Global Musical Literacy and Interarts Education
ChatGPT helped me write this. Thanks, GPT!
One of the reasons I started this blog is to create a transparent record of my growth as an educator and entrepreneur as I enter the conversation about how children learn music. Musically Thriving documents my journey as I ask questions, experiment with curriculum design, refine my work through observation and feedback, celebrate discoveries and milestones, and continue to develop my pedogogical philosophy through the daily practice of teaching.
One idea fills me with inspiration every single day: global musical literacy and interarts education.
I picture a future where musical literacy is taught alongside reading and mathematics, where every child has meaningful opportunities to sing, play, compose, improvise, listen, and jam. I imagine communities where music naturally intersects with every subject children study. I imagine learning ecosystems where children are beautifully supported in their development and where music is recognized as a foundational way of understanding ourselves, one another, and the world.
My husband and I have been designing tools that make music easier to perceive and understand. We have created visual systems that bring musical concepts into view through color and geometry. It excites me to imagine how these tools could help more people participate in the language of music with playful confidence, and receive the many benefits making music offers us.
I have also come to believe that musicality flourishes within thoughtfully designed environments. Curiosity, play, movement, storytelling, conversation, imagination, and creativity each shape the learning experience. My vision is to operate a musical program here in the Kansas City area that grows responsively through ongoing student and parent feedback. I imagine a program that accomodates musicians of all levels that cycles through all twelve keys over the course of three years, unfolding in seasonal chapters that invite students into an ever-deepening relationship with music as they develop a strong sense of artistry.
This work, emerging for me at the age of thirty-six, represents a profound sense of civic fulfillment. Each week I have the privilege of teaching children in my community. Their families welcome me into their homes, trust me with an important part of their children's education, and invite me to participate in their growth. This is personal and creative work. In this chapter of my life, I feel called to serve even more members of my community by helping people reconnect with their creativity, their musicality, and their capacity for healing through the arts.
Music belongs to humanity, and is essential to human thriving. I feel grateful to participate in a living musical tradition by creating educational tools, curricula, and learning experiences that help more people become musically literate. The music that matters most is the music we create ourselves, the music we share with one another, and the music that helps us flourish.
At the same time, I care about building a sustainable business that gives me the freedom to continue designing, teaching, researching, and sharing throughout my life. I’m interested in sharing my experience, insight, and skill as an educator in ways that create genuine value for others that lets me provide for my own needs and create a beautiful life.
This is my contribution to peace in the world: empowering the next generation to master the laws of harmony.
