Music and education at most schools go hand in hand. In a child’s academic career they will be exposed to music and fine arts that can se them on the path to excellence Though, some fine arts programs including band, orchestra, and other musical outlets seem to produce no effect in the classroom, many people have done studies that show the correlation between music and academic excellence. It is this involvement that leads to more successful students. Students who are involved in musical programs have a better rate of academic achievement because they are exposed to new skills, creative learning techniques and a healthy and positive mortal support.
As stated by Winston Churchill, “Without the arts, what is there to fight for?” the arts, especially music and visual arts are the base to society. Without one there is no need to improve. Students who have been exposed to music from early childhood and those who perform in band, choir or other programs are more capable at achieving more in their school careers and are more likely to bring about social change. This concept of band or some musical program to better a student’s academic achievement can provide skills that the child didn’t know they processed. “Band is an experience that has long lasting effect on students. Beneficial life skills such as leadership, team work, cooperation, and goal setting are learned in a motivating and supporting setting” (Band Director Scott Burgener of Mountain View High School 2009). An article published by The New York Times (1998), made the correlation of music at younger ages can promote better brain development. Student who performed or grew up with stimulating music could certainly achieve more in classes across the board. Skills like this...
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...helpful and friendly on my first day of high school, and that impression has lasted ever since.” (Drum Major, Mountain View 2009). It is this sort of “Family” that leads to students wanting to improve and excel. Like the drum major from Mountain View High School, many participants in other musical channels have the same beneficial experience.
In many communities, this sort of response in student is growing and growing. Participating in music whether it is in school or out of school has a positive effect on their academics. Through helping students learn in a new way, a health exposure to new skills, and a growing family of supporters a student’s academies scores and record are sufficiently better. It is through these things that many communities, locally and nationally, are able to witness the power music can have on a student and their academic achievements.
There have been many studies done to find how music influences a child’s development. The College Entrance Examination Board discovered that students who took music appreciation classes had higher verbal and math scores than those who did not take the classes. (Stephens 2003) The U.S. Department of Education found that in 25,000 secondary schools, students who were highly involved in the music program did much better in math than any other students. (Stephens 2003) These studies and more have found that involvement in music increases chi...
Throughout history music has played an important role in society, whether it was Mozart moving people with his newest opera or the latest album from the Beatles. Where would society be today without music? With schools cutting their music programs, the next Mozart may not get his chance to discover his amazing talent. Music programs are essential to education. To fully understand this one must understand how music helps the human body, why schools have cut music programs, and why people should learn music.
Music education is important for several different reasons. Music is a very valuable resource for students and teachers alike. Research has shown that musical study improves a child's early cognitive development, basic math and reading abilities, SAT scores, ability to work in teams, as well as spatial reasoning skills (VH1, 2003, para4). Music helps students to achieve in areas of intelligence. “Feis, Revecz, the Pannenborgs, Miller, and others are unanimous in finding that musicality and high intelligence go together” (Mursell & Glenn, 1931, p. 20). Studies have shown that preschool children taught with music and songs have an average 10 to 20 points over those without, and by the age of 15 have higher reading and math skills. Another study showed that students that had taken a music appreciation class scored 46 points higher on the math portion of the SAT, and students who had music performance experiences scored 39 points higher than students without any music experience (Harvey, 1997, para13). Music impacts most other areas of learning. “The area holding the greatest prospects for transfer from music appears to be language arts.” (Hoffer, 1983, p. 46) It has been said that music helps concentration during reading. Music is an affective memory aide, because of its use of rhythm, rhyme and melody. Music for young children helps them to learn language because of the rhythms and patterns involved in learning the songs. The involvement of music in education can help to develop oral language skills, listening skills, and an increased vocabulary. Music can help the comprehension of language and basic facts (Dobbs, 1990, 341, 342).
Beineke, Viviane. “Creative learning and communities of practice: Perspectives for music education in the school.” International Journal of Community Music 6.3 (2013) : 281-290. Academic Search Complete. Web. 5 Mar. 2014.
“Recent studies show that being involved in music classes makes it easier to learn other subjects and improve skills in other classrooms” (Brown, “The Benefits of Music Education”). A lot of people tend to overlook how much music education has an impact on the success of a student. Because of this, schools should be required to offer fine arts and music classes as electives for the students. Not only will this improve the students test scores, but it will also give the students a broader imagination and more creativity in and out of the classroom. In a lot of schools, fine arts and musical classes are the first to go when there are budget cuts. “Seventy-one percent of the nation’s fifteen thousand school districts have cut instructional hours spent on music and other subjects” (“State of the arts: should music and art classes be brushed aside”). Not only is it affecting the teachers who have specialized in the study of fine arts, it is affecting all of the students and parents who are actively involved in these programs. “Johnson, professor of music education and music therapy and associate dean of the School of Fine Arts at KU, found jumps of twenty-two percent in English test scores and twenty percent in math scores at elementary schools with superior music education” (Lynch “Music Boosts Test Scores”). With that being said, schools should be required to offer music and fine arts classes as an elective for their students.
The position that is being argued is that music should stay in schools. This author is making the claim that music makes children excel in their education. This author uses many different sources. The author relies mainly on studies to back up his argument. The article is recent.
The once formerly instructional and practice time for music performance of 30 minutes per day has been shortened in schools or completely eliminated. The amount of time in which music instructors are present to a class immensely shortens their effectiveness capability to teach music material. Nevertheless, the reductions in their profession to teach, elementary school music instructors are still expected to yield similar results within students and their achievements. The main argument behind budget cuts for fine arts departments in elementary schools has been caused by an ever growing focus on higher test results in core curriculum subjects, such as language arts, social studies, science, and math. This logic is highly mistaken; the correlation between early childhood exposure to music and scholastic excellence have been proved and has been acceptable for a vast amount time. “Music competencies achieved from birth to age five assist students in later school experience ” (Colwell 1721), concluded a research conducted by the Perry Early Childhood Education Program. Amy Graziano has proven music education to enhance intellectual ability in abstract fields such as math when entering into early elementary years. Therefore, ongoing budget cuts and layoffs within the fine arts departments of public school systems is inexcusable and absurd. Hypothetically speaking, if school systems proceeded to hire more
Plato, a famous Greek philosopher, once stated, “I would teach children music, physics, and philosophy; but most importantly music, for the patterns in music and all the arts are the keys to learning.” Often times, humans can be seen possessing the inner desire to achieve greatness through hard work and dedication to an ideal. Some aspire to accomplish simple everyday goals, such as getting up in time for work. Whatever the case may be, teens often try to find ways to achieve social and academic “checkpoints” so that their future seems heartier. Over the years, studies have been conducted regarding whether or not music has an influence on these achievements. These experiments have shown that music does help with many aspects of accomplishment. Because of these studies, it is imperative that society and the human race itself understand that a music education has an impact on social and academic achievement.
Music education can help students with their mental health and cope with possible mental illness. A very important tool in today’s society where more and more young adults are being diagnosed with depression and anxiety disorders. The growing epidemic of mental illnesses is still growing rapidly to the United States. By implementing a music credit requirement school districts can prevent the rate at which mental illnesses form and develop. It may also help reduce physical pain and be able to treat minor heart conditions. Music may also assist the children with their school subjects. Music makes it easier for students to understand and interpret school work and focus on what is important in their academic studies. Music also helps students with the multiple standardized testing that is prominant in school systems today.
A school’s curriculum stands by the three “Rs” – reading, writing, and arithmetic – but what about rhythm? Because of budget cuts, many schools throughout the United States have thrown their chorus, orchestra, and band programs into the pile of the “over” and “done with.” In multiple cases, music programs get the boot just because there are no standardized tests for it. Schools like these could not be bringing a greater injustice upon students. Music programs are special in the way that they benefit every aspect of the pupil. It has been proven that music education better shapes the mind, body, and heart of all involved, making music unique and vital to the education system. Music education should be supported by schools because it promotes healthy living, improves brain function, and transforms students into better citizens.
In today’s society, people are constantly looking for new ways to have students produce more from their public education. Some argue that more funding is the answer, while others say that better learning facilities will help. Studies recently conducted show that a simple change in the curriculum will produce the outcome that people are searching for. The simple change is music education. Music education has been shown to improve general academic skills as well as social skills in children. If music classes are added to a child’s schedule, they will begin to show an increase in learning that educators are looking for. Get rid of the ideas of more funding and better facilities, all the students need is a simple music course in their everyday lives.
Much too often in America today, modern music and art programs in schools are perceived to many as extracurricular activities rather than important subjects that are vital to a students learning and skill development. The truth of the matter is that encouraging music and art education in public schools has a much larger impact on student’s grades, academic performance, and the economy than the majority people realize. Within the next year city school budgets will be dropping by twenty five percent, and despite the fact that music and art programs have been showing a dramatic contribution to student’s learning, this substantial drop in funding for the programs will lead to no dedicated money for art or music programs (Mezzacappa). There is no doubt that a cut in funding for art programs will take a huge toll on students overall grades and test scores. Research has found that the studying of music and art facilitates learning in other subjects and enhances children’s skills in other areas (Brown). Furthermore, providing students with a creative outlet can do great justice in reducing the stress from many other classes and even offer insight for students in possible career paths involving the art field. The art industry today currently supports 4.1 million full-time jobs (Dorfman). By increasing the funding of music and art programs for students preschool through twelfth grade we can see a dramatic increase in the education of children across the United States, assist with skill development in young students, and greatly benefit the economy at the same time.
“Every student in the nation should have an education in the arts.” This is the opening statement of “The Value and Quality of Arts Education: A Statement of Principles,” a document from the nation’s ten most important educational organizations. The basic message is that music and art programs in the schools help our kids and communities in real and substantial ways. There is an abundant amount of facts and information that supports this statement. The benefits of arts education can be narrowed down into 4 basic categories: success in developing intelligence, success in ...
Friedrich Nietzsche once said, “Without music, life would be a mistake”. Music is almost as old as the human race and is as much a part of it as anything. So why would anyone choose to get rid of it? An Increasing number of schools across the nation are deciding to cut music education programs. This includes band, orchestra, choir, and general music classes. In 1991, 55.4 percent of public school eighth-graders took part in music classes at school. In 2004, this figure was just 49.1 percent. Money plays a huge role in this statistic: “...when funds are scarce, arts courses are usually the first to be dropped from a school’s curriculum” (“Arts Education”). While many argue that music education is an unnecessary cost for schools, it improves student’s overall well being.
Even when children learn music they able to listen, sing, dance, create movement. Listening to music draw out emotions, and playing music can be just like communicating emotions. Some people find this a very powerful experience. “ Music enriches the lives of students and should be considered a necessary part of education.”