The Golden Age Of Music

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Music is a constant presence in the life of every human. It is an art that has existed since the beginning of the human species as a love directly encoded into the human genome. Whether a composer, performer, or simply a listener, music can have a profound effect on one’s emotions and life. Accordingly, formal education in music has existed for as long as formal education itself has existed. The ancient Greeks made music a central column of their education curriculum during their civilization’s height in the 6th and 5th centuries BCE, with the Athenians establishing schools that taught thirteen to sixteen-year-old students “to play the lyre and kithara and to sing, accompanied by their teacher on the aulos. Music taught discipline and order …show more content…

However, unfortunately, the confidence in music’s ability to benefit the individual is persistently waning in some modern Western societies. Far from eras such as the golden age of Greece in which society exalted the values of both natural philosophy and music, the United States, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere in the West, due to financial constraints and popular belief, have forsaken music under the impression that it must take last priority behind most other subjects. These educations systems fail to appreciate the various benefits that music performance and education have, not only the many cognitive and intellectual advantages, but more importantly, the ability for one to emotionally express oneself and develop character traits essential for success in …show more content…

(Burns)
As this information indicates, both the British government and many American public schools are significantly cutting the budget for music education, resulting in lower quality music education in schools. Aside from the obvious economic reasons for this, the public perception of music also has a profound effect on its funding. According to professor of music education John Kratus
History shows that American music educators have been most successful and their positions most secure when they satisfied the prevailing musical desires of the public. Singing schools in the late nineteenth century and the band movement in the mid-twentieth century are unmistakable examples of music education fulfilling the changing societal needs. Conversely, music education has suffered when it has been perceived as culturally irrelevant and unnecessary.

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