The Place of Art and Music in a Classical Education

At Cincinnati Classical Academy, we take seriously the ancient conviction that education concerns the whole of a human being: mind, body, and soul. The classical tradition has never understood learning as merely the acquisition of information or the sharpening of technical skills. It is, rather, the cultivation of virtue and right judgment, and that includes learning to love what is good, true, and beautiful. For that reason, art and music are not ornaments perched on the periphery of our curriculum; they are integral to the education our students receive from their earliest years.

 

In grades K–6, our students encounter art and music not as isolated “specials,” but as disciplines that shape the imagination and train the affections. Each week, children learn to sing, to keep rhythm, and to listen attentively. These are skills that require a level of discipline and concentration no less rigorous than mathematics or grammar. Students play the recorder, learn to read musical notation, and develop the capacity to recognize and appreciate melodies of enduring beauty. These practices strengthen memory, sharpen attention, and cultivate habits of order and harmony, qualities that support every other dimension of their academic work.

 

Likewise, in art, our youngest students begin with the fundamentals of hand–eye coordination, careful observation, and patient craftsmanship. They learn the basic elements of drawing, shading, color, and composition. They encounter architectural ideas in simple but concrete forms—columns, pediments, patterns, and proportion—so that the buildings they see in books and around them become intelligible expressions of human creativity rather than anonymous structures. These are not merely skills; they are modes of perception. They form a child’s capacity to see the world attentively and reverently.

 

As students progress into the upper school, they can deepen this formation through courses in drawing and painting, sculpture, ceramics, and even architecture. Each of these disciplines demands perseverance, technical discipline, and the pursuit of excellence, precisely the habits we hope to instill in every realm of study. The arts are not a break from “real academics”; they are another mode of reaching truth. Indeed, they are among the oldest forms of human inquiry. Historically, the study of the liberal arts included music not as entertainment but as one of the mathematical arts—an exploration of proportion, harmony, and the order embedded in creation itself.

 

Because of this, it makes no sense—especially in a classical school—to treat art and music as somehow less rigorous or less worthy of academic honor. Some may believe that grades in these subjects should not “count” toward academic awards because they appear subjective or because they are assumed to be less consequential than subjects like Latin, mathematics, or literature. But this view misunderstands both the classical tradition and the habits required to excel in the arts. It also implicitly suggests that beauty is optional, an add-on rather than a central aim of education.

 

In fact, art and music cultivate moral and intellectual virtues essential to a child’s formation. A student who learns to sing on pitch has developed the ability to listen carefully. A child who practices the recorder daily has learned self-discipline and perseverance. A student who produces a careful drawing has cultivated patience, precision, and humility. These are academic virtues. They belong to the same moral universe as accurate computation, clear writing, and sound reasoning.

 

Moreover, the pursuit of beauty is not a luxury; it is an essential human good. Classical education has always recognized that the true, the good, and the beautiful stand together. To encounter beauty in music and art is to be shaped by it. It calls forth wonder. It awakens gratitude. It teaches students to love what is worth loving. When students labor to create something beautiful themselves, they participate in the creative order that classical educators from Plato to Aquinas saw as integral to human flourishing.

 

Cincinnati Classical Academy proudly includes art and music every day of the week within the academic program. Excellence in these subjects represents genuine academic achievement. More importantly, it reflects the unity of our mission: to cultivate students who not only think clearly but also see clearly, hear attentively, and delight in what is truly beautiful.

 

A classical education is not complete without the arts. At our school, they remain what they have always been—a path to wisdom, a discipline for the soul, and an invitation to beauty.