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Kyra Hubert
Instructor Douglas
ENG 112-01
2 February 2017

Music Programs: Should They Be Funded?

Music programs are becoming harder to find, due to people not realizing the

importance that they make to the younger generation. Some administration, believe

that these programs cost way too much in price to keep them open, and some

administration argue that they are just not needed at all. Both Laura Bryan and

Victoria Barbu-lurascu believe that music impacts people, but in different ways.

Laura Bryan shares in her article about how music education impacts childrens

future and learning. Victoria Barbu-lurascu explains how music helps us unite and

share our emotions, instead of speaking them like we normally would. These articles

would most likely affect children that enjoy music programs and parents who have

children in music programs more than anyone else. There could also be some

people who need opinions about whether or not they want their child to become

involved in a music program. These are both important factors that deal with the

audience of these articles. The question is, should music programs still be funded?

Thesis statement

Gareth Smith explains in his article how music education is geared toward

collaborative musicking. Musicking is a term, which someone uses to explain that

music is a process, and not an object. He notes that high school music education is

focused towards large ensembles, where this can be a good or bad idea. The

positive side is that students are being exposed to music and how they have to

work together in order to create something. The negative side is that students most
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likely will not be getting that one-on-one help that they possibly need. Higher music

education encourages students to push themselves and achieve something they

might never thought they could do. Smith stresses that the music business is a very

hard business to get into. You have to have the drive and passion more that

anything else. Smith finds this very concerning for the students who hope to be a

star in the music industry. Many people believe that music is a waste of time to

learn. This is because so many people are trying to stress children out about picking

a career choice at a very young age. Hobbies can turn into careers, but they can

also just stay hobbies. There should not be a problem with keeping a hobby, a

hobby. We all need a stress reliever from reality at times. Smith explains that

sometimes we forget about the importance of music and just get caught up in

different sounds and rhythm that music can make. He stresses this because we

should really pay attention to what a certain artist is trying to promote. They could

end up being a bad influence on a child. For example, Lil Wayne does a lot of

different drugs, and he shows it off. Some little children could listen to him on the

radio and enjoy it and then decide to look him on the internet and find all of this

stuff he has done, which could lead to the child learning from what he has done.

Laura Bryan executed the importance of music programs more effectively in

her article, Play it Again, Teach: a Contingency Plan, than Victoria Barbu-lurascu

did. Bryan did this by explaining first how the nation is lacking music programs for

students, which only three percent are receiving. Bryan goes into detail about how

music makes an impact on childrens test scores, which this should be noticeable to

teachers and staff that music is making a difference. More people should read this

article to understand why music programs should be more popular in schools, and

not just for extra curricular activities as well. This article best explains how music
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impacts children. She uses statics to back up the information she provides in her

article. There is no doubt that she thinks music education should be spread

throughout the entire world, but she also backs it up with enough information about

why they are important. Bryan uses ethos more than anything in her work because

she uses ethics, which is what is important to the reader. Bryan did a very good job

of relating music and children together. This article doesnt only direct this to

children, but to every person who has a child or has a child in their life, who they

are looking after. Therefore, this creates a bigger audience focus for Bryan, than for

Barbu-lurascu. Therefore, it can relate to more people. This allows for more

attention and possibly more persuasion. That might be what she was trying to

accomplish in her writing.

Victoria Barbu-lurascu focused her article, Explanations of the Nature of

Musics Expressiveness: the Cognitive Aspects of Emotions as Expressed in Music,

more about how music can share our emotions with one another. She did a very

good job of labeling every part of her writing, which helps the reader understand

what part is what. Barbu-lurascu took the opinions of several writers and put them

into one article. This is interesting because they all have different views on music

and how it shares emotion, but they all come together somehow. She explains the

relationship between music and language, which is one of the main topics in her

writing. Barbu-lurascu used pathos by appealing to the senses. She did this by

talking about how music can affect our feelings. The way she came across this in

her writing, was strong and heart felt. If she would have explained her article a bit

more detailed and related it more to children, it would have reached the potential of

Laura Bryans article. Barbu-lurascu directs her article towards adults more than

anyone else. Children would not be able to read this article and understand
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everything that she is trying to compose due to the many use of hard words.

Therefore, this creates a smaller audience for Barbu-lurascu compared to Bryan.

This causes many people to not have an opinion on this article, because they would

have never read it. Barbu-lurascu should have made her work a little easier to

understand.

In conclusion, Laura Bryan did the best to incorporate how music empowers

children, while Victoria Barbu-lurascu goes in depth about how music is important to

show emotions. Gareth Smith also explains how teachers teach in different music

education scenarios. Laura Bryan and Victoria Barbu-lurascu both see that music

education is important in childrens lives and in adults. Gareth Smith chooses to see

it from both sides; it is important for us to be exposed to what we can gain from

music, but we dont want to loose side of that. He explains more about what goes

into teaching music than anything else. Music helps us connect with one another

through passion and voice. What would we be without connection? At the end of the

day, everyone will have this or her own opinions about what they think about music

programs and if there is use for them or not.

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Works Cited

Barbu-Iurascu, Viorica. "Explanations of the nature of music's expressiveness: the cognitive

aspects of emotions as expressed in music." Contemporary Readings in Law and Social

Justice, vol. 2, no. 1, 2010, p. 170+. Opposing Viewpoints in Context,

ezproxy.cpcc.edu/login?url=http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A267134521/OVIC?

u=centralp&xid=df97b0b1. Accessed 1 Feb. 2017.

Bryan, Laura. "Play it again, teach: a contingency plan." Education, vol. 126, no. 1, 2005, p.

143+. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, ezproxy.cpcc.edu/login?

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url=http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A136846800/OVIC?u=centralp&xid=0fc97bd5.

Accessed 1 Feb. 2017.

Smith, Gareth Dylan. "Teamwork, Music Education and." Music in the Social and Behavioral

Sciences: An Encyclopedia, Bill Thompson, Sage Publications, 2014. Credo Reference,

http://ezproxy.cpcc.edu/login?qurl=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.credoreference.com

%2Fcontent%2Fentry%2Fsagemuscbeh%2Fteamwork_music_education_and%2F0.

Accessed 01 Feb 2017.