Why study music? And what is poetic knowledge of music?

[Tranquility7]

My DS is in Suzuki piano, and DD is now at the age to start also.  DS has made astounding progress in his four years so far, especially considering that when we began he had absolutely no interest or aptitude AT ALL.  He now plays beautifully and loves it, but there is even more to it than that… I just have trouble expressing what it is!

 

The problem is, every time we get the bill, my DH and I rehash whether it is worth it. In my book, it is – absolutely, hands down, no discussion needed! But I’m also coming from a more philosophical  and classical perspective and it is hard for me to articulate to him all the reasons I think music instruction is important. It isn’t simply because playing piano is fun or a handy skill to have…  and it isn’t simply because it teaches focus and discipline and perseverance…  it’s something so much deeper and more meaningful than those things…  Music is teaching my boy to love something beautiful. And how to create something beautiful. And how to express himself in a whole different language. And how to perceive Truth revealed in surprising ways. I long for my kids to look at the universe and perceive that all of creation is music written and performed by God.

 

What I do not want for my kids is a simply “cerebral†understanding of music – being able to read music, tell about composers, explain some music theory, analyze harmonic frequencies, identify some popular pieces, etc. Honestly, even being able to simply read music and play it as written is not sufficient in my mind. Those are all good and worthwhile things that will happen as part of the process, but they are not my *goal*. What I am aiming towards with my kids is *poetic knowledge* of music, a deeper understanding of the true nature of music and its place in the cosmos and its role in God’s general revelation to man.

 

Classically speaking, it seems like music is an understood “good†that is worth pursuing for its own sake.  Music is a mathematical art, part of the quadrivium, and thus preparation for studying philosophy and theology.  But my DH doesn’t read all the heady books on educational philosophy that I do – poor guy just looks at the piano bill and has a coronary! As a result, he has asked me to help him understand *why* I think music is worth spending so much time and money on. Can anyone help me out? Can anyone either give me reasons, or point me to other resources (audio or book) that would help me to better explain my thoughts to DH (given whatever you can figure out from what I’ve written!)? How does all of the stuff I’m trying to say about music translate to paying for piano lessons?

 

 

[Mrs. A]

I'm not sure I can help much because most of what I would say would probably sound much like what you've already tried to express. Music is formative. It forms the affections in a way that nothing else can. Music touches the heart and expresses what words cannot. The act of learning a piece and playing it again and again changes a person and makes it part of them. Living with a piece of music allows time for all those steps that are so important in learning other things as well: attention, contemplation, re-creation, imitation. 

 

Music is math which had been given a physical shape and which can be experienced bodily. Music brings the soul closer to God. Music can step in when words fail.  

 

Eta: I guess part of my answer to the why question would be that it's important to study music because music can help make one more fully human. It goes way beyond knowing with the mind. It's a way to bring together mind, body and soul. It's not just cerebral and it's not just utilitarian. It makes one's life richer. 

[Tranquility7]

I'm not sure I can help much because most of what I would say would probably sound much like what you've already tried to express. Music is formative. It forms the affections in a way that nothing else can. Music touches the heart and expresses what words cannot. The act of learning a piece and playing it again and again changes a person and makes it part of them. Living with a piece of music allows time for all those steps that are so important in learning other things as well: attention, contemplation, re-creation, imitation. 

 

Music is math which had been given a physical shape and which can be experienced bodily. Music brings the soul closer to God. Music can step in when words fail.  

 

Eta: I guess part of my answer to the why question would be that it's important to study music because music can help make one more fully human. It goes way beyond knowing with the mind. It's a way to bring together mind, body and soul. It's not just cerebral and it's not just utilitarian. It makes one's life richer. 

 

Ahhhh, yes, all of this!!!

 

I'm going to particularly ponder your comment, "The act of learning a piece and playing it again and again changes a person and makes it part of them. Living with a piece of music allows time for all those steps that are so important in learning other things as well: attention, contemplation, re-creation, imitation." - because that is something that can happen as a part of ongoing music instruction that would distinctly not occur with simply passively listening to music or even actively studying music appreciation. It is akin to the difference between reading a poem and laying it aside vs. reading a poem and analyzing it vs. committing a poem to long-term memory. A piece deeply studied and learned affects the learner. He forever has the influence of that piece somewhere inside him, even if he forgets that it is there. 

 

Also - "[Music] goes way beyond knowing with the mind," - again, yes.  More to ponder...

[Laura Corin]

If you Google for the effect of music instruction on academic achievement, you will find some studies that might offer something more concrete for your husband.  I'm happy with the cultural arguments myself, but....

 

L

[PagesandFields]

I don't know exactly if these will help you... but I can share my own personal experience.  I grew up playing the piano.  It was incredibly vital to me.  

1 - I think without a doubt it helped me in math.  I always just got math.  I started piano when I was very young.  After I grew up I read research about how music can help shape your brain and mind and even if a little bit, or vague, or just weird, I do think it helped me a great deal.  

 

2 - I was a, I don't know, existentially troubled child, always felt things very deeply and was sensitive.  I truly, truly, truly, think that music made me sane.  I never remember a time when I didn't have music to express myself in, to absorb myself in, to escape into and feel things truly.  Growing up is so incredibly intense, that to have something personal, some kind of expressive art (and I think music is possibly the most powerfully emotional one), can be so important...  I think.  

 

I did not learn in the Suzuki style.  I personally am happy I didn't.  Are there any more affordable classes you could switch to if necessary?  If there are any universities near you, I'm sure a music student would love to teach lessons and possibly save you money?  Or - when I was a kid I took group lessons.  I actually think they were more effective, and possibly would be cheaper?  I'm not sure, just some ideas.  I'm a strong proponent of music.  It taps into the soul like almost nothing else, I think.  :)

[elegantlion]

I taught myself piano as a teen. It was my solace. 

 

We had a discussion not too long ago about piano playing being good emotionally. I can't remember the actual study. 

 

I also read something a few weeks ago about how reading aloud has a musical property to it, not just poetic works. I notice when I read aloud I get into a rhythm and even reading silently, I like books that have some meter to them. 

[Pronghorn]

There was a study reported recently on music and test-taking, I think. Something about how the brain learns to keep going and not get hung up on mistakes, I think.

[lotsofpumpkins]

It's one thing to appreciate music. It's quite another to be a part of MAKING music. Music has been an important part of my life (piano and flute) and I want my dc to have that opportunity too. I realize that they all have different levels of ability in this area, but I at least want to get them started and see where they go with it.

 

Also, dh is the pastor of a small church with no pianist. Except for me. A few years ago I dusted off my VERY rusty piano skills (which were quite neglected during my years of flute playing) and started working on hymns. I now play in the Sunday evening services. (We use a clavinova to play the songs for us during the morning services.) I would LOVE for my dc to far surpass my abilities and be able to play in church someday. So, there's a practical reason for learning music.

 

It's also cool when a song is playing and my dc can recognize a key change (and they will yell out "key change!" if we are somewhere where it's okay to do so). They are young, and yet they are already experiencing the emotional impact something as simple as a key change can have. Music is very powerful, and like I said, it can be so rewarding to be the one making that music, instead of just listening to it.

 

BTW, we are using Alfred's Premier Piano Course, which is very affordable. I am teaching the dc myself; there are CDs with the books, so even if you can't play the piano yourself, you can work through it with your child. Just something to consider if private lessons are something that needs to be cut. There are so many tutorials/lessons online these days too.

[lewelma]

contemplation,.... help make one more fully human..... It makes one's life richer.

 

I truly, truly, truly, think that music made me sane..... It taps into the soul like almost nothing else, I think.   :)

 

It was my solace..

I am not very sweeping in my thoughts, much more utilitarian.  I sound a bit like your husband, I think.  So I'm not going to express myself as beautifully as the above.  But one of my goals for my kids is to have the ability to relax, to recenter their negative thoughts, to basically stay emotionally healthy for their whole life.  I think that music will give them this skill.  Imagine coming home from a hard day's work to pick up the violin and play the most beautiful music imaginable. My kids loose themselves in their music, for hours sometimes. Without music, you would need something like meditation (on the positive side) or booze (on the negative side).  I figure that the my children's lifelong mental health will more than pay me back for the cost of the lessons.

 

Ruth in NZ

[duckens]

 

PagesandFields shares:

2 - I was a, I don't know, existentially troubled child, always felt things very deeply and was sensitive.  I truly, truly, truly, think that music made me sane

 

 

1) And she's right.  The book The Science of Parenting touches on this.  For children that have had distress in their life (for whatever reason), playing the piano can help them to process.  It helps the Corpus Callosum to facilitate the left and right sides of the brain talking to one another.

 

Disclaimer: This is not the sole focus of the book The Science of Parenting, but it is mentioned at least twice.

 

2) Young children playing the piano increased brain activity: more than reading/being read to, more than exercise, more than creative free play.  I suspect this is because playing the piano requires mastery via several senses: sight, hearing, touch.

 

3) A few years ago, there was a discussion within the hive of "What makes a well-rounded student?"  A mother that is wiser than I said:

a) academics

b ) sports/athletics:  This could be a team sport, but it could also be an activity that your child enjoys independently, like bike riding

c) artistic: painting/sculpture or musical or theater or writing

 

and the last one was:

d) something your child can use as a second income.  Lifeguarding/teaching swim lessons, teaching gymnastics, woodworking, jewelry making, beekeeping, or TEACHING PIANO LESSONS or working as a church pianist.

 

This was a year or so after the crash of 2008, so it was very timely.  If you lost your job, you would be able to fall back on a second, if lesser, job.

 

In the meantime, your adult child could use this secondary set of skills to bring in extra income to save for a house before marriage/children.  They could bring in extra income as a SAHM by working evenings or Saturday mornings. 

[Sarah CB]

This is my favourite blog post on the benefits of music (specifically, Suzuki).

 

http://nurturedbylove.ca/blog/?p=781 

[TammyS]

I'm not sure I can help much because most of what I would say would probably sound much like what you've already tried to express. Music is formative. It forms the affections in a way that nothing else can. Music touches the heart and expresses what words cannot. The act of learning a piece and playing it again and again changes a person and makes it part of them. Living with a piece of music allows time for all those steps that are so important in learning other things as well: attention, contemplation, re-creation, imitation. 

 

Music is math which had been given a physical shape and which can be experienced bodily. Music brings the soul closer to God. Music can step in when words fail.  

 

Eta: I guess part of my answer to the why question would be that it's important to study music because music can help make one more fully human. It goes way beyond knowing with the mind. It's a way to bring together mind, body and soul. It's not just cerebral and it's not just utilitarian. It makes one's life richer. 

 

:iagree:   And would only add that an "easy" way to think about this is to consider that, IMO (and that of others, smarter than I), the purpose of education is to teach children to ask these questions: Is it true?  Is it beautiful?  And if it is, how then, should we live?

 

Considered in that light, music is MORE important that algebra or biology, neither of which I imagine your husband would wonder about.

 

[Nan in Mass]

From a more utilitarian point of view:

 

-So your children have some way to dissipate strong emotions when they are feeling overwhelmed by them.  (Especially important for surviving the teenage years.)

-Making music with other people is a REALLY useful social skill.  Would you rather your children got together with their friends and made music or got together with their friends and got into trouble?

-Music teaches you how to learn something - break it down into small parts, practice the parts, then put it together.  This helps with school.

-Music teaches you the value of practice.  It makes it really obvious that it is possible to learn to do something that you can't do at all in the beginning, all by hard work and practicing.  This is a valuable life skill.

-Music is a cheap way to entertain yourself when you are an adult.  it offers endless pleasure.  Much less expensive than golf and many other adult hobbies.

-Piano is a great basis for any other instruments, sort of like learning Latin so you can learn other languages easily.

-Many childhood activities can't or won't be continued into adulthood.  How many parents spend vast quantities of money and time on a sport like football that will end when the child ends high school or college?  Music is an investment that lasts a lifetime.

 

Nan

 

[Sarah CB]

 

-Many childhood activities can't or won't be continued into adulthood.  How many parents spend vast quantities of money and time on a sport like football that will end when the child ends high school or college?  Music is an investment that lasts a lifetime.

 

Nan

 

My grandma is still playing the piano.  She's 92.  It gives her, and those around her, great joy.

[Lanny]

There is a huge connection between Music and Mathematics. I worked with 2 people who had degrees in Music and then they went back to school and got an M.S. degree in Math. They were working with me, as Engineers, on  a government project. So, in addition to the wonderful things people who enjoy Music experience with their Music, it helps them with their Math skills.

[brookspr]

There is a huge connection between Music and Mathematics. I worked with 2 people who had degrees in Music and then they went back to school and got an M.S. degree in Math. They were working with me, as Engineers, on  a government project. So, in addition to the wonderful things people who enjoy Music experience with their Music, it helps them with their Math skills.

 

This is very true.  When my daughter was in 7th grade (and still in public school) she did a report for her LA class on music and math skills.  She polled her entire grade on whether they played an instrument and what level of math they were taking.  There was a significant connection between those that played an instrument and being in the higher math classes. There is scientific research out there that she also cited that supports this connection.

[Tranquility7]

Thanks so much for these great replies! They are incredibly helpful.

 

I think what I am going to do is write an essay on this topic (I've been wanting to test-drive Lost Tools of Writing with my own essay, so that is my plan :) )  Then every semester when I get the bill from our piano teacher, I'm going to print out my essay and wrap it around the bill to give to my DH, LOL!  That way I can improve my own persuasive writing skills, I can be forced to organize and articulate the myriad reasons I think music study is important, and DH and I can avoid having the same exact conversation every time!  :D

 

[Doodlebug]

First, thank you for this thread.  Your thoughts were beautifully expressed, as were many others!  I cannot imagine adding more!  Augustine called music "wordless jubilation."  Also, "a secret philosophizing of the soul."  It's clear to me that humans have long wrestled with this inanimate and inarticulatable nature of the arts, but especially music.  

 

Some thoughts... Music does have powerful practical side.  However, I prefer to focus on the transcendent aspect, because it is my own belief that it is the part fueling everything else.

 

Two reading suggestions for you... both put words to this poetry of the universe, and I think you'll find them helpful in summing up your own thoughts on not just music, but the arts in general.  The first is Josef Pieper's Only the Lover Sings.  In his contemplation, Pieper explores the modern tendency to exalt work and all things pragmatic, eschewing the "sight" one gains by way of leisure -- a quiet, but enthralling, act of truly perceiving and creating.  My words will not suffice or do justice to this deep philosophical and metaphysical meditation. But you will not regret reading it. 

 

Pieper's essay introduced me to C.S. Lewis's An Experiment in Criticism.  Admittedly, this essay explores literary criticism, but in true Lewis style he pulls in examples of his larger point from the larger field of artistic endeavor.  I love the following quote as it points directly to Pieper's essay on "seeing:"

 

Well, nevermind... Ive somehow hit the post button and my crew is starting to cook dinner on their own... my cue!  I hope those suggestions are helpful to you!

 

Stella

 

  

 

 

[Beth in Mint Hill]

Everyone has said so many wonderful things already, and given many great reasons for why one should invest in piano (or other instruments) lessons. But as to your question about poetic knowledge... It seems to me this doesn't have to cost much money at all! This comes from experiencing music, spending time just listening, and perhaps even just playing around with it. 

 

My youngest son is passionate about music and plays the piano by ear, writing songs, etc. But he had only one year of piano lessons; most of his ability has come from simply listening and then teaching himself to play. He will never be a concert pianist, but I think that he does have a poetic knowledge of music. He listens to all sorts of music constantly. 

 

Speaking as one who is totally "unschooled" in music, and wondering--do I dare push "post?"

[Sunshine State Sue]

I sing in a community choir.  Occasionally, our director hands this out:

 

Music as Education

MUSIC IS A SCIENCE

It is exact, specific; it demands precise acoustics. A conductor's score is a chart, a graph which indicates frequencies, intensities, volume variations, linear melody, and harmonic density all at once within the most structured parameters of time.

MUSIC IS MATHEMATICAL

It is rhythmically based upon the subdivisions of time into fractions which must be executed instantaneously and extemporaneously, without benefit of calculations on paper.

MUSIC IS COMMUNICATIONS AND FOREIGN LANGUAGE

Most of the terms and instructive symbolism are in Italian, German, or French, and the notation itself

is certainly not in English but a highly-developed kind of shorthand which uses abstract symbols to represent

ideas. The semantics of music is the most complex and universal of languages.

MUSIC IS HISTORY

Music usually reflects the influence of the environment and time of its creation, and speaks of the country and/or ethnicity of its composer, text, or feeling.

MUSIC IS PHYSICAL

It requires fantastic co-ordination of fingers, hands, arms, lips, cheeks and facial muscles - in addition to extraordinary control of the diaphragmatic, back, stomach, and chest muscles which must respond instantly to the sound the ear hears and the mind interprets.

MUSIC IS ALL THESE THINGS, BUT MOST OF ALL MUSIC IS ART

It allows a human being to apply all these dry, technically boring (but difficult) techniques and use them to create emotion. These are things which technology and science cannot duplicate: humanism, feeling, emotion, soul; call it what you will.

I want to teach YOU music...

Not because I expect you to major in music, or to sing in choruses all your life; Not just so you can relax and have fun... but, so you will be more human,

so you will recognize and embrace beauty, so you will be more sensitive,

so you will be closer to an infinite beyond this world,

so you will have something to cling to, have more compassion, more gentleness,

more good... in short - more life.

Of what real value is it to make a prosperous living, unless you know how to live?