Music, an extremely broad concept, is playing an increasingly vital role in the modern society, and most people today are experiencing music subconsciously. For instance, when walking in the street, not only will we see people listening to their music through all kinds of portable music players, but also hear people humming their favorite songs. When nightfall comes, young people usually go to concerts, whereas middle-aged people tend to choose symphony and opera. All the things mentioned above seem like nothing but entertainment. Does music exist just to please people? Apparently, the answer is no. In fact, music also brings people many significant benefits. Hence, music education is crucial to us, especially in our early development, and it should be a part of every child’s education. I think that music education can bring three benefits to us: enhance children’s memory, enrich their imagination, and improve academic performance. Human beings begin to learn many basic skills in order to survive after they are born. This requires people to grasp strong, stable, and rapid memory skills. Hence, babies’ expanding ability to memorize is an indispensable part of their cognitive development. Research shows that the development of memory in children becomes apparent within the first 2 to 3 years of a child’s life as they show significant advances in memory, and this enhancement continues into adolescence (Siegler). Therefore, we need to find out a way to help children develop appropriate memory skills. Music education is a terrific choice, and scientists do have evidence to support the hypothesis that music can improve human memory skills. Based on the findings of a study led by Dr. Agnes Chan, a psychologist at Chinese University of ... ... middle of paper ... ...org/pdf/music-training-improves-verbal-but-not-visual-memory-cross-sectional-and- longitudinal-explorations-in-children> Graziano, A.B., Peterson M., and Shaw G.L. "Enhanced learning of proportional math through music training and spatial-temporal training." Neurological Research 21.Web. 15 Mar. 2012.139-152. Web. Siegler, R. S. (1998). Children's Thinking. 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Electronic book. “Sound.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 5 Feb. 2012. Web. 15 Mar. 2012 < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound> The College Board. Profile of College-Bound Seniors National Report for 2000, 2001, and 2002. Web. Yeung, Ka-ching. “The Mozart Effect.” n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2012. Notes/The%20Mozart%20Effect.htm>
According to Laurence O’Donnell, “Music is thought to link all of the emotional, spiritual, and physical elements of the universe.” This proves that music is more than a simple class teaching random notes. It is a common denominator between mind, body, and learning. One scholar shows that music causes a response that can affect a person’s mood; this is directly related to how a person acts upon their emotional response to music. He later talks about how music can have a positive effect on memorization and brain function (O’Donnell). The Center for New Discoveries in Learning stated, “Learning potential can be increased a minimum of five times by using 60 beats per minute music” (qtd. in O’Donnell). Most of the music that follows these types of beats is classical music such a Mozart and Bach. This is the type of music taught in schools, thus, enhancing a student’s ability to learn.
Siegler, R., & Alibali, M. (2005). Children’s Thinking Fourth Edition. Prentice Hall Inc. Upper Saddle River NJ.
Björklund, D. F. (2012). Children‘s thinking: Cognitive development and individual differences (5th Ed.). Belmont: Wadsworth.
Many people do not realize the positive effect that popular music has on children. At a young age one of the breakthroughs for children is music’s benefit for language development. According to the Children’s Music Workshop, the effect of music education on language development can be seen in the brain. Studies have indicated that musical training develops the left side of the brain known to be involved in processing language and can actually wire the brain’s circuits in specific ways. The relation between both music and language development can also have advantages children. Listening to music can also improve children test scores and IQ levels. Dr. Schellenberg found that a small increase in the IQs of six year olds who were given weekly vocal and piano lessons. This leads to the fact that music is very helpful when it comes to education. Professor Christopher Johnson revealed that students in elementary schools with better music education programs sc...
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.
One way that music is a positive part of a child’s education, is that it can be linked with student achievements (Southgate). Research shows that the brain of a musician works in a different way than that of a non-musician. When you are a musician or you are playing an instrument, you have to be using more of your brain than the average person is (Southgate). The musician uses different parts, parts that would have never been touched without having music as a part of his or her life. The students who received music education had improved sound intolerance and fine motor tasks (Abril). Research has also found a connection between musical abilities and spars intelligence (Southgate). This means that understanding music can help children imagine different elements that should go together, as they would do when solving math problems (Southgate). While these music lessons are helping adolescents had better understand their homework, the music education is also helping improve their overall test scores (Southgate).
Music education is more than just a subject in a school, its a science class, a math class, an english class, of course it can be a history class, and even a physical education class. Music takes all of the core school subjects and combines them all into one subject that can be understood anywhere in the world at any given moment. Music is a science because there are special elements that it takes to create a symphony that could quite possibly taken three long years to compose and produce. Music is math all because you have to know how to count a certain number of measures of rest, know how to count the time that the song could be written in and many many more other variations of counting time and for keeping time. You might be asking yourself
Music educators have always believed that a child’s cognitive, motivational, and communication skills are more highly developed when exposed to music training. Now, study after study proves that music instruction is essential to children’s overall education because it improves their academic performance. The positive effects of music education are finally being recognized by science, verifying what music teachers have always suspected.
Schlaug, Gottfried, Andrea Norton, Kate Overy, and Ellen Winner. Effects of Music Training on the Child’s Brain. The Musician's Brain. New York Academy Of Sciences, 2005. Web. 14 Oct. 2013. .
Music is all around us, yet many of us do not understand it. A simple man with an office job that you pick randomly off the street could most likely tell you the basic rules of American Football, and yet that same man could have never played football in his life before. If you asked that same guy the basics of the music he is listening to, I bet you would get a blank stare back. My argument relates directly to schools so many people can reason football is not technically taught in school, but what about subjects like Biology or the countless other school subjects that a student learns, but never truly needs to utilize later? What makes those subjects any different from music? Maybe even a better question, what makes music different from those subjects that warrant it not be taught? Music is a very important part of our society and a basic understanding should be known by all students much like subjects similar to science and math.
Music is also shown to benefit the brains of children in that “children who can follow a steady beat of music have a greater fluency in their reading”(Brigid Finucane: NPR). This may be because of another study shown by an assistant assistant Professor, Nadine Gaab, of Pediatrics at Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School. In her study, she found that people with musical experience found it easier to point out small syllable differences in words than those with no musical experience at all. To read fluently, it is important for people to know the syllables of words to pronounce them appropriately. Another aspect of her research showed that people with musical experience had a quicker overall brain processing of split-second changes in sounds and tones used in speech (Nadine Gaab). This research can ...
“An art of sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms through the elements of rhythm, melody, harmony, and color” is music defined by Dictionary.com. This definition is for the most part is accurate, from a superficial standpoint, although it does not capture the importance of music as music is vital in the rehabilitation and development of others. For instance, music is a tool that can be very effective if used properly. Take small school children for example. More often than not, they are taught songs that are intended to help them remember important information Even if the child is unable to recount the lyrics of the song, they will most likely be able to hum the tune and recount the information. Music not only assists children, it also adequately aids adults. This is the case with the classical music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as it has been known to entice learning. Most people in our western society predominantly use the left sides of the brain but the music of Mozart causes both sides of the brain to work toge...
Music is the art of arranging sounds in time so as to produce a continuous melody, harmony, rhythm and timbre (American Heritage). Music is important for children due to it helps develop a child’s language skills, self-esteem, listening skills, math skills and brain connections. By using different instruments we as teachers and parents are helping our children to grow and become more active, also helps them with rhythm and develop motor coordination. Early childhood is also the time when children learn about their world, primarily through the magical process of play. The substance of play in young children is usually comprised of the environmental objects and experiences to which they have been exposed (Importance of Music).
This complex problem of music education has been studied for many years. Some disciplines go off of one another to conduct studies and analyze one’s results. Music educators tend to study how music education came to be. They are huge advocators for music education because of the benefits that come with the programs. Psychologists have studies done around the world to see what the affects of having knowledge in the subject of music are. With so many studies done, there are so many results gathered and interpreted to show that music is a key factor in learning. The finding have been controversial and have been argued against, just as any theory. Since there is more evidence for having music programs in schools, the negatives do not seem to withstand in the arguments.
“…An associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, said in a press release. ‘But at the transition point between movements, their attention is arrested’.” (Locker) The study of music helps student’s memory retention and focus. Many students do not know of these benefits, which are very important for intellectual