Fred Rogers

How we feel about ourselves, about others, and about the world determines how we use what we learn in school. What's of ultimate importance is not what facts the children are learning, but rather how they will use those facts. Will they use them to BUILD or to TEAR DOWN Ð to enlighten or to enslave?

To grow into builders and enlighteners, children need to find healthy ways to express who they are and what they're feeling. And, I think of music as one language that can be extremely helpful to such expression. Through music, we can deal with our thoughts and feelings: those interior things that really matter to us.

When I was angry as a child, my family wouldn't allow me to crash and stomp around through the house, but they did encourage me to play out my feelings on the piano. Thats when I discovered the real power of music. I'd begin by banging random notes Ð anything (like a punch). The longer I played, though, the calmer my music became, the calmer I became, too. That piano probably got me out of a lot of trouble. To this day, I can still laugh and cry and express rage through the tips of my fingers on piano keys.

Often on Mister Rogers Neighborhood, I tell children that they can find ways to manage their anger, ways that don't have to hurt themselves or anyone else. Music is one way. I show and tell them it's one of my most important ways.

Music can be such a healthy way for us to express all sorts of feelings, and it has a chance to become our way if we're given an appreciation of it by music educators and caregivers who truly care about music and who truly care about us. As with most things, a love of music is more caught than taught. If it means something special to the adult, the child will recognize that. It goes without saying.

For the future of our society, we need to think of education as developing builders and enlighteners. Music education must be far more that a gift to just some children in some schools Ð it must be the rich opportunity to grow for all children in all schools!