Shining Brightly, Blazing Boldly: Reflections on Passion in the Music Classroom

The above words are sung by Jo March’s character in the musical Little Women. As a music educator, song lyrics often cohabitate my cognitive space, running concurrently with other thoughts, ideas, or conversations. When I think of passion then, I am brought back to these lyrics because they perfectly encapsulate the essence of what it means to be passionate. Passion is about discovering what drives you from the inside out and makes you persevere when challenged. When given the opportunity to be nurtured, passion blossoms into purpose. Over the last two years, I have been privileged and honored to be the Borgen Faculty Fellow, which allowed me to deeply explore my professional passions and in turn, cemented my sense of purpose as a music educator.

During my fellowship, I worked to earn my master’s in music education at the University of Northern Colorado. While my initial plan in the program was to focus mainly on arts integration, what I discovered was so much richer than this narrow perspective of subject matter integration. Having been immersed in research, I found myself fascinated by pedagogical philosophy and curricular trends in music education. One article after another, my passion began to take shape around the ideas of identity and comprehensive music education in the 21st century, with arts integration as just one fantastic piece of that puzzle. 

For too long, music education has been focused on presentational performance as the goal for all students. Not only does this prevent students from knowing the many ways to experience and make music, it also limits students’ understanding of how music (and the sister arts) can help build the many parts of their identity. The work of music philosopher Randall Allsup particularly stuck with me when he wrote that the most important experience is for students to make musical decisions that matter. Yes, some students may indeed fall in love with performing, but ALL students need to experience music as an outlet to explore their own passions–in other musical roles, in other subjects, as a leader, and in societal issues as a form of civil discourse. In this sense, students gain another perspective of their world, but through the lens of music. When students explore their own passions and gain a global perspective, they are also socially and emotionally developing and building character, as well as progressing in key areas and skills of 21st century learning frameworks. Once a siloed perspective, arts integration then naturally becomes deeply woven into the tapestry of the whole academic program. 

I took a deeper dive into my passion of curriculum reform for comprehensive music education when I explored songwriting and visual art through my thesis. By the end of my thesis and my master’s program, another piece was added to my own identity puzzle. My passions have grown into my purpose: to help students build their identity and explore their own passions through musical decisions that matter in a reframed curriculum for 21st century learners. Graland’s learners may be young, but I hope that all students who enter my classroom go on to shine as brightly as the sun wherever their passions take them, as Jo March’s character goes on to sing,