The Importance Of Music Education

Bronco Green Rough Draft

Professor Higgins

Discourse II

3/14/14

Since the beginning of public education, educators have been trying to figure out how they can create the finest most successful students by giving them the tools to succeed and ability to adapt to any situation in an exciting and engaging way. The answer has already been found and yet it is struggling to hold its place in the public school curriculum. The answer is music education. The way music education is viewed by other areas of academic interest effects how it is treated. To convince non-musicians of the importance of music education, they must learn what musicians already know. They must learn what music education is capable of doing for the education of students everywhere. Once what music education can do for every person’s career and ability to succeed in the world is made common knowledge, a change in priorities can be made and music education will be realized as an essential.

How music education is viewed from the perspective of a non-musician is important in the broadening music education in schools. Most school board members and executives are not musicians and their decisions directly affect how music is taught. A very interesting fact is that even though polls show that most people in America agree that the arts are important, budgets for music departments have been cut across the United States (Kinzer). This fact points to the conclusion that yes, most non-musicians agree that music education is important, but they find other academic areas such as science and math to be of more importance to a student’s education.

One enormous factor that led to the funding of arts programs being cut was the signing of a federal law called “No Child Left Behind” ...

... middle of paper ...

... to other careers and areas of study. He was able to make the switch from music to business seamlessly thanks to the skills he learned as a musician. All the skills that musicians acquire through the playing and learning of an instrument and through interacting with others in an ensemble setting are exactly what business leaders look for when hiring. All these claims are supported by scientific evidence that a musician’s cognitive function is significantly higher than the average person. The human brain is physically changed through the learning of music. Through the understanding of how music education is viewed by musicians and non-musicians, along with all the factual evidence that music creates more mentally well-equipped citizens, the move towards creating a more prominent place in the public school curriculum for music can continue with more purpose.