Music is a moral law. It gives a soul to the Universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, a charm to sadness, gaiety and life to everything. It is the essence of order, and leads to all that is good and just and beautiful.

Plato (attributed, origin unknown) ^[i]

Plato considered music as a general rule of right living; something, that when admitted, could train the soul. Music provides an intrinsic moral significance, that can guide and influence our behaviour, emotions, and thoughts. It can elevate the mind, and provoke and inspire creativity and imagination; it can enrich us cognitively, socially and emotionally. If experience in music is harnessed and valued, then it has the capability to give ‘wings to the mind’ and ‘flight to the imagination’, and educate and transform the soul.

I have been a beneficiary of the value of music in these ways. As a continuing student it has offered me so much. It has introduced me to new ideas, ways of thinking, ways of approaching and solving problems; it has given me the capacity to be creative and innovative, the ability to work alongside others towards a common goal, and appreciate beauty and excellence in ways where words cannot easily reach or tell. It has also enabled an understanding of the value of hard work and in being tenacious in pursuit of a goal. It has enriched me cognitively, socially and emotionally, revealing itself to be a discipline with benefits that extend well beyond music itself.

If we examine these claims a little deeper, we see that they are housed by the very things that we see valued in the traits that we position as central (foundational) at my school – collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, character, communication and citizenship – the foundation of our educative intentions. Each of these traits are developed and explored in and through engagement with music; not in tokenistic ways, but in genuine, sustained, and transferable ones. These very traits provoke our capacity to engage in a future that demands agility in thinking and action. A future where creative and expressive communication will place us at an advantage; a future in which we will be able pose and solve complex, multi-disciplinary problems, and work independently and in collaboration, and create and convey meaning through the consideration of various viewpoints, ideas, and influences. This is the development of the mind and its capacity to inform and influence our actions and ideals.

Psychologist Howard Gardner^[ii] speaks of this very development of the mind, one (or ones) we need for the future: the disciplined, synthesising, creative, ethical and respectful mind. As proposed by Plato, and alongside my own experiences, I have advanced that music has the powerful capacity to develop the mind. Further, I feel that engagement in the study of music can also enable the development and cultivation of Gardner’s five minds. I’ve dealt with this before, but now it is a little more nuanced.

The disciplined mind works steadily over time to improve a skill or understanding. Music demands that we be disciplined if we are to achieve anything of significance within its complex realm. The development of depth and breadth of the discipline of music is positioned as central to our curriculum at school, in both how we come to understand music theoretically and how we enact it in practice. I am the first to admit that this isn’t always ‘fun’ or engaging – often we are painfully aware of the slow trudge forward; the steps we take in acquiring discipline are often so small and often imperceptible – but the development of the disciplined mind is foundational to control and mastery over a discipline. As we gain fluency in music in thought and action, the more we know, the more we can therefore say! That music provokes and encourages a disciplined mind is something that we should celebrate.

A synthesising mind requires us to consider and assemble many parts – not just musical ones, but social, physical, emotional, and spiritual ones too – from disparate sources. The complexity of musical engagement challenges us to find links, transfer ideas and actions between different contexts, and merge these into meaningful discoveries that transcend words. The synthesising mind is one of ‘sense-making’ for us individually as well as collectively. Though we ‘stand on the shoulders of giants’^[iii] and the knowledge that they have advanced, our job is one of forging new connections and extension; creation, not just recreation. The ability to synthesise is a complex cognitive demand, though I feel that we work in this mind when we ‘music’, irrespective of where we are on our journey.

The creative mind builds from the platform of our disciplined and synthesising minds. We seek ways in which we coalesce ideas and actions in new and innovative ways. Music moves forward through innovation; the change or adaptation of one or more aspects to explore something new, something personal, something unique. To be truly and genuinely creative we must be knowledgeable of the discipline and have the ability to combine disparate ideas. Without the foundation of these minds, ‘creativity’ is simply a label attached to a ‘useful accident’, often devoid of any real learning. By its very nature, music challenges us to be creative as we explore our own meanings and communicate with others. Studying music provides an individualised voice and a platform upon which we can share our ideas. When we create, we arrive at something new, and this something new is built from knowledge of the subject matter and perhaps new ways of assembling it: a new style, a new technique, or a new solution to a problem. When we are exercising the creative mind, we explore; we aim to stay a step ahead of what might be predictable – our ‘flight to the imagination’!  

We see the respectful mind when we work musically and learn about the differences between our cultures and that of others. It encourages us to work with and welcome differences between individuals and groups, and it encourages us to come to understand them. In the classroom, an awareness-raising of different types and functions of music works towards this, and in putting this to practice we can engage and begin to comprehend the significance of music in others’ worlds and how it conveys meaning. Work ‘in’ music encourages and provokes alternate ways of seeing, thinking, and doing in ourselves and others; and enable us to know and observe our world and reveal a sense of who we and what we might become as we make connections and new meaning of the world around us and our place in it.

Similarly, music encourages that we ponder and explore our ethical mind; how our actions within a musical work or creative process with others promotes ethical relationships build on trust and respect for, and valuing of the contributions of others; how we act beyond our own interests and share a common understanding or message, and how we craft music in such as way that it functions to better our society. The sharing of musical performances to different audiences and for different purposes, and the creation of a piece of work to comment on and potentially improve a social situation, is what this might look like in practice. There is ethical significance in music making.

I feel strongly that the study of music genuinely connects to and supports the cultivation of each of Gardner’s minds. Music offers much more than one might initially think. I hope that this short article has provoked some though as to the potential influence that music has on the development of the ‘whole’ mind. Even if one doesn’t intend to make a ‘career’ out of music, I am confident that when we exercise these ‘minds’, a great deal of meaning and significance is left with us; something that can be used to better the society we all live in. Consider the ‘wings’ music can give to the mind(s) it develops, the heart it can shape, and that it does indeed lead to all that is good, just and beautiful if we let it take us.  

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[i] Attributed to Plato, though the origin/text is unknown.

[ii] Gardner, H. (2008). Five minds for the future. Boston: Harvard Business Press.

[iii] Attributed to Sir Isaac Newton, in a letter to Robert Hooke in 1675, who stated, “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants” to explain that his ideas didn’t come from him alone, but built upon the ideas of those who came before him.

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