By Sebastian Pierre-Louis
Imagine this: You love music but you feel very worried and uncertain about your future. Playing music in high school is one thing, but making sure you know how to make music a career path coming out of high school is another.
I spoke with Avi Mehta, the music teacher at the Margarita Muniz Academy. “In Boston alone, there are only four high schools that have a band program. One of those four schools [Boston Arts Academy] is a highly competitive music-education-oriented school that only a limited number of students may get into.” Mehta continues, “Music has been proven to really help with students’ cognitive functions….you learn how to do many things at once, which is really good for your brain. Especially at a young age, music really gets you to think with your executive functions: note reading, fingering the instrument valves, and [figuring out] what to do with your mouth.”[1]
I would like to believe I’m a student who works hard at music and tries to get better, but the big problem, is where can I go with music? How do I get my foot in the door? I asked Avi Mehta, and he had the following advice: “Students like you have to be two things,” he said. “A person with a lot of heart and motivation, and a person that is really smart in preparing themselves for a bunch of experiences and opinions. Make a great first impression with anyone who comes across your way as a music student. Going into music and the business of music involves learning real-life skills. Life skills are important in any field, but with music it’s all about networking, who you know, and having great people skills.”[2]
I believe all high school students should have free music courses available to them in school. Students who are invested and talented should have the opportunity to choose from a variety of careers in music so that they have more choices when they graduate. When studying music, educators usually group all types of music education together. However, students who like music could benefit from having a broader range of music classes. For example, one student could want to play an instrument professionally, one could want to work in the music industry producing or singing, and another student could want to be an educator. There are so many avenues in music. Schools could offer all types of music classes instead of just having band/orchestra and vocal/chorus. In addition, they could include other options, such as music-career prep courses combined with business classes. These courses could coincide with music and teach students how to find a job in music or manage money after high school. Additional courses could include a music production and recording class so students could learn how to produce music.
Boston Arts Academy is a school in the Fenway area that does most of what I suggest, but the only problem is that it is the only program like it. Spots are limited and BAA is very selective in the people that they want to attend their school. They can’t possibly take everyone, so students that don’t get accepted get stuck somewhere where a music program like theirs isn’t prominent.
Music is impactful and can mold entire landscapes: the way people dress, design, think, speak, live, and more all comes from music. Music is more than just a song, dance, rhythm, or lyrics. Music is a culture that changes with the times. Music impacts people more than they realize and gives people ideas they would’ve never envisioned before. If we implement this change in helping students go further we could see many businesses grow in the near future, due to the creative minds and confidence that these students will have. We can welcome the world to more visionaries that can impact entire generations with their opinions and complex thinking. Music is style, business, opinions, critical thinking/logic—a form of philosophy. It’s a plethora of many things that create a way of life.
If a solution to implement music education and business was to be put into schools, we could see a world where schools let music students really believe in something. Schools investing in music students will help them grab a piece of the future because you don’t know who will become who later in life and what impact they will have and leave on the world.
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