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Ongoing History Daily: The importance of music education

Music education is more than about learning to play an instrument, understanding music theory, and learning to read music. It also helps with critical thinking, mathematical abilities, and eye-hand coordination. This has been known for centuries.

The ancient Greeks thought that music education was as important as philosophy when it came to developing young minds and the moral character of young people. They believed that the “art of sounds,” as they sometimes called it, needed to be part of anyone’s overall life discipline. Plato and Pythagoras suggested that music and philosophy coordinated things within the human soul, which, in turn, led to universal harmony.

The one hitch? Some, like Aristotle, thought that music created purely for the pleasure of an audience was bad. Why? Because that undermined what he saw as the essence of music. We can probably guess what he’d think about today’s pop music.

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

Alan Cross has 39635 posts and counting. See all posts by Alan Cross

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