Addressing Music Intelligence Across the Curriculum

In the contemporary classroom, students represent a rich mosaic of races, religions and cultural backgrounds. They come with a wealth of varied experiences, abilities, and interests. One of the greatest challenges facing teachers today is to respond to this broad spectrum of student needs. In response to this evolving phenomenon, educators and researchers have been exploring Differentiated Instruction - a pedagogical approach in which teachers proactively modify curricula, teaching methods, resources, learning activities, and student products in order to maximize the learning opportunity for students in the classroom. In an effort to address the needs of individual students, teachers may offer a variety of activities that are intended to address each of what Gardner (1993) identifies as Multiple Intelligences. In the general classroom, the choices and options often remain limited, however, for students with strength in Musical Intelligence. In addition, students who might otherwise be challenged to develop this intelligence further by such activities often miss out. The lack of musical opportunities across the curriculum is, in part, due to the naïve interpretations of Musical Intelligence. Moreover, many classroom teachers do not feel that they have the knowledge, skill or time to integrate music into regular classroom experiences. This paper draws connections between theory and practice - exploring authentic processes for addressing Musical Intelligence in interdisciplinary contexts and ways in which the discipline of music can inform our experiences and understandings of the world in which we live.