Band Nerds versus Underdeveloped Brains

When I was in middle school, I desperately wanted to find my place in the social hierarchy. I ultimately decided I fit in with a particular crowd that had similar interests: video games, nerd hobbies, intellect, etc. I specifically remember instances where I would express my thankfulness for this crowd I had inserted myself into. It breaks my heart thinking about it, that middle school girl that wanted to fit in so badly that she threw herself into a group that openly mocked and hurled jealous insults at her. I cannot look at that person as myself, because I am no longer her. The culmination of these false friendships and façades of fitting in occurred on the second to last day of eighth grade. I had seen the warning signs that these people were not good to me before, but I ignored them for the sake of having a place. But it was in the moment that they tore down the identity I had built for myself that the curtain was pulled back, and I saw with clarity that these people were toxic. They told me I was not smart. They told me I did not like the right

It is a blessing and a curse to have such hefty family members in my community to watch over me. It was always neat to have teachers who also taught my mom and aunts. I enjoy going to school with my five cousins, all Beavercreek Beavers. My cousins played football, basketball, baseball and Wrestling, I ran track, cross country, and am on the swimming team. My family was always there to cheer us on, we bleed orange and black. I am a member of an in group, an in group, “A group with which an individual identifies herself or himself” (Ronald Adler, 2015).

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.

There are several therapies that have been developed throughout the years to help children with the disorder. The Applied behavioral analysis (ABA); the educational therapy, which focus on educational and cognitive skills; the medical and related interventions, and the Allied health therapy, that focus on language development, it includes: “speech/language, occupational, and physical therapists, including auditory and sensory integration, music therapy, and language therapies (e.g., Picture Exchange Communication System [PECS])” (Agency for Healthcare research and quality, 2014). However, the main idea of this research paper is to focus on the music therapy approach, which can serve as an important tool to develop basic verbal and nonverbal communication in

Elementary schools and high schools across the U.S. have lately suffered from financial strain. Because of this, budget cuts have to be made and music programs often suffer before sports and academics. Although some people believe that music is not a key component in preparing for employment and higher education, yet several others express otherwise, who say music has been shown to stimulate other parts of a student’s mind that can help them excel. Statistics have shown that the correlation between music class and other academia is not only positive for students, but also can improve future scholastic abilities, and thus should not be cut from schools. Through the evaluation of various sources

Many moons ago, a brave warrior, a band geek, and a loving friend, made his greatest endeavor to save our world from the enemy: orch-dorks. In a happy land of band geeks, came the storm of orch-dorks that sought to conquer them. Driven by a desire to eliminate all band geeks, they commenced their mission. The orch-dorks sent out their men to accomplish this terrible task. The sounds of their stringed instruments hypnotized the band geeks to follow their authority. Their mission proved to be successful, but one band geek prevailed over their efforts. Clara Net, the most heroic of them all, set out on a journey to bring back the band geeks from the evil reign of the orch-dorks. But there was only one way to defeat the orch-dorks, she needed to

* “when you speak with great educators, and look behind the test scores, the lessons learned in studying music, learning to play an instrument, playing in a band, learning to read music, all provide a richness to a child's education that will last a lifetime,” (par 1).

Although I've received many musical accolades, the skills and relationships I've formed while being in band are

High school has never been the worst years of my life. It has been difficult, but I had never felt like it was truly wonderful or meaningful until this year. This past summer, I joined the marching band, and since then my life has changed drastically. Marching band has increased the quality of my high school life, given me the opportunity to impact others, and taught me more about myself than I knew before. Being in marching band, I have made an abundant amount of friendships that never before have I experienced.

When I was in marching band finding my identity was one of the hardest things that I had to do. It took me to my senior year to fully understand what it meant to fully identify myself as a member of the Titan Regiment. What made me understand that I was a member because of recognition that I received in my last two years? Having the honor to lead my saxophone section in marching band and to be an inspirational figure to them recognized me. When this happened, it confirmed to me that I was really a member of the Titan regiment. This community defined me because it's built on top of my leadership skills that I currently had and it also help me to make more mature decisions as I got older. This experience did that by challenging me

In high school, there are so many types of people with every possible different interests and hobbies. There are always the stereotypical “jocks” and “nerds”, but there are groups beyond that. Along with the athletes and the class scholars, there are students in the drama club and choir department, these students tend to bond together over their hobbies and love for their preferred art form. The less known groups would have to be the types of people that the world seems to look down upon such as the gay kids and the foreign kids. Groups such as these, tend to bond over the fact that because of the way they are, the support from people “like them” gives them a sense of comfort when the might not get

I never thought I would be labeled an outsider, a misfit even. As I trudged my way through the halls of my small town high school, I would endure the gazing pairs of eyes, that belonged to my peers, followed by whispering and often times some laughter. I always used zone out during those repetitive speeches and commercials about the effects of gossiping and rumors; never did I imagine that one day I would be on the receiving end of of the everyday potshot. Growing up I was always the center of attention, the one everyone yearned to be friends with, never was I the antisocial child in the corner with nowhere to turn… not until high school. They say high school changes you. They say high school accounts for some of the greatest years of

Schools with music programs have a higher estimated graduation rate estimated at 90.2% and a higher attendance rate around 93.9% (11 Facts about Music Education 7). In comparison, schools without music programs; however, average a72.9% graduation and an 84.9% attendance (11 Facts about Music Education 7). Additionally, students who study art are four times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement and three times more likely to be awarded for school attendance than those who do not (11 Facts about Arts in Education 2). Despite the benefits of having a music and art program, they are often the first things to go when a school starts budget cuts. Due to, schools today focusing on four main core values: Math, Science, English, and History. Consequently, by focusing on these four main core values schools are crushing the creativity of students. Ken Robinson successfully argues this viewpoint in his TED Talk, “Do Schools Kill Creativity?” By enthralling the audience with humorous rhetorical questions, creating connections with the audience through logical and relatable examples, and by keeping a fairly concerned tone throughout his speech to convey the urgency of the issue at hand Robinson effectively and subtlety attacks the modern world’s education system while at the same time informing his audience how schools are squandering the creativity of their students

Life — it is something filled with opportunity, problems, experiences, and interpretations of those experiences, but something which man often dwells on in life are problems that are faced. To be frank, life is not always perfect, but there are aspects which can bring out the brighter side. The episode “Band Geeks” (2001) from the Nickelodeon children’s series Spongebob Squarepants created by Stephen Hillenburg, the Wikipedia article “Marching Band” (2016), a progressive music blog “We Need to Fight this Trend: Marching Bands Taking Steps to Survive” (2006) by Karina Bland, the film Drumline (2002) directed by Charles Stone, the romantic comedy Major Crush (2006) by Jennifer Echols, and the book American Band (2008) by Kristen Laine all

Although many, one positive way music education is beneficial to students is that it has a large impact on brain stem growth. With the incorporation of music in a student’s daily life, the brain stem’s responses become more robust (Brown). Therefore, the amount of brain stem growth correlates with recent musical training. As stated by Brown, an adjunct professor at the University of Baltimore, “student’s that are involved with a large amount of music will see more gains in brain stem growth”. Furthermore, the neural changes that occur in students as adolescents stay with them into adulthood (“Music Matters”). This allows students to be more prepared once they go into the workforce as adults. Along with the brain stem’s responses being more robust, it’s sensitivity to sound increases (“The Benefits” 1). This is abundantly evident from early on, as mother’s sing to their infants to facilitate brain stimulation and development. Enrichment through music, starting at a young age, seems to improve individuals speech sound development and use of more advanced vocabulary. Adolescents’ language also improves with the use of music in a student’s academics (Miller 46). Luehrisen