Music education, a field of study associated with the teaching and learning of music, encompasses the three domains of learning, namely:

–       Cognitive (acquiring knowledge)

–       Psychomotor (developing skills)

–       Affective (growing emotionally through music appreciation and sensitivity).

The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) has been in music education for more than a decade, having tasked some of the best music educators in the region to develop a Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) Music syllabus, and to develop examinations based on the syllabus objectives. So committed is CXC to music education that it has embarked on a Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) Music syllabus embedded in the CAPE Performing Arts syllabus, which is to be examined for the first time in 2015.

Benefits of Music Education

Research has shown that students who study music are higher achievers and are more all-round students, perhaps because music:

1.     Develops areas of the brain involved in language and reasoning, so students are better able to think creatively and solve problems

2.     Enhances teamwork skills and discipline

3.     Teaches the value of sustained effort to achieve excellence

4.     Teaches young people to conquer fear and to take risks

5.     Provides a means of self-expression and increases self-confidence

6.     Focuses on doing rather than observing, leading to multi-dimensional young people with flexible intellects, thus preparing them for the world of work

Careers in Music

Having obtained a certificate in CSEC Music, what’s next? CAPE Music will afford you the opportunity to study music at the tertiary level – UWI or other international universities – then to the career of your choice, some of which are mentioned here:

Music Writing and Production

Arranger, producer, composer, orchestrator, song composer, jingle writer, transcribe, copyist, conductor, singer, performer, music director, film/video game scoring

Music Electronic Production and Engineering

Recording engineer, studio director, programmer, sound designer, sound technician, music sequencer, performing synthesis, instrument repair technician

Cyndra Ramsundar