Music Advocacy’s Top Ten for Directors
1. In a 1995 study in Hamilton, Ohio, string students
who participated in pullout lessons
averaged higher scores than the non-pullout students
in all areas of the Ohio Proficiency Test.
Sixty-eight (68) percent of the string students
achieved satisfactory ratings on all sections of the
test, compared to fifty-eight (58) percent of the
non-pullout students.
- Michael D. Wallick, “A Comparison Study of the Ohio Proficiency
Test Results Between Fourth-Grade String Pullout
Students and Those of Matched Ability,” Journal
of Research in Music Education, 1998.
2. According to a 2000 survey, eighty-one (81)
percent of people responding believe that
participating in school music corresponds with
better grades and test scores. This is an
increase of fourteen (14) percent over the 1997
results for the same question.
- Attitudes, NAMM (International Music Products
Association), 2000.
3. More music teachers are role models for minority
students than teachers of any other
subject. Thirty-six (36) percent of surveyed minority
students identified music teachers as their
role models, compared to twenty-eight (28) percent
for English teachers, eleven (11) percent
for elementary teachers, and seven (7) percent
for physical education teachers.
- “Music teachers as role models for African-American students,” Journal
of Research in Music Education,
1993.
4. Only thirty-one (31) percent of teenagers and
adults in a 2000 survey who do not play an
instrument feel they are too old to start learning.
- Americans Love Making Music – And Value Music Education
More Highly Than Ever, American Music
Conference, 2000.
5. Researchers at the University of California
and the Niigata Brain Research Institute in Japan
have found an area of the brain that is activated
only when reading musical scores.
- “Musical Brain – Special Brain Area Found for Reading
Music Scores,” NeuroReport, 1998.
6. In the 1998 federal study Gaining the Arts Advantage,
music teachers in many of the
strongest arts programs nationwide are encouraged
by their schools to perform in their
communities and to improve their own performing
skills.
- Gaining the Arts Advantage, The President’s
Council on the Arts and Humanities, 1998.
7. Ninety-two (92) percent of people who play an
instrument say they were glad they learned
to do so, according to a 2000 Gallup Poll.
- Gallup Poll Shows Strong Support for Putting
Music in Every School’s Curriculum, Giles Communications,2000.
8. In academic situations, students in music programs
are less likely to draw unfounded
conclusions.
- Champions of Change, Federal study, 1999.
9. The scores of elementary instrumental music
students on standardized math tests increased
with each year they participated in the instrumental
program.
- “Music Training Helps Underachievers,” Nature, May
26, 1996.
10. Nine out of ten adults and teenagers who play
instruments agree that music making brings
the family closer together.
- Music Making and Our Schools, American Music
Conference, 2000.
