Free printable for your classroom
Click here to download a copy of this poster for your classroom
Update March 2021: a reader – Miran – has commented below to let me know the source of this poem. It is Japanese born violinist and teacher Yuko Honda who studied under Shinichi Suzuki and taught for many years in Seattle.
Miran has shared the original version of the poem below which has been altered over the years:
Why I teach music
Not because I expect you to become a musician,
Not because you want to play the violin all your life,
Not so you can relax or have fun
But
So you will recognize beauty,
So you will be sensitive
So you will be close to an infinite beyond this world,
I want you to learn to never give up when you encounter difficulty
And I want you to know music you produce is one of a kind
Because you are a very special person
My children when you are ready,
Go out into the world and embrace your dreams!
~ Yuko Honda
Katie. I enjoy immencely all your works and e mails and I wonder if you would permit me to write a song to “This is why I teach music and forward it to you for perusal. I( would write it on Musescore of course
Kind Regards
Vaughan Wilson
Reg Teacher 16605 A M EB Australia
Hello Vaughan – I can’t grant permission because I am not the author of the quote. I did a lot of searching, but could not find who the author is. It might be best to seek guidance from APRA/AMCOS (http://www.apra-amcos.com.au/) regarding permission to use the lyrics for an original song.
Glad to hear you are enjoying the emails though!
– Katie
[…] Quoteable Quote Monday – Why I Teach Music October 14, 2013 […]
I love this quote, Katie. I laminated it and had it on my desk on the School Info night. It pretty much sums up my music teaching philosophy! Thanks so much for all your hard work and sharing your expertise with us. I have learnt soooo much from you!
Kind regards,
Lisa 🙂
Thankyou Lisa – you’re lovely!
– Katie
[…] This is why I teach music poem. http://www.midnightmusic… […]
[…] This is why I teach music poem. http://www.midnightmusic… […]
This quote nails it!
Love it! 💗
This quote ROCKS!!!!! Thanks for making it free and downloadable. I will laminate too and put up in my room. Or maybe outside of my room or maybe on the door or maybe………
Haha – thanks John! It’s a good one isn’t it?
Is there a known artist who created the artwork around the poem?
Hi Mike – I purchased the image of the notes/kids from a stock photo website and then created the text and coloured words around it.
Thank you so much for this Katie! I’m putting it in my room this year!
You’re welcome Kristin!
The original author of this poem is Yuko Honda. She was my violin teacher in Seattle, WA for many years until she passed away in 2007. I am a music teacher now and I see her poem all over the place and people have changed the words over time. It would be great to see her get the credit she deserves. Here is the ORIGINAL (Imperfect English and all):
Why I Teach Music
Not because I expect you to become a musician.
Not because you want to play the violin all your life.
Not so you can relax or have fun.
But
So you will recognize beauty.
So you will be sensitive.
So you will be close to an infinite beyond this world.
I want you to learn never to give up when you encounter difficulty.
And I want you to know music you produce is one of a kind
because you are a very special person.
My children, when you are ready
go out into the world and embrace your dreams!
-Yuko Honda
Miran – thank you so much for commenting and letting me know! It was very difficult to find any original source information at the time I made this image. I will update the post with her name and add the original version there too (unfortunately it’s too late to change the image version but I might make a new one sometime!). I found an article about her passing and I’m sorry to read that she battled cancer. A great loss to the music community.