Lund Music Studio

Chart of Multiple Intelligences

ALL CHILDREN ARE GIFTED AND TALENTED! WE JUST HAVE TO LOOK HARD ENOUGH!!!

Why, in the past, have we assigned labels (”gifted and talented,” “special needs”) to children? It is because we want an easy way out. We want children to be classifiable because it makes our job as teachers easier. Then we can teach the “gifted and talented” kids one thing and the “special needs” another. The problem with this? Intelligence is not black and white There are many areas of intelligence and all people are good at at least one. This means that as teachers we have to spend the time with each child to determine WHICH one. This has made the “Theory of Multiple Intelligences” very popular in the education world right now. I would like to briefly look at what this theory is, how it relates to the arts, and how it can help teachers to better connect with students and students to get more out of their education.

The theory of multiple intelligences divides methods of learning into different categories. Those are “Word Smart,” “Logic Smart,” “Picture Smart,” “Body Smart,” “Music Smart,” “People Smart,” and “Self Smart,” as shown in the chart. I have a few disclaimers to make about this chart. First of all, the theory of multiple intelligences says that different people have strengths in different areas, so everyone’s chart will look different, and have different sections appear larger depending on their individual strengths.

Second, you will notice that “Music Smart” is included in the chart. I do not believe that a child has to be largely music smart to benefit from music. That is the importance of this article. Music teachers should be encouraged by this theory to be attentive and discover each of their students points of greatest intelligence, and then play off of those to create the best possible learning environment. Also, music students should not be led to believe that their music lessons are about obtaining musical perfection. The arts should not be so much about a perfect finished product as they should be about a search for a higher quality of learning and of life through the joy of musicianship.

Though each person’s “Intelligence Pie” is cut differently, and teachers should recognize and play to a student’s strengths, they should also recognize and work on areas that are not as strong using music as the tool to accomplish this. Music can provide means of strengthening weaker areas, as it aids in higher thinking skills such as independent thought, creativity, analysis, and coordination. So, if you have a student who is not particularly strong in logic but is very creative, you should make sure you exercise BOTH the creativity and the logic. A teacher can also help a creative minded student by presenting logic and facts through story-telling, bringing fun and life to an otherwise dull subject.

My goal within this article is to establish the fact that teachers should be aware of and catering to their students’ areas of intelligence. This means that if you have 3 lessons in a row all with second graders, every lesson, upon observation, would be vastly different. For example, the logical minded student will be a very good listener, and can understand facts very easily. However, the bodily-kinesthetic learner will likely be much better at DOING than LISTENING. Rather than spouting facts at this student, the teacher should find a way for the student to actively participate in the learning, DOING something to learn the same information your first student could have gotten by listening.

In this way, a music teacher should be able to provide varied and interesting lessons for all of their students, featuring a unique and customized teaching style. This is what I hope to achieve for my own studio, and by making this information accessible, it is what I hope to encourage in others.