I have been taking some time this summer to do some schooling. One of the required reading books is called The Liberal Arts Tradition by Kevin Clark, DLS and Ravi Scott Jain. I have been blown away with their insights on musical education.

First, let me summarize their definition of musical education- this is education inspired by the muses (poetry, music, art, story, song) it is all encompassing- not just music. Clark and Jain build upon this idea that through study of musical education we are partaking in, soul formation. This is something the Ancients knew well. Plato said it this way and I am quoting from the book,

"Musical education is soul-craft;carried out properly it tunes the soul, and makes one receptive to truth and goodness They go directly to the heart and fasten mightily upon them, making one the friend of the reason." Plato goes on to explain that,"carried out properly it tunes the soul and makes one receptive to truth and goddess."

Then Aristotle extrapolates this idea further, quoting the book,

"musical education develops what he calls intuition, the human faculty by which we drive all of the 'first principles' for everything from morality to metaphysics... then, we find the formative and foundational importance of a properly tuned soul."

A modern day thinker C.S.Lewis believes that the heart of man is where the "moral imagination" lives and from the book,

"without a well-stocked moral imagination, with out trained sentiment, without a heart there is no human flourishing. For it is the unified human, made in God's image, whose heart has been tuned and whose moral imagination has been nourished, that moral and intellectual reasoning are held together."

I am so inspired by these ideas. Humbled by such wisdom. 

These points are further proof that art and the pursuit of artistic things muse-ical things is soul forming and we are incomplete without it! Calling all teachers! This is a great book and will bring new life to your teaching!