The Big Picture

The BIG Picture: An Elementary Principal's Perspective of Public School Music

By Dr. John Phillips

AS A PRINCIPAL with over 20 years experience, I have personally harbored all kinds of attitudes toward music as a part of the school curriculum. At one point, circa mid 1970s, I was sympathetic with the notion of minimizing music so as not to allow it to crowd the curriculum of basics that was, after all, more important to the elementary child. Over the past couple of decades of seeing first hand the results of including music as an important part of the elementary program, however, I have changed my position 180 degrees. To be honest, it didn’t take the entire two decades to get me there.

The observable results, both long and short term, are undeniable. I have seen children benefit from the music programs more each and every year in the three elementary schools where I have served as principal. The short-term results are sometimes visible in just a few weeks, be it in a primary student who has a teacher who knows how to integrate what the child is learning in music into thematic units, or with older students who have been struggling in school suddenly turn around and transfer the new-found self esteem into better academic performance and a more positive, productive attitude. If you are a school principal, all you have to do is look. You will see many examples.

Of course, there are many of us who need to see this supported in the literature. If you haven’t done so, you will be pleasantly surprised when you check it out. In recent years, we have all felt the pressure increase to improve those test scores. Research will bear out a strong correlation between a strong music program and rising test results. When a student is involved in the discipline of an effective music program, skills in other academic areas grow. This is especially true of new ways to use and apply reading and math problem-solving skills. It doesn’t hurt the self-esteem and self-discipline, either. On the other hand, have you considered what a bland, one-dimensional climate we would have without music in our curriculum? Not only would we be cheating our children out of a big part of their cultural heritage, we would severely limit their future. Schools would be factories of legislated drudgery, grinding through activities that are supposed to enable students to perform higher on TAAS.

We all know that the key to effective learning lies in meaningful activities. A strong music program enables us to build a climate that fosters such activity in our schools. I invite you to relax for a moment and consider the big picture. Forget the quick fix, and think about the long-range impact on a child’s life that a strong involvement in the performing arts affords. There are many parents out there who are so supportive of this aspect of their children’s education that they will get on waiting lists of performing arts magnet schools and be happy to send their kids there on long bus rides. I think there is a wisdom in that kind of thinking that will have a life-long payoff for the students involved.

At one point in time, I thought it might just be that students who perform higher in basic academic areas are attracted to the music programs, but on closer inspection, I find that this is not the case. Children of all types and attitudes are interested and motivated by music. It is really hard to predict who will sudden1y be turned on to some facet of the music program. I can think of example after example of fifth graders I was dreading to see become sixth graders turn around when they enrolled in band or orchestra. The “bad attitude” seemed to vanish when you put a sax or a cello in their hands (this seems to be especially true of euphoniums).

In my school, the children are fortunate enough to have a strong music teacher that works well with the regular classroom teacher. A well-structured teacher can correlate skills from music with basic math and language skills and enrich the classroom program by integrating the curriculum and working with thematic units to give added meaning to the learning activities. As the children get older, and their music skills expand, there are more and more ways to work music into the schools’ core curriculum. Then as our older elementary students approach junior high age, as I mentioned earlier, it really starts to benefit even more. It begins when junior high band and orchestra directors start recruiting our fifth graders (and in sixth, choral) for beginning band and orchestra during their final year here as sixth graders. They begin to experience a new degree of excitement and anticipation. I see students who have had difficulty in school develop a connection through the instrumental music programs they have not yet made at school. They associate with other kids that are motivated by a common goal and begin to develop a love of music that may serve them well throughout life. These students also have the advantage of being taught by the fine junior high music staff, some of the best and most positive motivators of children I have ever observed. They are wonderful, dedicated teachers. The positive carry-over into other areas of academics is easily recognizable just on an informal basis. I see in the literature that this is not just unique to our situation, but that in general kids who participate in the performing arts in school do far better than kids who don’t. For that reason alone, I will always do everything I can to promote music programs in our schools. The bottom line is seeing these students grow into productive, positive, “can do” adult members of society. I am convinced that a strong music program is a big factor in doing just that for many students who go through our system.

I feel fortunate that I am in a position to follow many of our students’ progress through their secondary school careers. So many of them do so well, and I attribute this, at least in part, to the self-discipline developed in the music program. Personally, I am gratified to see my former elementary students continue on through junior high and high school programs working so hard and producing such quality music. It also does my heart good to know the by-product of this wonderful experience is a boost toward a richer, more productive life.

Dr. John Phillips recently retired as principal of Yale Elementary in the Richardson ISD where he was an administrator for twenty-five years, the last twenty-two as an elementary principal. In high school he received honors in athletics and in music, including All-State honors as a baritone horn player. For the past 15 years he has played euphonium with the Richardson Community Band, a municipal group that performs approximately 20 times a year. He also enjoys participating in the Tuba Christmas concert each Christmas Eve at Thanksgiving Square in downtown Dallas. Phillips enjoys working directly with students, and he has been known to serve as ”substitute director” on certain occasions.