TEDxSydney - Richard Gill - The Value of Music Education

Worth the 13 minute commitment.

The Virginia Beach City Public Schools was recently named one of the Best Communities for Music Education for 2012. This is a prestigious national designation sponsored by the NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing active participation in music. Beach schools were among the 166 school divisions and 10 schools across the country recognized.

Some takeaways...and why we do what we do. Is it really just a fun activity, or is there a lot more to it?

"Music is worth teaching for its own sake.

It is worth teaching because it is good.

It is worth teaching because it is unique.

It is worth teaching because it empowers children spectacularly"

"Music is an aural art...Sound organized in some way passing through time."

"It is abstract.

It doesn't mean anything outside of itself.

In each person, music evokes a different response
Music does not describe

Music does not narrate

Music does not tell stories

Music evokes

Music suggests

Music implies

Music opens up the mind of a child in an extraordinary way."