About

With the music department often atop the list of departments to see funding decreased in the event of budget cuts, the job of music educators is becoming increasingly difficult. Firstly, they constantly see resources being stripped from them. Secondly, the number of students who decide to pursue music continues to decline due to numerous factors, including the cost of living crisis, making it more imperative than ever to focus on building skills traditionally considered in demand (stem, business, etc.). While I am very understanding of the reasons for why music in schools has suffered this fate, I do believe our society would benefit from more of our youth having an education in music, as a music education has been shown in several studies to enhance cognitive skills (memory, attention, spatial-temporal skills, etc.), improve mathematical aptitude, increase discipline and focus, and enhance emotional intelligence. An education in music has also been found to increase one's ability to process new language, which has never been more important than now in our globalized world. These are skills that would serve students well in any endeavor they pursue in life, not just music.

While I wish I was able to incite a newfound passion for music in younger individuals around the country by myself, there is nobody else I trust more to do that than our thousands of music educators across the country, who possess both the innate passion for the field as well as the ability to connect with their students. However, the task of inciting interest becomes incredibly difficult when educators have to waste precious class time teaching fundamentals and assessing learning via homework/quizzes/tests. Music in many schools is taught in the same manner as math and science, and this sees many students become bored with it.

Drawing from my 16 years (and counting) as a musician, I have built 1MinuteMusic to (hopefully) accomplish two things: 1) reduce the amount of time spent on the "boring stuff" by reducing a lot of fundamentals into short form content and 2) spare educators the time of creating lessons and creating and grading quizzes, so that they can spend as much time as possible connecting with students on a personal level, focusing on how to create a genuine interest in music. My hope is that educators can use 1MinuteMusic as one of many tools in their arsenal, and to not use it as a standalone item. For example, maybe an educator can take a basic rhythm pattern covered in a video, and then use an example of that rhythm that students would recognize from their everyday lives (anything the students associate with fun/cool/interesting), showing students not only how powerful music can be, but that music is supposed to be fun and can make cool things. With evolving technologies making music more accessible than ever before, there has never been a better time to start playing or creating.