The Tipping Point in Music Education: Listening for Change

By Dr. Michael Francis Smith

 mfsmithmusic.com

The Tipping Point is Already Sounding

Music education and the arts are more vital now than ever.

In a world increasingly driven by machines, it is creativity that will define our future—and where better to learn creativity than in music? Yet in too many music classes and ensembles today, creating has become the neglected practice. We rehearse, refine, and perform, but we rarely imagine, invent, or compose.

The time has come to ask where meaningful change will begin—and what signs will point the way forward. Over the past several years, I have witnessed five ongoing forces for change that signal both challenge and promise for our field. Each reflects a shift in how we teach, what we value, and how students engage with music.

As I’ve attended and presented at conferences across the country, I’ve begun to sense subtle but meaningful signs of change. I see greater curiosity among teachers and notice growing connections between approaches that were once seen as separate.

My own journey has deepened as well. I’ve studied elementary methodologies more closely—seeing how Feierabend’s First Steps in Music and Conversational Solfege, alongside Orff, Kodály, and Gordon, continue to shape joyful, sound-before-sight learning. I’ve also watched how these methodologies intersect with movements like Modern Band, culturally responsive teaching, and creative music-making.

All of this leaves me wondering which of these forces might become the tipping point—the moment that moves music education toward lasting renewal and reform. As these ideas continue to converge, one question keeps rising to the surface: What will finally spark the large-scale transformation that helps every student belong, create, and thrive through music?

1. Elementary Methodology: The Strength of Sound Before Sight

The foundations of musical understanding begin in early childhood. Approaches rooted in sound, movement, and song—such as Orff, Kodály, and Feierabend—show us that musical literacy grows through experience before notation. Yet as students move through the elementary grades, instruction often shifts from playful, aural exploration to formal notation study.

In that transition, some students lose confidence, creativity, and even their connection to music-making. Perhaps the true tipping point lies in how we balance these experience-based traditions with the increasing demands of literacy and ensemble preparation.

In my work with beginning band and strings, this philosophy has shaped the It’s Time to Play series. Students sing with lyrics, practice fingerings while singing solfège, and then play—connecting voice, instrument, and music-making. They also create and improvise using each song’s tone set, which deepens both exploration and mastery.

I’ve observed again and again that every student can be successful when learning begins with sound and song, while only some find success when instruction starts with notation. The difference lies in aural preparation—when students first hear, sing, create, and internalize music, they are ready to play and read with confidence.

If music remains rooted in sound and song and welcomes reading as a natural next step, more students will continue to see themselves as musicians.

2. Declining Enrollment: A Call for Belonging

As students move into later elementary and middle school years, classes and ensembles often become more selective and notation-centered—and some students quietly step away. Too often, the emphasis shifts toward learning notation for literature rather than learning songs to enjoy and share with friends and family.

The doorway into music narrows when performance outweighs participation, and when the ensemble’s success overshadows the involvement of the broader school community. Declining enrollment is more than a numbers issue; it reflects whether students feel they belong.

In my own beginning and advanced classes, I balance traditional literature with songs students love to play. I often include a diverse collection of unison songs and pieces that students can suggest themselves. When students see their voices reflected in the music, they invest more deeply, and the class becomes a place where everyone belongs.

The tipping point may come as schools and directors ask what it means for every student to see, hear, and feel themselves in the music—and what kind of ensembles will make that possible.

3. Modern Band: An Emerging Force

Modern Band and similar models give students agency and musical identity. They bring in contemporary repertoire, student choice, and collaborative creation—re-establishing the link between school music and the music of students’ lives.

In many cases, these programs re-engage students who once found themselves disconnected from notation-first, performance-centered classes. They remind us that musical understanding can begin with listening, imitation, and creation just as easily as with notation and rehearsal—without diminishing the value of either path.

The tipping point may come as we realize that students in traditional ensembles, too, can perform diverse literature, learn songs by ear, improvise, and create music—bridging the gap between reading and making, between tradition and innovation.

4. The National Standards: From Performance to Creation

The 2014 National Core Arts Standards expanded the vision of music education beyond performing to include the processes of creating, performing, responding, and connecting—a framework that opens the door to deeper meaning in music learning.

Placing creating at the top of the list restores creativity to its rightful place at the heart of music education. The process of connecting invites us to link classroom learning with students’ lives, their school communities, and the music of the world around them.

These standards open wide the doors for inclusion—ensuring that every culture, every background, and every voice within a school is represented. No two programs should look the same or compete with one another, for each serves a unique community and reflects its own heritage.

The tipping point may come when we fully embrace these standards not as mandates, but as invitations—to reimagine what musical growth looks and sounds like in every school.

5. The Importance of Creativity Today: Humanity in the Age of Machines

As technology and artificial intelligence reshape every field, creativity remains the one truly human advantage. Music is not just a subject—it is our pathway to invention, empathy, and imagination.

In every class and ensemble I teach, I am determined that students will have opportunities to create and improvise. This can be simple or complex—experimenting with a tone set from a song or piece of music. It may include lyrics or not, scales or not, and can be in any style. It doesn’t have to detract from the lesson; in fact, it can deepen learning when prepared in advance or presented in a thoughtful way.

The creatives will be the ones who guide the machines, shaping how technology serves humanity rather than the other way around. Creativity is not an enhancement to education; it is its driving force.

When we are recognized as the torchbearers of creativity, music educators will take their rightful place at the center of learning—not as providers of enrichment or privilege, but as essential contributors to the future of humankind.

Conclusion: Listening for the Tipping Point

Each of these forces for change—elementary methodology, declining enrollment, modern band, national standards, and creativity—reveals both the challenge and the promise of music education today.

They remind us that change rarely arrives all at once; it begins quietly, through reflection, dialogue, and a renewed sense of purpose. Which of these will become the tipping point that moves our profession toward lasting renewal—or will it be another we have yet to recognize?

Perhaps the answer will emerge not from any single reform, but from a collective awakening to the deeper truth that music is for everyone—and that creativity, connection, and expression are not privileges, but the birthrights of all students.