Education comes in varying forms. It can be obtained in formal, institutionalized settings or a casual conversation. Simply, it is the passing on or receiving of knowledge.

When Jason Patterson, this year’s Best of the Beat Lifetime Achievement for Music Education award recipient, steps to the microphone to introduce a band at Snug Harbor, he often informs the audience, in his nonchalant and often humorous way, that what they are about to hear is “not background music.” He’ll say, “Once yo...