Music is important to life and learning. Quality music education is a long-standing tradition in the Boulder Valley School District. Beginning with general music education in elementary grades, students have opportunities to grow in music skills and knowledge in middle and high school grades.

Music is one of humanity's deepest rivers of continuity. It connects each new generation to those which have gone before. Students need music to make these connections and to express what may otherwise be inexpressible.

Students benefit from music education because it develops the whole person, builds music literacy while cultivating intuition, builds capacity for reasoning, builds capacity for imagination, and builds the dexterity needed for unique forms of expression and communication. If music education is to serve its proper function, each students student must develop an understanding of

• why music is important to individuals and society
• how music relates to the other art disciplines including dance, theater, and visual arts
• how traditional, popular, and classical music forms influence one another
• how musicians work and what tools they use
• what it means to be a musician

Students in the BVSD develop an understanding of the essence of music and of the knowledge and skills that bring it to life. The BVSD content standards for music provide a substantive framework for those who teach music to young people. These standards also communicate the important skills and knowledge to parents and community.

Music standards can make a difference because they speak powerfully to two fundamental issues that pervade all of education: Quality and accountability.

The following describes what happens when students and teachers work together to achieve the standards. These expectations draw connections among the arts, the lives of the students, and the world.

Music is a way of knowing. Students grow in their ability to comprehend their world when they learn music. As they create, perform, and describe forms of music, they learn how to express themselves and how to communicate with others.

Music has worth in and of itself and is used to achieve a multitude of purposes: To present issues and ideas, to teach or influence, to entertain, to design, to plan, and to beautify.