Abstract
As the planet becomes increasingly interconnected, music educators face new challenges and acquire new opportunities. When the English poet William Wordsworth wrote the following sonnet around 1802, he was critiquing the Industrial Revolution and lamenting the loss of humankind’s connectedness to nature and to what was meaningful:
The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon, The winds that will be howling at all hours, And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers,
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not.—Great God! I’d rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.
The members of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) and its supporters have not forgotten what is important, and we are in fact often “in tune” as few other professionals in the twenty-first century can claim to be. Through music study, we offer students a kind of learning that enhances their humanity, their connectedness, and their capacity to listen to and communicate with each other at a time when much of the media output we encounter is infused with vitriol and unwillingness to hear a different perspective.
One of the most important human qualities is the ability to be creative. This skill has enhanced our capacity to survive in diverse circumstances and increase our problem-solving potential in all areas of interaction. This issue of Music Educators Journal contains a Special Focus on Teaching for Musical Creativity. As you read these articles, recall that the 2014 Music Standards begin with “creating” and continue with the other artistic processes of “performing” and “responding.” Equally important to music teachers is the critical step of communicating what we’ve learned. Discover more about the Music Standards by visiting http://bit.ly/2014Standards.
