are in accord with the Cosmos. Or In the words of Lady Philosophy ...I call to my aid the sweet persuasiveness of Rhetoric, who then only walketh in the right way when she forsakes not my instructions, and Music, my handmaid, I bid to join with her singing, now in lighter, now in graver strain. Consolation of Philosophy Book II. Adapted from: http://www.christianmcguire.com/2015/04/music-in-classical-education-part-1.html Christian McGuire http://www.christianmcguire.com/p/blog-page.html Collegium Musicum Novae - organizer Christian McGuire is a professional musician, historian, music educator, and Liberal Arts Education advocate who holds a Master of Arts in Musicology from the University of Minnesota and B.A.s in Philosophy and Classical Languages from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. He teaches private students in Electric Bass, Classical Guitar, and beginning Piano and has taught Music History and Theory at Augsburg College and the McNally-Smith College of Music. Between 2004-2008 he was the musicologist and study guide author for the Minnesota High School Music Listening Contest. He is a Fencing Foil specialist and a practicing black belt in mixed martial arts under Master Jake Erling from The Art Martial Arts in Falcon Heights, Minnesota.

I have been spearheading the Music Support group at Nova Classical Academy in St. Paul, MN and have provided many musical sources here: http://novamusicsupport.blogspot.com/ And even more on Music history, theory ear training etc. on my personal page. http://www.christianmcguire.com/p/music-education.html