Music: Sounds in an empty room

Music can be used in education in two ways, the first is education in music and the second is music in education.

Have you ever tried to read and been collectively laughed at for the effort? I have.  I read Urdu in a halting fashion unable to connect consonants and sometimes even pausing in the middle of reading a word.

During my school days, one year after another, not one of my Urdu teachers was able to help me achieve fluency in the language and it was the only subject in which I was never interested.  Aspects of my Pakistani culture that I found inconvenient such as learning my national language I discarded. Like many other Pakistani English medium schoolchildren, I would physically attend Urdu class, but for all intents and purposes the room was empty. I know that my Urdu teachers tried their best to make me learn and appreciate my language, but they didn’t try everything. They could have tried music.

Music is not just mere entertainment, in our most trying moments when we feel alone and alienated from society, music can be our saviour. Music, as they say, soothes the savage beast. It captivates and entrances.

Music can be used in educational settings in two ways, the first is education in music and the second is music in education. They might sound similar but they are two different approaches that can help in shaping individual abilities and characters.

Education in music is having a regular music class devoted to training students to appreciate music, to sing and to play instruments. The other form, that is the use of music in education, is highly neglected. It implies the use of music as a teaching/learning aid in a traditional subject classroom. The Earth song by Michael Jackson is a good example for making children learn about war, deforestation, animal poaching etc. The music video may be played in history class and students could focus on the theme of war. Or maybe the environmental studies or geography teacher could play the song and focus on themes such as deforestation and poaching. Some songs may cut across disciplines, but when selecting music, the teacher must keep in mind the level of the students.

Primary school teachers are well versed in the use of music in educational settings as is evidenced by their use of nursery rhymes, number songs, folk songs etc.  But for some reason, as a child grows older and his/her mind develops, teachers become increasingly traditional and lecture oriented. An adolescent is able to grasp abstract ideas and devour copious amounts of texts, but that does not mean he/she will not appreciate good teaching/learning aids such as the use of digitised music video or audio recording.

In Pakistan, music is restricted to morning assemblies only. The singing/listening to the national anthem is a daily ritual in order to develop patriotism among kids. Next on the list is the school anthem that makes children understand their identity and creates love for the school and its culture. Many educational activities such as annual shows, Independence Day celebrations and others may be designed around the use of music; yet secondary teachers rarely, if ever, bring music to the classroom.

Now imagine if my Urdu teacher had let me listen to and/or watch Coke studio in class. Surely, she would have gotten my attention and interest. I have the gift for the appreciation of poetry; using this gift I might have examined song lyrics and thus may have learnt some new Urdu words. I may have been able to translate a song from one language to another. Or maybe I could have written my own lyrics using the notes of a song.

Using music in education can lead to a dramatic impact on the reading and writing abilities of the students. Music may create interest and motivation for students, who have difficulty concentrating on some subjects, taught in a traditional manner.

Every child deserves a well-rounded education: one that includes music both as a subject in its own right and as a means of supporting learning in other areas. With music being part of education, kids not only learn and process their thinking more effectively, but it keeps them engaged and is simply fun!

I hope that teachers who are reading this article experiment with such innovative teaching/learning strategies and make their classrooms more engaging, meaningful, and fun. I also believe that parents and school children can demand such change for themselves.

The writer is a graduate of LUMS and is currently studying at Notre Dame Institute of Education.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 21^st, 2011.