For century after century, music education has been a staple in educational systems around the world. Seen as a critical category of education in almost every culture and time period, music education is a fundamental pillar of academic success. However, modern music education has seen a sharp decline in this belief. As quoted by John Kratus, a professor of music education at Michigan State University, “We are undoubtedly living in a period of rapid cultural and social change. We are also witnessing a dramatic transformation in the ways people experience music and the practices used to educate children. Is music education keeping pace with these changes?” Indeed, today’s culture and technology is changing at a faster pace than in any other era of human history, but our education system, specifically music education, is struggling to keep pace.

Importance of Music Education

Music education has been a foundation of academics for good reason. Music education has been studied in-depth, and a solid understanding of music has been linked to

A higher IQ score.

Better critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

Increased and faster childhood development.

Better and more well-rounded social skills.

The Problem with Today’s Music Education

Several problems exist with modern music education; however, there is one major issue that stands out above all the rest. This single issue is the lack of any sort of cohesion in a music curriculum. With different instructors, different textbooks, and different lessons every year of a student’s academic instruction, there is an alarming amount of both overlap and underlap in a student’s overall music education. Much of the information is repeated over and over again, yielding in no net knowledge transfer, while a large amount of necessary information is excluded entirely.

A Solution for Modern Music Education

Having identified the problem, the best solution to maximize a student’s music education, and thus the student’s overall education, is by using a single, comprehensive lesson plan. This type of lesson plan, such as that found at My Music Journal, eliminates both overlap and under lap of information, and maximizes a child’s music education. This lesson plan, with a single, clear style of instruction designed to produce real results over several years of curriculum, identifies and fixes this primary obstacle for a solid music education foundation. By maximizing a student’s elementary music lessons, both future music endeavors and overall academic success are also maximized, allowing students to find the path to success much easier.