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The importance of music in society
The importance of music in society
The importance of music in society
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Introduction
“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the wind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything”
- Plato
Since the days of Plato, and even before, music has made an impact on many. We find music everywhere we go. It can be playing in stores, elevators, while we are on hold on the phone, and in the television shows we watch each night, just to name a few. Music can affect how we feel and what we feel. Movies for example, have specific soundtracks. Many of us can remember the specific theme songs from our favorite movies: “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” from The Breakfast Club, “Circle of Life” from The Lion King, and “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” from The Wizard of Oz. The music created for these moments create memories and stick for life. Remembering the event, just by a song is a great feat. Learning about this powerful language called music can be very helpful to children. Understanding how to create sound, specifically, how to create music with purpose, kids learn a new way to express themselves in ways that they would have never done before. By doing so in a school setting, the kids are able to have equal opportunity to learn this specific art. Parents should be in support of music programs in schools to help children express themselves in ways that standardized subjects cannot.
Academic Research
Every year the opportunity for children to participate in visual arts programs dwindle. Throughout the nation, budgets suffer because of the lack of funds for education. This is particularly evident in the arts, whether it is art classes, music classes or drama classes. In New York City, from 2006-2007 and 2010, the arts programs were cut by 68%. In a specific high school, the ...
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...Retrieved Apr. 20, 2014, from http://www.takepart.com/article/2012/08/30/music-education-why-does-not-have-expensive-why-should-stay-schools.
Phifer, M. (2011). Despite White House Report Advocating Art Education, Budgets Face Cuts. Retrieved Apr. 20, 2014, from http://abcnews.go.com/OnCampus/cutbacks-white-house-report-advocates-arts-education/story?id=13582683&singlePage=true.
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Public Boardcasting Station. (2014). The Benefits of Music Education. Music & Arts. Education. | PBS Parents. Retrieved Apr. 20, 2014, from http://www.pbs.org/parents/education/music-arts/the-benefits-of-music-education/
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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.
A recent development in public education has been the decline in arts programs nationwide. Budget cuts to arts programs are responsive to decreases in state funding, especially in states with conservative economic policies. Many states have also enacted legislation disabling local school districts’ abilities to justify employing art and music teachers. Consequently, several problems have manifested themselves, including the loss of arts programs proving detrimental to the overall quality of education for today’s children. First and foremost, arts programs improve overall performance in core school subjects; this is demonstrated clearly through higher test scores amongst students with exposure to arts and positive correlations between arts and core class engagement. Other reasons supporting retaining arts programs include to help foster community development, produce creative minds, develop problem-solving skills, aid in child development and visual-spatial skills, and encourage underprivileged students to remain in school (Metla, 2015). By removing arts programs from some public schools, an alarming issue of public concern arises. Public education, given that it is considered to be a non-rivalrous and non-excludable, is deemed a public good (Clark, 2016). Cutting arts programs in public schools, especially when cuts transpire in schools saturated with heavy minority populations, creates inequitable education and creates a serious issue of public concern.
Before addressing the need for music instruction in our schools I would like to briefly examine the need for education of any kind. Education is a means of making sure our society has a given set of knowledge. The set of knowledge we perceive ourselves as needing changes based on our surroundings and the issues we are dealing with. In American education's early history we perceived ourselves as needing a set of knowledge that included a common language and common view of history, as well as knowledge of those things with which we would interact every day. In many ways early public education was more a means of social control than an altruistic endeavor. In today's climate we see ourselves as having more diverse needs in our education...
Music plays a major role in life for most people. It can soothe and excite, encourage sleep and encourage dancing, we can sing to it and ponder it. There are so many different uses of music and so many mediums through which to play it such as Pandora, Spotify, YouTube, etc. Beyond that, more songs every day there are new songs being written. Statistics show that ninety-five percent of all Americans think that music is a core part of a balanced and well-rounded education. The same study showed that ninety-three percent of Americans thought music belonged in the public schooling system, and seventy-nine percent even suggested that music education should be mandatory for all students. Still, studies show that a staggering twenty percent of high school students choose
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...
Lewis Brown, Laura. "The Benefits of Music Education." PBS.org. PBS, N.D.. Web. 20 Feb. 2014.
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.
Schools should encourage their students to participate in music programs because of the mental benefits that they produce. In a study done at the University of Toronto by Dr. Glenn Schellenberg, it was found that children’s IQs can be raised by participating in fine arts. Dr. Schellenberg and his team used one hundred forty-four first graders for their research. For one year, they were given either music lessons, drama lessons, or no lessons. In the results, they found that all the groups IQs rose four points, but the children’s IQs that were given music lessons had rose seven (Music). Students’ involvement in fine arts also helps to produce higher test scores. Studies have shown that students involved in higher quality music programs at their schools scored about 22 percent higher in English and 20 percent higher on standardized testing than schools with lower quality programs (Eat). The reason behind the improvement is believed to be because the concentration needed for musical training and successful standardized testing are found to be similar. I believe that the mental benefits entailed in school music programs are a strong reason to count them as valuable to students.
In today’s world, education is changing; the immense focus on testing is suffocating the knowledge that every student has the potential to gain. One would assume that with this increased focus on tests, it would be obvious to fund the arts since, “Arts and music education programs are mandatory in the countries that rank consistently among the highest for math and science test scores, like Japan, Hungary, and the Netherlands” (11 facts). This shows that music helps support the subjects that are prevalent on these tests of such importance. It is evident that, not supporting the arts is not supporting math and scienc...
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 school, success in society, and success in life.... ... middle of paper ...
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.
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.
“Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music.” These were the words of Sergei Rachmaninoff, a Russian composer and pianist who was very influential in the twentieth century. Sergei’s perception of music was accurate because he understood the impact and significance music can have. Everybody knows what music is and they all have heard a form of it but most people underestimate the value and power music has in our everyday lives. Whether they know it or not music plays a vital role in the lives of people today. Music is a very efficient tool that influences and assists people, it plays a huge part in today’s society, and it had done so much for me as an individual.
When I was in high school, I was very involved in the arts. I took a band, choir and two years of visual art. During the years of high school, I knew that the fees for the art courses cost much more than other electives at my school. I also observed that the school focused more on their athletic and academics programs, than on their art programs. We had many fundraisers to raise more money for the art programs even after paying an already expensive fee to takes these electives. Schools are neglecting the visual arts programs and placing all of their money and focus on academics and athletics programs. I propose a balance between the arts, academics, and the athletics.
Music is one of the specials in school that can be implemented in the classroom. In kindergarten through fifth grade, music can be used in the classroom to teach students the daily classroom curriculum. There are several ways that a teacher can implement music into their classroom lessons. Some of those ways are creating songs, or finding creative songs on YouTube or other music websites. As a future educator it is my job to use a variety of teaching methods, and one of those methods should be applying music in my lessons.