Category Archives: Musikgarten Teachers

A Remembrance – Audrey Sillick – 1921-2014

Audrey Sillick was born in 1921, and was 92 years of age upon her death.  She had been ill for some time, but was able to live in her apartment in Toronto throughout the last years.  Friends accompanied and assisted her in the last days.

Audrey was born in England, and spent her childhood and youth in England, India and Switzerland.  Audrey’s years in India influenced her life greatly – learning to play by herself, outside in the wonderful world of nature; studying at a fine teacher’s college and meeting Maria Montessori during her time in India; spending countless hours observing, especially of the world of animals and children.

Audrey Sillick

After moving to Canada and spending years in the United States, Audrey joined the Montessori movement, becoming founder and director of the Toronto Montessori Teacher Training Institute in 1971.  Her particular areas of expertise concerned the role of movement in learning, the process of language acquisition and the understanding of the child in nature.  Audrey influenced innumerable Montessorians through the Institute, but also through speaking and teaching engagements throughout the Montessori Community. This included Renilda Montessori, granddaughter of Maria, who taught with Audrey and Lorna at the TMI.

Audrey’s teachings are central to Musikgarten, indeed her work has influenced countless early childhood music teachers and Montessori teachers. I met Audrey in the early 1980s. Having moved to Toronto after my recent marriage, I soon was asked to teach at the Toronto Montessori School and was sent to hear Audrey’s lectures at the Teacher Training Institute there, to become better acquainted with my new environment.

What a life-changing event that turned out to be!  Audrey’s lectures were fascinating, although at first, the approach was such a new world for me, I could hardly take notes fast enough!  From the beginning of our acquaintance Audrey’s message became a stronger and stronger component of my work in early childhood music.

For the authors, teacher trainers, and teachers in the Musikgarten community, our work is unthinkable without her.  She was the central influence that has made Musikgarten such a balanced curriculum.  Through Audrey we learned about the child, we learned about nature, we learned to observe, to include movement in all of our teaching … we learned to tell stories, to reintroduce poetry to young children …. We learned! 

Audrey believed in what she called ‘subversive’ education.  With that she meant was that you have the greatest influence, when you observe where your learner stands, and offer an environment of small steps to help the learner move forward.  I often tell the story of this ‘subversive’ effect on me.  In the 1980s I knew that what I learned from her was important –so I wrote it down and included the ‘Audrey speech’ in all of my workshops.  After a few years, while teaching in Panang in Malaysia, my husband was in the room for one of my speeches.  Afterwards he said to me, you are no longer talking about what Audrey says, it has so influenced you, the knowledge has become yours to also impart.  Audrey’s influence was slow and sure!

What are my favorite memories of Audrey?

  • That very first speech I invited her to give for the very first international meeting of early childhood music teachers which I held in 1984 in Toronto – the forerunner of the ECMMA! 
  • Working on our first publication in the late 1980s.  As Audrey always told the story, I stopped by her house one afternoon shortly after she had retired, and asked her to guide me ’a little’  That positive answer turned into a working gig = shared authorship –  which we enjoyed for over 20 years!  For the first publication we worked on a very early, very cranky computer!  But had much more fun training the blue jays to come to our window to get their supply of peanuts!
  • Celebrating Audrey’s 80th birthday together with the Musikgarten Teacher Trainers in Sedona, Arizona! 
  • Audrey’s young-child-in-a-snow-suit story, through which she had us laughing and crying at the New Jersey Convention in 1988.
  • Sitting on our deck in Greensboro, deciding what kind of sandwich we would each take along on our pretend picnic? And this was going to be in our new Musikgarten curriculum?

Audrey treasured the natural world and went to great lengths to help preserve it.  Audrey’s legacy is contained in the many teachers she trained, mentored, and through the Musikgarten curriculum.

Lorna Heyge, Musikgarten

Learning to Love Music as a Family – A Parent’s Guide

Music has the remarkable ability to enrich our lives, touch our emotions, and provide a source of joy and inspiration. But, how do you learn to love music as a family. For parents, introducing their children to the world of music at an early age can be a rewarding and fulfilling experience. Not only does it foster cognitive growth and other developmental benefits, it also instills a lifelong appreciation for the arts. Here are just a few practical ways parents can actively participate in nurturing a love for music in their children, creating a foundation for a lifetime of musical enjoyment.

How Parents Can Encourage the Love of Music in their Kids

  1. Start Early with Musical Exposure – Begin by exposing your child to a variety of musical genres from a young age. Play different styles of music in the house, whether it’s classical, jazz, folk, gospel, or pop. This exposure helps children develop a broad musical palette and openness to diverse sounds.
  • Enroll in Music Classes – Many communities offer music classes for young children. These classes should incorporate singing, movement, drumming and the opportunity to play simple, age appropriate instruments. Parent participation in these classes is important for modeling and reinforcing the love of music.
Musikgarten Class - Children Taking Turns
Musikgarten Toddler Class
  • Provide Access to Instruments – Offer your child the opportunity to explore different musical instruments. Consider starting with simple, child-friendly instruments like maracas, sticks, or bells. Encourage creativity through musical play with your child, let them experiment with creating their own rhythms and melodies. This not only boosts creativity but also helps in developing a sense of musical expression.
  • Attend Live Performances – Take your child to live music performances, whether it’s a local school concert, a community band, or age-appropriate shows. Experiencing music in a live setting can be magical and captivating, sparking a deeper interest in the art form.
  • Become a Musical Advocate – Support music in your local school(s) and music organizations in your area, and have your child participate in volunteer events. Help music teachers with volunteer support and donations to help cover items not included in school budgets.

Nurturing a love for music in your child is a gift that lasts a lifetime. By incorporating music into their daily lives, providing hands-on experiences with instruments, and exposing them to a diverse range of musical styles, parents can cultivate a deep appreciation for the art form. Remember, the key is to participate to make the journey enjoyable and encourage your child to explore the vast and beautiful world of music.

Goal Setting for Teachers in the Childhood Music Classroom

The annual turning of the calendar generates reflection of the year past as well as expectation for the year ahead. Whether we wish to or not, during this time we often go through a mental exercise of regrets and aspirations. When looking to improve our personal as well as professional lives in the new year, purposeful, formal, and written goal setting has been proven to be more effective in changing or improving behaviors.

A helpful way to accomplish this is by following the SMART goal acronym, reminding us that goals should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. For the early childhood music teacher, as with any educator, there are goals that will make the classroom more effective. But when that teacher is also the owner of a children’s music studio, there are also goals that regard the business. Each set of goals affects the other and combine to make a successful studio.

Goal Setting for Teachers (of any kind)

For educators, it’s important to always be learning and improving teaching practices. The tasks involved in this endeavor can be quite overwhelming. These simple recommendations may help to reach those goals without losing your mind in the process.

  • Get feedback from your students, parents, supervisors, and/or peers – Often times, what we perceive as needing improvement is unwarranted, while some other areas may not have even occurred to us.
  • Write your SMART goals and remind yourself every day – With the initial chaos that a new teaching period often brings, it’s easy to lose focus on things outside the classroom. Posting goals somewhere to be seen often helps keep you focused.

Goal Setting for the Children’s Music Studio (or any small business)

Managing a classroom is challenging enough without having to run and maintain a successful early childhood music studio. However, it’s important to put on your business owner’s hat and set goals for the studio as well.

  • Go through the same reflection and feedback process – While improvements to the classroom often coincide with business goals, other considerations such as cost or communication outside of the classroom should be considered.
  • Consider the functional areas of the business – As with any size organization, there are major functional areas that also affect small businesses – Management, Production/Operations, Finance/Accounting, and Marketing/Sales. There is a great deal of resources available to help understand and improve these areas.
  • Set growth goals and the marketing tactics to achieve them – Most business owners want to grow, but sustainable growth is paramount to success. Sell it first, then build it is an established business axiom. One shouldn’t hire new teachers without the students, or expand classroom space without the need.
  • Start small and build gradually – Many organizations try to go “too big, too fast,” which is why many small businesses fail within the first few years. Take a tip from the tortoise, slow and steady wins the race.

The new year brings new opportunities and hope for a brighter future. Focusing on fewer, yet specific, goals for the classroom and the early childhood music studio will help to ensure long term success.

Have Schools Been Teaching Music All Wrong?

Even before the pandemic, music educators in schools had been lamenting about the budget cuts in the arts and how children’s music programs have suffered or even in some cases, disappeared. But the exodus and decline of music students in public education cannot be solely laid at the feet of budget cuts. For example, a seven-year study in Texas found an 80% drop out rate for band students, with the greatest attrition being between the first and second year of instruction.

Budget cuts notwithstanding, developing a love and knowledge of making music in children may have a larger systemic issue. Perhaps our approach to teaching music in schools is contributing to this decline. Have schools been teaching music all wrong?

Teaching Music to the test and not the student

In a series of New York Times articles, Grammy-award winning musician Sammy Miller argues that as with many other institutional education programs with standardized achievement testing, the same often applies to music programs.

Whether by choice or necessity, educators today often “teach to the test” so that achievement goals attached to funding can be reached. While the form of the achievement goal may be a bit different than in traditional classes, music instructors are often teaching to the Holiday Concert or Recital, where parents and administrators will see results. It is often said that music is a language, but many music programs are not teaching it that way. Much like language, music development should include listening, speaking (singing), reading, and writing. Emphasizing rigid reading and rote memorization misses the most important goal of a music program – to instill a lifelong love of music.

Teaching music like a language

It is not until pre-school age that many children are exposed to written language, although their vocabulary is already as many as a thousand words and phrases.

So how did they acquire this skill without formal instruction? By hearing language from their caregivers and siblings, repeating what they hear, and stumbling through ways to verbally (and physically) communicate. As their language develops, they begin to experience the joy of communication. It is not seen as a chore of rote memorization, but a feeling of community and connectiveness. Some early childhood music programs understand that teaching through musical communication establishes a foundation and understanding of the building blocks of music knowledge.

Many great pop music artists know that the secret of good music is simplicity in its foundation, with most chart-topping songs being a series of a few simple notes put together in a new and creative way. Approaching early childhood music education the same way we approach teaching language is a joyful way to instill a lifelong love and understanding of music.

What Makes a Good Early Childhood Music Program?

The very title of this topic may seem provocative, as many childhood music educators and researchers have varying opinions on what makes a truly great children’s music instruction. There are various established and differing music teaching methods such as The Suzuki Method and The Orff Approach, or The Kodaly and Dalcroze methods. While some of these methods are more focused on the learning of an instrument, they all tend to share a core set of teaching principles. This is not a competitive comparison of any program versus another, but an analysis of the shared beliefs upon which most all music teachers and educators agree.

Core Principles of Children’s Music Education

Here are several basic, yet important tenants to teaching early childhood music education that can be found in nearly all successful children’s music programs:

Focus on the Child – This may seem blatantly obvious, but it is important to emphasize for all childhood educators not to lose the “forest from the trees,” by making the teaching method the center of attention instead of the child themselves. Focusing on the child requires a respect of each student and their individual learning journey. This important approach also touches on “Follow the Child,” one of the central principles of the celebrated Montessori teaching method. 

Music and MovementResearch suggests that encouraging movement at an early age helps to improve all kinds of cognitive as well as physical development. The area of the brain associated with motor control, the cerebellum, is also largely responsible for our learning process. The connection of both music and movement release endorphins in the brain, which helps to maintain interest and energy in a subject. Finally, movement helps children with beat perception and the development of rhythm, timing, and the motor control that will assist in music comprehension and learning an instrument.

Parental/Caregiver Involvement in Children’s Music Education – One principle shared by nearly all successful early childhood music programs is the importance of parental participation. This is often graphically represented as a triangular relationship between child, teacher, and parent. As one would suspect, the importance of parental involvement is not only beneficial to music learning, but all kinds of learning and early childhood development. Research has shown that, just as with traditional academics, parental involvement is particularly beneficial in early children’s music programs through observation and mimicry, helping to develop a better understanding of cultural ties to music, musical concepts, group social interaction, and motor skills development through the use of musical instruments.

Musikgarten Class
Parents during a Musikgarten class.

The most successful children’s music programs share several core principles that can be applied to nearly all early childhood learning. A Focus on the Child ensures that the approach respects the individuality and pace of learning that each child possesses. Music Combined with Movement helps with not only the mechanics of rhythm and timing of music, but also with cognitive aspects that encourage learning. Finally, Parental/Caregiver Involvement creates a triangular bond between teacher, child and parent which reinforces mimicry and a lifetime love of learning. All of these core principles combined with a carefully designed curriculum and supporting materials, are key to success for early childhood learning programs.

The Importance of Music for Happiness in Child Development

This week marks the first official day of Spring, and for most people, Spring signifies awakening, renewal, and new growth. Most of us seem to be happier in Spring, and there is scientific evidence to support that. With longer and warmer days, the increased exposure to sunlight increases the production of serotonin “The Confidence Molecule” in the body, while decreasing the production of melatonin. That chemical change, along with the psychological change of being outside more, makes Spring a very happy time for most. As we would assume, happiness is very important for our emotional and physical health. But even more so, happiness in is key to healthy development in children.

While many factors contribute to the happiness of children, music is one factor that can have a very positive and lasting effect.

The Importance of Happiness in Childhood   

When most of us look upon childhood, we can remember a variety of events, activities, and people that evoke feelings of happiness, sadness, being frightened, or upset. While caregivers tend to put a great emphasis on the extent to which different influences or activities shape a child’s future success, research shows that memories of childhood are linked more to social events and activities than any solitary ones.

Adults are more likely to fondly remember social interaction at events such as a birthday party rather than the actual gifts they received. Happiness in childhood social interactions encourages kindness and good moral behavior, and helps to prevent tantrums, defiance and rebellious behavior. In addition, adults who reported higher levels of well being during childhood were more likely to report being satisfied with their adult life, including work, relationships and health. This should be no surprise, but caregivers often ponder over the best methods of providing children a happy environment. While the various factors are too many to list here, there is a distinct correlation between music and childhood happiness.

Music and Childhood Happiness

As we have explored in this blog before, music facilitates listening, learning, language development, independence, and initiative in children.

Music also helps reduce childhood anxiety and depression, while promoting healthy and restful sleep. All of these factors affect moods in children, and as a result, their developing outlook on life. Furthermore, early childhood music classes promote social interaction and cooperation, which as mentioned above is a key factor in memories of a happy childhood. Singing and playing together in a group provides the positive feelings of shared community and teamwork. Music increases the release of endorphins and dopamine in the brain, which play a role in closeness and connection with others. Exposure to music from the earliest stages of childhood increases a positive world outlook and happiness. Group early childhood music classes especially benefit a child’s well-being, as it becomes a way to practice cooperation, communication, and interaction with peers.

Spring is a time when nature seems to come awake in many ways, including more music. For example, Canaries stop singing every autumn when the brain cells responsible for song generation die, growing back in the winter months so the birds can sing their songs in Spring. While birdsong may not be a sign of happiness in birds, it certainly brings joy to many who hear it as the sun begins shining longer and brighter.

A Brief History of Group Piano Teaching

Around this time last year, we presented a short history of the piano, tracing its most rudimentary origins as far back as the monochord in ancient Greece. Many piano historians, however, will point to Bartolemo Cristofri’s invention of the pianoforte as being the most prominent relative to the modern piano. But the evolution of the piano is only one part of why it remains an extremely popular instrument across the globe today. Throughout history piano teachers have spread the knowledge and love for the instrument, through one-on-one instruction as well as children’s music studio classes and programs.

Played Mostly by Women, yet Dictated by Men

In the early 1770s, keyboard instruments such as the harpsichord were played mostly by women and girls who were fortunate enough to come from wealthy families. As the pianoforte began to take over from the harpsichord, this population of talented women evolved along with the technical and commercial advances in the instrument. However, as was with most things in society at the time, men dominated the most lucrative aspects of music. Men were almost exclusively the only concert pianists, and as women were not allowed to attend university, men were considered the only suitable teachers and scholars for most subject matter of the time.  

The Earliest Piano Teaching Methods

In earliest days of piano instruction, the most prevalent method of teaching was the master/apprentice model. It is as such that Carl Czerny, a pupil of Beethoven, was the first to conceive and create an entire library of teaching pieces for piano based on numbering the fingers and creating exercises based on that numbering. In the mid to late 1800s, several other great piano teachers emerged, with somewhat different schools of thought to deal with the emerging trends in musical pieces but based on the “classic” or “old school” approach developed by Czerny. As the popularity of the piano grew and the need for more piano teachers rose, women began to teach piano. In fact, by 1861, it appears that sixty percent of all piano teachers in London were female.

The Emergence of Group Piano Teaching

 As the demand for piano instruction increased, teachers recognized the potential of teaching in groups. In the early 1800s, German Musician Johann Bernhardt Logier began instructing piano classes in groups. Often containing up to 30 students, these classes ranged from beginners to the more advanced. Educators from America and Europe attended Logier’s classes and then introduced group piano teaching to their own countries. Many famous nineteenth century pianists taught in a group class setting, including Liszt, Chopin, and Clara Schumann. It is believed that the first group piano classes in America can be traced to girls’ schools in the Southern United States. As the United States led the world in piano production in the early nineteen hundreds, elementary school group programs grew tremendously. Unfortunately, due to the depression, World War II, and the invention of the radio, school group piano programs suffered a serious decline.

The Electric Piano and the Internet

The introduction of the electric piano created a new opportunity for piano teachers and group classes. Because of their relatively small size and weight, teaching group piano became much more cost efficient. As with most industries, the Internet has had a substantial impact in how music instruction is distributed and marketed. While there are thousands of options to learn piano online, most professional musicians will point to the importance of in-person instruction for pianists (and other instruments) at all levels. As children’s group piano classes continue to be offered in person, the importance of that teacher pupil relationship is reminiscent of the very first piano teaching model of master and apprentice. 

How Music Instruction Reduces Screen Time for Kids

Parents and teachers alike understand the challenges that screen time poses to children as well as adults. Prior to the Covid pandemic, kids ages 8-18 were spending up to 7.5 hours on average in front of a screen for entertainment. More than half of that time was spent watching television. COVID-19 and the lock-down made matters even worse. Despite the need to attend online classes for school, overall digital device usage increased by 5 hours, with adolescents averaging even higher at 8 hours a day.

As our children’s screen time has increased substantially over the past decade, the ill effects of it on the physical and mental well-being is being studied more and more. Pediatric health professionals and children’s educators alike highly recommend other means of entertainment for children to offset this epidemic. Children’s music education is one such means of entertainment that helps reduce screen time.

The Health Effects of Screen Time in Children

Children’s health professionals point to many issues that may arise in children that are exposed to an excessive amount of screen entertainment:

  • Impaired emotional and social intelligence.
  • Sleep deprivation and disturbed sleep cycles.
  • Mood problems such as irritability, depression, anxiety, and ADHD.
  • Poor self-image, weight problems, and body image issues.
  • Vision issues such as eye strain and myopia.
  • Neck pain and carpal tunnel syndrome.
  • Social isolation and fear of missing out (FOMO).
  • Phantom Vibration Syndrome, where a person imagines their phone is ringing or vibrating when it’s actually not.
  • Obsessive, excessive, compulsive, and impulsive use of digital devices.

Children’s Music Education to Reduce Screen Time

Pediatric health care professionals recommend exposing children to other activities to reduce their screen time as well as increase their interests in other entertainment. Teachers of children’s music education have long known the positive impacts that music classes have on a child’s well-being during their developmental years and beyond:

It is clear that as technology increases at a greater and greater rate, it will compete for the attention of humans in developed societies. Children are even more susceptible to the negative impacts of excessive screen time in their developmental years. Supplemental music lessons offer an alternative to screen time while providing all of the benefits that music instruction offers to kids – including self-imposed limitation of screen time; increased problem-solving skills, time management and prioritization; increased self-awareness and social skills, and more.

The History of Music in Judaism

In this last leg of our journey to explore the relationship of music and the major religions of the world, this brief condensation of sacred music in Judaism cannot fully explain the extent of music and its relationship with Jewish life. As with our posts on the other major religions of the world: Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam, these are attempts to provide an overview of each, rather than a comprehensive account. There are undoubtedly many omissions for each religion as well as content that is open for debate. Because one or two blog posts cannot accurately depict the full relationship that music holds with the world’s major religions – this has not been our attempt in this series. It aims to show how from the very beginning of recorded music, sacred and worship music has been centrally intertwined in our society as a whole. Judaism is no exception to this. 

Early Written Records of Music and Judaism

From the very beginning of biblical times, music has been seen as a integral part of Jewish life. At the very recorded moment of Israel’s birth as a nation, Exodus tells that Moses led the people of Israel in a song of divine praise. It is said that Jewish music stems from prayer chants of the Levant and influences the musical notation in the bible that is still practiced today. The bible goes on to describe the use of many different instruments as a part of synagogal music in the ancient Temple in Jerusalem. According to the Mishnah, the first major written collection of Jewish oral traditions, the regular Temple orchestra consisted of a choir of twelve singers, as well as an orchestra of twelve instruments including a harp (Nevel), lyre (the Knnor), ram’s horn (Shofar), trumpet (chatzultzera), small drum (tof), cymbal (metziltayim) bell (paamon) and flute (halil).

After the destruction of the Temple, a consensus developed in Judaism that all music and singing would be banned, although this custom was soon understood that only as a ban outside of religious services. Within the synagogue, the custom of singing soon re-emerged, often in the mode of singing prayers. Known as hazzanut, or “the art of being a hazzan (cantor),” this tradition was introduced into the liturgy as passages that were regarded as to demand special vocalization.

Example of David’s harp.

The Three Areas of Sacred Jewish Music

While Jewish music has its roots in the Middle East, its traditions are not limited to any geographical area. Just as history tells how Jewish society was one of “wanderers,” sacred music came from many influences from those outside of Israel or Dispora. This cross-cultural phenomenon gave birth to many different sub-genres within sacred Jewish music, but three main areas have been categorized – Ashkenazic, Sephardic, and Mizrahi. Music of the Ashkenazim was very popular with European Jews. Klezmer, its most popular form, was performed by traveling musicians who would entertain villages with folk dances and traditional songs sung in Yiddish. Sephardic music, sung in ancient Spanish origin, contains some of the melodies and rhythms of Mediterranean regions while Mizrahi from the Jewish communities of North Africa and Arab countries often contains Arabic lyrics. As a result of these many cross-cultural and geographic differences, religious as well as secular Jewish music is a blend of many different languages and styles.

Secular and Modern Sacred Jewish Music

Jewish music encompasses many genres of religious, semi religious, and folk music used in the synagogue and in the Jewish home as well as classical music using Jewish texts or themes. Jewish music today includes a wide diversity of musical traditions and Jewish songs sung in many different languages. There seems to have been a polarization over the last few generations between the Orthodoxy and Reform Judaism, with each treating its sacred music differently. Increasingly, Jewish musicians produce work with noticeably external, modern influences influenced by a new generation. North American Jewish music, for example, reflects a delicate attempt to uphold distinct Jewish identity while participating in the broader North American culture.

The rise of North American Jewish folk music, as well as the revival of traditional music such as klezmer, is a testament to this phenomenon. Indeed, many of North Americas most famous composers and songwriters are Jewish, including Aaron Copeland, George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Carole King, and Bob Dylan. The scope of contemporary Jewish music embraces a wide range of genres and styles, including music for the synagogue, folk and popular music on religious themes, modern creations based on traditional musical styles and languages, and classical music. Every sector of the Jewish community – from orthodox to secular – participates in the Jewish music endeavor, creating, performing, and listening to the particular music that meets its taste and needs.

As we have explored the strong and reciprocal relationship between the major religions of the world and music, one common theme has emerged across all. Music in Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism have each been influenced not only by the sacred scriptures and texts they adhere to, but also the geographical and cultural influences each has adopted over time.

The Relationship Between Music and Islam

Continuing our exploration of music and its relationship with the major religions of the world, the following is a brief and imperfect discussion of Islamic civilization and musical influence. Our last blog post covered Hindu music and its nearly inseparable relationship to musical worship. One cannot discuss Islam and musical traditions without various conflicting opinions, and even contradictions in terms. Generic terms for ‘music’ or activity recognized as involving ‘music’ have never been applied orthodox practice of Sunni and Shi’a Islam. The view of scholars and theologians vary widely as whether music in Islam is strictly forbidden to generally forbidden but with varying restrictions that do not lead listeners into temptation

Music and the Quran

Part of the source of disagreement in the Muslim world about music and Islamic worship stems from the term ‘music’ and that the Quran does not explicitly refer to music itself. However, scholars on both sides of the argument have interpreted certain passages for and against tolerance. Those who contend that music is strictly forbidden in Islam point to phrases such as “And of mankind is he who purchases idle talks to mislead others from the path of Allah…”, whereas ‘idle talks’ has been translated as the amusement of speech or theatrics.

Others refer to Allah giving the prophet David the ‘gift of the Psalms’, poetic in structure and character, as evidence of allowing music as long as it did not lead to sinful acts. There are some Sunni movements of Islam, including the Salafi and Deobandi who strictly interpret the Quran and hadith (a record the words, actions, and silent approval of the prophet Muhammad as translated through chains of narrators), prohibit music in all forms as haram (forbidden).  

Some Exceptions for Music in Islam?

There is also wide variety of opinions over what expectations can be made to the prohibition of music for Muslims. Examples of what is allowed can range from vocals but not instruments, only certain instruments (such as a one-sided drum and tambourine) or vocals only if the audience is of the same gender. In the opinion of some scholars, including some Muslims, a number of Islamic rituals have at least some musical relevance. The first of these is the call of prayer by the mu’ethín, the caller to prayer, which they believe provides the choice of the right mu’ethín to be based on his musical voice and its emotional impact to worship.

The second cited example of a musical act is in reading the Quran where the musical voice gained popularity, especially with the development of ‘ilm al-qiráa , “science of the recitation”. Indeed some Shia and Sufi orders use instrumental accompaniment to music as part of their worship. Many Muslims believe that it is not music itself that must be forbidden by Islam, but that the subject matter of the music itself does not mention forbidden practices such as alcohol, sexual connotations, or presented in a sexually coercive manner. For many, judgement seems to be the key.

 Music and Islam in Modern Society

Despite the prohibition of music by some Islamic scholars, devotional/religious music as well as secular music is very well developed and popular. Secular and folk musical styles can be found in Arabic, Egyptian, Iranian, Turkish, Algerian, Moroccan, Maldivian, and others. Music is used in many public Islamic religious celebrations today across the globe, including Ta’zieh, Ashurah, Manzuma, and Thikiri. Secular music of all kinds also abounds in the Muslim world, including such familiar genres as rap, rock, jazz, and folk, and pop. In some places where strict Islamic interpretations are enforced, however, this music must be played and enjoyed behind closed doors and in secret.

The subject of music in Islamic civilization continues to be the subject of debate between scholars and theologians. Above all, the debate seems to stem around whether it is music itself that is forbidden through hadith or that it is the subject matter, intent, or delivery of music that deems it sinful and forbidden. We will conclude our series on the relationship between music and the five major religions of the world next with an exploration of Judaism.