The many hats of a music educator

Since the beginning of time, the beauty and richness of music have mesmerized the hearts of human beings. The nature of music allows people to express their deepest thoughts and desires because music gives them a sense of personal, cultural, or even spiritual identity. When melodies form an intimate bond with rhythms and lyrics, people's hearts and souls are impacted in a profound way, as music has a way of connecting people to the world. Since music is such an integral part of our society, the need and the desire to keep music alive in our world can only continue if music is consistently and effectively passed down from generation to generation. Further, music needs to be taught in order for it be analyzed, performed, created, and fully appreciated for students and others to truly understand its intricacies. Educators in the field of music need to be knowledgeable and well-rounded in multiple areas to help their students become more literate and better musicians than their previous generation. My goal for this project was to put together an Honors Recital entitled The Many Hats of a Music Educator, which I hoped would uniquely inform others about the multiple tools that I have learned here at Ball State University in our Music Education Department and which I feel have enabled me to · become a better music educator. During the performance, I played classical piano, sang opera and jazz, performed a few of my own compositions, and conducted a choir in order to showcase the multiple areas in which music educators need to be proficient so that they can help students progress and develop into the most knowledgeable and successful musicians they can be. Completion of this thesis involved the following building blocks: carefully constructing a program which demonstrated a repertoire reflective of my thesis; researching and compiling the program notes so as to convey to the audience the purpose, translation, and historical relevance of the pieces chosen; dedicating hours upon hours of personal rehearsal time, in addition to group rehearsal time, so as to be fully prepared; and most important, striving to provide a visual testimony to both fellow students and the immersed audience participants attending this recital to appreciate the incredible training and mentoring that I received during my Ball State music tenure. It was my aim for everyone who was part of this event to experience a residual epiphany in regards to the importance of music education in our society, and maybe even ignite a fire within their own hearts to continue to produce music for their small piece of the world.Honors CollegeThesis (B.?