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The advantages and disadvantages of music education
Essay on benefits of learning music
The advantages and disadvantages of music education
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Children in school gain a great deal of skills and knowledge. There are so many different areas of study that are covered: math, science, literature; but there are a few areas that are not emphasized as much as they might should be. Music for instance is an area of study that contributes a great deal of skills and knowledge to people, but whose importance is often underestimated. So many schools are missing a huge opportunity for their kids to develop. Middle schools should require at least two years of instruction of a any given instrument and a basic general musical education.
Learning to play an musical instrument, or even singing in a choir improves a person’s memory. That might not be the first thing that comes to a person’s mind, in
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When learning an instrument a person is required learn to move their fingers in ways that they may not have had to before, and more precisely. For instance, a degree of finger strength is required for a pianist to be able to move their fingers swiftly from key to key. A person may never know the extent that that might benefit them. More specifically playing an instrument also improves hand-eye coordination. A musician, especially in the early years of playing, must look back and forth from their sheet music to their hand on the instrument. As the musician advances they develop better hand-eye coordination. A good musician plays the majority of a piece without looking at their hands, but solely on their music. They have learned where their hand needs to be and how to move it to make certain sounds. More than that they have become fluent interpreters of what they see to what their hands must do. This transfers to many other areas of the person’s life. Musicians have overall better hand-eye coordination, not just on the instrument(s) they play (though that may be where they are most proficient), but also in almost every other area requiring hand-eye
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.
...s that long-term music memory consists of two forms: explicit and implicit functions. Explicit memory involves remembering personal and emotional recollections of the musical experience. Certain songs allow patients to remember contextual elements of their life. Implicit memory involves knowing how to do something, which is facilitated by non-conscious processes, including priming, procedural memory, or motor skills. Some patients with Alzheimer’s disease retain the ability to play instruments they played in their youth.
My mom required my three siblings and I to take piano lessons for at least two years when we were younger. I enjoyed playing, so when my two years were up I decided to keep going. I played for another four years, but my life started to get busy and I had too many things on my plate, so I quit piano for good. I have somewhat regretted my decision, and noticed a decline in my math skills during the past two years, and other areas in school as well. The absences of math and cognitive skills will dramatically affect a person’s life, because without these skills it makes it very hard to become a successful person in the world’s view. Contrary to what the New York Times article, “Music and Success” by Samuel Mehr stated, listening to music or playing
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 and memory is a nonprofit organization that incorporates music into the daily lives of elderly Alzheimer’s patients. The Music and Memory program was started in 2010 by Dan COHEN. Dan started the music and memory program because he pondered on how he would feel if he was not able to listen to his favorite tunes when he was elderly. T...
When we asked the question of how we remember, forget, and learn has been the topic of lots of discussions. Examining how importantly the successes and fails of our memory skills affect our lives, this interest seems exceedingly justified. We count on our memories for lots of what we do like whenever we do identifying, appreciating, and responding right according to the objects and persons we interact in our environment and to the actions in which we take part in writing, speaking, reading, or else communicating in thinking, reasoning, and problem solving, and also to recall the past about our experiences. That is our memory, which holds, and allows us to use, the knowledge we have get about ourselves and the life and that catches the ways in which we have configured to the world so as to better cope with it. There is so much we de...
Sheftel, B. (2002). Music Education Curriculum in Public Schools. PageWise, Inc, Retrieved August 6, 2003
Neuroimaging studies have proven that the ability to formulate words into sentences and notes into a melodies involve the same parts of the brain. In music class children learn these important skills: complex auditory pattern-processing mechanisms, attention, memory storage and retrieval, motor programing, and sensory motor integration (Moreira). These skills support children in their education and help secure their academic success.
“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.
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.
Music is a basic part of everyday life. What makes music unique is its ability to create an emotional response in a person. A music education program should develop the aesthetic experience of every student to its highest potential. Aesthetics is the study of the relationship of art to the human senses. Intelligence exists in several areas, which includes music. The concept of aesthetics allows us to see into ourselves, which in turn helps the development of the intelligences. Not only are these intelligences brought up greatly in music education, but they can be transferred to other areas as well, allowing students to grow more through their other subjects.
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.
It can be proven, through literary research and personal experiences, that music has a positive effect on learning and memory. It can be concluded that these positive effects have an impact on patients with Alzheimer’s, on the motor skills and auditory memory of mentally disabled children, on students attempting to remember subject manner that they are learning, and on the affectivity of advertisements. On a personal note, music has facilitated my ability to remember things, both positive and negative, a number of times. For example, in high school I memorized the days of the week in French by singing them along with a tune that was already familiar to me. I have also had multiple experiences in which I remember things that I do not want to remember such as advertisements and negative experiences because they were accompanied with specific music. Despite the miniscule negative effects of music on memory, the powerful ability of music to trigger memory production and recall is undeniably beneficial. The profound effect of music on memory and learning makes music a great tool for helping people who want to improve cognitive function, whether they need to receive treatment for a mental disease or learn new information.
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.