East meets West in music education

By Graeme Salt

At the end of a recent music concert at my school, a parent turned to me and said, "Mr. Salt, you must be so proud!" I was indeed bursting with excitement. This was not just because what we had witnessed had entertained and inspired, but more because the concert had captured, to great effect, our overall philosophy for education. Let me explain.

One of the great privileges of working in this city is to mix with a population that values education so fervently, and is willing to commit time and energy in the pursuit of excellence. As you may have read from me in the past, there is, of course, a balance to be struck in the name of children's overall wellbeing, but that does not deny the opportunity for amazing achievement. It is in music that I see the clearest representation of how traditional educational values from the East can complement those of the West to the greatest benefit of students.

It is obvious that young people need solid foundations in music in order to progress to any recognizable standard. These foundations are built through repetitive drill, commitment of time and regular, often wearisome, practice. There is a certain amount of "pain" to be endured before the "gain" can be accrued.

This example of steadfast commitment to repetitive/rote learning is often characterized as being an Eastern strength, and from which the West can certainly learn. Support from parents for this kind of learning comes in the form of money for lessons, time as taxi driver and pressure to drive student commitment.

With skills consolidated, whole new worlds of musical opportunity can now completely open up. So why in Korea do we then see so many young teenagers give up music or show such little joy in their talent? My belief is that students at this point must be provided with more opportunities for free, non-judged, self-expression ― features I would attribute more towards a Western philosophy of learning.

At the Dulwich College Seoul spring concert, it was clear that students aged 11 and up had done the early hard work to earn very solid foundations in music. Many were also lucky enough to have extraordinary talent. However, what was really exciting was their enthusiastic grasp of the opportunities provided to apply their abilities in new and original ways.

They took the chance to explore their own emotional range; to compose and play something original; to collaborate creatively with others; to experiment with a new instrument; to fail, fail, fail and then find their own success. I saw real joy in music being expressed alongside creativity, collaboration and personal and social development, rather than indifference borne from externally driven pressure for traditional individual achievement.

And so it is with all subjects. Knowledge and skills matter and must be developed to build sound foundations in areas such as reading, writing, science, languages, maths, social sciences, sports and the arts. But at some point, let us show young people the respect they deserve by encouraging them to use their hard-earned abilities to create and find their own solutions to life's challenges.

Together, as a school and parent partnership, we can provide our children with the strongest start, and the confidence to find their very best future. That is something of which we could all be proud.

Graeme Salt (Headmaster@dulwich-seoul.kr) is the headmaster of Dulwich College Seoul, a part of the Dulwich College International (DCI) network of schools.

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