Music Education – What is best for students?
A Look at Music Education in Film
Mr Holland’s Opus is not a new film, but it gives us a look at Music Education through a period of time when education was becoming rigid and, in some ways, codified. There were particular expectations of students, and few routes or options for how to reach these preset goals. The film follows a teacher throughout his life as he begrudgingly commits himself to education, first as a temporary choice to fund his career as a composer, but in time, he changed his mind. “It’s almost funny,” Mr. Holland said, “I got dragged into this gig kicking and screaming, and now it’s the only thing I want to do.” His students proclaimed themselves to be his “magnum opus” in the end. He was determined to give his students a chance to really love music, and to use any method to that means, conventional or unconventional. The film tracks him through several decades of his life as he grows and changes his perspective. He faces challenges of allowing his work to overcome his home life, and distract him from caring for his wife and son. He allows himself to develop and inappropriate connection to a student. He challenges school leaders on their rigid requirements. He allows his work to be inspired by his son’s deafness.
One of the explicitly outlined themes in the movie is the change of perspective that the protagonist experiences, and the effect that his perspective had on students and educators around him. He shifted from an obligation stance to a passion stance more and more as the movie progressed, and formed his own theory of music education. He discovered how important and valuable it is, and decided that the real value isn’t just in the music, it is in the people. He stumbled on the idea that a love of music is based on inspiration, and different people are inspired by different things. He took the time to dig into what inspired his students, and for some of them, it changed their lives. It helped them to understand and appreciate themselves more.
Why Music Matters
Digging in to the implied meanings of the film, there is a lot to be found. The overarching story of the change in perspective we see not only Mr. Holland’s perspective change, we see the students’ perspectives change, about how they see themselves. The implication is that the pursuit of learning music is also a pursuit of self discovery and self acceptance. It is implied that there is a connection between music and the emotions, that personal healing and confidence can be found in the process. Through passion and grit Mr. Holland taught kids how to engage in music learning and understanding through whatever means necessary. Pushback from the school against “rock and roll” did not stop him from using the kids’ interest in popular music as a tool to teach them to love making music. “I will use anything from Beethoven to Billie Holiday to rock and roll, if I think it’ll help me teach a student to love music.” Mr. Holland here seems to be operating under a sort of mythological idea that music engagement is essential to healthy human development. Why else would he be so passionately applying himself to this quest?
It brings us to our question of whether or not music should be an essential subject for students, and begs the question, is there truth in this mythology? In the movie as the music program was threatened with being defunded, Vice Principal Walters said, “I care about these kids just as much as you do. And if I’m forced to choose between Mozart and reading and writing and long division, I choose long division.”
Mr. Holland’s response was, “Well, I guess you can cut the arts as much as you want, Gene. Sooner or later, these kids aren’t going to have anything to read or write about.”
The question of whether music matters enough for schools to fund it is a long debated one. Those who have been affected by music very positively tend to be strong supporters of it. For some kids, it seems to be practically the only way to get through to them. Math and writing are considered “essential,” without questions. But music programs have been in steady decline since the mid ’90’s when this movie was created.
What Can We Do?
Much of the reason this has been happening is symptomatic of government regulations. Modern educational reforms emphasize standardized learning and testing. Music is not one of the subjects that is tested on any essential test. So in that way, it is clearly in the non-essential category. With schools increasingly struggling with staffing and funding as prices and salaries necessarily rise with time, cuts often need to be made. The standardized goals must continue to be met.
Still, many adhere to the ideology that Mr. Holland held in our film example, in which music is enriching to young people in a way that math and english is not, and that they are missing out on something equally important if they are not enrolled in music education as well. The National Association for Music Education has taken a look at some of the ways that music education can be improved as a whole in order to be more effective for students. In the K-12 time period equitable funding and inclusion and varied offerings to increase participation are all listed as issues that could be addressed.
It’s interesting to see that each of these things were also addressed in Mr. Holland’s Opus as potential issues that music educators may face. It should be noted that, even though not every student needs to pursue music professionally, similarly not every student needs to pursue mathematics professionally, and yet, educators strive to set each of them up with the education they need in order to to do so if they desire.
I love this clip from the movie, in which Mr. Holland helps Gertrude connect with the music she is trying to play, and the way it helped her connect with herself, and feel beautiful, something which was likely formative for her as an individual. Not every moment in music education is this beautiful, but these are the moments that stick with us forever.