Since there is no simple formula to churn out musically literate students, does that suggest that strict standards and overarching principles cannot be found? Absolutely not. In fact, there should be principles that guide music instruction as well as an understanding that vastly different methods and practices can still operate well under those principles. This is not a rejection of fixed standards. Instead, it is a call to unify around shared principles (rather than method preferences) all the while aiming together at the goal of raising music makers.

The first pitfall is giving in to performance pressure at the expense of true music training. In other words, it is the “doing” of music without the “hearing” and “understanding.” Today’s musically illiterate generation wants to see the fruits of literacy without patience for the process.

A second pitfall in music classes today is teaching music history instead of teaching the skills for making music. Music classes of recent decades replace music training with fine arts surveys on the lives and music of the great composers.

The next principle for imparting full music literacy is to recognize the teacher as a living, breathing curriculum. The person teaching the students will be a standard for them no matter what method or textbook is being used. As in other fields of study, music students will seek to emulate what is presented before them.