by Dr. Kenneth Smith, Associate Professor of Music Education, Western Michigan University

Music is ‘visible’ from birth. Neurons in the human brain respond differently to music than to language (Kosakowski, et al., 2023). In other words, we can identify or perceive music from infancy. This is not an earth-shattering revelation.  From our phones, to our vehicles, and in the businesses we frequent, music is an ever-present part of life. Music is also in our schools, but often in school—as in life—we don’t always register what we see. We do not always attend to the music around us. The month of March is a designated time to remind our students, fellow teachers, and administrators that music education is here, all around you. You only need to look around the school and see the influences of music from the sound coming from the music wing to posters for the musical in the hallway.

I See Music Education is NAfME’s theme for MIOSM this year. How do we encourage our school communities to be mindful of the presence and function of music in our schools? You will find several resources and ideas to implement at the MIOSM webpage. One suggestion is the use of daily prompts to encourage your students to think about music. Many of these prompts would work well for school-wide announcements in the morning, perhaps accompanied by a song to bring attention to the choir at school. But, why stop at the end of March? We can continue to help our schools see music throughout the year by asking the question: how can I advocate for my school music program year-round?

Advocacy, at its heart, is about generating visibility and excitement among your members. According to the 2022 NAfME Strategic Plan, advocacy is the work of championing music education at the local, state and national levels. To do this, we need to recruit those champions for our school music programs; this includes engaging students, parents, teachers, school administrators and local community leaders who support your music programs through gifts of time and money, through vocal acclamation and through political action at all levels of government.

Challenge your students and their parents to take the next step by making their voices heard. Each student and family involved in your music programs has a story to tell about how school music education has impacted their lives. These stories communicate the heart of the value of music in personal growth and development. Sam Daley-Harris, a very successful advocate for addressing world hunger (and a former music educator) asserts that the core of advocacy is sharing our commitment to a cause, and through telling our story we inspire others to feel empowered to make a difference and join us in the cause.

Advocacy can be small acts like writing letters or meeting with the school principal; It can be putting a sign on your lawn or on your backpack to show support and solidarity. Grassroots advocacy is a tool to make your program visible, not just to administrators, but also to students, to teachers and to your communities. Small or large, we can encourage others to do something to promote music in our schools. MIOSM is a good place to make a start—or a time to resolve to do something more this year–but advocacy should be happening all year long.

References:

Daley-Harris, Sam (2024). Reclaiming Our Democracy: Healing the Break Between People and Government (2nd ed.). Rivertown Books, Irvington, NY.

NAfME 2022 Strategic Plan