Music & Morality

                                                                                             Vol. XIX, No. 9, Nov/Dec 2006

Dr. William J. Kilpatrick is professor of education at Boston College, where he teaches courses in human development and moral education. He is author of Why Johnny Can't Tell Right From Wrong, Touchstone Books, 1992.

In his essay, “Music and Morality: Cultivating Better Musical Taste” (adapted from his book) he shares how the development of good musical tastes in our children can help them resist the forces of pop culture. He also shares suggestions as to what kind of music environment can help to create a good moral environment. The essay appeared in Family Policy, Volume 11, Number 4, July-August 1998, "Popular Culture and the Family", Family Research Council, Washington, DC. http://www.frc.org 800/225-4008.

Following are some excerpts:

"A child's musical environment is a large part of his moral environment. Right now, most of that musical environment is supplied by an industry that, as Allan Bloom says, "has all the moral dignity of drug trafficking." The first step in doing something about the situation is to wake up to its bizarre nature. For parents to give over a large part of their children's moral formation to people whose only interest in children is an exploitative one is a form of madness....Parents need to reclaim some territory for their children. Of course, the odds are very much against them. But at least one factor is in their favor. When children are young, they are still open to all kinds of music; they haven't yet learned they are supposed to like only one kind. It's a good time to help them cultivate good taste in music against the day when the forces of pop culture will attempt to dictate bad taste to them."

"What kind of music environment can help to create a good moral environment? Here are some broad suggestions:

1. Music that can be shared. Rock drives a wedge between generations....Our society needs to return to music that brings families together in song....When the piano, not the television set, was the center of the home entertainment, families enjoyed a common musical bond. The music belonged to everyone...

2. Music that channels the emotions. The basic appeal of music is an emotional one. Education is not a matter of denying emotions but civilizing them....It's inevitable that children will be exposed to popular music. It's more important that in addition to the pop sound, they sometimes hear a more profound sound.....

3. Music that shapes the soul. Morality is not simply about learning the rules of right and wrong, it is about a total alignment of ourselves. Because music moves our whole being, it plays a major role in setting that alignment. Certain types of music convey a sense of order, proportion, and harmony....In the ancient view the right kind of music helps to form character because it helps to tune the soul to the rhythms of a good life.....The trouble is, it is not at all easy to specify what that rhythm sounds like....But although it's difficult to say what arrangements of notes have the effect of bringing order to the soul, it's not as difficult to recognize them. We can hear this stately measure in Pachelbel, Handel, Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, [etc.].....Although we may not know the actual composer, such music seems to originate from a higher source.....

4. Music that has stood the test of time.

5. Music that tells a story. Music has traditionally been linked to story.....Rock [music]...does not prepare [young people] emotionally or cognitively for any sort of satisfactory adult life......

"In summary, music has powers that go far beyond entertainment. It can play a positive role in moral development by creating sensual attractions to goodness, or it can play a destructive role by setting children on a temperamental path that leads away from virtue."