Music Should Be Mandatory Public Schools

Schools should be allowed to listen to music in class. Did you know that music makes

It is intriguing how something simple as sound waves affect our emotions deeply. Igor Stravinsky’s famous ballet score “Rite of Spring” had a massacre theme with very disturbing images and surprisingly, the audience responded with a bloody riot with people even hitting Stravinsky. The second time the audience heard the music, they applauded him and to a greater surprise, the same music became Disney’s music. This transition of people’s dislike of a music to greatly appreciating piece is done by the brain. As the music repeats, the brain has the capacity to tune into to it and even adjust to that sound. When we hear unfamiliar noises that are dissonant or unpleasant, auditory cortex’s role is to differentiate the plethora of sounds and find

Before I get into the full explanation of how music education is vital to a students full academic development I am going to share another reason why music education is so important. Have you ever thought of what it would be like to live in a world with literally no music? No birds chirping, no bands, no pop singers, no music in movies. Summed up the world would be a pretty boring and bland place without music and music education is what keeps music alive.

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.

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

Because musical pieces portray emotions, different music make people feel different things and thus get associated with different things. Jay Dowling and Dane Harwood explain that "patterns within the music itself ... of tensions and relaxations ... mirror the form of emotional tensions and relaxations" (Dowling 205) that humans relate to their own. This is shown by a study where every subject who associated a song with their current relationship explained that the song gave them the pleasant emotions that their relationship provided (Baumgartner 616).

“Nothing is more singular about this generation than its addiction to music” (Bloom 68). While every person in the world knows this to be true, no one stops to consider whether the music society listens to is actually good for the mind. What people don’t realize is that music affects people’s morals, culture, education, laws, and the way society thinks. Music has proved to be helpful, but no one focuses on that aspect of it anymore. The people that music affects the most only care if they can dance to it.

As a young boy, Bill Clinton loved everything about his music class in school. Clinton was in the school band and he played the tenor saxophone; it was his favorite pass time. His hard work paid off when he became one of the best saxophone players in his school and won first chair in the state band's saxophone section. Frightened of the future, Clinton used his musical talent to earn multiple academic and musical scholarships for college. Later in his life, Clinton ran for president and became the 42nd President of the United States ("It All Began in a Place Called Hope”). Clinton shows his support for the arts when he states, “I do not think I would have become President if it were not for my school music program” (qtd. in Wise 1). Art and music in public schools are usually funded by the government; however, not everyone agrees that these programs should be funded by the government. There are two main sides to the

Although music education does help increase productivity and overall education in schools, the decline of music can benefit some people. Not everyone in the school likes music. In fact, some people can’t even tolerate the thought of music. Either they don’t find any interest in it or they just are not good at it. People lose interest in things after a while if they don’t

Music can help people with many different things. Including being very therapeutic, lifting the moods of people, and reducing pain a lot. Music does not have negative side effects. Therefore, making it a very safe and cost efficient treatment. Many different research projects have been conducted over the years. One such project was done in The United Kingdom and Finland on how emotions correlate with listening to sad music. It has been found that sad music brings about positive feelings. But for some sad music affects them negatively. Amazingly

If music reveals emotions, it is not a normal emotion like any other (Stecker 273). The expression in music can be considered a traditionalized phenomenon (Stecker 273). There are common questions about

Emotion is defined as a strong feeling deriving from one's circumstances, mood, or relationships with others. Music may be defined as vocal or instrumental sounds (or both) combined in such a way to produce beauty of form and harmony. Research indicates that people value music primarily because of the emotions it evokes. Yet, the notion of musical emotions remains controversial, and researchers have so far been unable to offer a satisfactory account of such emotions.

Thesis: Music is a unique form of sound powerful enough to manipulate mood, feelings, and cognition.

Music is one of the greatest human creations (DeNora, 2000). It plays an integral role in human society worldwide irrelevant of race, gender, age, wealth or well-being (Kemper & Danhauer, 2005). Indeed according to Batt-Rawden (2010), playing different music in diverse situations can introduce listeners to the desired and relevant atmosphere. In most circumstances, music is played to entertain people, but it can also form part of an accompaniment in sad situations. Music is often the fulcrum that influences the listener by creating a unique ambience and atmosphere (Bernatzky, Presh, Anderson, & Panksepp, 2011). Chamorro-Premuzic and Furnham, (2007) adds that music can be a medium to enhance communication,

Music elicits an emotional and cognitive response in all who listen to it. It is powerful at the individual level because “it can induce multiple responses – physiological, movement, mood, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral” (Francis, 2008,