The Importance of Music Education in the School Curriculum

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Recommended: A brief article on the benefits of music education

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.

The current Michigan school curriculum instated by the government of Michigan states that a student graduating from high school must have at least four math credits, four English credits, three science credits, three social studies credits, one physical education credit, one performing and applied arts credit, and two foreign language credits ("Michigan Department of Education”). Many people will say “there you go; you have a performing and applied arts credit, what more do you want?” But the problem with that is the definition of applied and performing art is so broad, it might as well be undefined. Some of the classes that are included in this category are Home Economics and Shop for example. There is an issue with that as neither of those are performing arts as there is no performance, only a produc...

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...ed in the school systems to better the students’ educational experience.

Works Cited

"American Media Services Index #8." American Media Services. American Media Services, 29 03 2009. Web. 9 Apr 2011.

Bentham, John. "FOCUS ON BUDGET: Reverse Economics – Developing a Fiscal Case for Your Music Program ." Supportmusic.com (2008): n. pag. Web. 10 Apr 2011.

Benward, Bruce. Music in Theory And Practice. 8th edition. volume 1. New york, NY: McGraw Hill, 2008. Ch. 10. Print.

Gabrieli, John. "MUSIC IMPROVES THE WAY THE HUMAN BRAIN PROCESSES PARTS OF SPOKEN LANGUAGE." (2005): n. pag. Web. 12 Apr 2011.

Kalish, Nancy. "Why Art Makes Kids Smarter."Parenting 20 6 2010: n. pag. Web. 12 Apr 2011.

"Michigan Merit Cirriculum." Michigan Department of Education. N.p., 2006. Web. 9 Apr 2011.

"Quick Facts." Music For All. Music For All, Inc, 10 4 2011. Web. 10 Apr 2011.

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