Benefit One: Success in Society
Perhaps the basic reason that every child
must have an education in music is that music
is a part of the fabric of our society. The
intrinsic value of music for each individual
is widely recognized in the many cultures
that make up American life &emdash; indeed,
every human culture uses music to carry forward
its ideas and ideals. The importance of music
to our economy is without doubt. And the
value of music in shaping individual abilities
and character are attested in a number of
places:
* Secondary students who participated in
band or orchestra reported the lowest lifetime
and current use of all substances (alcohol,
tobacco, drug abuse). Texas Commission
on Drug and Alcohol Abuse Report. Reported
in Houston Chronicle, January 1998
* "Music is a magical gift we must
nourish and cultivate in our children, especially
now as scientific evidence proves that an
education in the arts makes better math and
science students, enhances spatial intelligence
in newborns, and let's not forget that the
arts are a compelling solution to teen violence,
certainly not the cause of it!" Michael
Greene, Recording Academy President and CEO
at the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards, February
2000.
* The U.S. Department of Education lists
the arts as subjects that college-bound middle
and junior high school students should take,
stating "Many colleges view participation
in the arts and music as a valuable experience
that broadens students' understanding and
appreciation of the world around them. It
is also well known and widely recognized
that the arts contribute significantly to
children's intellectual development." In
addition, one year of Visual and Performing
Arts is recommended for college-bound high
school students. Getting Ready for College
Early: A Handbook for Parents of Students
in the Middle and Junior High School Years,
U.S. Department of Education, 1997
* The College Board identifies the arts
as one of the six basic academic subject
areas students should study in order to succeed
in college. Academic Preparation for College:
What Students Need to Know and Be Able to
Do, 1983 [still in use], The College Board,
New York
* The arts create jobs, increase the local
tax base, boost tourism, spur growth in related
businesses (hotels, restaurants, printing,
etc.) and improve the overall quality of
life for our cities and towns. On a national
level, nonprofit arts institutions and organizations
generate an estimated $37 billion in economic
activity and return $3.4 billion in federal
income taxes to the U.S. Treasury each year. American
Arts Alliance Fact Sheet, October 1996
* The very best engineers and technical
designers in the Silicon Valley industry
are, nearly without exception, practicing
musicians. Grant Venerable, "The
Paradox of the Silicon Savior," as reported
in "The Case for Sequential Music Education
in the Core Curriculum of the Public Schools," The
Center for the Arts in the Basic Curriculum,
New York, 1989
Benefit Two: Success in School
Success in society, of course, is predicated
on success in school. Any music teacher or
parent of a music student can call to mind
anecdotes about effectiveness of music study
in helping children become better students.
Skills learned through the discipline of
music, these stories commonly point out,
transfer to study skills, communication skills,
and cognitive skills useful in every part
of the curriculum.
Another common variety
of story emphasizes the way that the discipline
of music study; particularly through
participation in ensemble; helps
students learn to work effectively in the
school environment without resorting to violent
or inappropriate behavior. And there are
a number of hard facts that we can report
about the ways that music study is correlated
with success in school:
* "The term 'core academic subjects'
means English, reading or language arts,
mathematics, science, foreign languages,
civics and government, economics, arts, history,
and geography."
No Child Left Behind
Act of 2002, Title IX, Part A, Sec. 9101
(11)
* A study of 237 second grade children used
piano keyboard training and newly designed
math software to demonstrate improvement
in math skills. The group scored 27% higher
on proportional math and fractions tests
than children that used only the math software.
Graziano,
Amy, Matthew Peterson, and Gordon Shaw, "Enhanced
learning of proportional math through music
training and spatial-temporal training." Neurological
Research 21 (March 1999).
* In an analysis of U.S. Department of Education
data on more than 25,000 secondary school
students (NELS:88, National Education Longitudinal
Survey), researchers found that students
who report consistent high levels of involvement
in instrumental music over the middle and
high school years show "significantly
higher levels of mathematics proficiency
by grade 12." This observation holds
regardless of students' socio-economic status,
and differences in those who are involved
with instrumental music vs. those who are
not is more significant over time.
Catterall,
James S., Richard Chapleau, and John Iwanaga. "Involvement
in the Arts and Human Development: General
Involvement and Intensive Involvement in
Music and Theater Arts." Los Angeles,
CA: The Imagination Project at UCLA Graduate
School of Education and Information Studies,
1999.
* Students with coursework/experience in
music performance and music appreciation
scored higher on the SAT: students in music
performance scored 57 points higher on the
verbal and 41 points higher on the math,
and students in music appreciation scored
63 points higher on verbal and 44 points
higher on the math, than did students with
no arts participation.
College-Bound Seniors
National Report: Profile of SAT Program Test
Takers. Princeton, NJ: The College Entrance
Examination Board, 2001.
* According to statistics compiled by the
National Data Resource Center, students who
can be classified as "disruptive" (based
on factors such as frequent skipping of classes,
times in trouble, in-school suspensions,
disciplinary reasons given, arrests, and
drop-outs) total 12.14 percent of the total
school population. In contrast, only 8.08
percent of students involved in music classes
meet the same criteria as "disruptive." Based
on data from the NELS:88 (National Education
Longitudinal Study), second follow-up, 1992.
* Data from the National Education Longitudinal
Study of 1988 showed that music participants
received more academic honors and awards
than non-music students, and that the percentage
of music participants receiving As, As/Bs,
and Bs was higher than the percentage of
non- participants receiving those grades.
NELS:88
First Follow-up, 1990, National Center for
Education Statistics, Washington DC
* Physician and biologist Lewis Thomas studied
the undergraduate majors of medical school
applicants. He found that 66% of music majors
who applied to medical school were admitted,
the highest percentage of any group. 44%
of biochemistry majors were admitted.
As
reported in "The Case for Music in the
Schools," Phi Delta Kappan, February
1994
* A study of 811 high school students indicated
that the proportion of minority students
with a music teacher role-model was significantly
larger than for any other discipline. 36%
of these students identified music teachers
as their role models, as opposed to 28% English
teachers, 11% elementary teachers, 7% physical
education/sports teachers, 1% principals.
D.L.
Hamann and L.M. Walker, "Music teachers
as role models for African-American students," Journal
of Research in Music Education, 41, 1993
* Students who participated in arts programs
in selected elementary and middle schools
in New York City showed significant increases
in self-esteem and thinking skills.
National
Arts Education Research Center, New York
University, 1990
Learn about the great University of Phoenix programs available to students across the nation.
Benefit three: Success in Developing
Intelligence
Success in school and in society depends
on an array of abilities. Without joining
the intense ongoing debate about the nature
of intelligence as a basic ability, we can
demonstrate that some measures of a child's
intelligence are indeed increased with music
instruction. Once again, this burgeoning
range of data supports a long-established
base of anecdotal knowledge to the effect
that music education makes kids smarter.
What is new and especially compelling, however,
is a combination of tightly-controlled behavioral
studies and groundbreaking neurological research
that show how music study can actively contribute
to brain development:
* In a study conducted by Dr. Timo Krings,
pianists and non-musicians of the same age
and sex were required to perform complex
sequences of finger movements. Their brains
were scanned using a technique called "functional
magnetic resource imaging" (fMRI) which
detects the activity levels of brain cells.
The non-musicians were able to make the movements
as correctly as the pianists, but less activity
was detected in the pianists' brains. Thus,
compared to non-musicians, the brains of
pianists are more efficient at making skilled
movements. These findings show that musical
training can enhance brain function. Weinberger,
Norm. "The Impact of Arts on Learning." MuSICa
Research Notes 7, no. 2 (Spring 2000). Reporting
on Krings, Timo et al. "Cortical Activation
Patterns during Complex Motor Tasks in Piano
Players and Control Subjects. A Functional
Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study." Neuroscience
Letters 278, no. 3 (2000): 189-93.
* "The musician is constantly adjusting
decisions on tempo, tone, style, rhythm,
phrasing, and feeling--training the brain
to become incredibly good at organizing and
conducting numerous activities at once. Dedicated
practice of this orchestration can have a
great payoff for lifelong attentional skills,
intelligence, and an ability for self-knowledge
and expression." Ratey John J., MD.
A User's Guide to the Brain. New York: Pantheon
Books, 2001.
* A research team exploring the link between
music and intelligence reported that music
training is far superior to computer instruction
in dramatically enhancing children's abstract
reasoning skills, the skills necessary for
learning math and science. Shaw, Rauscher,
Levine, Wright, Dennis and Newcomb, "Music
training causes long-term enhancement of
preschool children's spatial-temporal reasoning," Neurological
Research, Vol. 19, February 1997
* Students in two Rhode Island elementary
schools who were given an enriched, sequential,
skill-building music program showed marked
improvement in reading and math skills. Students
in the enriched program who had started out
behind the control group caught up to statistical
equality in reading, and pulled ahead in
math. Gardiner, Fox, Jeffrey and Knowles,
as reported in Nature, May 23, 1996
* Researchers at the University of Montreal
used various brain imaging techniques to
investigate brain activity during musical
tasks and found that sight-reading musical
scores and playing music both activate regions
in all four of the cortex's lobes; and that
parts of the cerebellum are also activated
during those tasks. Sergent, J., Zuck,
E., Tenial, S., and MacDonall, B. (1992).
Distributed neural network underlying musical
sight reading and keyboard performance. Science,
257, 106-109.
* Researchers in Leipzig found that brain
scans of musicians showed larger planum temporale
(a brain region related to some reading skills)
than those of non-musicians. They also found
that the musicians had a thicker corpus callosum
(the bundle of nerve fibers that connects
the two halves of the brain) than those of
non-musicians, especially for those who had
begun their training before the age of seven. Schlaug,
G., Jancke, L., Huang, Y., and Steinmetz,
H. (1994). In vivo morphometry of interhem
ispheric assymetry and connectivity in musicians.
In I. Deliege (Ed.), Proceedings of the 3d
international conference for music perception
and cognition (pp. 417-418). Liege, Belgium.
* A University of California (Irvine) study
showed that after eight months of keyboard
lessons, preschoolers showed a 46% boost
in their spatial reasoning IQ. Rauscher,
Shaw, Levine, Ky and Wright, "Music
and Spatial Task Performance: A Causal Relationship," University
of California, Irvine, 1994
* Researchers found that children given
piano lessons significantly improved in their
spatial- temporal IQ scores (important for
some types of mathematical reasoning) compared
to children who received computer lessons,
casual singing, or no lessons. Rauscher,
F.H., Shaw, G.L., Levine, L.J., Wright, E.L.,
Dennis, W.R., and Newcomb, R. (1997) Music
training causes long-term enhancement of
preschool children's spatial temporal reasoning.
Neurological Research, 19, 1-8.
* A McGill University study found that pattern
recognition and mental representation scores
improved significantly for students given
piano instruction over a three-year period.
They also found that self-esteem and musical
skills measures improved for the students
given piano instruction. Costa-Giomi,
E. (1998, April). The McGill Piano Project:
Effects of three years of piano instruction
on children's cognitive abilities, academic
achievement, and self-esteem. Paper presented
at the meeting of the Music Educators National
Conference, Phoenix, AZ.
* Researchers found that lessons on songbells
(a standard classroom instrument) led to
significant improvement of spatial-temporal
scores for three- and four-year-olds. Gromko,
J.E., and Poorman, A.S. (1998) The effect
of music training on preschooler's spatial-temporal
task performance. Journal of Research in
Music Education, 46, 173-181.
* In the Kindergarten classes of the school
district of Kettle Moraine, Wisconsin, children
who were given music instruction scored 48
percent higher on spatial-temporal skill
tests than those who did not receive music
training. Rauscher, F.H., and Zupan, M.A.
(1999). Classroom keyboard instruction improves
kindergarten children's spatial-temporal
performance: A field study. Manuscript in
press, Early Childhood Research Quarterly.
* An Auburn University study found significant
increases in overall self-concept of at-risk
children participating in an arts program
that included music, movement, dramatics
and art, as measured by the Piers-Harris
Children's Self-Concept Scale. N.H. Barry,
Project ARISE: Meeting the needs of disadvantaged
students through the arts, Auburn University,
1992
Benefit four: Success in Life
Each of us wants our children &emdash; and
the children of all those around us to achieve
success in school, success in employment,
and success in the social structures through
which we move. But we also want our children
to experience "success" on a broader
scale. Participation in music, often as not
based on a grounding in music education during
the formative school years, brings countless
benefits to each individual throughout life.
The benefits may be psychological or spiritual,
and they may be physical as well:
* "Studying music encourages self-discipline
and diligence, traits that carry over into
intellectual pursuits and that lead to effective
study and work habits. An association of
music and math has, in fact, long been noted.
Creating and performing music promotes self-expression
and provides self-gratification while giving
pleasure to others. In medicine, increasing
published reports demonstrate that music
has a healing effect on patients. For all
these reasons, it deserves strong support
in our educational system, along with the
other arts, the sciences, and athletics." Michael
E. DeBakey, M.D., Leading Heart Surgeon,
Baylor College of Music.
* "Music has a great power for bringing
people together. With so many forces in this
world acting to drive wedges between people,
it's important to preserve those things that
help us experience our common humanity." Ted
Turner, Turner Broadcasting System.
* "Music is one way for young people
to connect with themselves, but it is also
a bridge for connecting with others. Through
music, we can introduce children to the richness
and diversity of the human family and to
the myriad rhythms of life." Daniel
A. Carp, Eastman Kodak Company Chairman and
CEO.
* "Casals says music fills him with
the wonder of life and the 'incredible marvel'
of being a human. Ives says it expands his
mind and challenges him to be a true individual.
Bernstein says it is enriching and ennobling.
To me, that sounds like a good cause for
making music and the arts an integral part
of every child's education. Studying music
and the arts elevates children's education,
expands students' horizons, and teaches them
to appreciate the wonder of life." U.S.
Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley,
July 1999.
* "The nation's top business executives
agree that arts education programs can help
repair weaknesses in American education and
better prepare workers for the 21st century." "The
Changing Workplace is Changing Our View of
Education." Business Week, October 1996.
* "Music making makes the elderly healthier....
There were significant decreases in anxiety,
depression, and loneliness following keyboard
lessons. These are factors that are critical
in coping with stress, stimulating the immune
system, and in improved health. Results also
show significant increases in human growth
hormones following the same group keyboard
lessons. (Human growth hormone is implicated
in aches and pains.)" Dr. Frederick
Tims, reported in AMC Music News, June 2,
1999
* "Music education opens doors that
help children pass from school into the world
around them a world of work, culture, intellectual
activity, and human involvement. The future
of our nation depends on providing our children
with a complete education that includes music." &emdash; Gerald
Ford, former President, United States of
America
* "During the Gulf War, the few opportunities
I had for relaxation I always listened to
music, and it brought to me great peace of
mind. I have shared my love of music with
people throughout this world, while listening
to the drums and special instruments of the
Far East, Middle East, Africa, the Caribbean,
and the Far North and all of this started
with the music appreciation course that I
was taught in a third-grade elementary class
in Princeton, New Jersey. What a tragedy
it would be if we lived in a world where
music was not taught to children." H.
Norman Schwarzkopf, General, U.S. Army, retired
* "Music is about communication, creativity,
and cooperation, and, by studying music in
school, students have the opportunity to
build on these skills, enrich their lives,
and experience the world from a new perspective." - Bill
Clinton, former President, United States
of America
Facts compiled by MENC Staff, Spring
2002. When using factual quotes from
this brochure, please be sure to cite
individual research source which follows
each quote/fact. Other text copy in the
brochure was authored by MENC Staff.
When citing from these sections, please
reference as: "Source: MENC&emdash;The
National Association for Music Education "Benefits
of Music Education" Brochure, Spring
2002".
For further questions, contact
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