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12 Summer 2025 • sai-national.org Profeial Develment Music Education thoughtfulness, friendliness, and empathy—at the international level. Every day, WE have the privilege of collaborating to create and share beauty. In 2016, I wrote an article entitled Music Education as part of the solution for peace in our world: Fostering global harmony, understanding, and cooperation through music, via the Windiana Concert Band China tours. Windiana is our local professional-level concert band—which, I'm proud to say, includes several SAI members. In addition to ten concert tours in China, Windiana has also toured Australia, Costa Rica, Italy, and New Zealand, as well as Hawaii and New York. An article by Vanett Lawler in the 1957 April-May edition of Music Educators Journal entitled, "50 Years (1907–1957): Look to the Future," included these two references from the Music Educators National Conference, now NAfME: 1. Music Educators National Conference Golden Anniversary Declaration of Faith: We believe that music has a special mission in a world torn with anxiety and doubt, dissension and fear; in a world in danger of being dehumanized and disillusioned by materialism, mechanization, and skepticism. 2. The Six-Point Goal of the Music Educators National Conference: core of the Golden Anniversary resolutions adopted in St. Louis, 1956: In International Relations, Item 5—To give to and receive from peoples in other countries, with resulting benefits to music education, as well as to the breadth and depth of individual sympathy and understanding. Almost seventy years later, we face the same challenges in our world, and music education is in as strong a position as ever to foster global harmony, understanding, and cooperation. I read the Vanett Lawler article early in my career. It was something I discovered when working on a graduate school assignment. At that time, I thought it seemed like a stretch to suggest that music education could be part of the answer to global peace and cooperation. I was absolutely incorrect, and the longer I have been teaching, the more I have realized that music education is an ideal means of modeling peace, harmony, cooperation, and respect in our world. A description of the Windiana international tours, especially those to China, is just one example of how harmonious exchange can happen. Windiana is comprised primarily of music educators which has toured China ten times, and performed about seventy concerts throughout the country. We played for more than 100,000 people in schools, universities, rural communities, large cities, tiny venues, and major concert halls, and were seen by millions on Chinese and international television. Windiana members enjoyed interacting with student musicians, audience members, and other musicians; they always made themselves available after every performance. All of the cultural exchange we experienced in China is similar to what we have done on each of our other international tours, which have included Australia, Costa Rica, Italy, and New Zealand. On our international tours, Windiana performs a program that alternates local music and American music. We also perform with many prominent musicians from each country we visit. While on tour, I often lead clinics with local bands, and I have been an invited lecturer for university music students about American music education and American band history. In addition to performing, Windiana members have visited many of the host countries' most important cultural and tourist destinations. Another critical reason for the success of the Windiana China and other international tours has been our sincere efforts to demonstrate respect for the host country. This helps us communicate with hosts, guest artists, and audiences. On countless occasions during these tours, I have been extremely moved as Windiana has interacted with audience members, guest artists, students, government officials, and citizens living their daily lives. If people around the world would show this kind of cooperation and understanding, our planet would be a much happier and safer place. Experiencing this type of positive interaction, I also know that people around the world could show this kind of cooperation and understanding, and if we all did, we would achieve harmony, both musically and as humans. Every day, we have the privilege of collaborating to create and share beauty. When I feel depressed about the state of our world and the state of our country today, I try to think about how we—as musicians, as music lovers, as arts enthusiasts, as friends of the arts—can help make things better. Can we wave a magic baton and make everything perfect? Of course, we can't. But we can do something. It is our responsibility. We can model the respect, collaboration, and beauty that we experience in music. Every day, we have the privilege of collaborating to create and share beauty. By doing this, we are making a profound statement. We are reflecting and modeling the artistic expression that humans have done since the beginning of time. We are modeling The Golden Rule. We are compelled to do this. I believe this modeling can make our world a better place. I think that modeling the privilege of collaborating to create and share beauty is part of the solution. "Voices Rising in Dedication" is a great Province Day theme! I suggest that we dedicate and raise our voices and our instruments, and also our love, and our empathy, and our kindness, and our thoughtfulness, and our friendliness... to model caring, and sharing, and respect, and cooperation. Who better than those of us in the arts to model music education in action, and to be beacons of this goal for civilization? We may not be able to solve all the problems of the world, but we can be part of the solution. Every day, we have the privilege of collaborating to create and share beauty. References References Doebler, Jeffrey S., 2016. Music Education as Part of the Solution for Peace in Our World: Fostering global harmony, understanding, and cooperation through music, via the Windiana Concert Band China tours. Indiana INform, Volume 71, Issue 1, Summer 2016. Lawler, Vanett. 1957. "50 Years (1907–1957): Look to the Future". Music Educators Journal 43 (5). [Sage Publications, Inc., MENC: The National Association for Music Education]: 33– 38. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3388266. Dr. Jeffrey Doebler is an SAI Friend of the Arts. He is Professor of Music and Director of Music Education and Bands at Valparaiso University in Indiana.

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