Why music?
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Plato said that "music is a more potent instrument than any other for education", and many would agree with him. Music affects and enhances the growth of a child’s brain intellectually, physically, and emotionally.
MUSIC IS ACADEMIC. This is traditionally the parents’ primary reason for providing music lessons to their children. Research indicates that musical training permanently prepares a young mind for enhanced performance.
MUSIC IS PHYSICAL. Music can be described as a highly sophisticated sport, requiring advanced coordination skills and multi-sensory integration.
MUSIC IS EMOTIONAL, being an art form. Every child requires an artistic, creative outlet. Music may be your child’s vehicle for self-expression.
MUSIC IS FOR LIFE. Most people can’t play soccer or football at 70 or 80 years of age but they can play their instrument. The gift of music you give your child lasts their entire lives.
TOP FINDINGS RELATED TO MUSIC EDUCATION
1. Arts education leads to cognitive and basic skills development. (Medeja 1978, and Milley 1984).
2. Arts education increases interest in academic learning. (Kaufman 1976).
3. High school music students hold higher GPAs than non-musicians in the same school. (Horne 1983).
4. The study of music produces the development of academic achievement skills. (State of California 1986).
5. Learning to play a musical instrument helps students to develop faster , physically, mentally, emotionally and socially. (Mueller 1984).
6. There is a direct relationship between high self-perception, high cognitive competence scores, general self-esteem, and interest in school music. (Lillemyre 1983).
7. Music education improves student listening skills (Kohanski 1970).
8. Kindergarten basic skills achievement increases when music and other arts are added to the curriculum. (Minicucci 1981).
9. Music and arts enriched curriculum can be a factor in raising IQ scores for second graders. (Mathison 1977).
10. In reading for meaning, music students can out-perform non-music students. (Friedman 1959).
11. Children who have received school music lessons score higher in mathematics and history than students not in the program, although their IQ scores are no higher than the other studentsí. (ESEA 1969).
12. Receiving increased music instruction can lead to increased learning in mathematics. (Malester 1986).
13. Brain research shows that music and arts activities develop the intellect. (Sinatra 1986).
14. Research indicates that music instruction promotes academic achievement. (Horne 1983).
15. Eye-hand coordination needed to learn to write can be developed by learning to play an instrument. (Wishey 1980).
16. Disciplinary problems are reduced in school systems which have arts programs. (Arts, Education and Americans 1980).
17. Personal expression is encouraged through performance in the arts. (Oklahoma State Department of Education 1980).
18. Reading music can improve reading language abilities in slow young learners (Tucker 1981).
- In a 1995 study in Hamilton, Ohio, string students who participated in pullout lessons averaged higher scores than the non-pullout students in all areas of the Ohio Proficiency Test: Sixty-eight (68) percent of the string students achieved satisfactory ratings on all sections of the test, compared to fifty-eight (58) percent of the non-pullout students. (Michael D. Wallick, “A Comparison Study of the Ohio Proficiency Test Results Between Fourth-Grade String Pullout Students and Those of Matched Ability”, Journal of Research in Music Education, 1998)
- In 2001, students participating in music scored higher on the SATs than students with no arts participation. Scores for students in music performance classes were 57 points higher (Verbal) and 41 points higher (Math). (College-Bound Seniors National Report: Profile of SAT Program Test Takers. Princeton, NJ: The College Entrance Examination Board, 2001)
- College admissions officers continue to cite participation in music as an important factor in making admissions decisions. They claim that music participation demonstrates time management, creativity, expression, and open-mindedness. (Carl Hartman, “Arts May Improve Students’ Grades”, The Associated Press, October, 1999)
- In a 2000 survey, 73 percent of respondents agree that teens who play an instrument are less likely to have discipline problems. (Americans Love Making Music And Value Music Education More Highly Than Ever, American Music Conference, 2000)
- Students who can perform complex rhythms can also make faster and more precise corrections in many academic and physical situations, according to the Center for Timing, Coordination, and Motor Skills. (Rhythm seen as key to music’s evolutionary role in human intellectual development, Center for Timing, Coordination, and Motor Skills, 2000)
- A 1997 study of elementary students in an arts-based program concluded that students’ math test scores rose as their time in arts education classes increased. (Arts Exposure and Class Performance, Phi Delta Kappan, October, 1998.)
- First-grade students who received music instruction scored higher on creativity tests than a control group without music instruction. (K.L. Wolff, The Effects of General Music Education on the Academic Achievement, Perceptual-Motor Development, Creative Thinking, and School Attendance of First-Grade Children, 1992)
- Students who are rhythmically skilled also tend to better plan, sequence, and coordinate actions in their daily lives. (Cassily Column, TCAMS Professional Resource Center, 2000)
- Ninety-two (92) percent of people who play an instrument say they were glad they learned to do so.(Gallup Poll Shows Strong Support for Putting Music in Every School’s Curriculum, Giles Communications, 2000)
- In academic situations, students in music programs are less likely to draw unfounded conclusions. (Champions of Change, Federal study, 1999)
- The scores of elementary instrumental music students on standardized math tests increased with each year they participated in the instrumental program. (Music Training Helps Underachievers, Nature, May 26, 1996)
- Nine out of ten adults and teenagers who play instruments agree that music-making brings the family closer together. (Music Making and Our Schools, American Music Conference, 2000)
- Two research projects have found that music training can dramatically enhance children’s spatial-temporal reasoning skills, the skills crucial for greater success in subjects like math and science. (Shaw, Grazianow, and Peterson, Neurological Research, March 1999)
- Secondary students who participated in music instruction reported the lowest lifetime and current use of all substances (alcohol, tobacco, illicit drugs). (Texas Commission on Drug and Alcohol Abuse Report. Reported in Houston Chronicle, January 1998)
- Music students out-perform non-music on achievement tests in reading and math. Skills such as reading, anticipating, memory, listening, forecasting, recall, and concentration are developed in musical performance, and these skills are valuable to students in math, reading, and science. (B. Friedman, An Evaluation of the Achievement in Reading and Arithmetic of Pupils in Elementary School Instrumental Music Classes, Dissertation Abstracts International)
- In the Silicon Valley, the very best engineers and technical designers industry are practicing musicians, nearly without exception. (G. Venerable, The Paradox of the Silicon Savior, as reported in "The Case for Sequential Music Education in the Core Curriculum of the Public Schools," The Center for the Arts in the Basic Curriculum, New York, 1989)
- Physician and biologist Lewis Thomas studied the undergraduate majors of medical school applicants. He found that 66% of music majors who applied to medical school were admitted, the highest percentage of any group. 44% of biochemistry majors were admitted. ("The Case for Music in the Schools," Phi Delta Kappan, February 1994)
- A research team exploring the link between music and intelligence reported that music training is far superior to computer instruction in dramatically enhancing children's abstract reasoning skills, the skills necessary for learning math and science. (Shaw, Rauscher, Levine, Wright, Dennis and Newcomb, "Music training causes long-term enhancement of preschool children's spatial-temporal reasoning," Neurological Research, Vol. 19, February 1997)
- Researchers at the University of Montreal used various brain imaging techniques to investigate brain activity during musical tasks and found that sight-reading musical scores and playing music both activate regions in all four of the cortex's lobes; and that parts of the cerebellum are also activated during those tasks. (Sergent, J., Zuck, E., Tenial, S., and MacDonall, B. (1992). Distributed neural network underlying musical sight reading and keyboard performance. Science, 257, 106-109.)
- Researchers in Leipzig found that brain scans of musicians showed larger planum temporale (a brain region related to some reading skills) than those of non-musicians. They also found that the musicians had a thicker corpus callosum (the bundle of nerve fibers that connects the two halves of the brain) than those of non-musicians, especially for those who had begun their training before the age of seven. (Schlaug, G., Jancke, L., Huang, Y., and Steinmetz, H. (1994). Proceedings of the 3d international conference for music perception and cognition (pp. 417-418). Liege, Belgium)
- The musician is constantly adjusting decisions on tempo, tone, style, rhythm, phrasing, and feeling--training the brain to become incredibly good at organizing and conducting numerous activities at once. (Ratey John J., MD. A User's Guide to the Brain. New York: Pantheon Books, 2001)
- According to the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, music students received more academic honors and awards than non-music students. A higher percentage of music participants received As, As/Bs, and Bs than non-music participants. (Source: NELS:88 First Follow-up, 1990, National Center for Education Statistics, Washington D.C.)
- Americans say schools should offer instrumental music instruction as part of the regular curriculum. 88% of respondents indicated this in a 1997 "American Attitudes Towards Music" Gallup poll. (Source: Music Trades, September 1997)
- String instruments are featured in over 1,500 American orchestras in addition to countless groups in every style.
- Most colleges offer music scholarships.
- There is growing demand for qualified string teachers nationwide.
- 32 million Americans attend classical concerts annually.
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