Samuel Hope is executive director of the National
Association of Schools of Music.
It is particularly challenging to respond to a comprehensive
and thoughtful paper in a few words. Professor Gates, supported by
his commission members, has provided us with what the French call
"a tour of the horizon." What a grand intellectual tour
it is, taking us from the inner processes of music itself to broad
contextual issues to various heights of scholarly perspective. There
are contrasts, often poignant, between assertions of the committed
and the skepticism of bystanders and critics. Many of the problems
of educating for culture in a free market democracy are considered.
The paper is written with precision. It argues with poise. It reflects
a deep understanding of multiple perceptions about the question of
its title.
Given all of these attributes, what is a responder
to do? To reinforce certain points does not move us beyond or even
into questions raised by the paper itself. To quibble over nuances
of interpretation is not worth our time. Instead, I want to respond
by emphasizing yet another perspective, one included in Professor
Gates' paper but not the center of its broader purpose. By responding
in this way, I hope to provide this symposium with two kinds of answers
to the question of "Why Study Music?" One is a comprehensive
analysis; the other, a simple response. One is a policy investigation;
the other, a primal answer. Both are needed if we are to advance the
cause of music study.
There are many ways of organizing the structure
of knowledge. Let me mention two. The first is to consider the basic
functions of major modes of thought and action. The function of science
is to tell us how the world works, the function of history is to tell
us what happened, the function of philosophy is to tell us what things
mean, and the function of art is to make new things or to make old
things new. These modes of thought and action are present in every
discipline, no matter what category. However, in gaining a basic education,
it is more effective to learn these modes by acquiring the basics
of the core disciplines of science, history, and art, and at the appropriate
developmental stage, philosophy. Elementary and secondary students
study science as science, history as history, art as art, in order
to gain basic information and to understand how these basic modes
of thought and action work. Music is one of the core disciplines in
the arts category.
Another set of organizers describes the way that
human beings communicate with each other. Beyond touch, taste, and
smell, I can think of five: letters and words, numbers and associated
symbols, still images, moving images, and abstract sound. When we
put letters and words together, we have language. When we put numbers
and symbols together, we have mathematics. When we work to create
still images, we produce the work in the fine arts, architecture,
and design. When we work with the moving image, we produce dance and
film. When we work with abstract sound, we create music.
We can conclude from these two series that music
is worth studying because it is a core exemplar of one of the four
basic modes of thought and action, and because in itself, it is one
of the five basic ways that human beings communicate with each other.
What could be more fundamental than that? Music is a basic way of
knowing and doing because of its own nature and because of the relationship
of that nature to the human mind and intellect.
Beyond the fact that music is hardwired into our
basic mental, emotional, and intellectual equipment, the pursuit of
music through study begins to produce many other things beyond an
understanding of its fundamental uniqueness. As Professor Gates' paper
includes and indicates, there are many lists of these benefits. But
everyone here who has studied to create or perform music for a long
time, knows that such study teaches things that nothing else teaches.
Take organization, for example. Many kinds of study teach us about
organization or how to organize. However, nothing but music study
teaches us about organization in terms of abstract sound. Organization
in sound comes out differently than organization with words; it requires
a different thought process, a different technique. The Romeo and
Juliet of Tchaikovsky is not the Romeo and Juliet of Shakespeare.
Neither creating them, presenting them, or receiving them is the same.
The different thing about music study is its use of the material of
sound rather than other material, and all that this implies for developmental
learning. When we are working in the studio, or in rehearsal, or in
analysis, struggling to make sound make sense, we are connecting a
fundamental mode of thought with a basic means of communication using
knowledge, intellect, and physical skill. We are solving sound design
problems. We are doing something unique. This is what Professor Gates
is talking about when he suggests that the product and the process
are one. These connections are made from the simplest levels of capacity
to the most complex. At the summits of achievement, these connections
produce incredible intellectual and emotional results. As is true
in all disciplines, these high achievements confirm music's fundamental
position, its revelatory powers, and its place in basic education.
Without question, we live in a context that can
be explained from many perspectives. We can consider and argue politically,
economically, sociologically, promotionally, and so forth, but none
of these perspectives produce a note of music. Virtually none of us
are music professionals, because at some time in our past, we made
a sociological analysis, much less an economic or political one. At
base, we are musicians and teachers of music because our own study
has taught us something so valuable that we can do nothing else with
our lives except try to pass that value and that opportunity on to
others. Our culture regularly invites everyone to feel guilty and
walk away from hard focused work and great achievement, to reject
that which we don't enjoy immediately. Our policy future on behalf
of music study needs to reject these invitations. We must ask and
answer the question "Why Study Music?" not because we don't
have the answers, or even an understanding of other people's answers,
but because so many other people don't have the answer, or don't want
to hear it, people who make decisions that affect us and our mission
of substance. Some want to use the power of music but not give others
access to this power. Others want to use music or arts education purely
for political, economic, or other purposes. There are hundreds of
nonsubstantive agendas.
We satisfy these agendas at the peril of our cause
and our professional lives and honor. We will never answer all of
the skeptics. Despite all evidence, we in the arts will never convince
everyone that intellectual work can be pursued through the still image,
the moving image, and sound, as well as it can be pursued through
words and numbers. But no matter what anyone says, no matter what
anyone funds, no matter what anyone does, the facts of nature, the
facts of history, and the facts derived from our own experience reveal
fundamental truths about music and its position as a human basic in
terms of brain, mind, and heart. As such, everyone who is to be educated
must have an introduction to the world of communication, thought,
and achievement that is music. Study is the only way to gain a fundamental
understanding of this world. Music is no different in this regard
than any of the other basic modes of thought and action or means of
communication. If we are wise, we will render unto politics that which
is political; to economics, that which is financial; to sociology,
that which is sociological; to demographics, that which is demographic;
to advocacy, that which is promotional; and to technology, that which
is technical. However, in doing all of these things, we will never
forget that the center of our purpose is to render unto music that
which belongs to music.
And so, as we move forward with the great responsibility
for music that we hold in trust for civilization, let not our knowledge
of a problematic context, the admonitions of nay-sayers, or the manipulations
of pundits and politicians destroy our faith. Rather, let us use our
understanding of difficulties and arguments and opposing forces as
the basis for strong tactical decisions that advance our grand strategy
so that what we know to be true from thought, study, experience, and
evidence can be brought into the lives of many, many others. How can
music, among all the others things that it is, also be about learning?
How can we help students to more of music? How can we build a bridge
between what they know music to be and what music can do? How can
we build a bridge from self-absorption to broad engagement? These
have always been our great tasks. They are our great tasks now. The
answer to our question for this hour is in music itself.
