Nearly everyone appreciates music, whether he or she is listening to it, or creating music. However, creating music is more than just someone’s voice or their hands playing an instrument. Despite how universal music may be, schools are still trying to get rid of music education programs. A child learning about music is learning to use multiple skill sets, often all at the same time. Music education prepares students for learning by helping the development of their basic skills and capacities. In addition, many students find music to be an enjoyable and relaxing class. Music education can influence learning in many different ways through an adolescent’s life.
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).
Even though there are some people, such as certain individual...
... middle of paper ...
...e a part of every school, then you will never need to think about living life music free.
Works Cited
Abril, Carlos R., and Brent M. Gault. "The State of Music in the Elementary School: The Principal's Perspective." Journal of Research in Music Education 54.1 (2006): n. pag. Sage Publications Inc. Web. 03 Apr. 2014
Sophn, Cydney. "Teacher Perspectives on No Child Left Behind and Arts Education: A Case Study." 109 (2008): 3-11. Heldref Publications, Mar.-Apr. 2008. Web. 4 Apr. 2014
Southgate, Darby E., and Vincent J. Roscigno. "The Impact of Music on Childhood and Adolescent Achievement." The Impact of Music on Childhood and Adolescent Achievement 90 (2009): 1-21. Blackwell Publishing Limited. Web. 1 Apr. 2014
"Welcome to the American Academy of Teachers of Singing (AATS)." American Academy of Teachers of Singing. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2014.
There have been many studies done to find how music influences a child’s development. The College Entrance Examination Board discovered that students who took music appreciation classes had higher verbal and math scores than those who did not take the classes. (Stephens 2003) The U.S. Department of Education found that in 25,000 secondary schools, students who were highly involved in the music program did much better in math than any other students. (Stephens 2003) These studies and more have found that involvement in music increases chi...
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.
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 education is important for several different reasons. Music is a very valuable resource for students and teachers alike. Research has shown that musical study improves a child's early cognitive development, basic math and reading abilities, SAT scores, ability to work in teams, as well as spatial reasoning skills (VH1, 2003, para4). Music helps students to achieve in areas of intelligence. “Feis, Revecz, the Pannenborgs, Miller, and others are unanimous in finding that musicality and high intelligence go together” (Mursell & Glenn, 1931, p. 20). Studies have shown that preschool children taught with music and songs have an average 10 to 20 points over those without, and by the age of 15 have higher reading and math skills. Another study showed that students that had taken a music appreciation class scored 46 points higher on the math portion of the SAT, and students who had music performance experiences scored 39 points higher than students without any music experience (Harvey, 1997, para13). Music impacts most other areas of learning. “The area holding the greatest prospects for transfer from music appears to be language arts.” (Hoffer, 1983, p. 46) It has been said that music helps concentration during reading. Music is an affective memory aide, because of its use of rhythm, rhyme and melody. Music for young children helps them to learn language because of the rhythms and patterns involved in learning the songs. The involvement of music in education can help to develop oral language skills, listening skills, and an increased vocabulary. Music can help the comprehension of language and basic facts (Dobbs, 1990, 341, 342).
“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.
Music As A Social Praxis." Music Education Research 15.4 (2013): 455-470. Education Research Complete. Web. 7 Apr. 2014.
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.
The once formerly instructional and practice time for music performance of 30 minutes per day has been shortened in schools or completely eliminated. The amount of time in which music instructors are present to a class immensely shortens their effectiveness capability to teach music material. Nevertheless, the reductions in their profession to teach, elementary school music instructors are still expected to yield similar results within students and their achievements. The main argument behind budget cuts for fine arts departments in elementary schools has been caused by an ever growing focus on higher test results in core curriculum subjects, such as language arts, social studies, science, and math. This logic is highly mistaken; the correlation between early childhood exposure to music and scholastic excellence have been proved and has been acceptable for a vast amount time. “Music competencies achieved from birth to age five assist students in later school experience ” (Colwell 1721), concluded a research conducted by the Perry Early Childhood Education Program. Amy Graziano has proven music education to enhance intellectual ability in abstract fields such as math when entering into early elementary years. Therefore, ongoing budget cuts and layoffs within the fine arts departments of public school systems is inexcusable and absurd. Hypothetically speaking, if school systems proceeded to hire more
Martin, Roy P. “Does Music Education Enhance the Developing Brain and Academic Achievement”. College of Education at the University of Georgia. 17 November 2011. Web. 22 May 2013.
Especially in children, the effects of music education can be seen very clearly in the brain. It physically develops the left part of the brain that deals with language processing and can change the flow of the brain’s circuits in ways that cannot be done with any other process. The idea is that the brain links familiar melodies to new information, not only quickening the learning process but also improving short-term memory (Brown, 2011). The whole process of mastering an art is closely related to a greater comprehension of language skills (Do Something, n.d). Students not given the exposure to music or other arts are often left with underdeveloped left hemispheres of the brain, making other components of school later on more difficult (Nuss,
By learning how to play an instrument improves attention, impulse control, concentration, self-esteem, social functioning, self-expression, motivation, and memory (Sze & Yu, 2004). “Music integration provides children with concrete, hands-on experiences that are essential to developing each child’s ability to reason, think, solve-problems, analyze, evaluate, and enhancing creativity (Sze & Yu, 2004).” Music therapy fosters their ability for creativity, tolerance of change, flexibility, and variability in order to create a balance for the more structured and behaviorally driven education that is required of the school setting (“Music therapy”). Through singing songs based on basic knowledge exceptional students are actually demonstrating key academic skills. These skills are the ability to organize information, retain information, and also memorize information. Special needs students who are enrolled into music therapy classes significantly show growth in their academic skills (“Benefits of music”). Studies have shown that when a students with disabilities is exposed to classical music on a regular basis their mathematical skills are increased. Music therapy is able to increase literacy skills is special learners. Cues in music are an effective way to improve logo identification, word recognition, prewriting skills, and print concepts of students (“Music therapy”). In addition, social skills are able to increase in special needs learners through music
Music is the fabric of our society. Every human culture uses music to carry forward its thoughts and ideas. The value of music shapes individual abilities and character. Music is about communication, creativity, and working together with others to create music. By studying music in school, students have the opportunity to strengthen these skills, enrich their lives, and experience the world from a new perspective. Students can learn things with many different viewpoints. From the music point of view, one can link a familiar song with new information to help remember things they have learned. The ability to read music is a great advantage if a child is interested in choir, theatre and/or acting. Another perspective would be through fine art classes. Some classes can he...
Music plays a major role in life for most people. It can soothe and excite, encourage sleep and encourage dancing, we can sing to it and ponder it. There are so many different uses of music and so many mediums through which to play it such as Pandora, Spotify, YouTube, etc. Beyond that, more songs every day there are new songs being written. Statistics show that ninety-five percent of all Americans think that music is a core part of a balanced and well-rounded education. The same study showed that ninety-three percent of Americans thought music belonged in the public schooling system, and seventy-nine percent even suggested that music education should be mandatory for all students. Still, studies show that a staggering twenty percent of high school students choose
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.
Even when children learn music they able to listen, sing, dance, create movement. Listening to music draw out emotions, and playing music can be just like communicating emotions. Some people find this a very powerful experience. “ Music enriches the lives of students and should be considered a necessary part of education.”