Goal 4: MUSC 224, Music Appreciation

The artifact that I am reflecting on for Music Appreciation is the paper that was assigned that required us to relate the paper to our major while including a 20th century musician and one of their compositions. At first I had to think of a way to connect special education to a specific music piece, but that I realized that the specific composition didn’t matter, but rather how the music gets to the kids. After thinking, it clicked. found something that I hope to use in my own classroom one day: Music Therapy.

Through analyzing previously conducted research experiments, I found that music therapy in the classroom, whether it is through playing an instrument itself or listening to music softly during instruction, the behavior and temperament of the special needs students are positive. Not only did this assignment help further my skills in research, and also let me find something that I hope to carry with me in my future as a teacher, and conduct research on myself. In fact, during the following semester, I conducted a research project on the topic of music therapy, and I never would have had the knowledge of music and its effect on people if it were not for Dr.Swanson and this course.