Nowadays, the importance and role of music as an essential part of the education system are underestimated both by authorities and parents. STEM subjects currently feel supremacy over arts and humanities in terms of neoliberal development of the world. Recent Covid-19 outburst and its preventive measures’ consequences make music education to come to the forefront. Music plays an essential role during that challenging time, as it distracts from anxiety, stress, and decreases the chance of falling into depression. Parents should commend music educators who still accomplish their job via distance learning instead of criticizing them for overloading their children with “unnecessary” tasks.
This essay is aimed to present the actual influence of music on the students and explain why music educators should remain leaders who encourage students to hold on. Despite the lack of appreciation, every child needs a proper delivery of music education in the time of Covid-19, as it also helps to deal with other classes.
In general, music is the form of expression that binding those who create it and those who listen to it with the help of spiritual connection. Music is believed for a long time to induce emotions and recall feelings experienced in the past (Colling & Thompson, 2013).
According to the research of Scherer and Coutinho (2013), music can evoke various affective states within utilitarian, aesthetic, and epistemic sets of emotions. The authors also highlighted the psychobiological routes that involve different subsystems of the central nervous system (Scherer & Coutinho, 2013). Music characteristics, the way it is performed, and the condition of the listener are essential elements to be considered. By targeting such routes, as the appraisal, memory association, and entertainment, music educators apply different genres and songs for emotional regulation of their students, their cognitive enhancement, and physical resumption.
Moreover, more evidence-based studies prove the influence of music on listeners’ mental state. Colling and Thompson (2013) presented a theoretical framework of visual, bodily, and acoustic dimensions of music interconnection that leads to a complex of psychological and social effects. It argues that composers can control the arousal element of the listener’s emotional experience by managing how goals are achieved and the level of synchronization between them.
Furthermore, nerve terminals in different parts of the brain have a responsibility to decode and interpret the different properties of music, ranging from tone and melody to rhythm and its emotional content (Laracuente, 2020). It means that music has the potential to improve not only the conditions of the individual’s soul but also the health. Other studies on music therapy reveal that it helps older people with dementia, depression, and patients with other serious diseases to cope with anxiety and disruptive behavior (Laracuente, 2020). Music can make people of all ages feel happy, energetic, and alert. Therefore, it exerts a powerful effect not only physically, but also emotionally, and helps listeners to focus on the here and now, and feed their spirit.
Considering earlier presented information, it becomes clear that music in the hands of professional educators can become a powerful tool that restores joy and provides stability even during the Covid-19 pandemic. According to Pitts (2017), music education improves psychological well-being, school engagement, language and literacy, empathy, creativity, and many other students’ qualities. Despite the modern “supplementary” role imposed by governments, music courses should be enforced by educators’ leadership in order to foster the life-long musical engagement of students that will enable them to live creative and fulfilling lives.
The pandemic highlights the importance of music activities and their influence on the emotional state of people. Social distancing and quarantine require isolation and the lockdown of all educational institutions and entertainment sites. The majority of high school students express their disappointment with music and art events being canceled or postponed (Scott, 2020). Many of them claim that they are gradually losing motivation to improve their skills and to study while being exposed to boredom and anxiety. Currently, the main task of educators is to utilize the power of music to nourish their students emotionally and socially.
Rehearsals of chorus or ensemble are not possible to replicate online for technical reasons, but teachers are able to establish a special communication space using online tools. Such space enables students to express their anxiety and receive a piece of advice from their teachers. Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) should be implemented to encourage students to improve their self-monitoring and self-perception skills (Scott et al., 2020). Remote instructions also should require individual reflection on the challenges and successes. Moreover, with the help of an asynchronous type of learning music, educators can encourage their students to fulfill practical but straightforward tasks, such as making presentations on a given topic or recording video performing musical exercises.
Another current issue that can be successfully addressed by music teachers is that children lose their social circles, peer connections, mentors, and routines. Online music lessons and some tasks that encourage group collaboration can relieve the adverse effects of long-lasting isolation. Music improves the mood of students, while group assignments help to maintain peer connections. In general, music has the power to build bridges not only between peers in schools or universities but also around the world (Lee et al., 2020). Although live music events have been canceled, social media platforms witnessed an unprecedented increase in the volume of music content.
Many famous musicians, such as John Legend, Pink, Miley Cyrus, and Diplo, delighted their fans with live stream concerts on Instagram instead of traditional ones. People in Italy turned to music as a symbol of hope and harmony and sang national songs on their balconies. Those examples point to the importance of music in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. The pandemic seemingly plays the role of a cultural propagation catalyst that can enhance the diffusion of different cultures around the world. Online music sharing was believed to create a monoculture based on American consumerism and eliminate isolated micro-cultures (Lee et al., 2020). However, this accelerated music sharing shows that its long-term outcome may be opposite with small music cultures reaching geographically dispersed audiences.
Furthermore, music is one of the ways that helps to mobilize social capital, which is essential for a sound society. Camlin (2020) states that “musicking” is a simultaneously relational and musical activity, which makes it capable of bolstering ties between involved people. The musical “moment” is usually accompanied by neurohormonal activations and interpersonal neurobiology caused by musical entertainment. These kinds of interactions make people feel happy because they are socially connected. Music enhances social ties through cooperation and contact between individuals, with the help of empathy, cohesion, or a sense of social belonging, and by increasing the secretion of the oxytocin, what is the hormone of happiness.
To conclude, the Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of music education in dealing with its adverse consequences, such as anxiety and stress. Music is capable of distracting people from negative thoughts and inducing pleasurable ones. The power of music also enables educators to address social problems that their students face with the help of the asymmetric teaching approach. Music is binding children and helps them to be socially connected with others. Despite the inability to hold proper rehearsals and concerts, music teachers continue to play an essential role in bringing positivity and joy for the learners whom they serve.
References
Camlin, D. (2020) Music in the early days of a better planet. Royal College of Music. Web.
Colling, L. J., & Thompson, W. F. (2013). Music, action, affect. In T. Cohrane, B. Fantini & K. R. Scherer (Eds.), The emotional power of music: Multidisciplinary perspectives on musical arousal, expression, and social control (pp.197-212). Oxford University Press.
Laracuente, L. A. (2020) La música como pasatiempo para el alma y otros beneficios [Music as a hobby for the soul and other benefits]. El Nuevo Día. Web.
Lee, D., Baker, W., & Haywood, N. (2020) Coronavirus, the cultural catalyst. University of Tasmania. Web.
Pitts, S. E. (2017). What is music education for? Understanding and fostering routes into lifelong musical engagement. Music Education Research, 19(2), 160-168.
Scherer, K. R., & Coutinho, E. (2013). How music creates emotion: A multifactorial process approach. In T. Cohrane, B. Fantini & K. R. Scherer (Eds.), The emotional power of music: Multidisciplinary perspectives on musical arousal, expression, and social control (pp. 121-145). Oxford University Press.
Scott N. E., Morrison E. A., & Morrison, B. (2020). Optimism through the COVID-19 disruption: Utilizing social emotional learning for reflection and growth. New Jersey Arts Education Partnership. Web.
Scott, N. E. (2020). The students’ voice during the COVID-19 disruption (Part 1 of 2). NAfME. Web.