Mayor Karl Dean at the historic Ryman Auditorium Friay unveiled a revolutionary new approach to music education, pledging to make the music education program at Metro Nashville schools the worldwide leader.
Through a new initiative called Music Makes Us: The Nashville Music Education Project, the Metro Nashville Public Schools’ music program will be overhauled and will include a new contemporary curriculum that utilizes new technologies in a way that reflects today’s diverse musical landscape.
New classes in songwriting and composition, rock band and hip-hop performance and technology-based production such as recording and DJ/Remixing are expected to become part of the core curriculum at middle schools and high schools starting as early as next school year. At the same time, traditional music curriculum in band, orchestra and choir will be enhanced.
“Through Music Makes Us, Music City will become the standard bearer of what music education can be and should be in public education,” Dean said. “Our innovative curriculum will draw in students that may have felt left out in the past. Beginning at a young age, Metro students will be exposed to a wide array of musical styles and influences.”
For the first time, Metro Nashville Public Schools will have an Office of Music Education with a full-time director and staff. The current school year will be an organizational period, funded by private donations, to hire the director and a program coordinator, as well as conduct an audit of the school district’s music facilities, equipment and instruments.
“Whereas traditional PreK-12 music education programs rely heavily on orchestras, marching bands, and choirs, students in Nashville will start enjoying new outlets for their creativity as soon as the 2012 school year,” said Dr. Jesse Register, director of Metro Nashville Public Schools. “Music Makes Us will promote strong music literacy, appreciation and creativity and will enhance academic learning in other subjects.”
The initiative will include professional development and externship opportunities in the music industry for teachers. Music Makes Us also relies heavily on a partner network of individuals, government agencies, nonprofits, businesses and concert venue operators. As part of the program, students will be given more opportunities to perform at the many live music venues in Nashville.
“Nashville has the largest concentration of the music industry of any city in the United States,” Dean said. “This is a tremendous, untapped resource for our public schools. And the Music Makes Us program will, for the first time, take full advantage of the many talented individuals on both the creative and business sides of the industry. Not only will this support learning in our schools, but it will benefit the music business in Nashville in the long term by developing a homegrown pool of future professionals and artists.”
Music Makes Us was developed over the last two years through the music education committee of the Music City Music Council, formerly the Nashville Music Council, in collaboration with the Mayor’s Office and Metro Schools. Nancy Shapiro, who chaired the music education committee of the Music City Music Council, helped lead development of Music Makes Us.
“Music Makes Us has such a broad base of support all across our community: the music industry, our Mayor, businesses, arts organizations, the school board and more,” said Shapiro, Vice President, Member Services, The Recording Academy. “The music industry has been advocating this for decades, and now everyone is aligned and invested in this important initiative. Music City should be setting the example of having a world-class music education program, and I’m proud that this groundbreaking new approach uniquely positions us to do just that.”
A Music Makes Us Advisory Board, which includes representatives from the music industry, the school district and community leaders, will serve as a resource in developing curriculum and other aspects of the Music Makes Us program. The board also will assist in securing public and private funding to sustain the program long-term.
Major benefactors thus far include Martha Ingram, Mike Curb, founder of Curb Records, and the Gibson Foundation, the charitable division of Gibson Guitar Corp.
Multiple studies indicate that students with a strong music education background score higher on their SATs, have improved memory and outperform their non-musical peers. Music instruction also increases students’ mental flexibility and reasoning skills, improving their ability to solve math and science problems.
