Using Music to Teach Critical Thinking

Music as a Thinking Tool

We all know music is powerful, and we have felt its power at one time or another. My youngest was playing with his sister when he suddenly turned and asked us to change the music because it was making him feel sad. It was Albinoni's Adagio in G Minor, which actually has a similar effect on me! As I write this, it feels as though, somewhere along the way, music got the rug pulled from under it. Music started getting treated like a decoration—something nice but unessential (in popular culture, music education nearly ridiculed). In schools, it was demoted, turned into an elective. The music industry turned it into a commodity. But music has always been something more. It has carried history, fought wars, built revolutions, and held up mirrors to society, and it still accomplishes all those things if we let it.

Full disclosure: I do not have a musical education background, but I wish I had one. Not because I imagine myself as some long-lost musical talent but because it's a powerful way to learn—neurologically, cognitively, and emotionally. 

So I wondered, after this young child was so moved by music, why is it that we teach history through textbooks but rarely through songs as well? He could feel what the music was conveying; wouldn't this be an excellent opportunity to talk about the person who composed the piece? When he lived, how he lived, what was happening around him? Why do we study philosophy through essays but not also through lyrics? Anyway, you see what I'm getting at. Music, when engaged with critically, is a gateway into more significant questions, deeper understanding, and expansive thinking.

I want to use this post to consciously recognize music's power and origins as a teaching tool (this is, of course, nothing new; countless cultures have been doing this for centuries). Music can be used to sharpen critical thinking skills and help us see the world in a new way.

The Historical Power of Music in Education & Society

Long before books, printed words, and digital archives, music was the primary way people preserved knowledge and stories. Music was and still is, a powerful tool for education because it helps people develop in diverse ways. It helps with memory, language, and intrapersonal skills. It can also motivate and make learning more engaging. 

Music, as an oral tradition, has always played an invaluable role in human civilization. It involves passing down knowledge and skills from one generation to the next through speech or song. It is an experiential tradition that has been difficult to record precisely because of its nature. 

"More often than not there will be comments such as, "Before written notation was developed. . ." to refer to orally transmitted music practices. However, this encourages a misunderstanding that oral transmission and written notation are opposites. Oral transmission incorrectly becomes the weaker, outdated version of the advanced written music notation. However, oral transmission is far from being an archaic practice… I propose that oral transmission is not only present in today's world, but is an inseparable part of music in general."

Emma Patterson, Oral Transmission: A Marriage of Music, Language, and Tradition. 

"Oral tradition has been an ancient human tradition found in all corners of the world. The Judeo-Christian Bible reveals its oral traditional roots; medieval European manuscripts are penned by performing scribes; geometric vases from archaic Greece mirror Homer's oral style. (...) Indeed, if these final decades of the millennium have taught us anything, it must be that oral tradition never was the other we accused it of being; it never was the primitive, preliminary technology of communication we thought it to be. Rather, if the whole truth is told, oral tradition stands out as the single most dominant communicative technology of our species as both a historical fact and, in many areas still, a contemporary reality."

John Foley, Signs of Orality

Most indigenous African societies use this tradition to learn history, duties, and culture. It is a key part of their societies. They have the same reverence for the oral tradition as the West has for the written word. Most principal political, legal, social, and religious texts were transmitted orally. "Oral traditions only exist when they are told, except for in people's minds, and so the frequency of telling a tradition aids its preservation." Vansina, Jan (1971). Once upon a Time: Oral Traditions as History in Africa. It is interesting to recognize that the tradition and its contents are kept alive purposefully and emphatically by action. 

The Akan proverbs translated as "Ancient things in the ear" and "Ancient things are today" refer to present-day delivery and the past content, and as such, oral traditions are simultaneously expressions of the past and the present. Vasina also says "Members of literate societies find it difficult to shed the prejudice and contempt for the spoken word, the counterpart of pride in writing and respect for the written word. Any historian who deals with oral tradition will have to unlearn this prejudice in order to rediscover the full wonder of words: the shades of meaning they convey to those who ponder them and learn them with care so that they may transmit the wisdom they contain as the culture's most precious legacy to the next generation."

In West Africa, a griot, a storyteller, singer, musician, and oral historian, keeps centuries of knowledge alive through song. This is a position a person inherits. It is similar to a bard in Western culture. The griots train as orators, lyricists, and musicians. They serve as a sort of living library. It is crucial to state that this isn't a role of the past. It is a position that still exists today. Indigenous communities worldwide have passed down their histories and wisdom through music, embedding it with meaning, memory, and continuity. And, again, many still do, in the United States, Canada, Australia, the Amazon, Siberia, Malaysia, etc. 

In Europe, medieval ballads carried news and history. Well into the 19th Century, the news was often conducted through song, with Broadside ballads that would be boomed on street corners. The ballads, printed on large sheets of cheap paper, would be sold to punters who would then go and sing the news from place to place. These pages had news, prophecies, histories, moral advice, religious warnings, political arguments, satire, comedy, and bawdy tales, which traveling ballad singers performed.

These histories cement music as something far greater than purely entertainment. Jean-Michel Basquiat once said, "Art is how we decorate space; music is how we decorate time." Yes, music is beautiful, but it is NOT just how we "decorate time" in the same way boiling down art to just a decoration does not do it justice. I don't think he meant to trivialize Music or Art, and he was probably trying to be witty and a little snarky. Music holds a bigger purpose and far more potential. The griot, the troubadours, the bards, traveling ballad singers, and Indigenous songkeepers all lay the groundwork for music as a tool to share knowledge in a profoundly human way, every lyric and melody imbued with meaning and history.

Songs transport messages.   

Music as a Political & Social Tool

The connection between music and politics has been seen in many cultures. When music is used to transmit a people's knowledge from one generation to the next, it is obvious that this will include a sociopolitical aspect. Music can 'express' political ideas and ideologies, from the rejection of the establishment and protest against state or private actions to energizing national and isolationist sentiments as well as nationalist ideologies through national anthems or intentionally patriotic songs. (I am fighting the urge to go down the national anthem rabbit hole.)

Some parties in the discourse of music state that music is not in itself political. I don't know what isn't political in this world. Everything we create and how we interact with it is affected by how and where we live, which in turn is affected by politics, local and global, as well as history, which is, of course, political. People who assert that music itself isn't political say that if music listeners (which includes performers, composers, and all audiences) see a relationship between certain music and politics, this is because these same people attribute to this specific music the capacity to incite certain beliefs or behaviors, not because the music itself is political. Some forms of music may be deemed political by cultural associations, regardless of their political content. For example, banned music or musicians are politicized for their perceived political or moral influence, or on the other hand, music like Wagner's or Bruckner's, which was later appropriated because certain groups felt it could support their particular belief system. 

"Given the right historical circumstances, cultural conditions, and aesthetic qualities, popular music can help bring people together to form effective political communities".

Mark Pedelty and Linda Keefe Political Pop, Political Fans.  

From the labor movement anthems to the Civil Rights protest songs, music has been a tool for challenging power. Folk music, not just in the US but also Chicano folk, Irish folk, folk music of the eastern block, and Communist China, has long been a platform for political resistance and social commentary. Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Arlo, and Woodie Guthrie, among many others, didn't just write folk songs; they wrote political manifestos. 

The Blues and Jazz are examples of music that carried hope, unity, and power, connected to the Civil Rights and the Black Power movements. Billie Holiday's Strange Fruit wasn't just a jazz song. It was a clear form of resistance and social commentary. Written by Lewis Allan, it addresses racism and the violence against Black people in the United States. Bessie Smith, Lead Belly, Paul Robertson made unforgettable music that reflected and commented on life, and of course made political impacts by design.  

Protest songs have played a critical role in the fight against authoritarian regimes in countries all over Latin America. Today, Latin American musicians continue to address critical social and political issues through their work, such as immigration, colonialism, homophobia, inequality, police brutality, poverty, racism, and corruption. From Salsa, Cumbia, and Reggaeton to corridos, Norteño music and more Latin American music has long been intertwined with politics.  

"Musical innovation is full of danger to the whole state and ought to be prohibited. When modes of music change, the fundamental laws of the state always change with them."

Plato, Book IV of the Republic

Music as Philosophy & Emotion 

Philosophy of Music is the study of fundamental questions about the nature and value of music and our experience of it. Central to many philosophers' thinking on these subjects has been music's apparent ability to express emotions while remaining an abstract art in some sense.  Different musical practices suggest different answers to philosophical questions but also raise different philosophical questions. Apart from Western Classical Music, Western music, such as Rock and Jazz, have received the most attention in philosophical explorations. In Classical Music, we can look at Beethoven and expressions of revolution; within jazz and improvisation, we can find a metaphor for freedom; Hip-Hop serves as a form of social critique. All these music genres also function as a mirror or window into specific times and lived experiences other than our own, and so broaden our concept of what life can be.

Beethoven's 3rd symphony was originally called "Bonaparte", but in 1804 when Napoleon crowned himself emperor, Beethoven rescinded the dedication and he renamed the symphony. Verdi's chorus of enslaved Hebrew people in the opera Nabucco served as a kind of rallying cry for Italians to throw off the yoke of Austrian and French domination, the "Risorgimento." After unification, Verdi was awarded a seat in the national parliament. In late nineteenth-century England, choral music was performed by mass choirs of workers. Richard Taruskin, a famous musicologist, accused American composer John Adams of "romanticizing terrorists" in his 1991 incredibly controversial opera The Death of Klinghoffer. The contemporary American composer Miguel del Aguila has written over one hundred pieces speaking on social issues, such as the genocide of the First People during the European conquest of North America. Classical music, often considered "civilized" or high-brow can hold radical energy and messages of rebellion, critique, and resistance when examined closely or even at all.  

In jazz, especially avant-garde jazz, mainstream magazines and critics harshly criticized the music and framed it as incoherent. Unlike with earlier jazz music, improvisation was key to the avant-garde, and many artists did not notate their music, so it followed the free expression of their emotions. Musicians strived to break new ground in music by developing methods of expression and autonomy. The experimentation of artists like Sun Ra directly called for liberation.

Since its inception, Hip Hop has always made its intent to make serious social and political statements clear. Hip Hop is a highly charged cultural form, filled with poetry and philosophical underpinnings, exploring themes of identity and the human condition, often through the lens of marginalized communities and their experiences. It emphasizes individuals' authentic voices and empowers them to express their realities. Some even argue that Hip Hop can be practiced as a philosophy, an unconventional and highly aware way of living that focuses on self-expression, self-knowledge, and social consciousness. It provokes thought and explores complex themes. Hip Hop artists with philosophical depth include N.W.W, Tupac Shakur, KRS-One, and Public Enemy. 

Reggae music, especially that of the 1970s and 80s, is an example of the influential and powerful interaction between philosophy, music, and politics. Reggae is deeply rooted in Rastafarian culture. It is more than just a musical genre. It's a vehicle for social commentary, spiritual expression, and resistance against oppression. An iconic person in Reggae was obviously Bob Marley. Though Marley was not intentionally participating in politics, he was regarded as a political figure through his politicized lyrics but valued even more greatly as an inspirational spiritual figure. He was undoubtedly a voice for the marginalized and oppressed and a champion of unity, peace and resistance.

American country music contains numerous political and philosophical themes. Although some have been perceived as purely patriotic songs showing an false dichotomy mentality of "you're either with us or against us" directed at countercultural movements, there may have been misconstrued by listeners who failed to understand their satirical intent. Like hip hop, for example, a lot of country music serves as a way to express the reality of life and the values created through those experiences. It is interesting to note the range of stories and expressions in country music, from feminist viewpoints, radical politics, and historical stories to deeply conservative, sometimes even blatantly racist compositions. 

Music as a Mirror of Society 

Every major shift in music history, from the rebellious energy of jazz to the anti-establishment pulse of punk to the raw storytelling of hip hop, has reflected the culture, struggles, and triumphs of its time. Yet, we rarely teach students to approach music this way. Instead, music is often treated as a separate world, art for art's sake, instead of a living, breathing document of human history.

From its early days, rock music has been derived from jazz, rhythm and blues, folk, and even country. I'm not saying that rock music or even music from the 20th Century initiates music acting like a mirror for society. Music has been serving this purpose for millennia. For this blog, though, we are exploring its different facets through different genres, and rock is one among others we'll explore, which does just this. Rock's rebellious spirit and diverse subgenres have consistently served as a powerful mirror reflecting societal values, anxieties, and aspirations, acting as both a product of and a catalyst for social change. 

During the counterculture era of the 1960s and 70s, musicians commonly expressed protest themes in their music. John Lennon made an entire album to critique politics and their effects on humanity. He wrote Imagine as a peace anthem during this time. Bob Dylan sang about the evils of war, racism, and poverty, and many others dealt with similar pressing themes of the time. Garage Rock and later Punk were often fused with socio-political and countercultural lyrics. Punk's DIY culture proposed the empowerment of the powerless or marginalized, and an attitude that change can start with anyone, any place. Rock music of most subgenres can often be associated with rebellion and authenticity, which provides a space for marginalized voices to be heard. 

As I write this, I consider how many people like to keep things apolitical. They make statements about "keeping politics out of this!" in regard to so many things. But most things are political. While discussing music as a mirror for society in this section, it is evident that most things invariably touch upon and are affected by politics. 

Another genre that holds a mirror to society is Disco. Like rock music, disco also calls for marginalized voices and experiences to be heard. It originated in the Black queer communities as a safe haven and space for expression. "It was agreed by many members prominent in the Disco scene that the music was about love and the vitality of "absorbing the feeling." Tim Lawrence, Disco and the Queering of the Dance Floor 

The way disco was commercialized slowly set in motion its decline. Because it sold so well, the industry exploited it and oversaturated the market with this new commodified disco which was so very different from its diverse and queer roots. This is not to say that musicians like The Bee Gees, who became known as "Kings of Disco," didn't make fantastic music! (I love The Bee Gees.) In any case, their music was also exploited by the industry and left the group to feel the brunt of the backlash to disco. The exploitation of disco allowed for the origins of such a diverse movement to be lost and the erasure of the liberation and escapism it offered many minorities.  

Disco Demolition Night was an event at Comiskey Park in 1979, during which Chicago radio DJ Steve Dahl encouraged fans to bring disco records to be destroyed. The event was part of a broader "disco sucks" movement, fueled by some rock fans, mostly male and white, who felt disco was a threat to their music and culture. Disco Demolition Night has been interpreted as a reflection of societal anxieties and cultural tensions, particularly regarding race, sexuality, and music taste. The destroyed records represented mostly Black music, not just disco but Soul, Funk, and R&B. The bigger picture is that the event and the response to disco was a violent outpouring of racist and homophobic sentiment of the time.

How the Entertainment Industry Has Weakened Music's Power to Teach

In the same way that the commodification of disco weakened it and made it vulnerable to attack and erasure, the music industry has done this across most genres of popular music today. The industry has attempted to turn music into a passive income stream. Many times, we don't listen to or experience music fully—we just consume it. And that is by design. 

The industry has shifted from storytelling to easy consumption. The goal is to make songs that stream well, not necessarily songs that say something meaningful. Playlists are curated by algorithms, not by personal or cultural connections. This is not the case with all music, of course, but it is more and more often the case. Popular music is inching closer and closer to musical singularity. Here, music singularity refers to a hypothetical point in the future where machines, particularly AI, are used instead of human creativity and skill in music composition and production, potentially leading to a dominance of AI-generated music. Algorithms and data analysis from big business already play a major role in leading us toward this musical singularity. 

The structures of power within the music industry haven't gotten to this point suddenly. They have continuously placed pressure on the "new thing" and manipulated it so that it would assimilate into normalized cultural standards. When they do this, from jazz to pop, they manage to weaken or destroy music's significance as a call for social and political change, a source of philosophical discourse, or a tool for critical thinking.

So, what happens if or when music loses its context? When does it become background noise rather than an entry point for critical thought? In that case, music is no longer linked to history and humanity as it once was. The protest songs are no longer mainstream. They do not reach a broad audience—they're niche. The other issue can be that in time, we've not accustomed ourselves to really listening to music; even when a song is a protest song, we might not really hear it or understand it. Industry trends prioritize familiarity over disruption. When vitality and easy listening are the priorities, it is harder for people to engage with ideas through music.

How the Education System Has Devalued Music

The STEM Supremacy Myth

For decades, we've been sold the idea that Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) subjects are THE paths to success. Schools funnel funding and prestige into these areas while quietly dismantling the arts, treating them as extras rather than essentials. It isn't just a shift in priorities—it's a deliberate restructuring of how we define intelligence and education.

Music and the arts have been pushed to the sidelines as hobbies rather than fields of study that shape minds, build critical thinking, and foster creativity. Yet research shows that music education enhances memory, improves problem-solving skills, and strengthens abstract reasoning—abilities just as crucial in science and technology as in the humanities. Schools that cut music programs in favor of STEM subjects are not making education more practical but more one-dimensional.

Ironically, many of history's greatest scientific minds understood the deep connection between music and intellectual exploration. Pythagoras believed that music and mathematics were inseparable. Einstein played the violin to help him think. But today's school systems act like these disciplines exist in separate universes.

Music as an Active Learning Tool, Not Just Recreation

The tragedy is not just that schools undervalue music, it's that they don't even teach it for what it really is. Instead of using music as a tool to explore history, philosophy, ethics, and social movements, schools often reduce it to a technical skill: learning to play an instrument or memorizing notation. While these skills are valuable, they barely scratch the surface of what music can teach us.

Music has always been a primary means of storytelling and cultural transmission. Protest songs have driven social change. Folk music has preserved histories that textbooks ignore. Jazz and Hip Hop have provided radical new ways of understanding identity, politics, and oppression. When we strip music from education, we don't just remove a subject; we remove a method of thinking, a way of connecting to the world.

The absence of music as a core subject also leads to a lack of historical context. For example, most students are taught about the Civil Rights Movement, but how many learn about the role of spirituals, gospel, blues, and jazz in shaping its message? What music meant, personally, to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr during the hardest of times? We learn about revolutions but not about the music that fueled them. We discuss oppression but not how enslaved people used music to retain their cultural identity. The school system teaches history as if it were silent.

Stripping Music of Its Power

Music has NOT lost its power. It has been neutralized—stripped of its radical potential and repackaged as entertainment. This isn't just an unfortunate byproduct of changing educational priorities; it's a structural decision. The less we see music as a form of intellectual and political engagement, the less likely we are to use it as such.

Meanwhile, the entertainment industry waters down music's message, commercializing it to the point of detachment. What was once a tool for rebellion, storytelling, and meaning-making is now treated as background noise.

So my question is: why? To what end? Why would an education system, supposedly built to expand minds, downplay one of the most effective ways to engage with the world? The answer may lie in the fact that music has historically been one of the greatest tools for questioning authority. Songs have sparked revolutions. Ballads have preserved histories that those in power sought to erase. Music has long been a force that challenges the status quo.

When we are taught that music is just a pastime, we forget its true function: to make us feel, think, question, and connect. If we no longer recognize music as a tool for understanding the world, we are less likely to use it to deconstruct an unfair one and rebuild a more equitable and thoughtful society.

Music is a force. Reclaiming it as such starts with how we choose to engage with it, not just as sound but as history, philosophy, protest, and power.

It's time to reclaim music as a tool for learning.

Music as an Intellectual, Emotional, and Social Tool

Music shapes us. It has the power to evoke deep emotions, trigger memories, and even rewire how we think. When we engage with music critically rather than passively, we begin to see the layers beneath the sound: the history embedded in folk songs, the philosophy hidden in lyrics, and the political struggles echoed in protest anthems.

Think about how jazz musicians redefined musical structures, pushing boundaries both artistically and socially. Consider how hip hop emerged as a response to systemic injustice, turning language into a powerful weapon of resistance. Look at how classical composers embedded political, religious, and philosophical ideas into their works. Music is a conversation across time and cultures—it has always been a thinking person's art form.

Yet, in a world that prioritizes quick consumption over deep reflection, we're often discouraged from asking questions like:

• What does this song reveal about the time it was created?

• What are the philosophical ideas behind this piece?

• How does music reflect or challenge societal norms?

• What emotions or ideas is the artist trying to convey, and why?

These questions don't require a formal education in music theory—they require curiosity and the willingness to listen beyond the surface.

Reclaiming music as a learning tool means moving beyond background noise and into conscious engagement. It means hearing music, not just playing it. It means recognizing that every melody, rhythm, and lyric is part of a larger conversation—about history, identity, power, and culture.

Rather than letting streaming algorithms decide what we hear, we can be intentional in our listening. We can seek out artists and genres that challenge us. We can compare different versions of the same song and analyze how the message changes. We can explore how music intersects with other disciplines and how literature, philosophy, and politics seep into sound.

Use the Deck as a Starting Point for Deeper Exploration

This is why Music: An Introduction Vol. 1 exists—not just as a collection of names and facts but as an entry point into a much bigger conversation. The deck isn't about memorizing trivia but about discovering the stories, ideas, and innovations behind the music. It's about seeing musicians as thinkers, revolutionaries, innovators, and humans, not just as performers or untouchable geniuses.

Reclaiming music as a learning tool isn't about academic study, it’s about approaching sound with curiosity, intention, and an understanding that music has always been a way of knowing the world.

So, listen deeply. Question boldly. And never stop learning.