McLeod 1

Sidnee McLeod
Dr. Veblen
MUSIC 1800A 002 FW15
20 September 15
Annotated Bibliography 1: Modifying Music
Kratus, John. Music Education at the Tipping Point. Music Educators Journal 94.2
(2007): 42-48. Print
This article discusses the quality of Music education and its progression
throughout the years. In recent years, the demand for the arts has decreased,
especially Music education, because of budget cuts, and the thought that it is not as
valuable as the core courses, such as Science or Math or English. These courses
intend to build the students skills, preparing them for the outside world. In some of
the eyes of the public, Music is not scene to give them any of those skills, and that
is what todays modern world is demanding from the education systems. Useful
skills. This article brings up that music education needs to always change to meet
the demands of society, and states that Music education is developing into a course
that meets those demands.
Reading about music and how it has to change always makes me nervous. I
am a person who is definitely open to trying new options, however it is always
difficult for me to accept a new system of learning. Tradition and keeping Musics
past is important to me, and I would not want it to die. The theme of this article was
interesting because it was trying to balance between modern concepts and keeping
old Music ideals alive. Music education always should continue forward and develop
into something even better, because it would be boring if it stayed stagnant and
repetitive. I really enjoyed how the article presented the new opportunities for the

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new ideas for Music education. They were effective because they sparked interest in
the students because it was not just some boring lecture, but something that gave
the students free will to create and imagine. I was surprised and delighted to find
out that students of all ages were interested in creating their own operas- thats
amazing! It is such a good idea to improve Music education, because the balance is
still being retained. The students still have to learn about Opera, the rules, and get
some coaching on how to write one, but the students are also given creative liberty
and independence to write what they want to write, and let their music skills
develop- A modern twist on learning about old music. I love classical music, and the
fact that there are children who are willing to learn about it and write their own
classical music makes me very excited. One of my favourite quotes from this article
is Music educators, too, can uphold tradition while embracing the future (Kratus
46). This still maintains the balance- old concepts and music with new innovations
and composers.
This text also sparked something inside of me. It was emphatic frustration, of
how music is not perceived as a valuable skill, let alone a valuable art. Before it was
leading up to the improvements and the bright side of music education, it was
talking about budget cuts and lack of interest. It makes me very upset to think that
every time there was a budget cut, Music education was the first to lose the money.
This relates to me so well, at our school our music program was never prioritized, so
we never got enough money to fix all of our instruments, let alone buy any new
ones. I found out that our principal was putting most of the money into sports or
sciences, because that is what is more entertaining or useful in the real world. As
well, the text discussed the quality of Music Education, and how it was decreasing,
which also bothered me. It is definitely true; the most amazing music teacher went

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on maternity leave. My school hired two teachers that were very inexperienced and
were unable to teach me what I needed to know for University. These ideas made
me upset, because they were true.
If I were to say anything to the author, it would be Thank you. Most of the
time, when I thought about the developments of Music education, all I could think
about was how it was going down and eventually going to be taken out of the
curriculum, and how we were going to lose the important history of music. This
article, however, showed me that there is hope, that there are modifications to the
education of the art taking place that are helping it become more popular and
relevant to todays society. It makes me think that Music education will be alive so
that it will possible for me to become a music teacher, if I want to.