The following is a transcription of our pre-concert talk, describing the importance and implications of the classical Music Classroom, especially as we view it at Seven Oaks.
“The mission of Seven Oaks Classical School is to train the minds and improve the hearts young people through a rigorous classical education in the liberal arts and sciences, with instruction in the principles of moral character and civic virtue.”
The simple fact is that music actually addresses each and every part of that. And I’m so grateful that it does, partially because it means I have a job, but also because it means that we begin pass this on: this great historical and cultural tradition – the wealth of riches that’s handed down to us from generation to generation. It begins to happen in the music classroom, as well.
I often get asked, “How is the classical music classroom different from other music classrooms?” And, I actually want to turn that question on its head and say, “How is the classical classroom so much like every other classroom?”
The fact is, that as a subject in the liberal arts and sciences, music does instruct in reading and writing and arithmetic, and it draws students into this wealth of classical history.
Events like this may seem like a highlight of music education, not because what you see tonight is all the students learn, but because what you see tonight builds on what they have been learning while in the classroom and touches on the other half of the school’s mission: that is, moral character and civic virtue – training their minds and improving hearts.
Singing music together not only encourages historical empathy in singing what people have sung and in experiencing what people have experienced in the past, but it’s a practical manifestation of music theory and music history, and it requires students to look outside of themselves in collaboration. Every one of these students up here is now a teammate with one another as they present this music to you this evening.
Students learn honesty and integrity when they work together to produce something great. They don’t simply rely on a few good voices in class, if such thing exists.
They learn perseverance and courage as they learn, fail, and grow in preparing music for concerts like this – concerts that do, in fact, require much courage. You may have a student who has been shaking in their boots, like I was this afternoon!
Students practice responsibility and respect as they put themselves under a teacher who will shape their talents and their skills so that they can grow in expressing these enduring fruits. And, by taking part in something that reaches not only beyond themselves but beyond their own time, they become world citizens and citizens of their local – even if it’s their classroom-sized – community.
So, music does fulfill every part of the school’s mission and even is an opportunity to flex and uphold the eight pillars of character we uphold at Seven Oaks.
So hopefully, as this evening progresses, you can enjoy not only how your child has grown musically, but see how Seven Oaks, and even the music program, has helped them to grow in moral character and civic virtue, how it’s trained their minds and improved their hearts.
