Music is embedded into the world’s culture. It has become an artistic form of self representation and therefore, it is popular among all generations. Even children are surrounded by music from a young age, prompting them to grow up into a music filled society. In the article, Why Music Education Matters to Me, Kelsey Wikaham explains how a bad result led her to the realization that music is her calling. Wikaham received a score that did not meet her high expectations; however, instead of withdrawing herself from the world of musical education, she allowed her wonderful experiences in the program to persuade her to continue an education in music. The fact that she was not deterred by a poor score, made her realize that she had a passion for music. This is the realization that made her consider becoming a teacher. She wanted to relay this lesson onto her students and she would make it her goal to emphasize the importance of providing children with challenges in their academic and elective life. Wikaham believes that challenges are beneficial to developing minds and therefore, challenges should be sought after and not avoided. She claims that music is an effective way of providing a student beneficial challenges that will help pave the way to a successful life.
The strengths of this article come when Wikaham uses evidence based results and personal anecdotes to highlight the benefits of being involved in music while pursuing an education. Some may claim that being involved in music may distract or take time away from students and therefore, hinder their academic achievements. Wikaham disproves this claim by stating that ‘Numerous studies have tested and proven time and again that students involved in music tend to be higher achieving’ (Wikaham, pg. 50). She further supports her position by alluding to her personal experiences with music and how it helped her during her educational career. Wikaham’s argument provides little room for debate and this helps solidify her stance on the importance of music.
One of Wikaham’s main concerns is that when students go to school and are only taught the basic teachings that focus on English and math, they are not provided the chance to be creative and express themselves freely. This is why Wikaham believes that music is crucial to help a student develop a stronger character, since music allows the student’s mind to think freely and creatively. One way that she plans on tackling this issue, is by emphasizing that the role of teachers is to evoke creativity and passion within a student. This portrayal of a teacher’s role aligns perfectly with her position on music. Hence, she is able to provide a logical argument to support her claim that students should be involved in music.
The author states that ‘Exposure to music in an academic setting will without a doubt inspire a greater appreciation of music in young people’ (Wikaham, pg. 50). Wikaham emphasizes the idea that students need and deserve more music in their lives. She believes that growing up with some type of creativity will benefit children throughout their lives. Furthermore, Wikaham demonstrates the importance of providing children with creativity by calling children the future. In addition, she uses this fact along with her personal anecdote to support her argument that music can help students focus on turning negative outcomes in life into positive ones, much how she did. By elucidating the positive outcomes that music can have on the lives of children and pointing out the fact that children are the future, she is able to create an emotional mode of persuasion to her audience which is primarily made up of adults who either have children or work in an environment with children.
Within creating a logical and emotional argument to persuade her audience to consider music as an important element in children’s lives, Wikaham simultaneously managed to create an ethical appeal to her audience. She was able to do this by mentioning her experience with music throughout the article. By sharing this information, she consistently reminded the reader that she has credibility since she went through a life changing experience with music. Wikaham successfully incorporates the three modes of persuasion into the article to increase her chances of persuading her audience. She is able to do this successfully because she knows who her target audience is and that is what allows her to identify which points she should make to be the most persuasive. However, despite her use of ethos, pathos, and logos, her article lacks a significant amount of concrete data to support her claims. She does mention some studies within the article, but in order to present a stronger argument, she would have to provide more evidence to have a balance between her personal experiences and scientific research. It is clear that Wikaham relies on her personal experiences to persuade her audience and this is a weakness within her article.
Wikaham believes that children should not be satisfied with the traditional route of education. She encourages teachers and adults to persuade students into taking challenging electives that can expand their minds. She truly believes that being involved in an art form, such as music, will provoke positive changes within the youth. Wikaham knows that as a teacher, her role is to push her students to be the best that they can be. Therefore, she acts on this premise in order to single out the role of a teacher in her writing in an attempt to gather the support of teachers everywhere, so they can help expose children to the importance of music. She is able to claim that music is important by providing personal experiences and emphasis on concepts that benefit students. Although Wikaham lacks scientific research, she still manages to present a valid argument that is very persuasive. Wikaham’s article demonstrates the significant role music can have on children and how much of an impact it will have in children’s futures.
