The Importance of Encouraging Participation in Music Courses Essay

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

* ““95% percent of Americans believe that music is a key-component in a child’s well-rounded education, 80% percent of respondents agreed that music makes the participants smarter; 78% believe that learning a musical instrument helps students perform better in other subject areas; and 88% believe participation in music helps teach children discipline” (Hurley 3),” (par 1).

First, When children play an instrument "he or she [develops] key brain [functions] that enhance musical learning but also academic and social skills which [...] [improve] memory and the ability to differentiate sounds and speech". As a result, this could mean that students who do not play a musical instrument will be lacking an important aspect that instrument playing students do have. Second, music has done so much that "research has proven that access to a quality music education engages students in the classroom and increases graduation rates". Participating with an instrument can ultimately help students perform better in an academic setting which can take students very far in life. Lastly, Public polls in America show that " 89% of principals feel that a high-quality music education program contributes to their school achieving higher graduation rates".

I have always been a passionate advocate for music education. It is offered to practically every student in America, yet very few institutions put an emphasis on partaking in music classes or extra curriculars. I was placed in a program called Kindermusik when I was in preschool. It started with basic music classes, but then I took three years of piano starting at age eight. Around that time I joined my first choir and I’ve been in several since then. During middle school, I was a band kid for three years and took lessons in both guitar and trumpet. In high school, I chose to pursue chorus every year and participated in three annual school musicals. I was President of the Tri-M Music Honor society at my school. While my weighted GPA took a hit from taking chorus classes, I was having a blast and still managed to become my school’s Salutatorian. I even attended NC Governor’s school as a choral music student. Currently, I am enrolled in the mixed chorus, State Chorale, and the music minor program here at NC State. I’m also taking two other music classes this semester. Music is certainly an integral part of my life.

Music Education is no doubt a necessity to the students of today. Music plays a major role in everyone’s daily life. Music is listened to while driving in the car, when eating in restaurants, relaxing at home, and even when on hold to a company’s overloaded phone system. Music is everywhere you turn, and it should be one of the main subjects to be studied in our public school systems. Public schools in America need to understand that the funding and continued study of music is just as important as the funding for math or science to produce a well rounded graduate.

And they took a group of 6 year olds and gave them weekly singing and piano lessons for 9 months. And in this study they took a baseline IQ score at the before the 1st grade and then taken again at the beginning of 2nd grade with the time in between provided for the experiment. And they found that on average the kids that received the lesson IQ was 3 points higher than it was 9 months earlier. This might be in part because when learning to play an instrument much like learning a new language you brain is required to build new connections and remap the network of the brain to work faster. Another study that was published from Christopher Johnson at the University of Kansas was out to prove if this raise in IQ also would affect the testing scores of children. And they found that in an elementary school with good education in the arts scored 20% higher in both English and Math standardized test, than an elementary school with little to no music education. Johnson sums it up by saying, “Schools that have rigorous programs and high-quality music education and arts teacher probably have high-quality teachers in other areas. If you have an environment where there are a lot of people doing creative, smart, great things, even people who aren’t doing that have a tendency to go up and do better.”

Over the past 20 years, numerous scientific studies found a strong positive relation between playing music, intellectual capacity, personal growth and social interaction with others. Researchers maintained that music can also help children in acquiring literacy, consequently improving their academic achievement. We now know that music impacts different areas of child development; including intellectual, social and emotional, motor, language, and literacy skills (Barrett & Bond, 2014).

Perhaps the most tangible benefit of music education for students is the increase in their performance in the classroom. People often say, “Music makes you smarter,” but where is the evidence? As South Dakota State University’s Professor Kevin Kessler eloquently stated via email, “How were you

It can improve test scores and educational ability in many different ways. Participation in the arts program shows higher levels of confidence in academics than those who don't have instruction in this area. A study was done in 2004 addressing Psychological Science it was discovered that there is an increase in children's IQ's when they were given instruction in arts and music. In the article The Arts are a Vital Part of Education, it states, students who take fine arts classes are 4 times more likely to receive more recognition for academic achievement." Students who take fine arts classes also tend to have more skill in learning and developing languages. Communication is extremely important in a student's life, therefore having the fine arts program to increase speaking skill is beneficial to the student. Performing arts not only allows children to not only listen to music but to play music which enhances their verbal capacities and

Arts and music even benefits younger children. A study was done with Goodlow Elementary Magnet School, Whittier Elementary and Boone Elementary, three elementary schools in Chicago with high ethnic diversity. The study found that 4th graders who started an arts education program had an 11.5% point gain on standardized test scores by the time they started 6th grade just two years later. Just two years. Imagine what the gain would be if these students continued in music for the rest of their

Music education has consistently been at the bottom of the educational priority ladder. With minimal prospects and intense competition for a successful career, music classes have been eclipsed in student interest and funding by courses related to the more lucrative STEM careers. Although music education creates a hefty burden for the school board, the numerous personal benefits warrant music opportunities for all students.

Music. It’s different to everyone, even if everyone happened to be listening to the same thing. There are health and emotional benefits that come with playing an instrument. It’s so important that every student gets a musical education because knowing an instrument is comparable to you exercising a muscle; music is exercising the brain! The auditory cortex is working hard to process the sound, while the nucleus accumbers, amygdala, and cerebellum are working hard to make you feel. Oh, and you know when you know your favorite part of the song is coming up? Well, that’s when your prefrontal cortex is being activated and is getting anxious (“This is Your Brain on Music” by Knowing Neurons). Being involved in music helps students do better in other subjects. Our brain works harder when we play music, and it increases IQ and improves spatial-temporal skills, which is when students can see elements that should go together, which improves math skills (PBS Parents, “The Benefits of Music Education”). Music affects everyone, reading this might help you realize the beauty of music, learn how it affected me meticulously, and other things about music education.

Many people believe that the arts, specifically music programs, hold no beneficial value to students other than for an extracurricular activity. Others believe that having these programs within our schools, only takes away from instructional time. However, research has shown that music education, and exposure to music in general, provides great benefits and values to the adolescents that are involved in said programs (“Music Matters”). Participation in music programs promotes the advancement of academic scores and sets students on the path to success later in life. Furthermore, these programs, be it instrumental or vocal, provide an outlet for adolescents to express themselves and have truly lasting implications on their global development. Notwithstanding all of the pleasure and self-confidence gained through participation in music programs, music education may provide important benefits towards students’ academics by improving their concentration levels and cultivating higher order thinking skills that may increase academic achievement.

Susan Hallam is a professor of education and music psychology at the Institute of Education of the University of London. Hallam assessed many studies of the influence of music on children and young adults in the process of writing her journal article. She organizes her paper into three main categories: the intellectual, social and personal development of children and young people. Within the paper, she explains how numerous studies have found positive correlations between continued musical training and development in many subjects that are seemingly unrelated to music. However, these conclusions are not proven and must be taken in consideration that music education for the improvement of other skills is not guaranteed for every person. Nevertheless, many of the cases that Hallam reviewed have promising results which are inspiring for music educators, school administrators and parents alike. Hallam’s argument is that many scientific studies can point to many outside benefits of dedicated engagement in music training throughout one’s life.

This research focuses on answering if music education has enough crossover benefit to include it into our mainstream education. Two scholarly articles, a blog, a personal story and an online article were selected and consulted to find the answer to this question. Many authors in many articles had minimal criticism of music education and most were in favor of music education. Findings were that yes, music education does in fact have enough crossover benefit to include it into mainstream education. Music education may be time consuming and sometimes expensive, yet the benefits of self-discipline, deeper conceptual thinking, more developed brain function, and endless creativity of students makes it very worthwhile.