Education | Arts Education Foundation

Music Is Not All About Talent

Talent is not all it takes to make it with a career in music. Although, talent is always a nice start, an extremely good educational music training is a better way to begin a journey in the field of music. Not everyone can just go on American Idol and become the next big thing. There are many music schools throughout the country, but Florida has some of the best.
- Clearwater Christian College, in Clearwater, Florida is an extremely small school with less than 600 students. It is a private school, but it is a nondenominational college.
- University of South Florida, located in Tampa, Florida is one of the largest universities in Florida. It carries more than 45,000 students a year. This is a public school and is not associated with a church.
These are only two of many Florida schools that have music programs and concentrations.
Schools that have programs in music teach either commercially or classically tuned music. There are three major degrees or degrees with special music concentrations.
- Bachelor of Art, B.A., which is a general music degree.
- Bachelor of Music, B.M., is a more in depth music degree that has specifications in composition, performance, voice, and/or music therapy
- Bachelor of Science, B.S., is an degree in education, but with concentrations of education in voice and instruments.
Schools that focus primarily on music are often smaller than major universities. This allows students to completely concentrate on learning every aspect of their future music careers. They are given more personalized instruction, so that the students can work on developing their musical talents.
The larger universities where students major in music are often for individuals who want a more rounded education with classes in more than just music. Academic lessons are required in universities and some students minor in degrees other than music. They will apply for a minor in education, for example, so that they will have multiple career potentials.

Filed Under: Education, Music Tagged With: Bachelor of Music, Music, Music therapy

Choose a Non-Traditional Music Career

: Cover of Wynton Marsalis

Most people when they think of having a music career are singers or rappers. Some may even think of people such as Wynton Marsalis, one of the best jazz musicians of the 21st century. Those kinds of careers in music seems to be the most well known, but there are many other careers in music with less notoriety.
Musicians who want to be teachers can have a degree in music and education. These individuals will become music teachers for middle school or high school. They will be able to offer their knowledge of music arts to the students and encourage talented individuals. The salary for a career in music education would be similar to a regular teacherâ€™s salary. This is the kind of position that one must enjoy. It offers a great amount of self enjoyment.
Teacher who like teaching music, but would like a higher salary than a schoolteacher can pursue a career in private lessons. These are the piano teachers that have students come to their home or studio on a weekly basis. These are also the kind of teacher that teach voice to would be singers.
Psychologists, counselors, and therapists have recently begun to use music as a path toward healing. Music therapy is a career path for those who like the art of music, but also want the practicality of science to help others. In this field of study, individuals would have to train with traditional scientific methods of behavioral analysis. In addition, they must acquire some musical education to be able to apply their learning of music to the behavior of science.
There are many others types of nontraditional music careers that have to deal with religious sects, engineers, composers, writers, movies, and computers. So, when searching for a dream as a musician, check out all avenues, not just the more popular choice.

Filed Under: Education, Music Tagged With: Education, Music education, Teacher, Wynton Marsalis

The Dance School of Juliard

To pick the right college or university requires a lot of hard work and plenty of research. If a student has a special interest such as dance then it is much harder to choose a school that will fit your special needs. That is why it is imperative that every student searching for a curriculum checks several schools before committing to just one.
One school in particular stands out that has an excellent specialized dance instruction. The Juliard School is a difficult college to enter. It requires an interview process and an audition for dancers.
The Juliard School in New York, New York is a specialized performing arts school. It is dedicated to only specific varieties of dance and music. This private school offers disciplines in dance, drama/theater, music, and arts. Normally less than 1200 students go to this school per year. The reason why the school is small is so that the students can have more one on one time with professional teachers that teach each class. The class sizes are also small for this reason. Juliard is one of the country’s top dance schools and employs many great teachers that focus on performance, quality, and structure.
Technique is just as important to a dancer as talent. The Juliard School gives a well educated course of study involving technique and performance. Other dance classes involve modern dance, jazz, tap, and ballet. Depending on what discipline of dance the student is looking for the composition of each class is well constructed.
Juliard has a four-year course of study. They have a well-balanced team of counselors to help students prepare for allowing their dance instruction to be used in the practical world. Students who want a better understanding of dance school can learn more by doing research on The Juliard School of the performing arts.

Filed Under: Dance, Education Tagged With: Dance, Dance studio, Performing arts

Using Music To Excel Learning

The first thing a child hears even before it is born is its mother’s voice. Every child remembers that sound. It is safe to say that sound activates memory cells in the brain. The sound of music helps memory.
Because a child’s brain develops from interactions with their environment, it is very important to introduce many different types of music at an early age. The critical developmental time is when a child is learning all the things that they need to learn.
It is important to expose a child to a wide range of different genres of music. Although classical and jazz seem to have a greater affect on learning and memory, all music should be examined. Music can also be used for children with disabilities such as dyslexia. Children with dyslexia often times hear words and sounds differently from other children. It has been proven that music and its rhythm, are the major reasons that music helps all children, especially ones with disabilities.
Music like math is considered a universal language. Therefore, if all children of different academics and nationalities were raised on many different types of music they would all be able to, in a way, speak the same language. This idea of music as a language can standardize students nationally, and integrate the learning process.
If a student were cramming for an exam, they stayed up all night, but to just thirty minutes to listen to classical music before the tests day he would do better than students who did not take thirty minutes before the tests to listen to music. In this example, it is shown that music helps improve and increase a person’s memory.
There are many factors that involve learning. One of the main aspects that concerns memory is the willingness to use music as a learning tool.

Filed Under: Education, Music Tagged With: Dyslexia, Education, Learning, Music genre

Art Education For Grade School Children

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Using art to educate children starting at preschool, ages three to five, is an extremely useful way to allow children to begin to use their imagination and creativity to learn. When a young child’s brain begins to develop, even before birth, knowledge is instinctively acquired like a sponge soaking up water. Since a child’s brain needs to soak up information, it is extremely important for a young child to find a good school. Using art to educate is an established training practice for the District of Columbia’s School for Arts in Learning.
The School for Arts in Learning is a public charter school. The school starts with kindergarten and goes throughout the eighth grade. It is a small school in which the students are given special instruction. Students whose parents feel it is necessary for their child to grow with a curriculum in art and education.
The teachers at SAIL are well trained to integrate art training with classical educational training to give students the needed attention of both the academics and the arts.
The program at SAIL is excellent for students who need to be taught in a different manor, like those who may need more attention than other children may. All students are welcome and encouraged to visit. If an art infused with a classic educational program sounds like something a child between the ages of five and thirteen would be interested in, parents may want to research The School for Arts in Learning at the District of Columbia.
Using art to educate children is an extremely useful approach for children to set in motion their thoughts and inventiveness. Grade school children are at a critical age for learning and it is tremendously vital for young children to get the proper education. Art education programs do help children learn more substantially throughout their life than those children who have not had art in their education.

Filed Under: Art, Education Tagged With: Art education, Charter school, Education, Student

Drama For All Ages

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Drama is an interesting category in the art field where the talent can be generally noticed in junior high and high school. Even though many kids may not realize that they want to be an actor or actress when they are in school and once they have graduated they believe it is too late for them to learn, but this is not the case. It can be a good thing to start when a person is a little older and perhaps, a bit more wiser, because that is usually the time when a adults begin to understand what they want out of life and if it the urge to act then it should be encouraged.
Drama is a type of creativity that not only uses the mind, but it also uses the body as well. Your entire position has to be believed, so it is important to educate yourself whenever possible to achieve this. Some people think that if you have an acting talent then there is no more learning you have to do. That thought is highly untrue. Many very successful actors, even after they’ve become famous, go to classes to learn knew techniques in order to master their art fully.
There are many school and universities with magnificent theater and drama programs. These programs aid students in projecting the wealth of knowledge that they would learn as a dramatic student in to a well rounded actor or actress.
Discipline, for actors, is the key to maintaining a brilliant career in the theater and drama fields.
Do not be surprised if the thrill of becoming an actor does not come over you until college or later. Some people may know right away what they want to do for the rest of their life. It takes other people some time to discover.

Filed Under: Art, Dance, Education Tagged With: Actor, Drama, High school

The Top Two Musical Universities Today

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Make no mistake, music is a rewarding discipline but also a challenging one in terms of finding a place to secure a living. The music field is extremely competitive! So it’s not for the timid.

The point is this: consider carefully where you choose to obtain your music degree. Because if you plan on hunting for jobs, you want the best possible education listed on your resume–not to mention the plain fact that having the “best” possible education benefits you, period! So here, for your benefit, are the top two schools of music your tuition money can buy.

HARVARD UNIVERSITY IN CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSSETS

“U.S. News and World Report” brought to light the number-one status of this college in the music program simply for what it offers: top-notch resources. What else can you expect from Harvard, though? Just make sure your grades are up there. Practice rooms, a music library, a stunning music hall, electroacoustic composition studio, and even an ethno lab fill the vast auditorium-size void that accompanies a music degree. You can be sure of confidence that anyone looking at your resume seeing “B.A. in Music” or “M.A. in Performance Practice” will do a double take and consider seriously interviewing you for that dream job of playing the clarinet, flute, trumpet, violin or whatever instrument you play or direct. Promise.

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY IN PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY

Tied with first, though, with Harvard is also the prestigious Princeton, matching similar resources and a slightly wider variety of different sub-disciplines within the field such as a Certificate in Musical Performance and a B.A. in Music with Emphasis on Writing. On the graduate level, you’re skyrocketed into advancements, too, topping the musical chart with a Ph.D. in either Musicology (which is basically the “study of music” itself) or Composition.

Other schools have their place in the top list when it comes to the music field. But these are the top two. Choose your education wisely. Your future employer will thank you.

Filed Under: Education, Music Tagged With: Education, Harvard University, U.S. News & World Report

Education in Popular Culture

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There’s a hope for education and the college culture, even in the midst of this non-degree-holding lifestyle and work force. Just watch MTV and find out.

No joke. Seriously. Famed series on MTV “Taking the Stage” documents in reality-show style the journeys of seven performing arts students in the popular, prestigious School for the Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA) right in Cincinnati. And you’ll know why education is still continuing to be popular–at least at the fine arts level.

Please note a personal opinion here: fine arts are essential to the well-being of humanity. Self-expression, imagination, passion: they are the driving forces. Everyone needs an outlet. And fine arts education, however challenging and competitive and unfortunately sometimes not so lucrative, is important.

Now the School for the Creative and Performing Arts isn’t exactly a cake walk to get in or stay in. Students bust their butts there. And for what? The possibility of never actually getting the dream job that falls in line with their chosen degree. Unfortunately a fact of life.

But you have to look at these students and what they do! It’s almost like a dream life, as attractive as they are. They’re studying what they love. And let’s be honest–singing, dancing, art, writing, playing an instrument–it can be agreed that these disciplines can be much more fun than counting numbers or mixing chemicals. Just an opinion, remember. Seeing these students in this school is like watching a real-life episode of “Beverly Hills 90210″ and being jealous of how awesome these students look. There are no nerds there. No basket cases. Only super-sexy, appealing girls and guys learning some of those romantic disciplines we all wish we could have but don’t think we do–dancing, singing, guitar-playing etc etc. The pinnacle of fashion.

Remember that when facing the mundane world of choosing a worthwhile profession that’ll pay. Choose an education that you have a passion for, not for the paycheck. End of story. Draw the curtain, please.

Filed Under: Art, Education Tagged With: MTV, Performing arts, Student

The Magic in Knowing More

I bumped into an old friend on my way to the park the other day and we started talking about what we have been doing since last we met. It was good to chat. She is just finishing her MBA and is already talking to her boss about new opportunities. She said it has taken her a little over two years and that her employer actually paid for most of it. I could really see a difference in her. She was confident, articulate, and happy.

I am glad that our paths crossed. I have been considering a return to school and her success made me confident that going back to school is a good choice for me, too. I did a little research on the Internet and found a lot of information about graduate degree programs. One site, onlinembarankings.com, was particularly helpful. I chose six schools and have started to check out what my next step should be.

I spoke with one school that allowed me to make an appointment for a phone chat with one of their counselors. The counselor informed me that my experiences at work could be translated into credits. It looks like it will still take me about two years to complete, but I am ready to move forward.

My weekends and evenings are now spent preparing for the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT). I need plenty of time to study for this test. My score will determine which schools I will be able to successfully apply to. I am not too worried about the verbal or writing portions of the test, but I do need to brush up my math skills. I downloaded a couple of practice tests and they were quite helpful, calling my attention to weak points I need to pay special attention to. I also ordered a study manual and am looking into some GMAT prep classes.

Filed Under: Education

The Basics of a Drama Teacher

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Many teachers are put into teaching things that they don’t have the training to teach. This does not refer to teachers are teaching a primary subject. Many are very qualified. However, there are many a teach who are out there that are coaching football or running the chess department and do not have any idea about the subjects they are teaching. For many teachers, this department is the theater department.

Many schools have a theater department and they see it as a great way for children to learn how to express themselves and to make friends, but for the teacher who is teaching it it can mean a lot of anxiety if they aren’t sure how to get the most out of kids. These are a list of the basics that any theater teacher must know and must teach in order for the children to be successful in their art.

The first thing all kids need as a beginning to every rehearsal and for their own kickstart, is a a good warm up game. Warm up games can be anything and are just meant to get the students out of their head. They can be as silly as making funny noises. The biggest rule for students is to commit. Without commitment there is very little that a student can do to make themselves or their performance better.

The next thing a student needs is complete honesty in their scenes. While students will vary in their level of talent, none of them have to vary in their commitment to honesty in a scene. Asking and answering questions in the scene that are rooted in honesty will be the key to having success on the stage. A drama teacher can try and get that out of the students. If they do that they can make any production worth watching.

Filed Under: Dance, Education Tagged With: Education, Educators, Student, Teacher