'It's saved a lot of lives': Kix Brooks, teachers share what music education means to them

Everyone has had a teacher who made an impact on them in some way. Sometimes, it's a music teacher.

The CMA Foundation held its sixth annual Music Teachers of Excellence Awards ceremony on Wednesday. The nonprofit arm of the Country Music Association honored 30 music teachers from across Nashville, the state and nation for their work with help from special guest U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and event host Kix Brooks of country music duo Brooks & Dunn, who guided the CMA Foundation's philanthropy efforts toward music education at its founding in 2011.

As teachers face barriers to adequate pay, funding and staffing, CMA Foundation Executive Director Tiffany Kerns said honoring the teachers comes at a crucial moment.

"(Teachers) play a critical role in the lives of students, and if we're wanting to impact students and make sure they have opportunities to participate in a high quality music education, we've got to pour into our teachers," Kerns told The Tennessean.

Arts and music education have always been outlets that other subjects at school aren't, especially in times of personal and global crisis.

"Even artists like Carrie Underwood tell us that having music in the public schools gave her a reason to go to school," CMA CEO Sarah Tahern said. "She went to school because she loved music, and I think there are a lot of kids that do that today as well."

So we asked the event's special guests and two Nashville area music teachers honored Wednesday for their thoughts on the importance of music education in schools.

U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona

The Tennessean: Why is arts education important for schools?

Cardona: I really feel oftentimes we look at music as an add-on. Absolutely not. That's the wrong way to look at it. Music has to be a part of the core programming in a school. In fact, in places where they emphasize music and the arts, you see greater levels of engagement, achievement, student happiness and community happiness.

When I was a principal, the music instruction, concerts and performances, they build confidence in students. They build a sense of self-worth for students. That's critical. You know, their emotional well-being has a lot to do with their ability to feel comfortable with their performances, and they become braver because they're performing in front of people.

What's a moment in your music education experience that made a difference for you?

Cardona: I do remember in middle school playing an instrument at school and being in a music room and feeling good energy and having a positive experience with music throughout school. I remember when I first got my recorder in third grade, that was a big day. It was like a holiday. Your parents get to hear three blind mice the whole day.

Trey Jacobs, Nashville School of the Arts, director of choral studies

The Tennessean: Why is it important to expose children to music education and to do so early?

Jacobs: For any individual having music from a very early age definitely informs what you become as you grow older. It teaches you so much about life, about heart, about emotion. For me as a choral person, we have a text that we can look at and go, "How does this relate to me?" and "How can I sort of understand that and embrace that?"

I challenge the students every day to dig deep into what we are singing. How can you bring that to you so that it's personal? How can what we do make a difference for someone else as they're listening?

Who is a music educator that made a difference in your life?

Jacobs: My fifth-grade teacher was my first role model. She was really hard and very demanding, but she wanted her students to excel and she would take nothing less than your best. You could never not give your best.

And I have to mention Carolyn Minear, my very best friend in the whole wide world and the fine arts coordinator when I taught in Orlando, Florida. I just learned everything that I could watching her in front of a choir and seeing her interaction and the things that she would think of to get the best out of the singers and students.

Kix Brooks, Brooks & Dunn

The Tennessean: Why work to preserve music education in schools?

Brooks: I know for me personally, there were times in my life when I had serious family problems. My mom died when I was 4 years old and whatever like that. But every kid especially in middle and high school, when your brain just gets tied in knots for all kinds of stuff, if you have an instrument that you can pick up, play a note and put two or three of them together or play a song that you love by anybody, or maybe even one that you wrote, it's just somewhere to go to just take your mind off anything else.

It's such an amazing healthy focus, and it's saved a lot of lives.

Who is a music educator that made a difference in your life?

Brooks: John Ford. He was at Louisiana Tech. I'm playing with kids who had been in marching bands all through school. They could read music backwards and forwards. I could read and play piano as a very young kid, so I knew I could put a song together if I had enough time to do it. But I couldn't really sight read

I was taking guitar lessons from him, and he said, "What do you really want to do?" I said, "Man, I want to go to Nashville. I want to write songs, and I'm writing songs already."

I played him a couple of songs weren't very good looking, and he goes, "Most of these kids either want to be a band director, or church choir director or something like that." And, man, he helped me through theory and composition, which is what I really wanted to learn. And just phrasing and all these kinds of things. He taught me how to read music much better than I should.

Emily Riley, Julia Green Elementary, music teacher

The Tennessean: Why is it important to expose children to music education and to do so early?

Riley: There are really high expectations of kids and so I see the music room as a place where they're allowed to play and they're allowed to explore and that there are lots of right answers. I think that's so important for kids especially when their brains are just developing. They get the chance to make choices and decide like, what do they like?

Who is a music educator that made a difference in your life?The teacher that I'm bringing tonight. Her name is Lauryn Moody. She inspired me and she helped me to see how broad music education is and how it's an opportunity to learn about cultures around the world, to learn about our own culture, to discuss our feelings and self-expression, and to do all of those things through making music. I wonder what it would be like if I hadn't met her. So I'm very thankful for her."

Anika Exum is a reporter for the Tennessean covering youth and education. Reach her at 615-347-7313, aexum@tennessean.com or on Twitter @aniexum.

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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: U.S. Education Secretary, Kix Brooks talk importance of music teachers