Formal Music Education

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Even though there are many different things that can teach children to learn, music seems to be the fun route and easiest for the child to learn. Music helps students if brought to a child at a young age it can help the child even more, and it even helps the child learn math, reading, and even other languages. According to the National Association for Music Education, SAT takers with a background involving musical instruction score significantly higher than their non-musically trained counterparts; a surprising 56 points higher on the verbal portion and 39 points higher on the math portion of the test. But what is not generally controversial though, and is supported by a strong body of evidence, is the fact that ongoing music education does help children across a wide range of criteria - including overall academic performance. Other advocates of music instruction also cite numerous non-musical benefits including the building of greater self-esteem, concentration and coordination. Formal music instruction requires focus, discipline and determination; excellent qualities which are often transferred into other areas of the student's life. When research on the Mozart Effect - the theory that listening to Mozart's music can temporarily improve performance and perhaps even IQ - became popularized in the late 1950s, parents everywhere began to try and expose their children to more classical music. Brigid Finucane, an Early Childhood Music Instructor at the Merit School of Music in Chicago, has witnessed the positive effects of music instruction first-hand. Finucane says “Teachers at the sites I work at related many stories to me about how the children have progressed more deeply because of having music in the curriculum.” S... ... middle of paper ... ...hrisen adds that those inborn capacities need to be reinforced, practiced, celebrated, which can be done at home or in a more formal music education setting. Research has found that learning music facilitates learning other subjects and enhances skills that children inevitably use in other areas. The students in the study who received music instruction had improved sound discrimination and fine motor tasks, and brain imaging showed changes to the networks in the brain associated with those abilities, according to the Dana Foundation, a private philanthropic organization that supports brain research. Music helps students if it is brought to them at a young age, and it even helps the child learn math, reading, and even other languages. I hope that all the research I have brought forwarded to you helps you understand the reasons why music is important young children.

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