What is the purpose of music?

by VJLeith

I write this on the board for my students to discuss when they come into the room and it is so fascinating to hear their thoughts and reflections. We dive deep into these questions throughout all music sessions, woven in as we’re song-writing, singing, working on backing tracks and loops, dancing, moving, playing instruments… we always come back to,’What is the purpose?’

Answers range from:

• Helping us to feel and manage our emotions

• Expressing ourselves

• Being of service to others

• Performance

• Advertising

• Influencing hearts and minds

• Dancing

• To eat faster in a restaurant (!)

• To fall asleep to

• To feel relaxed

• To communicate

I find in my lessons that when this question is regularly posed, it helps to steer the students’ independent decisions, their music-making and also their connection to each other, working as a team.