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Why a music education philosophy is important
A brief article on the benefits of music education
Essays on importance of music education
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There is a debate that music is not an important part of a student’s education. Some think it is an activity that just fills space. In reality music is a way people show how they feel, or show how confident they really are. Kids can learn so much just by participating in the choral or band program in their school, and they need a break from the everyday educational classes which make school fun. Music education is important and requires people to pay attention to see why it is so important, how it can help test scores, and that it can help bring up the self-esteem of students.
People do not really see why music education is so important to the learning environment. Many people automatically discount performing arts programs, most times when
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“Adults who had music instruction as kids have a more robust brainstem.” (The Benefits to the Brain: Cognitive Development) The musical instrument background can significantly enhance the brainstem, which deals with speech sounds. “Stanford University found that musical training improved how the brain processed the spoken word, and could improve the reading skills in Dyslexia. Kids that had music lessons showed the different brain development and improved memory over a year.” (The Benefits to the Brain: Cognitive Development) Students could have better lives if just shown how they can improve them self in little but life changing ways. “They also had improved literacy, verbal memory, visuospatial processing, mathematics, and IQ. Students that attend higher end schools with music education programs score higher on standardized tests.” (The Benefits to the Brain: Cognitive Development) People do not realize how much music can help with everyday test that students have so much trouble. “The top-quality music instrument programs scores at most 19% higher in English and 17% higher in mathematics. Than, in the choral programs, student score 32% higher in English and 33% higher in mathematics. Even with a lower-quality music program students scored better than student in schools with no music program.” (The Benefits to the Brain: Cognitive Development) Students need this music …show more content…
“As parents, you do everything to help your child navigate through the ups and downs of childhood and survive with self-esteem.” (Turn to the Arts to Boost Self-Esteem) “Self-confidence is the state of self-assuredness and trust in oneself and one’s abilities and strengths.” (Building Self-Confidence) Self-esteem is the state of hopefulness that one can succeed, even after experiencing a failure. Therefore, it is all in feeling comfortable in the body. “When looking to heighten self-confidence students must trust in their natural abilities.” (Building Self-Confidence) Nobody is born self-confident. Everyone's self-esteem is developed during their lives and just depends on their lives. The self-confidence doesn't stay the same all through life. “A good example is when a child has to grow up and take care of a younger sibling after the death of one or both of their parents.” (Building Self-Confidence) Everyone limits themselves because they feel they won't be able to do want they want to do. “Here are some self-limiting attitudes that people use, “I don't want to change myself, That is how I am. If I'm not confident enough to do something, then I drop the idea of doing it!” or “I'm a shy person that's the way it is and I never had problems with it”.” (Building Self-Confidence) All these statements convey the belief of not being able and not wanting to change, which stops people from being able to move
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.
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).
Once this is accomplished, students gain personal pride in achieving this new skill. Music programs offer lots of chances for students to develop new talents, whether that is playing an instrument or singing a song. “Music programs in public schools help to foster a student’s sense of pride and self-confidence” (Hoffman 1), and with this newfound pride, students will develop more experience in other areas, like working with others and communicating with different people. Music plays an active role in student’s lives, and as core subject grades begin to rise, “music education remains a key component in a student’s academic success and in positive social and emotional growth” (Hoffman 1). Music forms dignity in a students abilities, offering to give the students a chance to develop their communication and social skills in a safe environment, and give themselves positive feelings about their accomplishments. Without music programs in schools, students will have less pride in their abilities and will not let them gain that safe environment to achieve these experiences with
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...
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
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...
According to the National Association for Music Education, SAT takers with a background involving musical instruction score significantly higher than their non-musically trained counterparts; a surprising 56 points higher on the verbal portion and 39 points higher on the math portion of the test. But what is not generally controversial though, and is supported by a strong body of evidence, is the fact that ongoing music education does help children across a wide range of criteria - including overall academic performance. Other advocates of music instruction also cite numerous non-musical benefits including the building of greater self-esteem, concentration and coordination. Formal music instruction requires focus, discipline and determination; excellent qualities which are often transferred into other areas of the student's life. When research on the Mozart Effect - the theory that listening to Mozart's music can temporarily improve performance and perhaps even IQ - became popularized in the late 1950s, parents everywhere began to try and expose their children to more classical music. Brigid Finucane, an Early Childhood Music Instructor at the Merit School of Music in Chicago, has witnessed the positive effects of music instruction first-hand. Finucane says “Teachers at the sites I work at related many stories to me about how the children have progressed more deeply because of having music in the curriculum.” S...
With school budget cuts, and no music instruments, more and more people are beginning to realize the benefits of having music in education. Providing music as part of education helps develop intelligence that leads to greater success in school and in life. Everyone from VH1 Save The Music to The National Association For Music Education agree that, “Every student in the nation should have an education in the arts.” These two companies are doing everything they can to get out the information about music, and the importance of resorting music education as part of the core curriculum.
Firstly, studies have shown that standardized test scores are higher than the average test taken, as well as higher ACT and SAT test score. A study was conducted concerning students who took the Scholastic Aptitude Test, otherwise known as the SAT. The study showed that students with a background in music scored 59 points higher in the verbal portion and 44 points higher in the Mathematics portion of the same test (Martin). Other studies were conducted to show a correlation between music education and the American College Testing, as well as numerous other tests. Researchers discovered that students who participated in a formal music class of some kind attained higher academic scores than those students who did not participate in music (Hodges), as well as high scores in English, reading, and science portions of the ACT (Johnso...
Exposer to music is crucial to young children’s brain development. Not only does it develop otherwise unused areas of the brain, like the auditory cortex, it increases children's future intellectual enjoyment level (Matter). Music at an early age enhances sensitivity to sound and pitch, which can lead to better phonological and reading skills (Moreira). Without a music program in schools students do not get the full exposure to music and music theory that is needed for brain development.
In most recent years, schools have been fighting to keep music programs alive in school systems across the nation. Some schools believe that due to budget factors, music should be cut out of the academic program, to save some money. But what is widely unknown is that schools that have good music programs do better in areas of math and sometimes reading. A high tech music program called Kodaly, was instituted into the schools of Hungary. If a person were to look at the school today, there are “…no third graders who cannot sing on pitch and sing beautifully” (Dickinson, 1993, p.1). Also, the students of the Hungarian schools academic achievement in math and science “ continues to be outstanding” (Dickinson, 1993, p.1). Another report shows that schools that spend 20% to 30% of their day on music (or the arts), have the highest academic achievement (Dickinson, 1993). One study was conducted involving first and second graders at two Rhode Island public elementary schools to show the effects of musical training on academic achievement. In this study, 96 children were used between the ages of 5-7 in eight first grade classrooms. Four of the classrooms were used as control classrooms, which received the standard amount of musical training; forty-five minutes of music that alternates weeks. The other four classrooms were called “test arts“ classrooms. These classrooms received an hour of music per week. After seven months of this training, the students were all given a standardized test. It was then concluded from the tests, that 77% of the “test arts” classes “…were now at grade level or above in mathematics, as compared to 55% of those in the control groups” (MENC, #1). This clearly shows that if ...
“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 education is important because it provides many benefits. It helps students with their academic success, attitudes, behaviors, and testing abilities. Many studies have been conducted to prove these facts. For example Dr. Frances Rauscher and Dr. Gordon Shaw conducted an experiment on the effects of musical instruction on students: ?The experiment included four groups of preschoolers: one group received private piano/keyboard lessons; a second group received singing lessons; a third group received private computer lessons; and a fourth group received no training. Those children who received piano/keyboard training performed 34% higher on tests measuring spatial-temporal ability than the others. These findings indicate that music uniquely enhances higher brain functions required for mathematics, chess, science and engineering.? (MENC, 1997). It has also been proven that when children learn music early, the brain is enhanced for auditory processing. ?Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies have shown that the fibers in the corpus callosum, which connect the left- and right-brain hemispheres, are as much as 15 percent larger in musicians compared to nonmusicians? (Schlaug, Jancke, Huang, Staiger, & Steinmetz, 1995a). Clearly, music has an impact on students. It is a positive outlet for students to express their emotions, it enhances intellectual and social performance, and enhances the brain.
Brown, L. L. (2012, May 25). The Benefits of Music Education. Retrieved September 29, 2017.
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.