BENEFITS OF MUSIC EDUCATION
from MUSIC EDUCATION ADVOCACY RESOURCES

  • Early musical training helps develop brain areas involved in language and reasoning. It is thought that brain development continues for many years after birth. Recent studies have clearly indicated that musical training physically develops the part of the left side of the brain known to be involved with processing language, and can actually wire the brain’s circuits in specific ways. Linking familiar songs to new information can also help imprint information on young minds.
  • There is also a causal link between music and spatial intelligence (the ability to perceive the world accurately and to form mental pictures of things). This kind of intelligence, by which one can visualize various elements that should go together, is critical to the sort of thinking necessary for everything from solving advanced mathematics problems to being able to pack a book-bag with everything that will be needed for the day.
  • Students of the arts learn to think creatively and to solve problems by imagining various solutions, rejecting outdated rules and assumptions. Questions about the arts do not have only one right answer.
  • Recent studies show that students who study the arts are more successful on standardized tests such as the SAT. They also achieve higher grades in high school.
  • A study of the arts provides children with an internal glimpse of other cultures and teaches them to be empathetic towards the people of these cultures. This development of compassion and empathy, as opposed to development of greed and a “me first” attitude, provides a bridge across cultural chasms that leads to respect of other races at an early age.
  • Students of music learn craftsmanship as they study how details are put together painstakingly and what constitutes good, as opposed to mediocre, work. These standards, when applied to a student’s own work, demand a new level of excellence and require students to stretch their inner resources.
  • In music, a mistake is a mistake; the instrument is in tune or not, the notes are well played or not, the entrance is made or not. It is only by much hard work that a successful performance is possible. Through music study, students learn the value of sustained effort to achieve excellence and the concrete rewards of hard work.
  • Music study enhances teamwork skills and discipline. In order for an orchestra to sound good, all players must work together harmoniously towards a single goal, the performance, and must commit to learning music, attending rehearsals, and practicing.
  • Music provides children with a means of self-expression. Now that there is relative security in the basics of existence, the challenge is to make life meaningful and to reach for a higher stage of development. Everyone needs to be in touch at some time in his life with his core, with what he is and what he feels. Self-esteem is a by-product of this self-expression.
  • Music study develops skills that are necessary in the workplace. It focuses on “doing,” as opposed to observing, and teaches students how to perform, literally, anywhere in the world. Employers are looking for multi-dimensional workers with the sort of flexible and supple intellects that music education helps to create as described above. In the music classroom, students can also learn to better communicate and cooperate with one another.
  • Music performance teaches young people to conquer fear and to take risks. A little anxiety is a good thing, and something that will occur often in life. Dealing with it early and often makes it less of a problem later. Risk-taking is essential if a child is to fully develop his or her potential.
  • An arts education exposes children to the incomparable.


TOP TEN FOR PARENTS
From MUSIC EDUCATION ADVOCACY RESOURCES

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. A ten-year study indicates that students who study music achieve higher test scores, regardless of socioeconomic background.
    - Dr. James Catterall, UCLA.
  4. 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.
  5. First-grade students who had daily 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 Academeic Achievement, Perceptual-Motor Development, Creative Thinking, and School Attendance of First-Grade Children, 1992.
  6. In a Scottish study, one group of elementary students received musical training, while another other group received an equal amount of discussion skills training. After six (6) months, the students in the music group achieved a significant increase in reading test scores, while the reading test scores of the discussion skills group did not change.
    - Sheila Douglas and Peter Willatts, Journal of Research in Reading, 1994.
  7. According to a 1991 study, students in schools with arts-focused curriculums reported significantly more positive perceptions about their academic abilities than students in a comparison group.
    - Pamela Aschbacher and Joan Herman, The Humanitas Program Evaluation, 1991.
  8. 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.
  9. In a 1999 Columbia University study, students in the arts are found to be more cooperative with teachers and peers, more self-confident, and better able to express their ideas. These benefits exist across socioeconomic levels.
    - The Arts Education Partnership, 1999.
    10. College admissions offcers 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