Why Music?

When I saw this on social media today, I immediately reposted it with the caption, "And of course, music is also geography."

Geography is sometimes called the Science of Where, and the geographers in my department often use three questions as our guide: 

• Where is it?
• Why is it there?
• So what?

We use these to apply geographic thinking to all manner of things. As we see throughout this blog and the class it accompanies, music is a perfect example. Music always comes from somewhere, and it tells us something about that place. And most music goes somewhere, telling us about the connections among places. As our connections increase, music is part of a rich tapestry of change. 

When I posted the infographic, a former geography student replied right away, referring to her adult son:

I can’t tell you how pleased I am that my son took up band in fifth grade and has stuck with it into college. I am not a musical person. I can’t read music at all. Whenever I see him play with the marching band or orchestra, my heart is full. It’s all those things in the image. It enriches his life and mine.

As I write this, Massachusetts voters are considering an end to the requirement that all high school students pass a particular, very narrow exam in order to graduate. I have been teaching here over the entire life of that requirement, and I have seen the damage that has resulted from the narrowing of the curriculum. 

I hope we are on the verge of a return to a more diverse and inclusive pedagogy that has as much music, art, drama, sewing, cooking, metal shop, and photography as my own education did. And let's start with music!