Where Does Confidence Come From?

Lessons in Leadership with Mr. Bow

Today’s discussion;

Where Does Confidence Come From?

            I was not a confident Kid growing up. In fact if I were to try and describe yourself I would call myself a pretty nerdy kid that had a hard time with people. I had friends, maybe one or two at a time, but I struggled with groups of people. I am and always have been an introvert. (There is an important aside about Introverts and Extroverts that I will write sometime but that is for another day.)

            School was hard for me, big group of hormonal teenagers of course it was, especially 6^th through 8^th grade. I remember always feeling like I was at the edge of “the group,” and that wasn’t even the popular group that was the nerd group. I had a hard time when people would draw attention to me. I remember that I would mumble a lot, and not really say what I wanted. Needless to say, I was not a confident kid.

            Interestingly I was not a dumb kid nor did I lack skills. I had been playing cello since I was 5, I was, for my age, an excellent musician. Also I was particularly good at math and science. I had plenty of things to be proud of, yet I still did not feel confident. Why was that, what is different now?

            Today I am, in one sense, a professional leader. I am a teacher, a choir director. Being in front of large groups of middle school and high school students is what I do every day. Confidence is absolutely key to what I do. I would even go so far to say that Confidence is key to good teaching, whatever kind of teaching or wherever that teaching takes place. If fact I think we can all think of a teacher that we have had that wasn’t confident and how class turned out because of it. So, How did I go from hating school to loving it and choosing it as a profession?

Confidence is something that is frequently thrown at young people as a fix all solution.

“I’m not a good test taker.”

“Be more confident.”

“I am not good at sports.”

“Be more confident.”

“I am not good at singing.”

“Be more confident.”

You catch my meaning, but how can you “be more confident?” Where does real confidence come from? Pay attention because it is not what you think.

Confidence doesn’t come from being good at something, it doesn’t come from a belief in oneself that you are the best, most awesome, most powerful, and that nobody can stop you. In fact it is the opposite. True confidence comes from Humility and not from Pride. Bottom Line, Confidence comes from humility, pride breeds insecurity.

Now lets define some terms.

Humility is having a modest or low view of one’s own importance and a recognition of the importance of others. That doesn’t mean that you have to think of yourself as the scum of the earth. Mostly it is the realization that even without you the world will keep turning, the organization will move forward, and people will learn what they need to. It is appreciating what how important others are in your own development and how much we need other people.

  Pride is a feeling of deep pleasure or satisfaction from one’s own achievement. I describe it as the “I did it or I’m the best feeling.” Note that is not the “I CAN do it or I have the COULD be the best,” which is different. It is important to note that pride focuses on past achievement not future.

Finally, Confident is feeling or showing confidence in oneself. This is the “I CAN do it” feeling.  (These are not my definitions BTW I am getting these right off of Google.)

Now the way that Humility builds confidence is a process.  If you have humility you will listen to others. If you listen to others you will learn much faster. Learning is the process of building on what you do know or can do, therefore you are confident in the things you can do and do know. That is real confidence.

On the Other hand if you have pride you think you can already do it, don’t need to work on it, or have already achieved an acceptable level of competence. You are no longer learning. The lines of what you know and what you think you know become blurry. Some things you use to be able to do but have not practiced in while, some things you were working on but never mastered or came to know for sure. The Blurriness clouds your vision as to what you can or can’t do and makes you feel uncomfortable when faced with a challenge. That uncomfortable feeling is insecurity.

When it comes to leadership Confidence can manifest itself in many ways. Earlier I mentioned my experience as a teacher and how I believe that confidence is key to good teaching. I frequently tell my classes that the teacher is really just the lead learner. I don’t believe in an all-knowing teacher who imparts information to his naive and unlearned students. Rather it is someone who is further along the path of knowledge. Therefore confidence is a teacher who is still learning.

Confidence is also the ability to listen to others, if we are humble we recognize how much we need others. And how much we can learn from others. With confidence we know that the best direction for the next step might come from someone other than ourselves and so we listen to all the options before making a decision and then we can make a more informed decision. Confidence is a leader who listens.

Insecurity and Pride says that we don’t need to listen to others because we know best. We can make a decision first and then if people disagree and bring up concerns we can justify our decisions or simply ignore their complaints because we know better. Though in reality their complaints and concerns put questions in our minds as to our abilities that further expand our insecurity.

            Confidence is being able to correct mistakes and make changes when necessary. When someone points how a problem it takes humility to listen and consider that what we did might need to change. Other times their criticisms lack some information and therefore was unfounded but we do consider what they say. Confidence is the ability to take a serious look at criticism and make adjustments as necessary.

            Insecurity grows cold in the face of criticism. It makes you pit yourself against your attacker. In stead of observing their idea you look at them. You think because they had an idea they think they are better than you, but your pride says you are the best therefore their idea can’t have merit because I am the best. Pride would have you counter-attack and get angry in the face of criticism.

            This list of ways that Confidence and insecurity manifest themselves in leadership can go on for pages but I think you see my point. If we are humble we will know when to listen to others and when to take action in confidence.

I want to make sure you know just because I wrote this does not mean that I think I am an expert in this practice. It is a skill that I am still developing, I hope by sharing this that you have been able to move further along your path of leadership. Before I finish I want to give some suggestions of further reading or application.

First is a book called “Mindset” by Carol Dweck. If you haven’t already heard of this book I am surprised. It has exploded in the last few years. It suggests that there are two “Mindsets” that we can be in, Growth and Fixed. Fixed is where we believe that we are born with a certain propensity toward skills and abilities therefore why work to get better at anything. Growth mindset on the other hand is where we believe that anything we work at we can improve upon. Growth mindset is not scared of Failure, Fixed is, Growth Mindset can overcome challenges, Fixed just avoids them.

What I would like to suggest is that Growth Mindset is humble and therefore confident. Where Fixed Mindset is prideful and insecure. Her book gives many examples of what growth Mindset looks like and sounds like, as you read it you will notice that Growth Mindset requires humility and confidence.

The second book I would like to recommend Is one of my all-time favorite speakers named “Simon Sinek.” He has a book called, “Leaders Eat Last” that is really great. Also if you can’t get your hands on the book he has lots of lectures on YouTube, and a couple Ted Talks as well. All fantastic.

I would like to specifically reference the part in his book where he talks about hormones. He has a brilliant explanation of some of the basic hormones (Endorphins, Dopamine, Serotonin, Oxytocin, and Cortisol) in part two of his book. I would like humble suggest one small edit.

He references Serotonin as the “Pride Hormone.” What he means is that serotonin is the hormone responsible for the feeling of pride (which it is) when others recognize us for our accomplishments. Serotonin can be very good, he suggests, for reinforcing the bond between parent and child, coach and player, or even boss and employee. There is also a negative, false way to get serotonin and that is by wearing of costly apparel. In his example you feel awesome when you wear your Gucci shoes but you didn’t actually accomplish anything or reinforce any relationship when you did.

I would like to suggest that the positive side of Serotonin is Confidence instead of pride. Your past accomplishments and the relationships developed because of those accomplishments will boost your confidence. Pride on the other hand is the false trigger for serotonin. Driving a fancy car makes you feel better than other people but doesn’t actually make you better at anything. Maybe that is just semantics, you be the judge.

            I hope this has inspired some thought and given you some new insight. I have decided, which may be weird, to leave below a set of bloopers. There are some ideas that I wrote but then when I went back and edited they didn’t fit. But they are on topic and there are some good thoughts there. I would love to hear your thoughts.

            Mr. Bowthorpe

BLOOPERS:

One of the most important things a leader can do is not get in the way of their people. If the world will go on without you and continue to progress don’t get in the way of that progress as the leader.

True leadership will help those around you grow and shine, poor leadership is threatened by the success of those around you.

That is why the guy who think that they are all that are actually the most insecure. The person who is insecure is the one who puts down those around them, who has to be right all the time, and can’t let anybody else threaten their position. You cannot lead from that position. Nobody learns from somebody doing those things. They will complete assignments but they will not learn from you.

As a leader you must develop humility if you want to have confidence. Humility gives you the ability to listen to others, to admit you are wrong and correct your mistakes. Humility gives you the ability to

Having a position of leadership gives you the authority to lead but does not make you better than anyone that you are leading.

Telling ourselves that we are the best does not make us better at something. When we are humble we know how much we have to improve on.

Vacations, Don't worry Be happy.

     Wow Its been I while since I have posted anything. Its been a while since I have been Online. I know that sounds crazy and some of you might not believe me but its true. I don't have my own computer so I usually use my school library's computers but during the summer they are only open till five in stead of 11 like usual. Also they are closed on Saturdays when I usually have tome to use them. Well "Thats Life, Thats what All the people say." (that last quote was meant to be sung, its a Micheal Buble Song.)
     Anyway the other reason that I haven't been online is because I have been doing all sorts of stuff. Wow I have been busy. Summer vacation has been Awesome. Disneyland, boating, wedding and finally work. I think it made me realize something. Life is all about being happy. Really it is. people who don't know this are sad. to bad for them.
     I had the opportunity to go to Disneyland with some of my friends a couple of weeks ago now and wow its a blast if you do it right. happiest place on earth.... at least it is supposed to be. What surprised me is the number of people that didn't seem to be having the time of their lives. Being happy and having fun is a choice. It is a choice, and I think that it is the reason to live.
      Happy people are the bomb. Have you ever met someone who just always seems to be happy? I will admit I do my best but I am not happy all the time. There are some people that really have just decided to be happy. Now have you ever met a person who just always seems to be upset and frustrated angry or sad all the time. Choice. Circumstances cannot determine you're level of happiness, they can only influence your decision.
     I think that going on vacation is super important, if and only if you are going to choose to be happy. Going on vacation and choosing to be sad because you didn't get to do this or go on this ride or you had to do that, something cost this much money or someone did something that offended you is really lame. Lame and expensive. Physically expensive, mentally expensive, emotionally expensive, and all the other ways it can be expensive.
     Yup that is what was on my mind today, I don't know why I felt like saying so but now you can read it and make your own judgments.

If life weren't about money.

     If life weren't all about money what would happen? What would I do if I didn't have to worry about rent and tuition and gas money and food money. There is just an endless list of things that cost money. It is probably the most stressful thing in my life trying to figure out how much I will be able to spend this month. Debt is a scary thing. I have been doing everything in my power to avoid debt but honestly as a college student it is difficult. I go to school all day and then I go home and do homework and I go to work as a janitor three times a week. There just isn't more time to work. Yet I am doing something good. 

     If the world didn't have money what would happen. I guess a capitalist government wouldn't function without money the way we have it. The government would have to be socialist. Or maybe not what about the  law of consecration? Does money exist in the law of consecration or is everything just a responsibility. 

     Who would decide who gets to go to college? How would work be split up. I know even in today's world there are a lot of people who would like to go to college who didn't get the chance. Furthermore other countries already have different ways of doing schooling. Argentina for example colleges are owned by the government and are free to citizens. Meaning you can get your degree at no cost to you. And you can get more than one degree. People here might think that that is crazy but if you think about it for a second its really just investing in your own people. nothing more. they are simply investing money to make their citizens worth more. What kind of return will that have in the future?

    Maybe that is what is bugging me. School is so expensive. Not just in money but in time and effort too. It takes a lot of work to get a degree, any degree, at least at a major university it does. Maybe that is why they are worth so much on a resume. It tells potential employers that you know how to work. 

     One problem with that is that I am planning on getting a degree in education. Meaning I will eventually end up teaching high school, private or public I haven't decided yet. the issue is that teachers make so very little money. If education is so expensive why are teachers paid so poorly. 

    Maybe it isn't that poorly but I am thinking in comparison to other jobs. I guess I have no authority to talk about that either because I am not in the working field yet. for now I guess I will just do my best to get by. what else can I do?

Why Wearing Watches is Weird.

          I just took off my watch so that it would be easier to type. I don’t even know if taking off my watch makes it easier to type, but I did it anyway. I don’t even think that my typing skills are good enough to be affected by if of not I am wearing a watch or not. I think that for people that have extreme typing skills having a watch on your wrist would be a factor, but I am just your everyday college student typer.

            I guess that isn’t all that common. Well in today’s world it is, but if you think about it 100 years ago your average college student didn’t type at all. Maybe they did, I don’t know when the type writer was invented, or when it became common place. I wonder if I am the only person who is bugged by their watch when I type.

            Come to think of it, I take my watch off all the time. I just had a voice lesson and I took my watch off when I was singing. I guess that sounds weird, what does singing have to do with wearing a watch? I mean when you are typing you use your hands a lot, so it is understandable if a big heavy watch like mine on your wrist would bother you, but when you are singing you use your voice, which is located in your neck and shouldn’t have anything to do with your wrist. I think for me, wearing a watch makes me feel unbalanced, big watch on one hand and nothing on the other, weird. At least that is what I tell myself. It probably doesn’t offset my weight or balance that much at all.

            Maybe it is for some other reason. Maybe the watch is a distraction. I constantly touch it and look at it, and open and close the latch part. I can’t seem to just let it sit there on my wrist. So maybe taking my watch off when I am singing is just for concentration, and that is why I took it off to start typing. Humans have some weird habits to help them concentrate. Or maybe that is just me.

            I know when I am playing Frisbee and I am trying to concentrate that I stick my tongue out. That is weird, but actually that one is more common. What if I swallow a bug because I am letting my mouth hang open while I am running around the field? Extra protein I guess.

            The person next to me in the library just sat down and signed into his computer and guess what, while his computer was signing in he took his watch off. Maybe I am not the only weird person that watch-wearing throws off my typing groove. Maybe I am not so weird after all. Or maybe I still am and I just need to embrace my weirdness. That is a weird thought.

Why do I wear a watch anyway? I have two watches, one is blue on the face with a gray band and the other is all black but with red hands and numbers. I wore my blue one today because it matches my shirt. I thought it looked cool. I thought that I looked cooler wearing it but it throws off my groove every time I need to concentrate, which is pretty much all day today. Is it really worth it? I like to look cool. I think that is why I bought the watch in the first place. It cost me $12.00, and I knew that I would never use it to tell time. That’s why I have a phone, well at least one of the reasons.

            This whole “being cool” thing is expensive. I buy a lot of stuff because it makes me look cool. Or maybe that is just what I think and I don’t look cool at all. I think that is why a lot of people have smart phones now days. Because it looks cool. I know my mom has one and she barely knows how to use it. She has no ideas what capabilities her phone has. Neither do I but my phone is a dumb phone. It just calls and texts. O and of course tells time.

            I think that I would like a smart phone because they look cool. No other reason. I don’t think that I would be able to use all of the capabilities of the phone, It would just be cool. I wonder how coolness is perceived.

            Come to think about it, I think smart phones are cool but other people might think that they are dumb. Or I guess dumb isn’t the word, dumb is the word I use to describe not smart phones, dumb phones, like mine. What I mean is that I think smart phones are cool because I don’t have one. Other people who have them might think that they are… lame, maybe that’s a better word.

What about watches. I just looked at my watch again and remembered that my brother thinks that this watch that I bought is lame because it is big and metal and it’s not easy to read the time. My brother is cool so he could be right. But that is just the thing, I like my watch and I think that it is cool, that is why I bought it and that is why I put it on this morning. I don’t care what my brother thinks about it I am going to keep wearing it, even though it throws off my singing and typing groove.

My brother is pretty cool. He buys cool cloths, he wears cool cloths, he has a smart phone. I guess that makes him cool right. But really I don’t think that at all. My brother just acts cool. He can wear any cloths he wants and they would be cool because he is wearing them. It is like just an attitude thing. My brother thinks that he is cool, he sends out that vibe to everybody and they think that he is cool. Therefore anything that he does is cool, and anything that he wears is cool.

I think my watch is cool, so If I think that enough I can send off that vibe people will think that it is cool too. Or at least so goes my theory in progress. Honestly I don’t care what people think of me I think that I am plenty cool. I guess even that isn’t true because if it were true I wouldn’t need to say it.

My brother wears tie dye V neck shirts and tight gray jeans and I walk around with him places and people tell him that he looks good. I could be wearing a really nice suit and they would still tell him that he looks good and say nothing to me. Maybe it is because he works out. He works out A LOT. Like every day. But he doesn’t look super huge. He is a little guy that is extremely toned.

Maybe working out just contributes to his coolness factor. The more he works out the cooler he feels, and the stronger cool vibe he puts out. I think I figured out what the “cool vibe” is called, confidence. This is actually something that I think about a lot. Maybe it has to do with being a performer. I perform a lot. I also watch a lot of people perform. It doesn’t matter how much people prepare for something, it matters that they know what they are going to do and they do it confidently when they are on stage. You can spot a less confident performer from a mile away. It’s like that embarrassed feeling you get when you are watching someone perform, you say in your mind, “stop now before you embarrass yourself, o wait you already did.”

Maybe I am just overly judgmental of other people’s performances. I am probably over confident. That’s a lie, I’m not probably over confident, I am over confident. And maybe that isn’t such a bad thing. It makes it so people aren’t embarrassed for me. At least I think that it does.

I will admit that it is a different thing when you are on stage in front of people than it is in just a relaxed hang out situation. When you are just hanging out you can feel super cool, with your watch and your smart phone, but as soon as you get on stage and there are people looking at your, and you take your watch off and turn your phone off, then your confidence is gone and you humiliate yourself. I think that is part of what makes performing so fun is feeling those butterflies and conquering them. You learn to take a huge butterfly net into your stomach catching those butterflies and turning them into confident and cool flies.

O butterflies. I wonder if butterflies feel cool, and give off cool vibes. They certainly look cool, all colorful and flying around. You put them up next to moths and they look super cool. But do they feel cool. Do animals feel? They certainly feel pain, and hunger, but do they feel love and happiness, sadness, coolness? I know a dog knows their owner. But do they love them? I think it is mostly just a sense of security that they feel. They feel secure around their owners and therefore calm. Its as if you could categorize your feelings.

I wonder when babies begin to feel these emotions. I think a baby is the same as a dog. They certainly recognize their parents, they feel secure, but they don’t love them yet. What about a toddler? Does a two year old understand enough to feel love? I don’t think that it is possible to feel real love until you are older, at least 8-9. Then you have memories of experiences, and then you can think for yourself.

It’s probably at that same time that children can start to feel confidence and coolness. That’s when they start caring about what they wear and what makes them feel cool. It’s probably at that time when they start to want smart phones and cool watches and they can feel embarrassed. 

Honestly, Honest

   There is this Idea that we have been discussing in my Critical Thinking and Writing class this has been fascinating me for days. The idea is simple and one that I thought that I understood but the more that we talk about it in class the less I feel like I understand. The idea is Honesty.
    Do you ever just speak your thoughts? Like right now I have no desire to get ready for the day. And by that I mean brush my teeth, take a shower get dressed and do all of that other related stuff. I am laying in my bed typing this and to be honest I am quite enjoying myself, and I am quite comfortable.
     It isn't easy just to say what comes to your mind. We think some pretty weird things sometimes. Whenever I talk about thinking it always makes me want to do the don't think test. If you say "DON'T think of a pink elephant." naturally most of the people reading this are now picturing a pink elephant. I personally just started thinking about Dumbo and the pink elephant song. which has nothing to do with what I have been talking about but it just proves that we think about weird things.
      We have been trained by society to not say what we think, but to say what others want to hear. Or, Maybe its not even what others want to hear. We say what we say in order to get what we want, even if what we say is true or not. regardless of if others want to hear it or not.
See this is the part of honesty that I cant seem to wrap my head around. Why do we say what we say? Its hard to judge why you, yourself, are saying what you are saying, but that I think is the most important thing.
    This random song just popped into my head that I heard a while back. Its super cheesy and I guess its not totally random. Why do we call things cheesy. wow. anyway the song lyrics are "my teacher told me I should never tell a lie, because a lie will bring you trouble sure as pie. Its an awful thing to do and its true is true as true if you tell it you might as well go and lie right down and die, your much better off to never tell a lie. Not even sometimes, remember never never tell a lie." yup I just quoted that entire cheesy song. now my brain wants to talk about cheese, and what kind of cheese this song is.
      Now through these last few paragraphs I have been trying to write exactly what comes to my mind before my mind has a chance to filter it. So I have been a little skiwompous, but there is a point I would like to get to.
     The point is that Honesty is only Honest when it is for the right reasons. My teacher has been drilling us about this. (see here goes my brain again, it wants to talk about how weird drilling is as a description, I'm going to force it to stay on topic though.) Honesty can only be honest if you are telling someone what you think before you filter it, for the purpose of allowing someone else to see who you really are. That's the trick. Honesty must be for the purpose of letting someone see who you really are. and that's scary.
       I dare you to try it though. I dare me to try it. I'm not good at it at all. I usually just tell people what they want to hear rather than showing them who I really am. (probably cause I am skiwompous.) as always I would love to hear your thoughts, your honest thoughts, try responding with exactly what your brain is thinking right now. That way we can get to know each other, who we really are.

Honestly Honest.

   There is this Idea that we have been discussing in my Critical Thinking and Writing class this has been fascinating me for days. The idea is simple and one that I thought that I understood but the more that we talk about it in class the less I feel like I understand. The idea is Honesty.
    Do you ever just speak your thoughts? Like right now I have no desire to get ready for the day. And by that I mean brush my teeth, take a shower get dressed and do all of that other related stuff. I am laying in my bed typing this and to be honest I am quite enjoying myself, and I am quite comfortable.
     It isn't easy just to say what comes to your mind. We think some pretty weird things sometimes. Whenever I talk about thinking it always makes me want to do the don't think test. If you say "DON'T think of a pink elephant." naturally most of the people reading this are now picturing a pink elephant. I personally just started thinking about Dumbo and the pink elephant song. which has nothing to do with what I have been talking about but it just proves that we think about weird things.
      We have been trained by society to not say what we think, but to say what others want to hear. Or, Maybe its not even what others want to hear. We say what we say in order to get what we want, even if what we say is true or not. regardless of if others want to hear it or not.
See this is the part of honesty that I cant seem to wrap my head around. Why do we say what we say? Its hard to judge why you, yourself, are saying what you are saying, but that I think is the most important thing.
    This random song just popped into my head that I heard a while back. Its super cheesy and I guess its not totally random. Why do we call things cheesy. wow. anyway the song lyrics are "my teacher told me I should never tell a lie, because a lie will bring you trouble sure as pie. Its an awful thing to do and its true is true as true if you tell it you might as well go and lie right down and die, your much better off to never tell a lie. Not even sometimes, remember never never tell a lie." yup I just quoted that entire cheesy song. now my brain wants to talk about cheese, and what kind of cheese this song is.
\     Now through these last few paragraphs I have been trying to write exactly what comes to my mind before my mind has a chance to filter it. So I have been a little skiwompous, but there is a point I would like to get to.
     The point is that Honesty is only Honest when it is for the right reasons. My teacher has been drilling us about this. (see here goes my brain again, it wants to talk about how weird drilling is as a description, I'm going to force it to stay on topic though.) Honesty can only be honest if you are telling someone what you think before you filter it, for the purpose of allowing someone else to see who you really are. That's the trick. Honesty must be for the purpose of letting someone see who you really are. and that's scary.
I dare you to try it though. I dare me to try it. I'm not good at it at all. I usually just tell people what they want to hear rather than showing them who I really am. (probably cause I am skiwompous.) as always I would love to hear your thoughts, your honest thoughts, try responding with exactly what your brain is thinking right now. That way we can get to know each other, who we really are.

The Magic of Mastering Music

The Magic Of Mastering Music

I’ve been practicing for what feels like days. Practicing just this one short phrase of music so simple and so small; and yet so difficult. I can feel my body about to give up. My breathing is poor and shallow, my muscles are tired, and I feel like if I sit down I will fall asleep immediately. Questions begin to pester my mind, Is it really worth it? Does it mean anything? Does it really mean anything at all, this exhausting work that I am doing here? What does studying this music do for me? I realize that someday I will be teaching students who will go through these same things, and have these same questions. Questions like; why Study music? Or; is working on this little phrase worth so much work? How am I going to answer these questions? Of course the question that they are really asking is; is music worth studying? How will I answer this question for them? How do I answer this question for myself?

“Music is the movement of sound to reach the soul for the education of its virtue,” these words were spoken by Plato in ancient Greece.  This is one small piece of evidence of how music has been a part of education for millennia. Plato, the author of this quote, was a philosopher and the father of the philosophy of idealism. The question of whether or not something has value, and therefore is worth studying is a question that has been asked by philosophers like Plato for millennia. In fact the specific question of whether or not music is worth studying is one that Plato himself asked.

In his book “The Republic,” Plato has a discussion about how music can produce certain emotions, and how these emotions in certain cases would be desirable and in other cases would not. He also says about education of music, “musical training is a more potent instrument than any other, because rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the soul.” Here his opinion about the value of music is clear. It is a “more potent instrument” for teaching “than any other.” Clearly from Plato’s standpoint as an idealist philosopher music is valuable because it is one of the few ways he found, and it is a “more potent” way, to train the soul other than studying music. Music “finds its way into the inward places of the soul,” that is what makes it valuable and therefore worth studying. The type of teaching that can change a student forever must find its way into the deepest part of the student.

In a personal interview, that I conducted with Doctor David Peck, a professor of history and music at Brigham Young University-Idaho, he mentioned something similar to what was said by Plato. He said “Studying music is a way to study human emotion. I for one have had many superlative musical experiences that have changed my life. After such experiences you can never go back to who you were before.” This is exactly what Plato was saying when he talked about the “inward places of the soul.”

When Doctor Peck said this it open up a lot of new questions in my mind.  Have I ever had any “superlative musical experiences?” How much can these superlative musical experiences change us? How often do we consider, or study our emotions? And how can training in music help control our emotions and therefore help us make better decisions?

I remembered an experience that I had as a boy when I was learning music. I was studying Faure’s famous Élegié on the cello; it is a passionate piece that conveys a message pain and loss. When I was 16, I remember playing this piece at a recital and feeling that pain come over me, I asked myself, is this what the composer Faure was feeling when he wrote this piece? The overwhelming feeling of loss that I came over me was incredible. I believe that experience was one such superlative musical experience. I knew then what it meant to be a performer, to convey the emotion behind the music, and I could never go back. It was the beginning of my journey to becoming a professional musician.

Through the study of music we can learn to discipline our emotions and we can change ourselves from the deepest places of our souls. Music in this regard is unique, “the movement of sound” as Plato declared it truly is one of a kind, other subjects cannot duplicate the lessons one learns through studying music.

 Learning to control our emotions is something valuable in itself. Millions of dollars are spent every year aiding people in the control of their emotions. There are numerous types of doctors that you could argue specialize in this. How much could studying music in schools, learning to train our emotions, lower the cost of this type of therapy?

Aristotle, another famous philosopher and a student of Plato, was the father of a different ideological philosophy known as Realism. There are some key differences between Idealism and Realism. The basis of Idealism suggests that ideas are the only real things, what exists in one’s mind is real. Realism says that what is real is there, whether the mind is aware of it or not. Objects, things, are what are defined as real, not ideas. Because of these different viewpoints, Aristotle had a different opinion about what had value and what is worth studying.

In his book “Politics” Aristotle addresses the question; is music an important curriculum for youth? He says “it is evident what an influence music has over the disposition of the mind, and how variously it can fascinate it: and if it can do this, most certainly it is what youth ought to be instructed in.” Even with a different view point in philosophy Aristotle thinks that music is worth studying. Interestingly he thinks that music is worth studying for a different reason. The reason is not because of the influence music has over emotions but because “how it can fascinate the mind.” Engaging the mind is what Aristotle values, and because music has the ability to engage or “fascinate” the mind of the listener it has value and therefore is worth studying.

Later in his book “Politics,” Aristotle says something that seems to have an opposing view towards the common education of music. He says “it is… clear that the learning of it [music] should never prevent the business of riper years; nor render the body effeminate, and unfit for the business of war or the state.” At first glance it seems that he is saying that music is not as important as other business, or for our case, other subjects of study, but reading closer we see that is not his meaning at all.

Here he clearly states that music should “never prevent,” other business or other studies. This means that we should not be so extreme in our study of music that we neglect other subjects such as language, science, math, est. This is true. Studying too much of a single subject can greatly detract from our overall education and as Aristotle puts it “prevent” the study of other subjects. Especially for young people this can be harmful. We must be careful that the study of music does not become the only topic that we study. This is also true for other subjects, like math, science, reading, and writing, they should not become the only subjects that we study. It is very clear here that music, according to Aristotle is to be studied alongside the other subjects of study and not left out. Aristotle is saying that we must balance our studies between all of the important subjects, including music, never allowing one to prevent the others study. Neglecting the study of music would be as irresponsible, according to this quote, as neglecting the other subjects of study.

In an interview that I was privileged to conduct with Dr. Chris Wilson, doctor of international education research and a professor of education at Brigham Young University Idaho, he responded to the question “what makes something worth studying,” in a different way than those discussed. He said something is worth studying if “it changes the individual or those around them for the better.” This adds another new insight. He suggests that something is worth studying not only to benefit the student that is doing the studying but if it can benefit those around them. We talked a lot about how music has an effect on the emotions not only to the performer but also to the listener. This is a perfect example of something that can “benefit” and change those around the student.

Another insight that Dr. Wilson shared was that music is the study of “sound as well as silence. Musicians learn to listen; they know that silence can be just as important as sound.” It is true that in a musical phrase a rest or silence, is just as significant, and in some cases more significant than a note. The skills learn that come from mastering music are useful in all disciplines of study. We can see from this idea as well as others discussed we can see that music is a valuable part of education, for its emotional aspect, for its intellectual aspect, skills training aspect, and many others. For this reason it should be studied alongside the other core subjects.

These philosophical viewpoints we have looked at open up new questions. How does music “fascinate,” or engage the mind? What effect does music have on the mind? Aristotle suggested that truth could be found through science, he even invented the scientific method as a way to search for truth. These questions, about the mind can be answered through science. Searching for answers to these questions I came across several interesting studies.

One such study was done at The New York Academy of Sciences, by Doctor Robert Zatorre, a Doctor of neuroscience. In his study entitled Music and the Brain, he specifically studied how music can affect the part of the brain associated with emotion, his findings were incredible. He took subjects and first played them music that was extremely dissonant and considered to sound bad (had wrong notes). When this music was played “activity the left amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex increased.” Sounds like gibberish but these areas of the brain are the parts associated with negative emotion. Furthermore he took music that gave people “chills” and tested the activity in the brain that happened as people were having chills. He reports “activity in the nucleus accumbens, dorsal midbrain, and insula has been reported to increase.” Again doctor language, translated that is the parts of the brain associated with positive emotion. This means that he tested and demonstrated that music has the ability to effect negative and positive emotions. This plays into both Plato’s and Aristotle’s ideology. Music has a measureable effect on the brain, which is what Aristotle valued, and also can effect for positive and negative the emotions of people, which is what Plato valued.

Another study was done by Joseph Ludoux, also a neuroscientist. He is considered to be one of the world’s experts on emotion neuroscience. He has recently been working with what he calls emotional memory. He suggests that there is a distinction between cognitive memory, and emotional memory. Cognitive memory is what is typically used in schools; it deals with memory by patterns, or association. In his study Ludoux has rats listen to a sound and immediately after they are shocked. He reports, “Tracing the circuits forward from the auditory system to the response control systems, we implicated specific regions of the amygdala in the learning and storage of these memories.” These memories are associated with fear. When the sound was played the rats began to react even without being shocked. Music is an emotional experience; it is connected to the emotional part of the brain rather than the hippocampus which stores cognitive memories. Have you ever experienced emotional memory? Have you ever remembered certain things when a song was played? That is because of the music has helped in the emotional memory, when the song is played memories and emotions are restored.

In a ted talk entitled “Music and Emotion Through Time,” given by Michael Tilson Thomas, the music director of the San Francisco Symphony, He gives an example of music’s ability to create emotional memory. He talks about an experience he had with a man in a nursing home whose memory is lacking. This man gets out of his bed and painstakingly walks, on his walker, to the piano on the other side of the room. He starts to plunk out some seemingly random notes, and mutters something about Beethoven, and how he was a boy, and the symphony. Michael Thomas being a professional musician recognized what this man was trying to play and as he began to play, the man’s memory was unlocked and he told of an experience that he had as a boy when he went to the symphony. The man was even able to remember the name of the performer, and where the performance was. The emotions that this man felt at this performance made the memory very powerful and made it stick very deeply. Even when this mans cognitive memory was failing, music unlocked his emotional memory.

Memory is one thing that is very important in education. If music is a way to help improve memory then it is valuable and worth learning. Can you imagine students learning things through cognitive memory and emotional memory in schools?

At another point of his talk Michael Tilson Thomas talks about general emotion in music. He plays a major triad and says that it is “generally perceived as happy,” and then he plays a minor triad which is “generally perceived as sad.” He then explains the difference between them. He says that the only difference is the note in the middle, “which is either an E natural at 659 vibrations per second or and E flat at 622 vibrations per second. The difference between human happiness and human sadness,” He says jokingly, “37 freaking vibrations.”

We see countless examples of how music effects emotion. We see it from a philosophical standpoint, from a scientific standpoint, even as a way to improve memory. Music’s ability to effect emotion is unique. It is something that in today’s world is downplayed significantly. It is rare that people understand the emotional journey that they are going through when they are listening to music. These “37 freaking vibrations,” are rarely understood. 

            One issue with music education is Religion in schools. Music and religion have historically been closely associated. In fact religion has traditionally been one of the greatest sponsors to music, and to the educating of musicians. Edd. Doerr Wrote an article in called in 2002 called “Public Schools Should Not Include More Religion in the Curriculum.” In this article he addresses the use of religious music in schools.  He says “There should be no objection to the inclusion of religious music in the academic study of music and in vocal and instrumental performances, as long as the pieces are selected primarily for their musical or historical value, as long as the program is not predominantly religious, and as long as the principal purpose and effect of the inclusion is secular.” This presents an issue, what he says is true, there should be regulation in religious curriculum in schools, but also is a difficult issue for music teachers.

If one of music’s strongpoint’s is to teach about some of the strongest human emotions, as we have been discussing; including, Joy, anger, sorrow, pain, love, hatred, faith, est. wouldn’t religious be one of the best ways to teach these emotions? Religious music, aside from being religious is especially emotional, but in order to be emotional one must have a certain understanding of the religion, and the reason that the emotion is being portrayed. If we sing religious music purely for its “historical and musical value,” it loses its emotion, and therefore loses part of the value of it being taught. Is it possible to teach religion in a classroom without imposing any bias as a teacher? Doing so would allow students to understand the religion without necessarily teaching them to accept it, and therefore perform with emotion.

 This is what Doerr means when he says “the principle purpose and effect of the inclusion is secular.” Teaching students to understand ideas without necessarily accepting them is extremely valuable.  In fact our friend Aristotle said “it is the mark of an educated mind to entertain an idea without accepting it.” Teaching students to understand religion and perform the emotions of the music, without automatically accepting the ideas, is as Aristotle puts it, educating them. In this regard including religious music is valuable. The principle purpose of the music would be secular and help in the study of emotion.

Is Music Worth Studying? There are many things that are unique to music that can teach significant lessons. First is the study of emotion,”the inward places of the soul.” The effect that music has on the brain is unique and allows us to study how emotion affects us. Another point is the opportunity for superlative musical experiences. These are life changing experiences that come through experiencing music. Music has the ability to “fascinate the mind.” Music is as important as other core subjects and should be studied alongside them.

It is true not everybody will grow up to be musicians and not everybody is gifted and talented musically. But studying music will benefit each student in for the better, and benefit those around them. Our ability in music is not necessarily the most important aspect about being educated in music. Dumbledore, the famous wizard, says “It is our choices...that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” As we make the choice to study music and develop the skills associated with musicianship we become better students. Mastering music truly is magical in the many ways it develops students. Dumbledore also said “Ah, music! A magic beyond all we do here.” The time I spend in the practice room is worth every second, no matter how tired my body is.