Hello! My name is Arjen Wynja, and I am in my fourth year studying Music Education and trumpet at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO. I will be student teaching in the spring semester of 2026 at Estes Park Elementary and Rocky Mountain High School. I am on track to graduate in May 2026 with a license to teach K-12 music in Colorado.
I served as the 2024-2025 President and 2023-2024 Vice President of CSU’s Collegiate National Association for Music Education (CNAfME) chapter, as well as on the board of the statewide CNAfME chapter. I have played in CSU Music ensembles including the CSU Wind Symphony, jazz ensembles, and the CSU Marching Band. Additionally, I was a conductor, curriculum coordinator, and concert planning lead in CSU’s Middle School Outreach Ensembles, and serve on the staff of the Fossil Ridge HS Marching Band.
A proud native of the small town of Lyons, Colorado, I’m an avid gardener and love enjoying the beautiful Colorado outdoors, whether hiking, skiing, or running.
My Music Education Philosophy
Music is a human universal, existing in some form in all known cultures. The earliest evidence of musical instruments are bone flutes dated to over 40,000 years ago, and most paleoanthropologists argue that musical behaviors emerged far earlier. Humans all over the world found value and purpose in music long before the development of agriculture, written language, and construction. In cultures across the world, music serves essential purposes for work, play, marriage, death, quiet listening, dancing, marching, war, sports, patriotism, worship, protest, and more. Instrumental and vocal music provides essential depth for the experience of belonging in a group (the CSU Alma Mater), for the experience of grieving (Barber, Adagio), for the experience of worship (A Mighty Fortress is our God), for the experience of communal work (Shoo, Fly), and is valued for the experience of music itself (Mozart, Symphony no. 40). Having existed before all elements of modernity and filling so many essential functions, the act of music-making is a human need, inextricable from human life itself. As such, all people must learn music to some degree. In the United States, music education has existed in many forms, from traveling singing schools, to church groups, to private lessons. However, the only way to equitably teach music to all Americans is through comprehensive music education in the public school system.
Every public school student should learn broad musical skills and knowledge that enable them to live active musical lives beyond graduation from high school. Being actively musical means having the freedom from being a musical consumer to be a fully “emancipated musician,” capable of creating, performing, analyzing, and appreciating music without the presence of a teacher or 60 other ensemble members. Emancipated musicians can (1) compose, improvise, and arrange music aurally and with notation, (2) perform music alone and in groups by singing or playing instruments, (3) use knowledge of music theory and history to analyze and respond to different musics, and (4) develop aesthetic appreciation and personal connection to many different styles and genres of music. Emancipated musicianship can be taught and learned authentically in any music class, and at any age, when the focus is on developing the students’ ability to independently practice, explore, and develop their musical voice, sound, preferences, and taste. For Kindergarten students, this could take the form of them singing class songs for their guardian or sibling. Sixth grade students could compose a two-measure melody for their instrument using simple rhythms and their first five notes, and perform it for the class. High school students could organize performances with their peers in the community, preparing them to apply their emancipated musicianship outside of public education.
Public school students deserve to be taught music by the world’s finest professional musicians. A great music educator is an expert of a primary instrument, strong in the technique and pedagogy of every instrument they teach, knowledgeable of the theory, mechanics, and history of music, rapid with error detection, thoughtful in sequencing of their explicit curricula, and acutely aware of hidden and null curricula at work in their classroom. Fine music educators must also be emancipated musicians – not dependent on one area in their musicianship but flexible to learn others. For example, a fine orchestral trumpeter may show emancipated musicianship by learning the traditional technique of Mariachi ensembles, as well as the technique of all instruments involved, in order to teach one. Throughout their interactions with students, a fine teacher must be deeply invested in the development of a classroom culture of respect, deliberate work, and high expectations of musicianship. Lastly, great teachers are consistent workers and systematic time managers, and build the longevity and sustainability to be consistent in their investment in students. They must continue to learn, challenge themselves, and develop as musicians and educators throughout their careers.