Involving music to education

When it comes to choose a song we like, we may think of lots of them, as there are millions of songs ready to be listen, but when it comes to choose a song about education, we maybe would think a little bit more on it. This week, I was asked to choose a song related to the most important matter of my entire career, education. In the begin I had some blurry ideas, about what song would be the most proper for the occasion, indeed my election was a song which is such an anthem for some, people like me. Its name is "Simple man" but its lyrics aren't that simple, because the implicit meaning of every single word you can find on it, it's just huge when you attach them all. The song is a story about a mom whose son listen to every single word of wisdom, and she spokes to him about a completely different style of life, a way where everything you need is beneath your soul, also she is asking him to be a simple kind of men, which means that life is as hard as we turn it, and if we're not so difficult people everything we'll need in life is going to be there within us, waiting to be awaken. I do believe the song speaks to us through a simple message which is that we don't need to be part of any stereotype but ours. Sometimes I start thinking about what the woman's wisdom would do to my life, and even feel some way identified as the opposite of what she is asking his son to do, but eventhough the song makes me feel wrong, as always I can find the light at the end of the tunnel, which for me in this case is apreciating the song's message and aplying it step by step on my life, living slower and happier, but more active and prepared for being challenged, furthermore since the first time I listened to this song I felt really sticked to it, because the lyrics got me, and so did the band who did the cover, Shinedown. Indeed it is a cover, the original song is a famous composition by Lynyrd Skynyrd. But yet, I believe the song speaks to me, and is asking me to create some changes on my life and my environment, and those don´t need to be large changes but simple changes, as Lao Tzu said: "The journey of one thousand miles, starts with one step." When I presented the song, I wasn´t afraid of what people could think about it, because maybe in the first sight, it has no relation to school or education, but as I said, education is not just about memorizing, reproducing knowledge and mining the brain for the state's purporses and interest, it has to go further by FORMING, and I do capitalize because is the proper verb to describe what education should do, and we do not form things or animals, we do form people, and that´s what the song is inciting us, to be formed and even it explains it in a very simple way, just try to be someone you understand and love, and from my point of view, that's what school should aslo take in acount, still I'm not saying school is a bad place, but that doesn't mean they have to keep ignoring important needs, as integral formation of people. Continuing the relation between music and school, I would also say that the relation could be reciprocal  if our schools started music programs to encourage students to discover this awesome world, and that would make school really influent on musicians formation, which lead to a generation of people adicted and pasionate for it.  Still school needs to enhance their own potencial. After all this discussion, I'd like also to highligh another song from a class mate, "Jeremy" from Pearl Jam. My childhood wasn't bad at all, also I had interested parents, but even I had everything a child need, I tried many times to comit suicide, of course on a very innocent way, but still the real worry is the fact that as I child, I was dealing with really big things, as suicide. So the song is for me a prove that we can carry own, eventhough jeremy shoots himself. As conclusion I'd like to say that music offers us a lot of possibilities, but my favorite is that it allows us to analize it and disdain it until we find more than one sense, so as activity I would ask my students to listen to the song and to write a little text about how they think, is the better path to reach satisfaction, happiness and self understanding, They'll be able to meet themselves, and who knows, that would save some lives.

Questions:

1.  How do you believe school needs to reinvent itself?

2.  Which song defines you? 

3. What's the best aspect for you about music-education relation?